Theatre Employe Arrested in Boston For Dropping Missiles From Balcony
Dozen Persons Injured in Keith’s Boston House Since Last July
BOSTON. Oct. 12 (AP)â€"A chain of uncanny disturbances which since last July have annoyed patrons of B. F. Keith’s theatre here,
and which for the last month caused performances to be given with lights on throughout the house, was believed by the police to
have been ended today.
More than a dozen persons have been injured and police investigators have been baffled by the hurling of pieces of scrap iron, lead pipe and rocks into the audience of the theatre at practically every performance for ten weeks. Search for the cause, which brought as many as 120 investigators into the theatre at every performance, failed for weeks. Yesterday, however, Walter Matthews, for two years a special officer In the theatre, was arrested and today faced arraignment and examination by alienists.
Early last August, the theatre authorities asked police aid in locating the person or persons who were throwing missiles into the audience. Plainclothes men strove vainly for days to detect the. source of the objects. Additional men and private detectives were brought in. Uniformed police were stationed throughout the house and the lights were ordered on during the entire performance. Police and detectives in plain clothes were scattered all throughout the audience, but the hail of missiles continued.
Rarely did the perpetrator miss a performance. A number of persons, including women, were struck and received cuts and bruises.
More often the objects bounced off the chairs or landed in the aisles. Then, several days ago, two policemen, smuggled behind a
grating in the roof of the auditorium, saw a suspicious movement by Matthews. The next day they watched him through an entire performance
and saw him, from behind an aisle screen which protected him from the sight of those in the balcony, throw a missile over the rail. His arrest followed.
Matthews declared he was unable to explain his act. “An irresistible impulse” made him do it, he insisted. His missiles were secured from
the basement of the the theatre, he said. Each time he did it, he told the police, he resolved to stop but at the next performance found he was unable to resist the urge.
(Racine Journal, August 22, 1907)
Russel Armstrong of Grand Ave., will leave Saturday to begin an engagement next week at the Columbia theater in Kenosha.
(January 14, 1930)
Arrest Of Man And Youths Solves Burglary Series
Kenosha, Wis.â€"(UP)â€" A series of burglaries, including that of the
Vogue theatre, Jan. 5, were believed solved today after a man and
three youths had been arrested and allegedly confessed to the robberies.
The four are Arthur Metten, 29; John Metten, 20; Christy Marko,
18, and a 14-year-old boy. John Metten was arrested in a stolen car, police said, and confessed to the thefts and admitted that he
and his companions planned to rob another Kenosha theatre, the safe
of which had already been taken out with $500 in it.
(April 10, 1941:)
Dies of Injuries from Hit-Run Crash
Milwaukeeâ€"(AP)â€" Kenneth Hagberg, 35, of Kenosha, died at the
county emergency hospital last night of injuries sustained early Tuesday when his automobile plunged off Highway 41 into a ditch near the county line.
Hagberg, who was a projectionist at the Kenosha Vogue theater, told
deputies another car sideswiped his and then fled the scene.
(Tuesday, February 6, 1912)
Theater Nears Completionâ€"
Work on the new Bate theater is being rushed and it is thought that within a month or so the first performance can be staged at the theater. The outer walls were completed some time ago, but the cold weather delayed the interior work considerably.
The Lawrence Brill Real Estate agency announced it has purchased four properties in the 1600 block on Douglas Ave., including the 39-year old Douglas Theatre building and land at 1639.
Lawrence Brill said negotiations are underway to locate a new business operation on the theatre property and adjoining property purchased immediately north of it.
He did not disclose the nature of the business but said details will be announced.
The agency’s plans rule out further use of the theatre as a movie house, Brill said.
The theatre closed two years ago and has reopened for only a brief period, Brill said.
Two Businesses Involved
The theatre site has 75 front feet and is 350 feet deep, while the adjoining parcel is 70 feet wide and the same depth, Brill said. The latter land includes two dwellings, at 1647 and 1647-½ Douglas.
The theatre building also contains the Barrows Jewelry store (1641),
Zygas Cleaners & Dyers (1637), and apartments. The building and land were purchased from Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee, Brill said. The other two purchases are on the opposite side of Douglas avenue. Brill listed them as the commercial building at 1648 and the house behind it at 1648-½ and the land on which both stand, and the commercial building and land at 1652.
The commercial building at 1648 is occupied by the Universal Travel Service, with apartments upstairs.
The building at 1652 held the Kroupa Hardware Co. and was purchased from the estate of Anthony Kroupa, Brill said.
He said the business has been closed pending completion of a leasing agreement with “a Racine businessman” who will operate the store.
Brill said his firm will remodel the hardware building’s upper floor for office or apartment use.
Theater Built in 1923
The theater was built in 1923 by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Krusienski, who operated the business during its most prosperous years â€" first as a vaudeville and silent picture house and finally, when talkies killed vaudeville, as a seven-days-weekly movie house.
The Krusienskis sold the theater for $75,000 in 1945 to a pair of Milwaukee men, Dave and Bernard Sherman, who continued the business as a full-time operation, showing standard features.
In 1955, the operation was purchased by Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee, who showed standard features, then began “art film” programming and later Spanish language pictures. Programming had been reduced to a few days a week until the house closed two years ago.
Re-opened, Then Closed
The theater was re-opened last year for weekend movie showing, but closed after about a month of such operation.
The Krusienskis, retired, live at 5826 Sunset Blvd.
Mrs. Krusienski recalls that early programming at the Douglas consisted of vaudeville shows on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with silent films on other days.
She remembers a vaudeville troupe out of Milwaukee headed by a song and dance man called “Slippy Doodles†as among the patrons’ favorites.
Mrs. Krusienski says the effect television has had on the movie industry was foreseen to some extent by she and her husband and was among the reasons they sold in 1945.
“There were nine theaters in Racine and they were all making money until TV came in,” she said. Today, there are only three in business."
â€"Journal-Times Photo
The 39-year-old Douglas Theater, closed two years ago, has been sold for the third time. Plans for the building preclude the possibility
that movies will be shown there again.
(Austin News, April 14, 1965)
Testimony on one of three recent police cases involving the gutted Symphony theater, 4937 Chicago, will be introduced at Tuesday’s court hearing by Commander John Neurauter of the Austin station.
