The 50 Greatest Chicago Moments

Day 1 of 5: TV and film

Our kind of town, Chicago is ... but what kind of town is that, really? It's a place where national cultural trends start, phenomenal ideas are born and great things happen. This week we reveal Chicago's 50 Greatest Cultural Moments and the people who make the Second City No. 1 in our hearts. Each day we'll unveil a top 10 list in TV/film, art/architecture, popular music, stage and classical music.

1915: The city's era as a silent film capital peaks as Charlie Chaplin shoots the comedy "His New Job" at the Argyle Street studios of Essanay Films.

1930: The soap opera is born with the WGN radio premiere of "Painted Dreams," written by Irna Phillips, the Chicago schoolteacher who would go on to create "The Guiding Light" and "As the World Turns," among many other TV hits.

1947: At sites all over town, James Stewart films "Call Northside 777," a well-received thriller about a real-life Chicago crime drama.

1973: Broadcasting from the newsroom instead of a studio, WBBM-Channel 2 co-anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson launch a 10 p.m. report that revolutionizes local journalism with its live minicam reports from the field.

1975: "Cooley High," written by former Cabrini-Green kid Eric Monte and shot in Chicago, depicts teen life in public housing. It inspires the TV sitcom "What's Happening!"

1979: With full City Hall approval, the Bluesmobile smashes through the Daley Center on the way to "The Blues Brothers" becoming a monster hit and reviving Chicago filmmaking after several largely fallow decades.

1984: The new host of "AM Chicago," one Oprah Winfrey, passes up Phil Donahue as the city's top-rated talk show host almost immediately after her debut on WLS-Channel 7. Renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show," the series goes national two years later.

1985: During the Von Steuben Day parade in the Loop, Matthew Broderick shoots a lip-syncing scene on a float for "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," a hit teen comedy lush with Chicago locations.

1991: "Home Alone," shot in Winnetka and Wilmette, surpasses "Ghostbusters" to become the highest-grossing live-action comedy in history, a record it still holds.

1949: NBC debuts "Garroway at Large," an unscripted variety show shot in Chicago and aired live nationwide on this thing called television. Viewers love its star, Dave Garroway, a low-key wit who later would move to New York and become the first host of a promising morning project called "Today." Garroway's was one of several locally made shows -- including "Kukla, Fran & Ollie" and Studs Terkel's "Studs' Place" -- that made up for low budgets by emphasizing creativity and spontaneity. Though New York and Los Angeles ended up the country's TV capitals, the new medium was largely shaped by this "Chicago School" of broadcasting.