Watch An Angel Earn His Wings Saturday For Free

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 17, 2013 8:20PM

The Patio Theater has been beset by crumbling heating and cooling systems in recent months. First, the Northwest Side movie house shut down for the summer because owner Demetri Kouvalis couldn’t afford the repairs to the Patio’s air conditioning system. They made it through that and were cruising through autumn when the Patio’s boiler broke down. The Northwest Chicago Film Society, which had only moved from the Portage to the Patio, decided to move again to the Gene Siskel Film Center while Kouvalis worked on getting the boiler repaired.

Kouvalis announced on the Patio’s Facebook page the heat has been fixed meaning guests attending the theater’s screenings won’t have to keep their coats on to watch movies. In the spirit of the season the Patio’s Dec. 21 screenings of It’s a Wonderful Life will be free to all who attend.

The Frank Capra classic is being underwritten by Nate Cropp of Edward Jones Financial. In what’s become a tradition at the Patio, the theater’s entry will be transformed into a shopping center full of craft vendors so if you’re looking for some last-minute stocking stuffers you’ll find plenty of opportunity. Santa Claus will also be in attendance and hopefully he won’t be sitting on a throne of lies and smell like meat and cheese. (And doesn’t that reference make us long for a screening of Elf?)

The showtimes on the 21st are at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Doors open at noon.