The case involves a young teenage girl, reportedly forced inside the abandoned theater by two 12-year-old boys and a 13-year-old who attempted to attack her before she was able to flee.
Records of three recent fires in the building will also be submitted to the court. Chief Franda Murphy of the fire prevention bureau has evidence he also promised that he would present at the hearing set for 2 p.m. Tuesday in room 1108 to the hearing and the inspector in court to testify as to his findings.
A health department inspector has also been asked to report on his findings regarding the health hazards caused by rats and pigeons in and around the theater before Judge Richard Napolitano.
An ACO delegation will attend the hearing with some members expected to testify on their own observations of conditions both outside and inside the theater, vacant for nearly 5 years, was done by members of the Austin Community organization housing committee who volunteered to comb the files entry, technically should have no effect on the city’s efforts to obtain a demolition decree from the court.
“In 1963, the state legislature, of which Judge Napolitano was a member at that time, passed an amendment which would allow granting of a demolition order against a building, even when it was boarded up,” pointed out Timothy O'Hara, acting head of the building code enforcement division of the corporation counsel’s office.
Prior to passage of the 1963 amendment, owner of a vacant and dilapidated building could avoid a demolition order simply by securing the building against entry. This was what Pielet did during the 1962 court case on the Symphony. He told an ACO committee last Thursday that he had signed contracts to install an overhanging door at the alley side of the theater as well as steel plates over the broken windows at the front.
Several neighbors, accompanied by Jim Feeley of the ACO, were easily able to obtain entry to the theater recently when during an inspection of the theater they ran across the janitor chasing four youths from the premises.
“The door was open so we went inside,” Feeley explained. Mrs. Patricia O'Leary, 5037 Superior, one of those accompanying Feeley that day, said she was repulsed by all the dead pigeons lying
around on the floor inside the building.
“There were bricks, bottles and debris all over the inside,” she said, “but the pigeons were the worst. Right in the front by the entrance there’s a ceiling chandelier hanging about two inches off the ground. I’m told the children swing back and forth on it when they get inside."
Getting inside isn’t too difficult, the ACO members discovered again as they emerged from the theater.
"A group of three or four boys came over to us,” she added, “and asked us if we were trying to get inside. They offered to show us how. That is being a little too helpful!”
(July 7, 1930)
LOOT THEATRE OF $65
Racine â€"(UP)â€"Following an unsuccessful attempt to break in the front
door of the Granada theatre here Monday night, burglars entered the
Douglas theatre and escaped with $65.
(Racine Journal Times, Monday, July 2, 1962)
Krusienskis Wed 50 Years
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Krusienski of 5826 Sunset Blvd. will celebrate their golden anniversary this month.
The couple was married at St. Joseph’s Church in Milwaukee on July 3. They owned and operated the Douglas Theatre until their retirement in 1944. They have two sons, Chester and Harold, and five grandchildren.
Members of Racine Projectionists Local 460 are picketing the Douglas Theatre at 1639 Douglas Ave. protesting the theatre’s use of non-union projectionists. The theatre was reopened last weekend after it had been shut down for about three years.
Owner Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee said the theatre is operating weekends only and is under lease to a pair of Milwaukee
men. He said he believes the men are operating the projector themselves.
John Ozowski, business representative for the 11-member Racine local, said the picketing will continue.
(Friday, June 18, 1926) One of the largest business deals in the history of modern Kenosha was completed Friday with the signing of a long term lease whereby the Kenosha Orpheum Theatre company takes over the present site of the old Rhode Opera House and the vacant lot in the rear of it for the erection of the new $500,000 Gateway Theatre.
(Sheboygan Press, December 19, 1928)
Watchman Confesses Kenosha Theatre Robbery Was Frame-Up
Kenosha, Wis.â€"(AP) â€" Police announced today that Alexander Dotz,
night watchman at the Kenosha theater which was robbed of $1,022 in cash had confessed that the robbery was a “frame-up” and implicated
four other men, all of whom were under arrest.
The confession also revealed, police said, that Dotz’s brother, a special policeman, had watched the robbery from the balcony of the theater, planning to trap the men, but instead lost his nerve and allowed them to get away.
James Martin, 40, proprietor of a roadhouse where Dotz’s confession
said the job was planned the day before it took place; Joe Tarrello,
20, and Victor Carbellin, 29, Racine, were under arrest here. The fifth man, Angelo Tarello, 35, was arrested by Chicago police. Tarello was held at the Chicago detective bureau after he refused to
waive extradition, Plans were being made here to request extradition papers at once. Police said Martin had $548.40 in his pockets when arrested just as he was getting his car preparing, they believed, to making a getaway.
Dotz' confession said he told his brother David, 26, about plans for the robbery in which, in addition to the $1,022, a total of $710 of theater ticket books were taken, at 2 p. m. Monday afternoon.
The robbery took place early on Tuesday. The men tied Dotz to a chair where he was found by his wife when she came down to clean up the theater at 5:45 a. m. Tuesday. Dotz in his confession to police said his brother watched the robbery from the balcony but did nothing to stop it. A few hours after the men left, his confession read, the brother came back to see how he was getting along. Tarrello, police believed, was the leader in the robbery. The four men held here were charged with being accessories. Police had not determined what action to take against Dotz’s policeman-brother who joined the force a few months ago as a member of the special police group hired to aid in curbing disorder here.
Damage Claims of $176,344 Made After Marquee Falls
Sacramento, Calif. – Two suits for damages totaling $176,344 were filed in superior court as an aftermath of the collapse of the Hippodrome theater marquee last September 14. Damages of $100,500 were asked by the husband and parents of Mrs. Jessie Shirley Potter, 41, of Alta, who was crushed beneath the marquee. Suit for $75,844.50 was filed by Joseph Brady, 40, who said he suffered a skull fracture, broken collarbone, permanent brain injury and loss of hearing in one ear when he was hit by the falling marquee. Defendants in the actions are the Empress Theatre Co. of Sacramento, successor to the Hippodrome Theatre Co., Inc., West Coast Theatres Corp. of Northern California, Fox West Coast Theatres Corp., the Campbell Construction Co., the Physicians Building Corp. and several John Does.
