Wordless Wednesday: The Boulevard Room

Okay, I know, I know. This is supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but I really can’t do a post without words. One of the goals of this blog is to make things searchable online, and words are a necessary ingredient toward meeting that goal. Still, the main focus of this post is on a picture, so it’s about as wordless as I’m going to get!

This is another item from my small collection of antique post cards. It depicts a night club scene, the most obvious element of which is a figure skater in a red dress executing a leap. In the foreground are numerous tables with people sitting at them, and to the left one couple is evidently being shown to a table by a waiter. Behind the figure skater, a moderately-sized band performs on an elevated part of the stage. (The remainder of the stage is ice.) The décor and architecture of the room complete the picture with some white, apparently marble, busts; an elegantly designed drop feature in the ceiling; and some rather grandiose doors adorned by blue curtains. At the bottom, typed words identify the location as “Boulevard Room” at “The Stevens * Chicago,” “A Hilton Hotel.”

The reverse side of the post card identifies the front:

ICE SHOWS at The BOULEVARD ROOM!

The outstanding night spot in Chicago...fea-
turing lavish Ice Shows on the largest hotel ice
rink in the country...big cast of skating stars.
Finest cuisine and famous orchestras for dancing. 
THE STEVENS * Chicago * A Hilton Hotel

There is no traditional stick-on postage stamp, but rather a rubber stamp bearing the words “U.S. Postage Paid” and a date in February of 1949. The card is addressed to T.S. Duthie, 460 Pittock Blk, Portland 5, Oregon, and the only message is, “Hello Tom.”

A Google search quickly revealed an article from 1968, on the event of the closing of the Boulevard Room. With palpable bitterness toward “the men in the home office” who “couldn’t care less about the prestige of an institution like the Boulevard room, or what it means to Chicago,” the columnist briefly relates that the room had once hosted regular floor shows, until the ice rink opened in March of 1948. Therefore, the ice performances had been underway for less than a year when this post card was sent.

Citation:

Will Leonard, “On the Town: After 20 Years, Boulevard Room Ice Revues End,” Chicago Tribune, 1 Dec 1968, p. 18 (section 5), col. 1; digital images, Chicago Tribune Archives (http://archives.chicagotribune.com/ : accessed 30 Aug 2017).