UPDATE: Oriental To Screen “College” Saturday

posted by JimRankin on March 11, 2004 at 2:32 pm

MILWAUKEE, WI — Note: there has been a change in the film to be shown at the Oriental Theatre this coming Saturday. The new selection will be “College” starring Buster Keaton. Still football and still a great movie.

The show will be complete with Marching Sousaphones and the Pom Squad along with West End Jazz playing those hot college tunes of the 20’s. Lets all get out an cheer for our boy Buster!! See you Saturday March 13th, at 1 pm, at the Oriental Theatre at Farwell and North Milwaukee WI.

j H r wrote:

FROM: JIM RANKIN, MILWAUKEE, MARCH 10,2004

Hello Fellow Theatres Buffs:

COMING TO THE MILWAUKEE ‘ORIENTAL’ THIS SATURDAY, March 13:

“THE FRESHMAN” with silent films star Harold Lloyd.

If the call of the gridiron and the noise of the fans is too strong for you to resist even now in the spring time (?), then you will want to be in the select audience which appreciates the not-so-silent films of the roaring Twenties, when you can experience a hilarious comedy, THE FRESHMAN of 1925, long before football became a corporate enterprise, and people then still took pride in a game for the sake of a game. As usual, this opus will be seen in classic black and white on a large screen, while it is accompanied by the mammoth Kimball Theatre Pipe Organ in rousing school songs and marches, no doubt. Films maven, Leonard Maltin, gives the film four stars (****) and describes it: “One of Lloyd’s best remembered films casts him as a college patsy who’ll do anything to be popular on campus, unaware that everyone if making fun of him. Football game finale is one of several comic highlights. A real audience rouser!” To see gangly Harold being buffeted by the brutes on the fie!
lt is a sight one does not forget.

There are always “surprises” to accompany one of these “Silents Please” movies, and I am sure that this will be no exception. Sometimes it is a stage band (sometimes with dancers), sometimes a juggler/gymnast, sometimes a bestowal of door prizes, or a SPECIAL GUEST, but whatever fun is planned, you and the kiddies will have a wholesome time at one of the last of our ‘cathedrals of entertainment’ where your experience will be very different from the local megaplex cinema shoebox. Surely you owe it to yourself and you little ones to foster such a unique experience and to also help the venerable ORIENTAL THEATRE to continue this wonderful fare. Keep you eyes and ears open there for any news as to the ORIENTAL’s future.

You know the drill: the theatre is at 2230 N. Farwell Ave., just six blocks from Milwaukee’s lakefront at North Ave., about 20 blocks north of downtown. The Interstate expressway exit is only about ten blocks west of the theatre on North Ave. and there is parking in small lots within three blocks of the theatre. The show starts at 1:PM and is $8 for adults, $5.50 for children 12 and under. (the kids, especially, had a wonderful time last I was there!) Tickets are available at the box office prior to show time, no credit cards or checks, please. Further information is available through the show’s sponsor: The Kimball Theatre Organ Society at: or via their ‘Silents Please’ phone line at: 262-634-8394.

Have a great and unforgettable time!!

‘Theatrically’ yours,

Jim Rankin

Theaters in this post

• Oriental Theatre