LIFE Published weekly by Lloyd Hollister Inc., tU!- 1236 Ce·n tral Ave., Wilmette, Illinois. Entered a8 second class matter March 13, 19 24, at the post office at Wilmette, lllinoi8, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Subscription price $2.00 a year. VOL. XVIII. NO. 19 \VILMETTE, ILLINOIS, JANUARY 31, 1930 PRICE FIVE CENTS RECQUNTS PROGRESS IN · 1 C. of C. Speaker TAX BODY IN MEETING REOPEN CENTRAL AVENUE Advice of Legal Authorities in THEATER IN SIXTY DAYS GRADE SEPARATION PLAN ----------------------------~ Seek Detennination to Bring Reduction of Taxes in Township Henry F. Tenney, Chairman of North Shore Committee, Finds Cost is Moderate By Henry F. Tenney ChaiT'I1Wn, Sorth Shore G1·a(le Separation Comntittee It may be of interest to you at this time to have a further repurt of the progress and status of g rade separation on the north shore, and in order to bring you do \\·n to date, we submit the following: Late in 1928 Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe and Highland Park perfected the organization of the ~orth Shore Grade Separation committee and jointly engaged Walter A. Shaw to make the preliminary st udi es and plans for the combined project. ~Ir. Sha \V is an engineer of high standing, formerlv chairman of the Illin ois Commerce commission, city engineer for the City of Chicago, and nationally known authority in the public utility field. Shortly after his employment be organized an engineering staff, consisting of the necessary a!sistants, dra itsmen, surveyors, etc. This staff has been continually at work for m·er a year and has completed the plans for the four villages named, \vhicb have been filed with the Illin uis Commerce co mmissio n. Use Thorough Methods In orde r to assure the successiu l o utcome of the undertaking it ha s been necessary to approach the problem in a comprehensive and thorough manner from both the engineering and legal angles, and a great deal of time and effort has been expended in thi s \\·ork. \Ve have not the figures :!t hand as to the total cost of the engine ering services to elate . Hnwever, it rna r be said that Mr. Shaw \vas retained in accorrb nee with a contract made with each village and the expense has been borne jointly baser! upon the ratio among the different \·illages of their a ssessed Yaluations fer th e year 1927. Based on this ratio, \\·innetka, for instance, has borne 35.88 percent of the total cost. The cost of the engineering service to \Vinnctka has been $9,175.16. This is a, surprisingly smal l amount when t!1e size of the undertaking, the time expended. and other factors are considere.d. Retain Legal Expert It was appreciated at the outset that it " ·as necessary to have lawyers of standi ng- ancl ability in thi s field t~ represent the various towns. After ca r ef ul consideration, Francis X. Busch of the firm of Taylor, Miller, Busc!1 and Boyden, was retained. Mr. Busch has had a considerable practice before the Commerce .c ommission, was former corporation counsel for the City of Chicago, and is thoroughly conversant with all the f111¥les of the problem. He and his as~6ciates have prepared and filed with the Commerce commission a petition asking for a separation of the grades. Winnetka's share of the cost of the legal expense has been $1,953.70. This is an exceedingly small amount as compared wi!h what the expense would have been without joint ' operation by the four villages. The details as to the employment of our attorneys and engi(Continued on Page 4) Joseph E. Shantz, \Vilmette postmaster and one of the two Wilmette p 1en to win a Distinguished Service Cross in the \Vorld ,~·ar, will tell of his war experiences at the m o nthly meeting ci the \Vilmette Chamber of Commerce ~I o nday night, February 3, at the \\'ilmette Masonic temple. Be- "College Four" Features s:des di;:;tinguishing- him self in the Miralago Club Inaugural \\'orld war, ~fr. Shantz saw se rvice in the Spanish-American war o n ~he The inaugural of Supper club facili.\[cxican border in 1916. tie s at Miralago in the Spanish court · - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - area, which becc .mes effective \ iVednesclay, February 5, promises to be ausE. E. Orner Candidate for picious \\'ith the appearance of the ege Four," comprising what is County Board Nomination "Coll declared to be "the most popular proEarl E. Omer, president of the \ Vi l- fessional quartet of exclusive Chicago m ctte \'illage Board of Trustees, is clubs." The "College Four" has lon g one of a group of five selected by been playing on the leading vaudeYil1e Deneen Republicans for whom peti- circuits of the country, including Racliotions are now being circulated as Keith-Orpheum. candidate . for the Republican nominati on to the County Board of Commissioners in the Apri l 8 primary. The four others are \ Vi lli am Busse, Mt. Prospec t; Frank ]. Kr iz. \Vestern Springs; George A. ~filler, Oak Park; and George H. Gibson of Ch icago. The