“Sheboygan Theatre” Will Be Name Of New Amusement Place
Sheboygan’s new $600,000 palace of entertainment, now under construction at N. Eighth street and Niagara Avenue, will be called the “Sheboygan Theatre,” according to a definite announcement in
southern Wisconsin Press from the Milwaukee Theatre Circuit.
The community is looking forward eagerly to the time when this magnificent building will be completed.
A crew of seventy men is laboring long hours so that all work may be finished before April 1, 1928.
Pouring of concrete for the foundation footing has been completed and the erection of steel is now under way. The bricklayers will be ready to start within three weeks. Those who are familiar with the new Kenosha Theatre, which had its formal opening September 1, can visualize the beauty that brain and brawn will build into the Sheboygan Theatre. Said the Kenosha Evening News in its special theatre edition:
“Theatre lovers will be thrilled at the splendor and magnificence. It’s a far cry from the days when Spanish galleons were the pirates of the high seas and Pizzaro and Cortez conquered and plundered the fabulous riches of Mexico and South America, to this age in which men span the ocean in less than two days. Yet when patrons of the Kenosha Theatre look about them they will behold magnificence and dazzling opulence in an abundance undreamed of by those old Spanish conquerors."
Likewise, an advertisement of the United Studios, managers of the local construction project, appearing in the Exhibitors Herald, states that "the new $600,000 theatre at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, will
represent, when completed, all that modern thought can contribute to the motion picture theatre."
The new Sheboygan Theatre will have a seating capacity of 1,550. The main entrance will be on N. Eighth Street. The building will be of the atmospheric type, resembling an open air theatre.
There will be a 25-foot stage to permit vaudeville entertainment, as well as moving pictures produced by the Universal Pictures corporation under the famous Carl Laemmle, its guiding genius.
WARNER BROS. TO BUILD NEW THEATRE HERE
State Theatre, Closing Tonight, Will Be Demolished
Delaware County’s finest motion picture theatre soon will be a reality, upon the site of the present State Theatre, on Seventh Street, beween Sproul Street and Edgmont Avenue.
Announcement of this was made this afternoon by A. J. Vanni, zone
manager of the Warner Brothers, who came here from Philadelphia to
consult with local Stanley-Warner officials.
The State Theatre will close tonight. Demolition of the famous showhouse, which in turn was first Hargreaves Grand Opera House
then Washburn’s Theatre, then the State Theatre, will begin immediately.
Architects already are at work on the plans and construction will be
rushed to permit the formal opening of the showhouse in the spring.
According to the Warner Brothers announcement, the new movie theatre
will represent the last word in motion picture showhouses. The
building with a balcony will accommodate 1400 patrons; it will be
fireproof, air-conditioned, and will have accommodations found only in New York and other metropolitan theatres.
The Warner Brothers hold title not only to the present State Theatre
site but the extensive plot in the rear, now used as a parking lot. This lot extends from Wood Street to the building of R. Chester Spencer, on East Eighth street, and is one of the most valuable midtown sites.
Entrance to the new theatre will be on East Seventh street. At the
present time there is an alleyway between Wood and Sproul streets, separating the State Theater site from the parking lot, but it is believed little difficulty will be encountered in securing this area for private use.
Announcement by the Warner Brothers of the new theatre verified
rumors which have been heard for some months that a new theatre
would be built on that site. It was felt that the present times were
propitious for such a venture and after some conferences several weeks ago in New York, it was decided to go ahead.
Famous Theatre
The State Theatre is one of the best known showhouses in this section
of the country. When Thomas Hargreaves built the Grand Opera House, stock companies played there. Middle-aged men and women remember dainty little Irene Myers, Chester deVonde and other stalwarts of the stock companies. Musical comedies starred there.
Actors and actresses who gained high fame later on played here; Powell, the Magician; Houdini and hundreds of others famous in American stage annals were seen there.
When Leon Washburn gave up his Uncle Tom’s Cabin road shows and settled down to the show business in a theatre, the place operated first for vaudeville and for a while, for traveling shows. Later motion pictures were secured and eventually the Warner Brothers took over.
The building was erected in 1890 and was on the site of a skating rink. The opening date was October 20 1890, with John A. Stevens presenting “Wife for Wife”. No building in city perhaps has more memories than the old Opera House, as it is remembered by many thousands. In its place will be the modern showhouse of the cinema, of a grandeur and comfort never dreamed at the turn of the century.
(The Valley Independent, Thursday, August 24, 1972)
X-rated films save Pittsburgh theatre closing
PITTSBURGH (AP)-Bambi, Snow White, King Kong and Godzilla are in trouble in Pittsburgh. The kids don’t want to see them anymore, say the operators of a local theatre. Only X-rated films, low budget scorchers once found in tiny back-room theatres, saved the historic Garden Theater from closing its doors.
Lee Hoffman, who co-manages the theatre with her husband Bob, says the “kiddie” movies were lucky to draw 15 oe 20 children on a good day, not nearly enough to put food on our table. “We tried the X-rated movies and they really stimulated the gross,” she said. “We had the choice of changing the policy or closing our doors."The Suckers,” “The Adult Version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Ribald Tales of Robin Hood” are some of the films which have replaced Walt Disney and other general attraction movies at the Garden.
Though the money is better, the newfound wealth is not understood by some. A small band of youngsters picketed the theatre earlier this week demanding “Kids' Power,” hollering for films they could attend.
“We told them that we don’t like these X pictures,” Hoffman said.
“Look at these records,“ his wife declared. "I remember this one especially. We showed matinee of ‘War of the Gargantuas’ and ‘Revenge of Godzilla.’ Nothing. A few kids and five adults.
"I don’t know where the children are going,” Mrs. Hoffman continued. “It used to be different. I remember a few years ago we played ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ and we broke records. The theatre was packed. We sold 40 bags of popcorn.â€
Sumner, December 18, 1969:
Sunset Theatre to close doors.
Sunset Theatre will close its doors following the showing of the “Where Eagles Dare”, scheduled for January 2, 3 and 4, 1970, according to Theatre manager Jerry Waskow.
Reason for closing the theatre is very simple, Waskow explained. “Lack of business”. I just can’t continue to operate when I have to subsidize the theatre out of my own pocket. I am aware that the theatre can be an asset to the community, or at least I think it is. But there is no point in my attempting to keep it open any longer when it isn’t self supporting."
