An era of theater in Chicago is born: A stage, a show, an actor (Andrew Duncan) and an audience at Second City, circa 1959.
Elaine May and Mike Nichols pioneered improvisational comedy at Second City in the 1950s.
Second City players look for a famed Chicago landmark in “To the Water Tower” in 1963. Top row from left, are Dick Schaal, Dick Libertini and Del Close, (seated) Avery Schreiber, Judy Harris and MacIntyre Dixon.
Bob Camp and Joan Rivers jab at society’s foibles in “Six of One.”
A cast of Second City, circa 1960, with Bill Mathieu, Howard Alk, Eugene Troobnick, Andrew Duncan, Barbara Harris, Mina Kolb and Severn Darden.
The Second City satirists, from top to bottom, are Dick Schaal, Del Close, Bill Alton and Avery Schreiber in 1962.
Dick Schaal, left, and Avery Schreiber of Second City in 1963.
Joan Rivers, shown in 1961 with Del Close, was an early cast member at The Second City, a theater famous for its improv, who went on to a bigger career in television.
The Second City theater’s new auditorium at 1616 N. Wells Street in Old Town looked like this on July 31, with opening night only 36 hours away in 1967. Workmen went on 18-hour shifts to get the room ready.
Eugenie Ross-Leming, from left, John Belushi, Jim Fisher and Judy Morgan in a Second City publicity photo.
Roberta Maguire, standing left, with David Blum, bottom from left, Harold Ramis and Joe Flaherty. The middle row is Brian Doyle Murray and Jim Fisher with Judy Morgan on top in a publicity photo for Second City.
Bernie Sahlins, director of Second City theater, circa 1970.
Harold Ramis in an undated publicity photo from Second City.
John Candy, Dan Aykroyd, Eugene Levy, Rosemary Radcliff and Gilda Radner in the early days at The Second City.
In 1974, the Toronto troupe of The Second City, a theater famous for its improv, included many future stars. Shown outside the cabaret’s home in Chicago’s Old Town neighborhood are from left, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, Catherine O’Hara and John Candy on Aug. 14, 1974.
The Second City classic “Funeral,” directed by Del Close, 1972. At services for a man who drowned in a vat of Van Camp’s pork and beans, mourners (left to right) Joe Flaherty, Eugenie Ross-Leming, Harold Ramis, and John Belushi stifle guffaws while the widow, (Judy Morgan) and priest (Jim Fisher) try to maintain their dignity.
Bill Murray and others in a Second City publicity photo.
Bill Murray’s debut at Second City, 1616 N. Wells Street.
Bernie Sahlins outside The Second City on Feb. 15, 1977.
Jane Sahlins, from left, with her husband Bernard Sahlins and Joyce Sloane, circa 1982.
Dan Aykroyd in 1974 with Second City.
“Take Me Out to the Balkans” comedy revue by The Second City
Jim Zulevic, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch (with recorder) and Kevin Dorff from the production of “Paradigm Lost” for The Second City.
Tina Fey in a publicity photo for Second City.
The 1998 cast of Second City on Wells Street in Chicago, just a couple of blocks south of the theater. The cast is Kevin Dorff, Scott Allman, Tina Fey, Jenna Jolovitz, Rachel Dratch and Scott Adsit.
