A documentary film about the Coliseum Ballroom in Benld, Illinois, will be previewed at a Feb. 20 tribute show for the former Route 66 landmark.
According to the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Illinois:
“Memories of the Coliseum Ballroom,” which will be held at the Gillespie Civic Center, will feature music by former members of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, the Bob Kuban Band and The Guild, a Collinsville band that once included as its members Michael McDonald (the Doobie Brothers) and Hall of Fame songwriter Tom Kelly (“Like A Virgin,” “True Colors”).
It also will give the public a sneak preview of the documentary film “Dance to the Music” that tells the history of the Coliseum, which was opened by Dominic Tarro in 1924 and was destroyed by a fire in 2011. The documentary is due out later this summer.
Gillespie is only three miles north of Benld on Illinois Highway 4, aka original Route 66. The show will be from 7 to 11 p.m., with admission of $15 at the door.
The Coliseum already was a legend even before its demise because of the sheer breadth of acts who performed there. Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Ike and Tina Turner, Bo Diddley, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, Bob Seger, Foghat, Styx, Heart, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Johnny Rivers, Duke Ellington, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Guy Lombardo, Lionel Hampton and Lawrence Welk were among the acts.
According to the newspaper, the Coliseum’s owners could have booked The Beatles in 1964, but hesitated a moment too long. Elvis Presley also was booked there in 1958.
A local rock band was playing at the Coliseum that night in 2011 when an electrical fire started in its roof. Sixteen fire departments responded to the blaze, but they couldn’t save it.
Jim Marcacci and Bruce Logsdon began planning their documentary, “Dance to the Music,” in 2010. Here is a teaser slide show for the film:
The duo had planned to finish their film by October 2011.
Dominic Tarro built the Coliseum in 1924 for $50,000. It featured a 10,000-square-foot dance floor and a seating for more than 1,500. Tarro was indicted in 1930 for selling booze and supplying bootleggers but was slain before going to trial. His daughter, Joyce Tarro, ran the venue until she was killed in a robbery in 1976. The Coliseum closed as a live-music venue in the mid-1990s.
In its last decade, its owners converted the Coliseum into an antique mall, with the occasional show by a local rock band.
(Image of the Coliseum Ballroom in April 2010 via Facebook)
I enjoy learning about past icons, but usually the address is not included. I like to use Google maps to see what is there now, but with no address, it is often impossible. No article I found on the web said exactly where the Coliseum Ballroom stood.
You can get a better view using google street view. Going south on Route 4 you will see the empty lot on the west side which now has a sign between the two entrance drives.
Wish I was close enough to go and see this preview. Sounds very interesting.
Just south of Benld on Route 4, west side of road. There now – empty field and rocks. 🙁
D Smith, Once you get on Goggle earth, plug in 540 S Hardroad,Benld, Illinois and you should come close. The Coliseum would have been on the west (left) side of Rt. 4 right across from the last house on the east (right) side of Rt. 4. The double entrance to the Coliseum can be seen in front of what would have been the Coliseum Ballroom. Zooming in you can see where the building was. Its asphalt parking is directly in front of where the building would have been. The property above the Coliseum and below it was the huge parking lot for the patrons.
Hi Jim: I would like to purchase your video on the Coliseum. We were there in Sept 2011 and had a great talk with the lady checking out antiques. She told us of the secret passage that went across the street to a “house of pleasure”. It was such a neat place.
thanks, Ted
Hi Jim:
I don’t know if my first email went thru. I would like to buy a copy of your DVD Dance to the Music
It was the last building on the west side going south out of town on Route 4. Look from the intersection of Route 4 and Route 138 (main drag going west to east to downtown Benld) on google maps for Benld, IL. Look at the satellite version. Find Commercial Ct south of Route 138 coming in from the east. Just north of that on the west side of Route 4 you will see a white rectangle of land. That was the parking area in front of the Coliseum. You can see the two driveways from Route 4 on to the property across from the first house on Route 4 north of Commercial Ct. Oh, those were the days! They would serve under aged locals. Helped clean up on New Years’ Day when I was a teenager. Never saw so many garbage cans full of empty liquor bottles.
Had great memories from the coliseum. Where can I purchase the historical video Mr Logsdon was involvEd in making
Great slide show!!! I played the Coliseum several times with my band the Gary Hall Group!!! In fact we were the backup band for Tiny Tim! It was a fantastic place. And I still have fond memories of the fans and the venue, the awesome Benld Coliseum.
Hi Jim, I don’t know if your website is still available, but a few years ago I bought a couple t-shirts from you with the Coliseum on them.
I don’t know if the videos are still available, but I’d like one. Can you tell me the cost. I saw a video back in the day and found a picture of my Dad, Chick (Joe) Kucinick in a suit at the Tarros bar. Appreciate buying a copy of the disk if possible yet. Thanks, Mickey (Kucinick) Muin, Sedalia, Missouri