Waskow said he wouldn’t even mind operating the theatre if he could break even. “I’d keep it going if I could come out even, just to provide the young people with a place to meet and spend their time, but I cannot afford to keep going when I have to make up losses out of my own funds.”
“If there is anyone who can come up with a constructive idea on how the theatre can be kept open and operating, I would certainly like to hear about it,” Waskow said. “I know it’s been discussed and there have been many people who have suggested ways the operation of the theatre could be changed. I don’t question that the operation of the theatre could be improved, if there were improvements made to the facilties, but there would still have to be more and continuing attendance before myself or anyone else could keep the theatre going even on a break-even basis.”
This isn’t the first time the Sunset Theatre has had to close down for lack of business. Since the advent of Television in the early ‘50s the local theatre has been on the decline. For several years it was operated by the Sumner Jaycees organization, and was subsidized during this period by the Sumner Commercial Club.
Waskow has managed to keep the theatre going for the past several years, but the building has continued to deteriorate, and the equipment is also greatly in need of repair.
Surprisingly, Waskow has been able to book first rate pictures all along during the time he has been operating the theatre.
With a new generation now on the scene, brought up with
TV and not quite as attached to it as the oldsters, it would seem that theatre entertainment will enjoy a revival.
It is noted that a number of theatres, closed for an extended period of time are reopening. In this area, it is reported that the theatre at West Union now plans a reopening in a completely remodeled building, and theatres in the larger cities in this area still continue to operate and apparently are able to bear their own financial burden. “I couldn’t guarantee that renovation of the building and equipment, including the seating, screen and projectors, and installation of an air conditioner would bring back the theatre business, but it surely would be interesting to find out,” Waskow said. “I’m still convinced that this community, drawing from other nearby areas, including the college at Fayette, can support a theatre, but not under present conditions. The theatre has to be a special place, for a boy to take his girl, or a man to take his wife, but the theatre here at present cannot be considered in this light. Some repairing will have to be done before it can be
acceptable to the public.”
The theatre is owned by ten men, some of whom are businessmen in Sumner and others who are former businessmen now residing in other communities. The owners are apparently reluctant to authorize needed repairs without first having assurance that the community will support the theatre.
Anyone who may have any suggestions regarding the theatre should contact Waskow or any member of the Sumner Commercial Club board of directors. There is no question but what Waskow will close down the theatre as of Monday, Jan. 5, 1970, but it is also not impossible that a reopening could occur sometime in the future, should some concrete method of a workable operation, momentarily satisfactory, be arrived at.
The silver screen will be back in use at the Genesee Theatre in north suburban Waukegan starting next month. Officials are lining up a schedule of classic films to be shown with the $40,000 of projection equipment that was installed earlier this summer.
The first feature is being held close to the vest, with Mayor Robert Sabonjian telling City Council on Monday only that it will be “a true American classic.”
Genesee Executive Director Gary Zabinski said Tuesday that an exact weekend date in August, as well as the movie in question, will be announced later this week. He added that “a lineup of classic films as well as more recent ones” will be put on the schedule.
But Zabinski made it a point to say that “we’re not going to be a movie house” in the strict sense of the term.
“The Genesee is not going to revert to being a movie house where you have movies being shown there six or seven times a week,” Zabinski said. “It deserves to be more than that, and it’s proven it can be more than that. [but] I think there’s room for this.”
In announcing the installation of the equipment at Monday’s City Council meeting, Sabonjian said he hoped that the regular scheduling of movies would be part of “adopting a more businesslike attitude” at the Genesee.
Sabonjian noted that the theater requires an annual $1 million payment from the city to retire the $24 million in renovation bonds, and another $350,000 in the form of a “support payment” toward operations from the Friends of the Historic Genesee Theatre.
Zabinski said details of film offerings are still being worked out, but the general plan is to offer screenings “initially one night a week for a while” around the theater’s live performance schedule, which typically eats up weekend dates.
The purchase of projection equipment was put together by the nonprofit Friends organization, which conducts fund-raising efforts for the theater. Zabinski said the equipment — a 35 mm film projector, and a digital model with both high-definition DVD and Blu-ray capability — is a mix of new and refurbished equipment, including parts culled from vintage Genesee projectors.
Also on the entertainment front, Sabonjian said Monday that his decision to pull funding for the Waukegan Municipal Band’s lakefront concert series was made “in order to demonstrate good faith” with employees whose jobs are on the line during budget talks.
According to Sabonjian, the annual $60,000 stipend for band members would cover the salary of one full-time police officer or firefighter.
“It is not a decision I took lightly,” said Sabonjian, encouraging the Municipal Band to launch “a vigorous fund-raising effort or seek a corporate sponsorship” to float a concert series in 2010.
Band officials announced last week that they would perform the final three Tuesday night concerts on a volunteer basis. The season concludes at 7 p.m. July 28 at the lakefront’s Stiner Pavilion with a presentation of “Audience Favorites.” – from the Chicago Sun-Times
The CREST succeeded the HIPPODROME theater, whose marquee had fallen, killing a woman. Since then the CREST has been a beacon for Sacramentans looking for a movie or a concert since it opened on October 6, 1949 with a gala event and the showing of “That Midnight Kiss,” starring Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza. The stars were on hand.
On the site where the CREST now sits, 1013 K St., the EMPRESS Theater vaudeville house opened in 1912. Its name later was changed to the HIPPODROME, and it became a full-time movie house in 1927.
In 1946, the HIPPODROME marquee collapsed, injuring three people and killing Mrs. R. S. Potter of Alta, in Placer County. The theater janitor said the marquee fell in “just one big drop.” The theater owners decided to gut the structure to the walls and build the CREST inside. At the peak, Sacramento boasted 26 downtown theaters.
(Hutchinson KS News, July 13, 1936:) Trouble that has been bothering
the Civic Theatre at Pretty Prairie since it was opened several weeks
ago, has been located at last. Improperly focused lens was the trouble.
Mystery Is Solved
Theatre Employe Arrested in Boston For Dropping Missiles From Balcony
Dozen Persons Injured in Keith’s Boston House Since Last July
BOSTON. Oct. 12 (AP)â€"A chain of uncanny disturbances which since last July have annoyed patrons of B. F. Keith’s theatre here,
and which for the last month caused performances to be given with lights on throughout the house, was believed by the police to
have been ended today.
