As a boy, I visited the "Rainbo Arena," which had been converted from a club into a skating rink by that time. Originally, the Rainbo Gardens was a hugely popular nightclub much favored by Mayor William Hale Thompson. The business was temporarily shuttered following a Prohibition enforcement raid. The master of ceremonies at the padlocked Rainbo Gardens, one Louis Feinberg, opted to accept an offer to team up with Moe Howard and Ted Healy once he lost his hosting job. "Larry Fein" would perform for decades with the Three Stooges. The Rainbo seemingly had nine lives as an entertainment venue undergoing multiple conversions and reinventions. It was finally torn down in 2003 and replaced by condominiums. The audience attendance for the Elvis and Doris Day features were sizable.
on 9/7/2026, 6:43 am
The biggest crowd of the day flocked to the theater to see Elvis Presley in "King Creole." I found the film to be somewhat slow moving. The musical production numbers delayed the conclusion of the story which does enter the noir alleys and backwaters of New Orleans. A leading Bourbon Street nightclub operator (Walter Matthau) wants to wrest Presley's character from a smaller cabaret owner and employs thugs to do so. The performance of Carolyn Jones as the tragic kept woman maintained by Matthau was the best role in the movie.
"Love Me or Leave Me" was a tremendous showcase for vocalist Doris Day. It was a biographical film based upon the life of Ruth Etting a star attraction during the 1920s and 1930s. Etting rose to prominence as a singer in Chicago performing at such venues as the Marigold Gardens and the Rainbo Gardens. The technicolor production was more of a melodrama than a film noir movie. Etting was married to Martin "Mo" Snyder (portrayed by James Cagney). A politically connected and mobbed up fixer, Snyder divorced his first wife to marry Ruth and took control of her entertainment career and acted as her manager. After almost a decade and a half of marriage, Etting tired of her jealous husband's domination and sought a divorce.
The fireworks began in earnest when Snyder tried to murder Etting's new beau. The man, who was a musical accompanist, recovered after being hospitalized and eventually married the singer. Interestingly, following his release from jail, Snyder returned to Chicago and obtained a political patronage job in City Hall. Etting was unhappy that the film focused almost exclusively on her marital difficulties with Snyder and omitted most of her second marriage which was a happy one.
Sometimes, it is interesting how some of the movies screened at Noir City Chicago and real life Chicago history intersect. Consider the following: Gloria Swanson attended Lakeview High School which is minutes from the Music Box Theater. Ruth Etting performed at the now defunct Marigold Gardens (formerly near Addison and Halsted Streets) and the Rainbo Gardens (Clark Street near Lawrence Avenue). These former entertainment venues were in the vicinity of where festival patrons watched movies screened at Noir City Chicago. Nelson Algren lived in the Polish Triangle neighborhood (intersections of Ashland and Milwaukee Avenues at Division Street) a short distance further to the south. All of these locations are within minutes of the Music Box Theater by car.
The final film "Pete Kelly's Blues" featured some good singing performances by Ella Fitzgerald and Peggy Lee. Unfortunately, the main plot about a struggling jazz band is pedestrian. Jack Webb lacked the leading man charisma to carry the story. Janet Leigh was the female lead. Her whirlwind romance with the dullard Webb strained credibility.
The theme of this year's festival "Face the Music" was constrained by the numerous production numbers in the "noir stained" films shown on Day Three. Sometimes, the lengthy musical sequences interfered with the danger and despair.
Dan
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