The Fox theaters were listed under one block with the exception of the Grace, Pearl, Layton and Fox-Bay which were listed with the independents, Standard chain and Warner Bros. theaters.
Larry Widen and Judi Anderson in SILVER SCREENS lists the Juneau Theater as having 1097 seats. The Film Daily YearBook for 1954 also lists it as having 1097 seats whereas the 45 YearBook states 1100.
In the 40s and 50s the Juneau theater was a Warner Brothers theater. The other Warner Bros. theaters in Milwaukee were WARNER, ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, NATIONAL, EGYPTAIN and MILWAUKEE theaters. All Warner theaters were well maintained and very popular with movie-going Milwaukeens.
The 41 Twin was Milwaukee’s second outdoor theater. The Drive-In on Bluemond Rd (later known as Bluemond Drive-In)was the first. Along with the introduction of two screens the 41 Twin was the first outdoor in Milwaukee to have heaters available for the cars. Peter Tibbs, now deceased, often told how as a projectionist at the 41 he had to run the length of the theater property from one projection booth to the other to change reels. As shown in the ads provided by Lost Memory the 41 had BUCK NIGHT on Wednesday and Thursday with the admission charge of one dollar per car, all occupants of the car were admitted. This was before the coming of the SUVs and Volkswagon busses.
I do remember that during the showing of both Ship of Fools and Bunny Lake people in the audience were yelling “out of focus.”
The Lefrak was next to a Red Apple supermarket and you took a footbridge over the expressway to get there from where I lived on 63rd Drive. I lived at the Walden Terrace Apartments.
Last week I walked through the neighborhood past the Juneau building, the empty storefront where the Park once was, the 8th Street building and the Modjestka which has seen better days. The Granada is gone, only an empty lot remains. Our house has been gone since the 60s when the expressway was built. Yes, it was a great neighborhood.
JEFF GAJEWSKI, here is a late response to your inquiry. Our house was on the corner of 5th and Becher and I attended St. Josaphat’s School.In 1950 I had a paper route which criss-crossed Mitchell between 5th and 11th Streets and passed 5 movie theaters: the Juneau, the Park (where my sister and her friends went each Tuesday to get a free dish), the 8th Street(WHAT A DUMP! but wonderful B movies and three westerns each Saturday), the Granada (air-conditioned) and the magnificant Modjeska.
The AVALON theater in (Bay View) Milwaukee had the same progran but I think only kids could attend that matinee. The doorman helped you put you contribution (metal, paper, whatever) into the right container and then you entered the theater. The Avalon also had special “buy a bond” and enter free shows.
GREAT PHOTOS!! The Juneau I knew had a different marquee, It was triangular not square with three lines for listing the attractions with JUNEAU in large neon horizontal letters across the top. In the 40s the building was converted from an office building into an apartment building for defense workers. Everyone went to inspect the ultra-modern apartments. In the 40s and 50s there was a men’s clothing store on the corner called ANTOINNE’s “Call Me Max."
I had a paper route for one of the Polish papers. Papers were dropped off in front of the Juneau. So, each day while waiting for the papers I would study the lobby cards and photos. The current attraction was advertised in the windows facing Mitchell and the next attraction was in the windows in the outer lobby. The Juneau changed its films on Tuesday and on Friday. And of course, being boys, the paper boys loved to run around around the ticket booth. At that time admission was 35 cents before 6 and 50 cents after, kids admission 18 cents.
In the 1960s The Trylon did show some first run films. “Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte” openened there which I saw at the Trylon with a sneak preview of “Quick Before It Melts.” I do recall one Sunday seeing lines outside the Trylon waiting to get in the theater to see a double feature: THE MUSIC MAN and GYPSY.
I was not aware that Milwaukee’s State Theatre had a listing. Please move Hildegarde and the State to the correct location.
On a hot summer afternoon in 1959 I looked out of a classroom window at Marquette University and saw a hundred or more nuns in full habit entering the Varsity Theater to see a preview of THE NUN’S STORY. The Nun’s Story opened the next week at the WARNER THEATER. I did see that beautiful film at the Warner. Seeing Audrey Hepburn canoe down the Congo on that giant screen in the comfortable Warner was wonderful. I stayed for a second viewing of the film.
