Rolf Achilles is an independent art historian who lives and works in Chicago, and has written and lectured extensively on Chicago's culture and architecture. Rolf is active on several Boards and teaches aspects of Historic Preservation and Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also consults extensively on sacred spaces, curates exhibitions, and is the founding Curator of the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows.

From Nickelodeons and penny arcades in the 1890s to sophisticated, grand movie palaces in the 1920s and '30s, the evolution of American movie theaters was as dramatic as the films they showed. These were the places that gave many millions of Americans their first glimpses of glamor, romance and adventure, and which took them on previously undreamed-of roller-coaster rides of action, thrills and drama. While film stars became gods and goddesses and films became ever more spectacular, movie palaces rose up across the nation and matched the grandeur of these new cinematic worlds with their architectural spectacle, adopting the exotic styles of everything from Egyptian temples to Chinese pagodas to Italian villages. This book identifies the main styles of decoration, the most brilliant examples, the architects and designers behind them, and conjures up the experience of actually sitting in one as the lights dimmed and the music swelled.