Silent film organist Dennis Wolkowicz, known professionally as Jay Warren, passes away at 74

by BRIAN NADIG

Silent Film Society of Chicago’s Dennis Wolkowicz loved silent films and paid tribute by learning to play the photoplay organ and keeping the memory of the movies alive.

The lifelong Northwest Side resident died suddenly at the age of 74 on Sunday, Feb. 23.

“His passion was silent films,” his wife Linda Stagner said. “As a kid … he’d watch them. He thought they were cool.”

“He played the accordion like all good Polish boys” but eventually learned the organ and in the mid-1980s he gave his first performance at the former Gateway Theater inside the Copernicus Center, 5216 W. Lawrence Ave., in Jefferson Park. Wolkowicz helped manage the theater for 18 years.

The theater included a 17-rank (sets of pipes) pipe organ that Wolkowicz had acquired, with most of the pipe sets coming from a church, Stagner said. Each organized set produces a different sound.

He used the name “Jay Warren” when he performed because of the difficulty some had pronouncing his last name, Stagner said.

The pipes were later removed from Copernicus, and there were plans to have them installed in the Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., which Wolkowicz along with business partners started operating in the mid-2000s, but plans for the organ’s installation there did not materialize, and the now-closed theater was sold in 2012.

Wolkowicz was the founder of the Silent Film Society of Chicago, and he performed at theaters, churches and other locations, including City News Cafe, 4018 N. Cicero Ave. He was about to head to the cafe on Sunday, but he passed away a short time before the scheduled performance.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Dennis. His dedication to the neighborhood, to historic preservation and to the arts was unwavering.

“Dennis was more than a colleague. He was a friend, a mentor and a champion for Chicago’s cultural heritage. His loss is profound, but his impact will be felt for generations to come. My thoughts and condolences are with his family, friends and all who were fortunate enough to know him,”
City Cafe owner Joe Angelastri said.

Stagner said that Wolkowicz, a Gordon Tech graduate, had a strong passion for Six Corners, where the film society has its office. He grew up not far from Six Corners, living his entire life in the same house.

“His grandparents bought the house in the 1920s. It was the first on the block. … His dad was raised there and then Dennis,” she said.

Funeral arrangements are being made but have not been announced.

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