Re: THE STATE THEATER
In the 1920s' silent movie days Hildegarde Sell who went on to be THE INCOMPARABLE HILDEGARDE played the piano at the State. Hildegarde who was billed as the ultimate chanteuse had a popular national radio program THE RALIEGH ROOM in the 1940s and because of her affected mannerism was the butt of many jokes. She also wrote the best seller Over 50 So What?
Patsy,
You should have crossed the river and walked one block south to Wisconsin Avenue where the RIVERSIDE stands and then one block west to see the Warner/Center/Grand.
Warren:
Regarding your April 4, 2005 question concerning the Phantom trapped in quicksand: The Phantom’s trusted dog(name?)appeared,saw the sinking phantom, the dog got a large vine in his jaws, the dog tossed the vine to the Phantom,and the Phantom pulled himself to safety.
The above description of the Sutton states it opened in the 1950s yet THE FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK for 1944 lists the Sutton as being opened in 1944. What year did the Sutton open?
Was SHIP OF FOOLS the first feature that played there? I recall seeing SHIP OF FOOLS there along with a sneak preview of Bunny Lake is Missing. SHIP OF FOOLS opened in Manhattan at the Victoria and at the Sutton. I don’t know if Ship of Fools was playing at the Lefrak at the same time.
I found the answer to my question WHY WAS THE RIO NAMED RIO? in “Spoils of War Plans for Peacetime” MARQUEE Vol. 27 No. 4. According to author Steve Levin the “Rio” name was chosen for its brevity. A short name made signs cheaper and advertisements also cheaper.
This was an outstanding evening. Mr. DuciBella certainly knows his subject. His pictures and comments demonstrated how lighting in a movie palace contributed to the movie-going experince and how the special lighting in the UPTOWN THEATER made attending a stage performance and/or a film viewing there a memorable event.
Many cities in different parts of the USA had small neighborhoods of Mexicans/Latinos during the 1940s. In many of these cities it was common to have a neighbord movie theaters which weekly or occasionally one night or two nights a week featured Mexican films. In Milwaukee the World Theater (later known as Royal) would now and then have a Mexican films. As the Latino population grew, this theater featured only Mexican films.
Why was the Rio named Rio? There were theaters an all areas of the country called Rio.
In the 1930s and 1940s the Rivoli featured many notable films, many of which have become classics: These included Les Miserable (35) Ghost Goes West(36) These Three (36) Wuthering Heights (39) Grapes of Wrath (40)How Green Was My Valley (41) Wake Island (42) For Whom the Bell Tolls (43) Ox Bow Incident (43) Wilson (44) Lost Weekend (45)My Darling Clementine(46) Crossfire (47) Snake Pit (48) and Pinkly (49).
Shortly after the Quad opened I saw a classic Roberto Rosellini double feature there: OPEN CITY and PAISON. Both OPEN CITY (1946) and PAISAN (1948)had their American premieres at the World Theater which by 1972 had declined to being a porno house.
In additon to being an early multiplex, The Quad also demonstrated that a movie theater did not have to be on a main street. By the 1970s centrally located film theaters which could show anything and attract passerbys or people with nothing to do were giving way to film houses off the beaten path which catered to patrons would travel distances with the intent of seeing a particular film.
The Alamo was a corner movie theater. When American cities flourished, neighborhoods had corner grocery stores, corner drugstores, corner taverns, and occasionally corner movie theaters.
The Alamo was located on the northwest corner of South 16th Street and Washington Street(Cesar Chevez Dr.). Corner movie theaters were a business by themselves. The theater occupied the entire building. They were often small (500-750 seats)often independently operated and featured late-run or year-old films. Middle-of-the block theaters were often large theaters or movie palaces located in office buildings or apartment buildings with other street-level businesses. Middle-of-the block theater exits often opened onto back alleys or narrow gangways whereas the corner theater had exits on one side which opened directly on the side street. The Alamo’s entrance faced 16th Street and its emergency exits faced Wasington and an alley back of the theater.
The Fox theaters were listed under one block with the exception of the Grace, Pearl, Layton and Fox-Bay which were listed with the independents, Standard chain and Warner Bros. theaters.
