Festivities kick off Aug. 22 with a screening of a full 1929 theater program headlined by Innocents of Paris, the first English-language film to feature chanteur Maurice Chevlier. The film, which starts at 7 p.m., will be accompanied by shorts that will replicate the 1929 cinema-going experience.
The rarely-screened 1931 silent film World City in its Teens: A Report on Chicago, will be shown at 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 24. World City in its Teens is part of the cycle of silent-era “city symphony” films that reflected modernity and the great metropolises in the ’20s and ’30s.
Dolly Parton fans will be working from 9 p.m-5 a.m. the night of Aug. 24 as Music Box screens four of her classics: Nine to Five (1980) and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), both from gay director Colin Higgins; Rhinestone (1984); and Straight Talk (1992), which was filmed in Chicago.
Music Box also will screen a Mary Poppins sing-a-long at noon on Aug. 25, complete with onscreen lyrics. A number of other films are planned as part of the 90th anniversary celebration. See http://musicboxtheatre.com for details.