Republican steering committee for Xew Trier township is comprised of Harold Ickes, Hubbard \ iVoods; Hoyt Kin£, \Vilmette; Judge Th ompson, Winnetka; Ralph C. Wessel, Wilmette, and \Yilliam G. Hettich, \Vilmette. The first meeting of the tax committee representin g the various New Trier villages in the war on unequitable ta xation was held. last Monday night at the Community House in vVinnetka. The committee was appointed fotlo, ring a meeting of taxpayers of the township ~.t the Howard school in Wilmette :~I onday, January 13. PossibiEty of reducing taxes in Ne"" Trier township was discussed by the committee Monday night and it was decided to hold a second meeting later at which two tax lawyers would aclv:se the committee as to the best proced ure in bringing about a reduct;on c 1 taxes. The matter of cooperating with Evanston in their fight against unf'qua li zed taxation was also discu ssed. H. S. !vfarshall, one of Winnetka's n.~presentatives on the tax committee, acted as chairman. Other members of the committee in attendance were: I'~obert F. Doepel, of Winnetka; G. ]. Diltz and W. C. Reinhold, of \Vilmette, and Village Mana ge r George R . Young and William ]. Snyder, of Glencoe. Kenilworth's official representative on the committee has not vet been selected, but Village Manager · F. L. Streed, Edward J. Phelps, :md Frank Gathercoal attended as unofficial representatives of that village. · Building Leased, Let Contracts for Remodeling Within Next Week A motion pict\}re theater,· equipped v;ith the finest of modern sound and projection apparatus and entirely new fixtures throughout, will be opened \\·ithin sixty days in th e building located at 1122 Central avenue, Wilmette, at one time occupied by the Central theater, it was announced this week. A lease for an unrevealed period has been se cured by the \iVilmette Theater corporation from Albert ]. Weisberg · )f 388 Woodlawn avenue, Glencoe, 0wner, and a permit for remodeling has been granted by the Village of \Vilmette. Contracts for this work will be let within the coming few days. Remodeling lnterio~ Minor rhanges will be made in the fover and. auditorium and the entire interior of the structure will be redecorated. Ne\\' lighting- fixtures and control units, cushioned seats and carpeting- for aisles and foyer, the late st film projection and booth m1chinery, ~nd modern talking and sounn e:quipment will he installed as rapirlly as received. Only the best in current feature pictures, comedies, news reels and talk1n~ acts and novelties wi ll be shown, it is ~tated, and. arrangements have already been consummated for the receipt of the productions of the various leading producers at the earliest possible release date. The Wilmette Theater corporation is comprised of Peter M. Kallere s and Phillip Adams, both of whom have been identified with the theater husiin Gary, Ind., for the past four years. They are at present operating the Grand theater and previously operated the Cbsmo and Tivoli theaters, all in Gary. The Tivoli is a new theater, built within the past year at a cost of three-quarters of a million dolhrs and is at present leased to the· Publix Theater corporation. In Business 16 Years Mr. Kalleres has been associated with the theater business for sixteen years, the la st twelve of which have been devoted to the management of his own houses. He and Mr. Adams will persona lly supervise the opening and stlbseq uent operation of the theater here. Wilmette has been without a theater \'Jithin the village proper sinc e January 21, 1928, when the Village theater, a community enterprise, closed its doors ~fter fourteen years of continuous servtce. At a public meeting, held on February 7, 1928, at the Byron Stolp school and called by the Civic committee of the \Vitmette Chamber of Commerce, ~he possibility of opening the Central avenue theater as a public enterprise was discussed and a committee appointed to investigate the matter. A community theater was regarded as not feasible . Raise Sunday Issue Following a post card ballot conducted early in May, 1928, by this committee, which disclosed that residents V'.: ere in favor of the operation of a theater on a seven day week basis, the \: illage Board of Trustees was asked to approve nn amendment to the Village urdinance permitting the operation of (Continued on Page 4) In This Issue Pages Amusement Directory ..... 57 Book Comment ........... 38 Boy Scout News .......... 36 Church News ............. 12 Classified Ads .......... 58-59 Club Activities ............ 42 Editorials-Shore Lines ... 32 Girl Scout Affairs ......... 26 Junior Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Music Page ............... 34 Real Eatate Section .... 48-56 Recreation News .......... 20 Society News ............. 40 WHAT ABOUT THE SITUATION IN REAL EsTATE? You may know what's . going on among real estate activities on the north shore by reading the real estate section in . this issue, beginning on page 48.