Larry Widen and Judi Anderson in SILVER SCREENS lists the Juneau Theater as having 1097 seats. The Film Daily YearBook for 1954 also lists it as having 1097 seats whereas the 45 YearBook states 1100.
In the 40s and 50s the Juneau theater was a Warner Brothers theater. The other Warner Bros. theaters in Milwaukee were WARNER, ALHAMBRA, GRANADA, NATIONAL, EGYPTAIN and MILWAUKEE theaters. All Warner theaters were well maintained and very popular with movie-going Milwaukeens.
The 41 Twin was Milwaukee’s second outdoor theater. The Drive-In on Bluemond Rd (later known as Bluemond Drive-In)was the first. Along with the introduction of two screens the 41 Twin was the first outdoor in Milwaukee to have heaters available for the cars. Peter Tibbs, now deceased, often told how as a projectionist at the 41 he had to run the length of the theater property from one projection booth to the other to change reels. As shown in the ads provided by Lost Memory the 41 had BUCK NIGHT on Wednesday and Thursday with the admission charge of one dollar per car, all occupants of the car were admitted. This was before the coming of the SUVs and Volkswagon busses.
I do remember that during the showing of both Ship of Fools and Bunny Lake people in the audience were yelling “out of focus.”
The Lefrak was next to a Red Apple supermarket and you took a footbridge over the expressway to get there from where I lived on 63rd Drive. I lived at the Walden Terrace Apartments.
In the 60s a documentary called CHINA played there.
Last week I walked through the neighborhood past the Juneau building, the empty storefront where the Park once was, the 8th Street building and the Modjestka which has seen better days. The Granada is gone, only an empty lot remains. Our house has been gone since the 60s when the expressway was built. Yes, it was a great neighborhood.
JEFF GAJEWSKI, here is a late response to your inquiry. Our house was on the corner of 5th and Becher and I attended St. Josaphat’s School.In 1950 I had a paper route which criss-crossed Mitchell between 5th and 11th Streets and passed 5 movie theaters: the Juneau, the Park (where my sister and her friends went each Tuesday to get a free dish), the 8th Street(WHAT A DUMP! but wonderful B movies and three westerns each Saturday), the Granada (air-conditioned) and the magnificant Modjeska.
The AVALON theater in (Bay View) Milwaukee had the same progran but I think only kids could attend that matinee. The doorman helped you put you contribution (metal, paper, whatever) into the right container and then you entered the theater. The Avalon also had special “buy a bond” and enter free shows.
GREAT PHOTOS!! The Juneau I knew had a different marquee, It was triangular not square with three lines for listing the attractions with JUNEAU in large neon horizontal letters across the top. In the 40s the building was converted from an office building into an apartment building for defense workers. Everyone went to inspect the ultra-modern apartments. In the 40s and 50s there was a men’s clothing store on the corner called ANTOINNE’s “Call Me Max."
I had a paper route for one of the Polish papers. Papers were dropped off in front of the Juneau. So, each day while waiting for the papers I would study the lobby cards and photos. The current attraction was advertised in the windows facing Mitchell and the next attraction was in the windows in the outer lobby. The Juneau changed its films on Tuesday and on Friday. And of course, being boys, the paper boys loved to run around around the ticket booth. At that time admission was 35 cents before 6 and 50 cents after, kids admission 18 cents.
In the 1960s The Trylon did show some first run films. “Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte” openened there which I saw at the Trylon with a sneak preview of “Quick Before It Melts.” I do recall one Sunday seeing lines outside the Trylon waiting to get in the theater to see a double feature: THE MUSIC MAN and GYPSY.
I was not aware that Milwaukee’s State Theatre had a listing. Please move Hildegarde and the State to the correct location.
On a hot summer afternoon in 1959 I looked out of a classroom window at Marquette University and saw a hundred or more nuns in full habit entering the Varsity Theater to see a preview of THE NUN’S STORY. The Nun’s Story opened the next week at the WARNER THEATER. I did see that beautiful film at the Warner. Seeing Audrey Hepburn canoe down the Congo on that giant screen in the comfortable Warner was wonderful. I stayed for a second viewing of the film.
