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The Uptown Theatre was billed as "an acre of seats in a magic city. " my family, and when things got tough during the Depression, Zukor tried to convince Barney to replace him as head of his beloved studio on a train ride to the West Coast. At first Barney objected, as he didn't want to oust his old friend, but by the time the trip was over, Zukor won. Barney instituted Balaban's rule at Paramount: No picture would be made for more than $1 million. He analyzed profit and loss and decided the more expensive pictures didn't make any more money than the cheaper ones. In order to make back its investment, he figured a movie had to gross three times its negative cost, and at that time, $3 million was a vast sum. The studio flourished and so did the theaters. On August 18, 1925, B and K opened the Uptown Theatre at 4816 North Broadway. The largest and most lavish of all of their picture palaces, it was built at a cost of more than $4 million and covered 46,000 square feet. Billed as "an acre of seats in a magic city," it accommodated more than 4,000 patrons and was designed in the Spanish Revival style. Whatever the period of the décor, B and K theaters were always ornate beyond your wildest dreams. It was an event to just walk into one of them. The Uptown opened with the movie The Lady Who Lied and the theater was an instant success. More than 12,000 excited moviegoers lined up for the theater's opening day. With its five-story lobby and eight-story façade, the Uptown Theater's interior space is the largest in America, including Radio City. When the theater opened, it had a staff of more than 130 peo- ple, including a 34-piece orchestra featuring a Wurlitzer organ that was the second largest in operation, a nurse, and an in-house fireman. After Ida died, Sam Katz moved to Los Angeles and ran RKO for sev- eral years, eventually ending up at MGM, where he was head of production and started the famous musical unit headed by Arthur Freed that pro- duced most of the studio's greatest, including Singin' in the Rain. Sam is credited with choosing Judy Garland to play Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz when Shirley Temple couldn't get out of her contract with Fox. I visited MGM at 10 years of age and got to watch Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse filming Meet Me in Las Vegas. I never recovered and have been an actor all my life. One of the few members of my family to cross the line over to the "talent" side, as I entered my 30s I found that Goldie's genes kicked in, and I added producing and directing to my résumé. Sometimes I go to Paramount, and when the guys at the front gate hear my name, they automatically try to send me to the Balaban building. I went over to check it out a few years ago. It's not very grand. It houses old tax records and filing cabinets full of outdated contracts and legal paper- work. The name isn't exactly a household word anymore. They removed the B and K logos in The Chicago Theatre years ago, and most of the other theaters have been torn down to make way for con- dominiums and offices. Now we watch movies in multiplexes with screens the size of large TV's, but to me nothing will ever be as much fun as sitting in a dark and majestic theater, surrounded by eager strangers thrilled to embark on an adventurous journey into the exciting and enchanted world of the movies. For more information on the drive to restore and reopen The Uptown, visit uptowntheatre.com. MA 120 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM