Chicago, day 2, an evening of theatres
Near Lincoln Park is the Biography Theatre, built in 1914 as a cinema but now used for live productions. It gained notoriety when, in 1934, FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis shot and killed John Dillinger as he fled the cinema. Dillinger, a gangster and head of the Dillinger Gang had been accused of robbing 24 banks and 4 police stations. He had escaped from prison twice and was suspected of killing an East Chicago police officer who had shot at him. He went to the cinema with a brothel madam, Ana Cumpanas. She had given his whereabouts away to the police under threat of deportation from the US back to her native Romania. We had booked tickets for a production of The Columnist by David Auburn which was taking place at the American Blues Theatre in the Lakeview area of the city. We had intended to eat nearby but all the restaurants were packed and we had left it too late, so we made do with Pretzels and red wine! We should have gone to the diner before we caught the ...