Theater League’s New Head
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Whether McCord can effect change in a troubled theater industry, of course, remains to be seen. At the moment, anyway, she is striking a decidedly aggressive note. “The theater community has to become more proactive,” said McCord. “The arts are under attack in this country, and we have been too passive.” McCord is particularly interested, she said, in emphasizing the fact that the theater industry is a part of the city’s business community. “I want to find out how much money the theater industry pumps into the economy here,” said McCord. “Too many people only think of arts organizations as leeches.” Not surprisingly, McCord also is adamant about the need for more promotion of the theater, especially in the electronic media, most of which have been reluctant to cover the industry.
Francis Ford Coppola’s long-awaited The Godfather Part III pulled in shockingly different opening-day grosses in the Chicago area depending on the theater one checked. “It did well in Jewish and Italian neighborhoods,” noted one exhibitor. At the Loews Old Orchard in suburban Skokie, for instance, the picture raked in a hefty $20,000 on opening day, while at Cineplex Odeon’s Burnham Plaza in the South Loop, the first-day take was a mere $2,923. Edward Scissorhands and Kindergarten Cop have been two of the winners at the box office during the holidays, while Awakenings, the latest from director Penny Marshall, has been doing only OK business at just two screens in the Chicago area.
