Max Ascher
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Ascher Brothers was a theater business in Chicago and Wisconsin. It was owned by brothers including Max Ascher, Nathan Ascher, and Harry Ascher who established it in 1909. The business owned more than two dozen theaters and was one of the city's largest owners of theaters along with
Balaban and Katz Balaban and Katz Theater Corporation, or B&K, was a theatre corporation which owned a chain of motion picture theaters in Chicago and surrounding areas. It was founded by Barney Balaban (later long-time President of Paramount Pictures), his six ...
and
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. The brothers exited the theater business in 1929. Ascher Brothers was founded in 1909 and operated
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s and acquiring, leasing, and constructing additional theaters through the 1910s. By 1919 Ascher Brothers operated at least 15 theaters including the Adelphi, Calo, Milford, Cosmopolitan, Metropolitan, and Crown. They added the Portage Park Theatre Building built in 1919. Their theaters succeeded the simple storefront operations and preceded the grand theater houses of the 1920s. One of their theaters opened across from
Marshall Field and Company Marshall Field & Company (commonly known as Marshall Field's) was an upscale department store in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in the 19th century, it grew to become a large chain before Macy's, Inc acquired it in 2005. Its eponymous founder, Mar ...
on State Street. Their theaters included organs and five-piece orchestras including at the
Portage Theater Located at Six Corners in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago's Northwest Side, the Portage Theater is one of the oldest movie houses in Chicago. The Portage Theater opened on December 11, 1920 as the Portage Park Theatre (the former name ...
. Henry L. Newhouse designed several of their theaters. By 1923,
Goldwyn Pictures Goldwyn Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company that operated from 1916 to 1924 when it was merged with two other production companies to form the major studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was founded on November 19, 1 ...
owned a 60 percent stake in Ascher company stock.


Theaters

*Adelphi * Calo *Milford *Cosmo Theater (1913) at 7938 South Halsted *Frolic Theater (1915) at 951 East 55th Street *Colony *Columbus Theater (1916) at 6236 South Ashland (63rd St. And Ashland Avenue) *Roosevelt Theatre *Metropolitan *Oakland Square *
Portage Theater Located at Six Corners in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago's Northwest Side, the Portage Theater is one of the oldest movie houses in Chicago. The Portage Theater opened on December 11, 1920 as the Portage Park Theatre (the former name ...
(1919), leased by Ascher Brothers *Commercial Theater (1920) at 9150 South Commercial


References

{{Improve categories, date=August 2021 1909 establishments in Illinois Defunct companies based in Chicago