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Hey, baby, wanna go to a movie? Finally, a movie theater where kids can cry if they want to and their moms don''t feel like joining them.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Jamie Sotonoff Daily Herald Staff Writer

The theater lights dim, the projector starts to roll, and the movie begins with loud, lively music.

A few people in the audience immediately start to cry.

Some wet their pants.

It happens every week at this Schaumburg movie theater because half the patrons are under the age of 1.

Sound annoying?

Not to new moms.

Actually, mothers relish the chance to do something that until now has been considered taboo - bring their newborn babies to the movies.

Last month, Loews Cineplex and Urbanbaby.com debuted a bring- your-baby-to-the-movies program called "Reel Moms."

It's being test marketed in only a handful of theaters nationwide, including three local theaters - Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg, Old Orchard in Skokie, and 600 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

A fussy baby at these shows gets sympathetic smiles, not angry glares and shushes.

But there's an even better perk: It gets new moms out of the house and doing something they remember from their pre-baby lives.

Even if they have to watch "Gigli," new moms are soooo glad to do something other than grocery shop that they happily make Reel Moms a weekly ritual.

"I needed this desperately," said Eva Lukasiewicz,...

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