More than a dozen persons have been injured and police investigators have been baffled by the hurling of pieces of scrap iron, lead pipe and rocks into the audience of the theatre at practically every performance for ten weeks. Search for the cause, which brought as many as 120 investigators into the theatre at every performance, failed for weeks. Yesterday, however, Walter Matthews, for two years a special officer In the theatre, was arrested and today faced arraignment and examination by alienists.
Early last August, the theatre authorities asked police aid in locating the person or persons who were throwing missiles into the audience. Plainclothes men strove vainly for days to detect the. source of the objects. Additional men and private detectives were brought in. Uniformed police were stationed throughout the house and the lights were ordered on during the entire performance. Police and detectives in plain clothes were scattered all throughout the audience, but the hail of missiles continued.
Rarely did the perpetrator miss a performance. A number of persons, including women, were struck and received cuts and bruises.
More often the objects bounced off the chairs or landed in the aisles. Then, several days ago, two policemen, smuggled behind a
grating in the roof of the auditorium, saw a suspicious movement by Matthews. The next day they watched him through an entire performance
and saw him, from behind an aisle screen which protected him from the sight of those in the balcony, throw a missile over the rail. His arrest followed.
Matthews declared he was unable to explain his act. “An irresistible impulse” made him do it, he insisted. His missiles were secured from
the basement of the the theatre, he said. Each time he did it, he told the police, he resolved to stop but at the next performance found he was unable to resist the urge.
(Racine Journal, August 22, 1907)
Russel Armstrong of Grand Ave., will leave Saturday to begin an engagement next week at the Columbia theater in Kenosha.
(January 14, 1930)
Arrest Of Man And Youths Solves Burglary Series
Kenosha, Wis.â€"(UP)â€" A series of burglaries, including that of the
Vogue theatre, Jan. 5, were believed solved today after a man and
three youths had been arrested and allegedly confessed to the robberies.
The four are Arthur Metten, 29; John Metten, 20; Christy Marko,
18, and a 14-year-old boy. John Metten was arrested in a stolen car, police said, and confessed to the thefts and admitted that he
and his companions planned to rob another Kenosha theatre, the safe
of which had already been taken out with $500 in it.
(April 10, 1941:)
Dies of Injuries from Hit-Run Crash
Milwaukeeâ€"(AP)â€" Kenneth Hagberg, 35, of Kenosha, died at the
county emergency hospital last night of injuries sustained early Tuesday when his automobile plunged off Highway 41 into a ditch near the county line.
Hagberg, who was a projectionist at the Kenosha Vogue theater, told
deputies another car sideswiped his and then fled the scene.
(Tuesday, February 6, 1912)
Theater Nears Completionâ€"
Work on the new Bate theater is being rushed and it is thought that within a month or so the first performance can be staged at the theater. The outer walls were completed some time ago, but the cold weather delayed the interior work considerably.
(Racine Sunday Bulletin; May 13, 1962)
Douglas Theater Sold; End to Movies There
The Lawrence Brill Real Estate agency announced it has purchased four properties in the 1600 block on Douglas Ave., including the 39-year old Douglas Theatre building and land at 1639.
Lawrence Brill said negotiations are underway to locate a new business operation on the theatre property and adjoining property purchased immediately north of it.
He did not disclose the nature of the business but said details will be announced.
The agency’s plans rule out further use of the theatre as a movie house, Brill said.
The theatre closed two years ago and has reopened for only a brief period, Brill said.
Two Businesses Involved
The theatre site has 75 front feet and is 350 feet deep, while the adjoining parcel is 70 feet wide and the same depth, Brill said. The latter land includes two dwellings, at 1647 and 1647-½ Douglas.
The theatre building also contains the Barrows Jewelry store (1641),
Zygas Cleaners & Dyers (1637), and apartments. The building and land were purchased from Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee, Brill said. The other two purchases are on the opposite side of Douglas avenue. Brill listed them as the commercial building at 1648 and the house behind it at 1648-½ and the land on which both stand, and the commercial building and land at 1652.
The commercial building at 1648 is occupied by the Universal Travel Service, with apartments upstairs.
The building at 1652 held the Kroupa Hardware Co. and was purchased from the estate of Anthony Kroupa, Brill said.
He said the business has been closed pending completion of a leasing agreement with “a Racine businessman” who will operate the store.
Brill said his firm will remodel the hardware building’s upper floor for office or apartment use.
Theater Built in 1923
The theater was built in 1923 by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Krusienski, who operated the business during its most prosperous years â€" first as a vaudeville and silent picture house and finally, when talkies killed vaudeville, as a seven-days-weekly movie house.
The Krusienskis sold the theater for $75,000 in 1945 to a pair of Milwaukee men, Dave and Bernard Sherman, who continued the business as a full-time operation, showing standard features.
In 1955, the operation was purchased by Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee, who showed standard features, then began “art film” programming and later Spanish language pictures. Programming had been reduced to a few days a week until the house closed two years ago.
Re-opened, Then Closed
The theater was re-opened last year for weekend movie showing, but closed after about a month of such operation.
The Krusienskis, retired, live at 5826 Sunset Blvd.
Mrs. Krusienski recalls that early programming at the Douglas consisted of vaudeville shows on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with silent films on other days.
She remembers a vaudeville troupe out of Milwaukee headed by a song and dance man called “Slippy Doodles†as among the patrons’ favorites.
Mrs. Krusienski says the effect television has had on the movie industry was foreseen to some extent by she and her husband and was among the reasons they sold in 1945.
“There were nine theaters in Racine and they were all making money until TV came in,” she said. Today, there are only three in business."
â€"Journal-Times Photo
The 39-year-old Douglas Theater, closed two years ago, has been sold for the third time. Plans for the building preclude the possibility
that movies will be shown there again.
(Austin News, April 14, 1965)
Testimony on one of three recent police cases involving the gutted Symphony theater, 4937 Chicago, will be introduced at Tuesday’s court hearing by Commander John Neurauter of the Austin station.
The case involves a young teenage girl, reportedly forced inside the abandoned theater by two 12-year-old boys and a 13-year-old who attempted to attack her before she was able to flee.
Records of three recent fires in the building will also be submitted to the court. Chief Franda Murphy of the fire prevention bureau has evidence he also promised that he would present at the hearing set for 2 p.m. Tuesday in room 1108 to the hearing and the inspector in court to testify as to his findings.
