{"id":1081,"date":"2009-09-28T01:28:05","date_gmt":"2009-09-28T07:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=1081"},"modified":"2014-09-06T14:57:04","modified_gmt":"2014-09-06T20:57:04","slug":"old-theaters-appear-in-c-u-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/?p=1081","title":{"rendered":"Old theaters appear in C-U books"},"content":{"rendered":"

A year and a half ago, C-U Blogfidential <\/strong>intended to direct your attention towards a brand new book that incorporated a few ephemeral photographs of interest. We managed to bring it up in the first issue of our CineMicroGraph <\/strong>news-zine but that\u2019s where our efforts ended, considering how minor the point in the grand scheme of things. Well, the passage of time not only figures into the book\u00a0in question but has also put a positive spin on our procrastination, for we now can report on a \u201csequel\u201d of sorts at the same time.<\/p>\n

Released on Monday, September 14<\/strong>, Urbana<\/span> <\/strong>by Ilona Matkovszki <\/strong>and Dennis Roberts <\/strong>joins Champaign<\/span> <\/strong>by Raymond Bial<\/strong>, which first became available in April 2008 <\/strong>the week of \u201cEbertfest<\/strong>,” in the extensive \u201cImages of America\u201d book series from Arcadia Publishing<\/a> <\/strong>of Mount Pleasant, SC<\/strong>. You can easily identify these in the \u201clocal history\u201d section of your favorite bookstore with their sepia-tone covers and picture-laden interiors; the apparent conceit is that regional Arcadia editors work with knowledgeable authors to develop niche titles which lean on their subject\u2019s \u201cearly years\u201d for nostalgic appeal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Both Urbana<\/span> and Champaign<\/span> cover the establishment and growth of their respective cities from the mid-Nineteenth Century to today, although the copy for both mostly concerns pre-1950 milestones and nearly all images have been culled from the Champaign County Historical Archives <\/strong>at the Urbana Free Library<\/strong>. Amazingly, very little overlaps between the books, although a handful of pictures and anecdotes do <\/em>repeat, and we couldn\u2019t help but notice the individualized writing affects \u2013 meaning, Arcadia resists modifying the manuscripts so they all read alike.<\/p>\n

Veteran photographer and author Bial, who adapted Champaign<\/span> from its out-of-print predecessor Champaign: A Pictorial History<\/span> <\/strong>(G. Bradley Publishing, 1993) uses a conversational tone to dramatize his topics, such as with the following caption to a picture of a locomotive:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first locomotive pulled into West Urbana <\/strong>[what is now Champaign] on July 24, 1854<\/strong>. It featured a towering smokestack and prominent, bristling cowcatcher, similar to this engine photographed in 1858<\/strong>. From the beginning, the arrival and departure of steam engines became a regular occurrence in the community for more than a century, before diesel engines replaced the old locomotives.\u201d (p.8)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Matkovszki, a preservationist and member of the Urbana Public Arts Commission<\/strong>, brings a journalistic prose to Urbana<\/span>. It\u2019s unclear how much influence book designer Roberts had on the project, since the \u201cImages of America\u201d series mostly follows a two-pictures-per-page template, although layout flourishes are present along with original maps and photographs made specifically for the book. To wit, the same locomotive makes an encore here, about which the authors say:<\/p>\n

\u201cUrbana\u2019s urbanization was initiated by the Illinois Central Railroad<\/strong>, chartered in 1850<\/strong>. The railroad was to connect Chicago <\/strong>in northeastern Illinois <\/strong>to Cairo <\/strong>in the southern tip of the state. The route between Urbana and Chicago was finished in 1854, and the first locomotive, which very likely looked like the one on this photograph, rolled into the Urbana depot on July 24.\u201d (p.18)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Regardless, the books provide a compact window into the C-U yesteryear despite the heavy reliance on architectural images and wide-angle street scenes for illustration. So what should come with the territory, dear readers, but pictures of movie houses past!<\/p>\n

Champaign<\/span> takes the cake in this regard. The Art Theatre<\/strong>\u2019s distinctive brick-painted sign and marquee can be seen on p.97<\/strong>, bottom<\/em>, across Church Street<\/strong> from the former Rialto Theater <\/strong>immediately east of the Robeson <\/strong>building. Film fans can easily date the Orpheum <\/strong>and Virginia <\/strong>theatre photos on p.117<\/strong> based on their main attractions. The Illini Theater<\/strong> in downtown Champaign is pictured in both mainstream (p.124<\/strong>, bottom<\/em>) and adult (p.73<\/strong>, top<\/em>) eras, while its earlier incarnation as the Varsity <\/strong>can be seen on p.33<\/strong>, top<\/em>, if one looks carefully for the sign directly above the horse and buggy. (Click for more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Urbana<\/span> goes out of its way to connect the former Princess Theater <\/strong>(p.119<\/strong>, top<\/em>) with former patron Roger Ebert<\/strong>, who was honored with a commemorative plaque placed on the sidewalk in front of his boyhood home on Washington Street <\/strong>(p.126<\/strong>, top<\/em>) earlier this year. (Click for more<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Of course, your humble editor would love <\/em>to find out what else hides away from CUBlog<\/strong> within the Urbana Free Library \u2026 and one is never too old for a field trip, yes?<\/p>\n

~ Jason Pankoke<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arcadia Publishing released the picture book “Urbana” by Ilona Matkovszki and Dennis Roberts on September 14, 2009, which serves as a companion piece to their prior volume, “Champaign” by Raymond Bial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274,31,26],"tags":[267,271,270,273,268,272],"class_list":["post-1081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-print-matter-du-c-u","category-the-old-school","category-theatres-venues","tag-arcadia-publishing","tag-champaign-images-of-america","tag-dennis-roberts","tag-ilona-matkovszki","tag-raymond-bial","tag-urbana-images-of-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.micro-film-magazine.com\/cublog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}