Re: THE STATE THEATER
In the 1920s' silent movie days Hildegarde Sell who went on to be THE INCOMPARABLE HILDEGARDE played the piano at the State. Hildegarde who was billed as the ultimate chanteuse had a popular national radio program THE RALIEGH ROOM in the 1940s and because of her affected mannerism was the butt of many jokes. She also wrote the best seller Over 50 So What?
Patsy,
You should have crossed the river and walked one block south to Wisconsin Avenue where the RIVERSIDE stands and then one block west to see the Warner/Center/Grand.
Was LADY IN THE DARK the first feature to be shown at Theater 80 St. Mark’s? If so, what was the co-feature?
Warren:
Regarding your April 4, 2005 question concerning the Phantom trapped in quicksand: The Phantom’s trusted dog(name?)appeared,saw the sinking phantom, the dog got a large vine in his jaws, the dog tossed the vine to the Phantom,and the Phantom pulled himself to safety.
The above description of the Sutton states it opened in the 1950s yet THE FILM DAILY YEAR BOOK for 1944 lists the Sutton as being opened in 1944. What year did the Sutton open?
Was SHIP OF FOOLS the first feature that played there? I recall seeing SHIP OF FOOLS there along with a sneak preview of Bunny Lake is Missing. SHIP OF FOOLS opened in Manhattan at the Victoria and at the Sutton. I don’t know if Ship of Fools was playing at the Lefrak at the same time.
I found the answer to my question WHY WAS THE RIO NAMED RIO? in “Spoils of War Plans for Peacetime” MARQUEE Vol. 27 No. 4. According to author Steve Levin the “Rio” name was chosen for its brevity. A short name made signs cheaper and advertisements also cheaper.
Why was it named Rio?
This was an outstanding evening. Mr. DuciBella certainly knows his subject. His pictures and comments demonstrated how lighting in a movie palace contributed to the movie-going experince and how the special lighting in the UPTOWN THEATER made attending a stage performance and/or a film viewing there a memorable event.
Many cities in different parts of the USA had small neighborhoods of Mexicans/Latinos during the 1940s. In many of these cities it was common to have a neighbord movie theaters which weekly or occasionally one night or two nights a week featured Mexican films. In Milwaukee the World Theater (later known as Royal) would now and then have a Mexican films. As the Latino population grew, this theater featured only Mexican films.
Why was the Rio named Rio? There were theaters an all areas of the country called Rio.
In the 1930s and 1940s the Rivoli featured many notable films, many of which have become classics: These included Les Miserable (35) Ghost Goes West(36) These Three (36) Wuthering Heights (39) Grapes of Wrath (40)How Green Was My Valley (41) Wake Island (42) For Whom the Bell Tolls (43) Ox Bow Incident (43) Wilson (44) Lost Weekend (45)My Darling Clementine(46) Crossfire (47) Snake Pit (48) and Pinkly (49).
Shortly after the Quad opened I saw a classic Roberto Rosellini double feature there: OPEN CITY and PAISON. Both OPEN CITY (1946) and PAISAN (1948)had their American premieres at the World Theater which by 1972 had declined to being a porno house.
In additon to being an early multiplex, The Quad also demonstrated that a movie theater did not have to be on a main street. By the 1970s centrally located film theaters which could show anything and attract passerbys or people with nothing to do were giving way to film houses off the beaten path which catered to patrons would travel distances with the intent of seeing a particular film.
The Alamo was a corner movie theater. When American cities flourished, neighborhoods had corner grocery stores, corner drugstores, corner taverns, and occasionally corner movie theaters.
The Alamo was located on the northwest corner of South 16th Street and Washington Street(Cesar Chevez Dr.). Corner movie theaters were a business by themselves. The theater occupied the entire building. They were often small (500-750 seats)often independently operated and featured late-run or year-old films. Middle-of-the block theaters were often large theaters or movie palaces located in office buildings or apartment buildings with other street-level businesses. Middle-of-the block theater exits often opened onto back alleys or narrow gangways whereas the corner theater had exits on one side which opened directly on the side street. The Alamo’s entrance faced 16th Street and its emergency exits faced Wasington and an alley back of the theater.