A health department inspector has also been asked to report on his findings regarding the health hazards caused by rats and pigeons in and around the theater before Judge Richard Napolitano.
An ACO delegation will attend the hearing with some members expected to testify on their own observations of conditions both outside and inside the theater, vacant for nearly 5 years, was done by members of the Austin Community organization housing committee who volunteered to comb the files entry, technically should have no effect on the city’s efforts to obtain a demolition decree from the court.
“In 1963, the state legislature, of which Judge Napolitano was a member at that time, passed an amendment which would allow granting of a demolition order against a building, even when it was boarded up,” pointed out Timothy O'Hara, acting head of the building code enforcement division of the corporation counsel’s office.
Prior to passage of the 1963 amendment, owner of a vacant and dilapidated building could avoid a demolition order simply by securing the building against entry. This was what Pielet did during the 1962 court case on the Symphony. He told an ACO committee last Thursday that he had signed contracts to install an overhanging door at the alley side of the theater as well as steel plates over the broken windows at the front.
Several neighbors, accompanied by Jim Feeley of the ACO, were easily able to obtain entry to the theater recently when during an inspection of the theater they ran across the janitor chasing four youths from the premises.
“The door was open so we went inside,” Feeley explained. Mrs. Patricia O'Leary, 5037 Superior, one of those accompanying Feeley that day, said she was repulsed by all the dead pigeons lying
around on the floor inside the building.
“There were bricks, bottles and debris all over the inside,” she said, “but the pigeons were the worst. Right in the front by the entrance there’s a ceiling chandelier hanging about two inches off the ground. I’m told the children swing back and forth on it when they get inside."
Getting inside isn’t too difficult, the ACO members discovered again as they emerged from the theater.
"A group of three or four boys came over to us,” she added, “and asked us if we were trying to get inside. They offered to show us how. That is being a little too helpful!”
(July 7, 1930)
LOOT THEATRE OF $65
Racine â€"(UP)â€"Following an unsuccessful attempt to break in the front
door of the Granada theatre here Monday night, burglars entered the
Douglas theatre and escaped with $65.
(Racine Journal Times, Monday, July 2, 1962)
Krusienskis Wed 50 Years
Mr. and Mrs. Walter Krusienski of 5826 Sunset Blvd. will celebrate their golden anniversary this month.
The couple was married at St. Joseph’s Church in Milwaukee on July 3. They owned and operated the Douglas Theatre until their retirement in 1944. They have two sons, Chester and Harold, and five grandchildren.
(Racine Journal Times, Wednesday, May 3, 1961)
Picket Theater on North Side
Members of Racine Projectionists Local 460 are picketing the Douglas Theatre at 1639 Douglas Ave. protesting the theatre’s use of non-union projectionists. The theatre was reopened last weekend after it had been shut down for about three years.
Owner Erwin Koenigsreiter of Milwaukee said the theatre is operating weekends only and is under lease to a pair of Milwaukee
men. He said he believes the men are operating the projector themselves.
John Ozowski, business representative for the 11-member Racine local, said the picketing will continue.
(Friday, June 18, 1926) One of the largest business deals in the history of modern Kenosha was completed Friday with the signing of a long term lease whereby the Kenosha Orpheum Theatre company takes over the present site of the old Rhode Opera House and the vacant lot in the rear of it for the erection of the new $500,000 Gateway Theatre.
(Sheboygan Press, December 19, 1928)
Watchman Confesses Kenosha Theatre Robbery Was Frame-Up
Kenosha, Wis.â€"(AP) â€" Police announced today that Alexander Dotz,
night watchman at the Kenosha theater which was robbed of $1,022 in cash had confessed that the robbery was a “frame-up” and implicated
four other men, all of whom were under arrest.
The confession also revealed, police said, that Dotz’s brother, a special policeman, had watched the robbery from the balcony of the theater, planning to trap the men, but instead lost his nerve and allowed them to get away.
James Martin, 40, proprietor of a roadhouse where Dotz’s confession
said the job was planned the day before it took place; Joe Tarrello,
20, and Victor Carbellin, 29, Racine, were under arrest here. The fifth man, Angelo Tarello, 35, was arrested by Chicago police. Tarello was held at the Chicago detective bureau after he refused to
waive extradition, Plans were being made here to request extradition papers at once. Police said Martin had $548.40 in his pockets when arrested just as he was getting his car preparing, they believed, to making a getaway.
Dotz' confession said he told his brother David, 26, about plans for the robbery in which, in addition to the $1,022, a total of $710 of theater ticket books were taken, at 2 p. m. Monday afternoon.
The robbery took place early on Tuesday. The men tied Dotz to a chair where he was found by his wife when she came down to clean up the theater at 5:45 a. m. Tuesday. Dotz in his confession to police said his brother watched the robbery from the balcony but did nothing to stop it. A few hours after the men left, his confession read, the brother came back to see how he was getting along. Tarrello, police believed, was the leader in the robbery. The four men held here were charged with being accessories. Police had not determined what action to take against Dotz’s policeman-brother who joined the force a few months ago as a member of the special police group hired to aid in curbing disorder here.
From BOXOFFICE, December 14, 1946:
Damage Claims of $176,344 Made After Marquee Falls
Sacramento, Calif. – Two suits for damages totaling $176,344 were filed in superior court as an aftermath of the collapse of the Hippodrome theater marquee last September 14. Damages of $100,500 were asked by the husband and parents of Mrs. Jessie Shirley Potter, 41, of Alta, who was crushed beneath the marquee. Suit for $75,844.50 was filed by Joseph Brady, 40, who said he suffered a skull fracture, broken collarbone, permanent brain injury and loss of hearing in one ear when he was hit by the falling marquee. Defendants in the actions are the Empress Theatre Co. of Sacramento, successor to the Hippodrome Theatre Co., Inc., West Coast Theatres Corp. of Northern California, Fox West Coast Theatres Corp., the Campbell Construction Co., the Physicians Building Corp. and several John Does.
“Sheboygan Theatre” Will Be Name Of New Amusement Place
Sheboygan’s new $600,000 palace of entertainment, now under construction at N. Eighth street and Niagara Avenue, will be called the “Sheboygan Theatre,” according to a definite announcement in
southern Wisconsin Press from the Milwaukee Theatre Circuit.
