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Home Video From 1938 Gives a Look Inside Wrigley Field When Ivy Was Young

By Kyla Gardner | February 3, 2015 2:17pm
 A home movie in the collection of the Chicago Film Archives shows a first base-line fan's view of Wrigley Field in 1938.
A home movie in the collection of the Chicago Film Archives shows a first base-line fan's view of Wrigley Field in 1938.
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Chicago Film Archives

CHICAGO — A home video shot at Wrigley Field in the 1930s — and uploaded to YouTube this week — shows the baseball stadium with recently-planted ivy ... and full of cigars.

The footage was shot by Jacob Glick, a Ukrainian immigrant born in 1898, who owned cigar shops around the city, including one in the old New Lawrence Hotel at Lawrence and Sheridan, where Glick's son and daughter were born and raised.

"My father was a big Cubs fan, and all I remember, during the season, some of the Cubs players stayed in the hotel," said daughter Diane Berolzheimer, now 83 and living in Evanston. "He went to every game he could."

The black-and-white, silent Cubs footage is part of 93 reels— that's more than 13,000 feet of film — donated to the Chicago Film Archives by Diane and her husband Karl Berolzheimer. Mostly shot on 16-millimeter film, the collection spans the years 1934 to 1978, and shows family life in the city.

 A home movie in the collection of the Chicago Film Archives shows a first base-line fan's view of Wrigley Field in 1938.
A home movie in the collection of the Chicago Film Archives shows a first base-line fan's view of Wrigley Field in 1938.
View Full Caption
Chicago Film Archives

"We had some from her father, and some from my father," said Karl Berolzheimer, 82. "We didn't know what to do with all the film; we were delighted to give it to [the Chicago Film Archives]."

One commenter suggests the footage comes from the home opener against the Cardinals on April 22, 1938.

The bleachers were built in 1937, 23 years after Wrigley Field was erected at 1060 W. Addison St. in 1914. Bill Veeck planted the ivy in September of 1937.

Though originally marked as from 1937, the 1938 date could be correct, according to the Chicago Film Archives, as the film date comes from the stock code, and may not be when the reel was actually used.

Though the footage is a bit dark, Diane Berolzheimer believes someone turned the camera on her father, and he's the man seen lighting his cigar. Jacob Glick died in 1965.

Anne Wells, collections manager at Chicago Film Archives, 329 W. 18th St. in Pilsen, said it's especially interesting to her that the film is subjective.

"It's a home movie, rather than a news camera, a fan's view of the game, of this group of guys smoking cigars, wearing fedoras, having a good time," Wells said.

Wells said the footage has been on the Archives' website since 2012, but gained attention Monday when she uploaded it to YouTube.

Another point of interest in the film is an advertisement atop a Waveland Avenue rooftop that bears the name "Ricketts" — but is only coincidental with the name of the present-day owners.

Ricketts Bar and Restaurant was housed at 2727 N. Clark St. in the 1930s, and the family opened restaurants beginning in 1898 at Clark and Chicago, adding locations throughout the city and suburbs over the years. They are not related to the Ricketts family that now owns the ballpark and the team.

If Jacob Glick and his friends had headed to the Ricketts' before or after the game, they could expect to choose from then-menu staples "strawberry waffles, whole lobster (85 cents), caviar sandwiches (45 cents), and at least four different gelatin salads each night," according to a 1978 Tribune article.

The Ricketts advertised with the Cubs at least through the 1940s, according to SB Nation.

You can check out a lot of the Glick-Berolzheimer family footage here, and if you're feeling a bit jealous of attending a baseball home opener, commiserate with the family as they shovel snow during a 1937 blizzard.

The Cubs and Wrigley Field are 95 percent owned by a trust established for the benefit of the family of Joe Ricketts, owner and CEO of DNAinfo.com. Joe Ricketts has no direct involvement in the management of the iconic team.

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