The Hindu Business Line : Demolishing unhappy memories

Long-time Chicago residents and its culture buffs admit that they were always asked questions about the city's gangster past. The fact that it had 190 theatre companies was hardly known outside.

In Indian cities, particularly Mumbai, old theatres are being systematically demolished to make way for shopping complexes. Theatres like Strand, Opera House and Apsara are all gone completely or house mini-theatres in the new shopping complexes. No one grumbles because Mumbai, after all, is the commercial capital of India.

Chicago, on the other hand, is always remembered as the gangsters' paradise; the city's links with those like Al Capone cannot be broken easily. In an effort to do away with them, the `Biograph' theatre, one of Chicago's remaining landmarks from its violent gun-slinging past, had been demolished. Capone's Lexington Hotel hangout and the warehouse site of the St Valentine's Day massacre involving his hoods no longer existed. Biograph recently emerged with a new personality — Victory Gardens Theatre, which will now host live cultural shows. Biograph was where notorious bank robber John Dillinger was gunned down by the FBI on July 22, 1934. Dillinger was shot down when he came out after watching the movie Manhattan Melodrama. He was betrayed by his long-time girlfriend, `the Lady in Red', Anna Sage, who was trying to avoid deportation to her native Romania.

The incident is described in the movie FBI Story, which featured James Stewart in the lead role. It is now presumed that the fall of Biograph will erase memories of the bloody era. But that is a bit premature. Sightseeing buses still pass by the spot where Dillinger was shot down, with guides narrating the incident with gusto.

The transformation of the mafia town to a culture centre may not be all that easy. The red brick and terracotta building which housed Biograph was a historic landmark and the theatre was among the first to show motion pictures. It was also one of the first buildings to boast air-conditioned comfort, and carried a big banner reading, `Cooled by Refrigeration'... something that drew Dillinger inside on that hot July afternoon.

Long-time Chicago residents and its culture buffs admit that they were always asked questions about the city's gangster past. The fact that it had 190 theatre companies was hardly known outside. "It could qualify as the theatre capital of the nation or even the world," says Dennis Zacek, artistic director of Victory Gardens, in an interview to Washington Post. The earlier structure, which showed movies till 2004, was gutted by fire; its capacity was reduced from 1,000 to 299, while a reception area and offices were added.

But it may be difficult to erase the memory of Dillinger who had the reputation of being a Robin Hood, robbing rich banks and helping the poor, particularly during the Depression. Unlike Capone, point out historians, Dillinger was neither a criminal mastermind nor a ruthless killer.

After his death, Dillinger was glorified in books and movies. A book by crime writer Jay Nash argued that Dillinger was never killed and that the person shot down was one of his doubles.

Members of a Chicago club called `John Dillinger Died For You' on the anniversary of his death marched through the city accompanied by bagpipe players!

Zacek himself, while playing down the role of Dillinger, directed a Victory Gardens' play on the gangster; his doctoral thesis was all about theatre and gunplay in the district. That the aura behind Dillinger is still intact was clear on the opening night of the new theatre, when members of the audience recalled the bad, old days.

Several women wore red dresses and some of the tuxedo-clad men brandished plastic machine guns. With or without Biograph, memories of Dillinger cannot be wished away so easily.

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