The community is looking forward eagerly to the time when this magnificent building will be completed.
A crew of seventy men is laboring long hours so that all work may be finished before April 1, 1928.
Pouring of concrete for the foundation footing has been completed and the erection of steel is now under way. The bricklayers will be ready to start within three weeks. Those who are familiar with the new Kenosha Theatre, which had its formal opening September 1, can visualize the beauty that brain and brawn will build into the Sheboygan Theatre. Said the Kenosha Evening News in its special theatre edition:
“Theatre lovers will be thrilled at the splendor and magnificence. It’s a far cry from the days when Spanish galleons were the pirates of the high seas and Pizzaro and Cortez conquered and plundered the fabulous riches of Mexico and South America, to this age in which men span the ocean in less than two days. Yet when patrons of the Kenosha Theatre look about them they will behold magnificence and dazzling opulence in an abundance undreamed of by those old Spanish conquerors."
Likewise, an advertisement of the United Studios, managers of the local construction project, appearing in the Exhibitors Herald, states that "the new $600,000 theatre at Sheboygan, Wisconsin, will
represent, when completed, all that modern thought can contribute to the motion picture theatre."
The new Sheboygan Theatre will have a seating capacity of 1,550. The main entrance will be on N. Eighth Street. The building will be of the atmospheric type, resembling an open air theatre.
There will be a 25-foot stage to permit vaudeville entertainment, as well as moving pictures produced by the Universal Pictures corporation under the famous Carl Laemmle, its guiding genius.
(September, 1927)
(Chester Times, Friday, December 2, 1938)
WARNER BROS. TO BUILD NEW THEATRE HERE
State Theatre, Closing Tonight, Will Be Demolished
Delaware County’s finest motion picture theatre soon will be a reality, upon the site of the present State Theatre, on Seventh Street, beween Sproul Street and Edgmont Avenue.
Announcement of this was made this afternoon by A. J. Vanni, zone
manager of the Warner Brothers, who came here from Philadelphia to
consult with local Stanley-Warner officials.
The State Theatre will close tonight. Demolition of the famous showhouse, which in turn was first Hargreaves Grand Opera House
then Washburn’s Theatre, then the State Theatre, will begin immediately.
Architects already are at work on the plans and construction will be
rushed to permit the formal opening of the showhouse in the spring.
According to the Warner Brothers announcement, the new movie theatre
will represent the last word in motion picture showhouses. The
building with a balcony will accommodate 1400 patrons; it will be
fireproof, air-conditioned, and will have accommodations found only in New York and other metropolitan theatres.
The Warner Brothers hold title not only to the present State Theatre
site but the extensive plot in the rear, now used as a parking lot. This lot extends from Wood Street to the building of R. Chester Spencer, on East Eighth street, and is one of the most valuable midtown sites.
Entrance to the new theatre will be on East Seventh street. At the
present time there is an alleyway between Wood and Sproul streets, separating the State Theater site from the parking lot, but it is believed little difficulty will be encountered in securing this area for private use.
Announcement by the Warner Brothers of the new theatre verified
rumors which have been heard for some months that a new theatre
would be built on that site. It was felt that the present times were
propitious for such a venture and after some conferences several weeks ago in New York, it was decided to go ahead.
Famous Theatre
The State Theatre is one of the best known showhouses in this section
of the country. When Thomas Hargreaves built the Grand Opera House, stock companies played there. Middle-aged men and women remember dainty little Irene Myers, Chester deVonde and other stalwarts of the stock companies. Musical comedies starred there.
Actors and actresses who gained high fame later on played here; Powell, the Magician; Houdini and hundreds of others famous in American stage annals were seen there.
When Leon Washburn gave up his Uncle Tom’s Cabin road shows and settled down to the show business in a theatre, the place operated first for vaudeville and for a while, for traveling shows. Later motion pictures were secured and eventually the Warner Brothers took over.
The building was erected in 1890 and was on the site of a skating rink. The opening date was October 20 1890, with John A. Stevens presenting “Wife for Wife”. No building in city perhaps has more memories than the old Opera House, as it is remembered by many thousands. In its place will be the modern showhouse of the cinema, of a grandeur and comfort never dreamed at the turn of the century.
(The Valley Independent, Thursday, August 24, 1972)
X-rated films save Pittsburgh theatre closing
PITTSBURGH (AP)-Bambi, Snow White, King Kong and Godzilla are in trouble in Pittsburgh. The kids don’t want to see them anymore, say the operators of a local theatre. Only X-rated films, low budget scorchers once found in tiny back-room theatres, saved the historic Garden Theater from closing its doors.
Lee Hoffman, who co-manages the theatre with her husband Bob, says the “kiddie” movies were lucky to draw 15 oe 20 children on a good day, not nearly enough to put food on our table. “We tried the X-rated movies and they really stimulated the gross,” she said. “We had the choice of changing the policy or closing our doors."The Suckers,” “The Adult Version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and “Ribald Tales of Robin Hood” are some of the films which have replaced Walt Disney and other general attraction movies at the Garden.
Though the money is better, the newfound wealth is not understood by some. A small band of youngsters picketed the theatre earlier this week demanding “Kids' Power,” hollering for films they could attend.
“We told them that we don’t like these X pictures,” Hoffman said.
“Look at these records,“ his wife declared. "I remember this one especially. We showed matinee of ‘War of the Gargantuas’ and ‘Revenge of Godzilla.’ Nothing. A few kids and five adults.
"I don’t know where the children are going,” Mrs. Hoffman continued. “It used to be different. I remember a few years ago we played ‘King Kong vs. Godzilla’ and we broke records. The theatre was packed. We sold 40 bags of popcorn.â€
Sumner, December 18, 1969:
Sunset Theatre to close doors.
Sunset Theatre will close its doors following the showing of the “Where Eagles Dare”, scheduled for January 2, 3 and 4, 1970, according to Theatre manager Jerry Waskow.
Reason for closing the theatre is very simple, Waskow explained. “Lack of business”. I just can’t continue to operate when I have to subsidize the theatre out of my own pocket. I am aware that the theatre can be an asset to the community, or at least I think it is. But there is no point in my attempting to keep it open any longer when it isn’t self supporting."
