Ray Pride

1915

Charlie Chaplin shoots "His New Job" at Chicago's Essanay Studios; some contend he found his tramp costume off the rack at a store on State Street.

1920s

Scots documentary pioneer John Grierson, who founded the National Film Board of Canada, attends University of Chicago.

1924

Jules Stein starts booking bands out the Chicago office of Music Corporation of America, which became Universal Pictures; allegations of mob influence under late chief Lew Wasserman persist.

1932

Howard Hawks' "Scarface: The Shame of a Nation," with contributions by ex-Chicago newspaperman Ben Hecht, etches the link between Chicago and mobsters in the movies.

Documentary Film Group founded at University of Chicago.

1934

John Dillinger shot in Biograph Theatre alley after a show of "Manhattan Melodrama."

1955

Nelson Algren's 1950 "Man with a Golden Arm" made into a Frank Sinatra hit; shot on soundstages instead of city streets.

Deadpan improvisers Elaine May and Mike Nichols collaborate at the Compass Players, bringing inspired improvisation into the cultural conversation before each making important contributions to film.

1959

The Second City opens on Wells Street, providing a steady stream of comic talent to commercial movies.

1962

Arthur Penn's "Mickey One," a portrait of Chicago by night, released by Columbia Pictures.

William Friedkin's first film, "The People vs. Paul Crump" produced for WGN; a milestone in politically engaged documentary, convincing an Illinois governor to cancel an execution.

1964

Despite an unofficial city embargo on films being made in Chicago, Philip Kaufman's shaggy fable "Goldstein" is released, complete with a Nelson Algren cameo.

Mike Shea, Gordon Quinn and Howard Alk's "Maxwell Street 1964" preserves a lost Chicago moment.

1965

Michael Kutza founds the Chicago International Film Festival.

The Hyde Park Art Center programs "underground" films to challenge CIFF.

1966

Kartemquin Film founded, a cooperative-turned-company, focusing on social issues.

1967

Tom Palazzolo's "The Bride Stripped Bare" mocks Daley's dedication of the Picasso sculpture.

The Chicago Daily News writes: "It may pain us to admit it, but there's nothing like making it in New York to really make it here in Chicago."

The Aardvark Cinematheque programs seven films thought obscene by the Chiago Police Censor Board after an appeal.

1968

Haskell Wexler's "Medium Cool" shoots against the backdrop of police action against protestors at the Democratic Convention.

Second City shoots its first feature, the unbearable "The Monitors."

1969

"American Revolution II" collects vérité footage of the 1968 police actions.

1971

Howard Alk and Mike Gray's "The Murder of Fred Hampton" released.

1973

The Magick Lantern Society receives an $8,000 NEA grant to become the Film Center under the wing of the School of the Art Institute.

Chicago Filmmakers is founded.

1974 (ca.)

Larry Edwards' Biograph Theater programs art-house movies for the first time.

1975

"Saturday Night Live" premieres, with Chicago Second City veterans John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and later, Bill Murray, bailing on Chicago, and later, for movies.

Facets Multi-Media founded.

Michael Schultz's "Cooley High" released, a Chicago-shot coming-of-age story to bring a little local flavor to the Loop's teeming action movie and blaxploitation scene.

1978

Center for New Television founded.

WTTW's "Image Union" begins.

1980

"Blues Brothers" released.

1986

Critic Fred Camper publishes "The End of Avant-Garde," arguing that the avant-garde died in 1966 before becoming a "genre."

1984

"Sixteen Candles" released. New Trier becomes a mythical place.

1985

"Breakfast Club" released. New Trier becomes an even more mythical place.

1986

"Ferris Bueller's Day Off": John Hughes' greatest legacy?

1991

With "Curly Sue," John Hughes retires as a director to his suburban retreat.

1993

Chicago Underground Film Festival founded.

"Home Alone" released.

Andy Davis' Chicago-set runaway train "The Fugitive" released.

1994

Kartemquin's "Hoop Dreams" released.

2000

"High Fidelity" released; Nick Hornby's laddishness transformed into John Cusack's fantasia of Wicker Park.

2002

Galleries like Milwaukee Avenue's Heaven start regular screening series of local and touring work made on minimal, or nonexistent budgets.

The South Side-set "Barbershop" is one of the year's biggest hits.

2003

Three films by James Fotopoulos released on DVD.

"The Weather Underground" released.

--With research assistance from Bill Stamets

(2003-08-20)

Also by Ray Pride

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(2003-08-13)

Act your rage
Terror, scorn, anger, let's bring them together now and consider Peter Mullan's magisterial "The Magdalene Sisters," a sustained howl against affront and dishonor
(2003-08-13)

Educational Eden
Michigan Avenue's the city's prime brand extension
(2003-08-13)

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Tip of the Week
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L.A. confidence
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Tip of the Week
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The Oh No show
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Short Runs
(2003-07-30)

Tip of the Week
(2003-07-23)

Leaving Navy Pier
(2003-07-23)

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