Waskow said he wouldn’t even mind operating the theatre if he could break even. “I’d keep it going if I could come out even, just to provide the young people with a place to meet and spend their time, but I cannot afford to keep going when I have to make up losses out of my own funds.”
“If there is anyone who can come up with a constructive idea on how the theatre can be kept open and operating, I would certainly like to hear about it,” Waskow said. “I know it’s been discussed and there have been many people who have suggested ways the operation of the theatre could be changed. I don’t question that the operation of the theatre could be improved, if there were improvements made to the facilties, but there would still have to be more and continuing attendance before myself or anyone else could keep the theatre going even on a break-even basis.”
This isn’t the first time the Sunset Theatre has had to close down for lack of business. Since the advent of Television in the early ‘50s the local theatre has been on the decline. For several years it was operated by the Sumner Jaycees organization, and was subsidized during this period by the Sumner Commercial Club.
Waskow has managed to keep the theatre going for the past several years, but the building has continued to deteriorate, and the equipment is also greatly in need of repair.
Surprisingly, Waskow has been able to book first rate pictures all along during the time he has been operating the theatre.
With a new generation now on the scene, brought up with
TV and not quite as attached to it as the oldsters, it would seem that theatre entertainment will enjoy a revival.
It is noted that a number of theatres, closed for an extended period of time are reopening. In this area, it is reported that the theatre at West Union now plans a reopening in a completely remodeled building, and theatres in the larger cities in this area still continue to operate and apparently are able to bear their own financial burden. “I couldn’t guarantee that renovation of the building and equipment, including the seating, screen and projectors, and installation of an air conditioner would bring back the theatre business, but it surely would be interesting to find out,” Waskow said. “I’m still convinced that this community, drawing from other nearby areas, including the college at Fayette, can support a theatre, but not under present conditions. The theatre has to be a special place, for a boy to take his girl, or a man to take his wife, but the theatre here at present cannot be considered in this light. Some repairing will have to be done before it can be
acceptable to the public.”
The theatre is owned by ten men, some of whom are businessmen in Sumner and others who are former businessmen now residing in other communities. The owners are apparently reluctant to authorize needed repairs without first having assurance that the community will support the theatre.
Anyone who may have any suggestions regarding the theatre should contact Waskow or any member of the Sumner Commercial Club board of directors. There is no question but what Waskow will close down the theatre as of Monday, Jan. 5, 1970, but it is also not impossible that a reopening could occur sometime in the future, should some concrete method of a workable operation, momentarily satisfactory, be arrived at.
Yes, it’s gone; only the broken curbside steps remain.
The silver screen will be back in use at the Genesee Theatre in north suburban Waukegan starting next month. Officials are lining up a schedule of classic films to be shown with the $40,000 of projection equipment that was installed earlier this summer.
The first feature is being held close to the vest, with Mayor Robert Sabonjian telling City Council on Monday only that it will be “a true American classic.”
Genesee Executive Director Gary Zabinski said Tuesday that an exact weekend date in August, as well as the movie in question, will be announced later this week. He added that “a lineup of classic films as well as more recent ones” will be put on the schedule.
But Zabinski made it a point to say that “we’re not going to be a movie house” in the strict sense of the term.
“The Genesee is not going to revert to being a movie house where you have movies being shown there six or seven times a week,” Zabinski said. “It deserves to be more than that, and it’s proven it can be more than that. [but] I think there’s room for this.”
In announcing the installation of the equipment at Monday’s City Council meeting, Sabonjian said he hoped that the regular scheduling of movies would be part of “adopting a more businesslike attitude” at the Genesee.
Sabonjian noted that the theater requires an annual $1 million payment from the city to retire the $24 million in renovation bonds, and another $350,000 in the form of a “support payment” toward operations from the Friends of the Historic Genesee Theatre.
Zabinski said details of film offerings are still being worked out, but the general plan is to offer screenings “initially one night a week for a while” around the theater’s live performance schedule, which typically eats up weekend dates.
The purchase of projection equipment was put together by the nonprofit Friends organization, which conducts fund-raising efforts for the theater. Zabinski said the equipment — a 35 mm film projector, and a digital model with both high-definition DVD and Blu-ray capability — is a mix of new and refurbished equipment, including parts culled from vintage Genesee projectors.
Also on the entertainment front, Sabonjian said Monday that his decision to pull funding for the Waukegan Municipal Band’s lakefront concert series was made “in order to demonstrate good faith” with employees whose jobs are on the line during budget talks.
According to Sabonjian, the annual $60,000 stipend for band members would cover the salary of one full-time police officer or firefighter.
“It is not a decision I took lightly,” said Sabonjian, encouraging the Municipal Band to launch “a vigorous fund-raising effort or seek a corporate sponsorship” to float a concert series in 2010.
Band officials announced last week that they would perform the final three Tuesday night concerts on a volunteer basis. The season concludes at 7 p.m. July 28 at the lakefront’s Stiner Pavilion with a presentation of “Audience Favorites.” – from the Chicago Sun-Times
The CREST succeeded the HIPPODROME theater, whose marquee had fallen, killing a woman. Since then the CREST has been a beacon for Sacramentans looking for a movie or a concert since it opened on October 6, 1949 with a gala event and the showing of “That Midnight Kiss,” starring Kathryn Grayson and Mario Lanza. The stars were on hand.
On the site where the CREST now sits, 1013 K St., the EMPRESS Theater vaudeville house opened in 1912. Its name later was changed to the HIPPODROME, and it became a full-time movie house in 1927.
In 1946, the HIPPODROME marquee collapsed, injuring three people and killing Mrs. R. S. Potter of Alta, in Placer County. The theater janitor said the marquee fell in “just one big drop.” The theater owners decided to gut the structure to the walls and build the CREST inside. At the peak, Sacramento boasted 26 downtown theaters.
By 1952 it was listed as the NEWS-PALACE and was screening documentaries and newsreels.
Three photos, including the asbestos curtain: View link
(Hutchinson KS News, July 13, 1936:) Trouble that has been bothering
the Civic Theatre at Pretty Prairie since it was opened several weeks
ago, has been located at last. Improperly focused lens was the trouble.
A 1937 Logansport Pharos-Tribune also lists a ROXY, a LOGAN and a PARAMOUNT theatre there.
An under-the-marquee photo and a bit of history at View link