The Vogue Theatre’s grand opening was heralded with a full-page ad in in the Kenosha Evening News on September 15, 1923. Strangely, several days after the gala there were no more ads for the Vogue. As days passed, Vogue ads finally reappeared the following weekend. Either the theatre closed down briefly after its grand opening due to some problem or, more likely, the inexperienced management following the excitement surrounding the premiere forgot to order ads in advance. The name of the lady who was opening night organist on the Vogue’s new Moller instrument has also been lost, but a week later, Dr. E. M. Hyland Slatre-Wilson, a colorful, many-faceted Kenoshan who then operated many clinics and classes in music, science and art within the new Orpheum Building, took command of the Vogue Theatre organ to accompany the films and provide solo interludes. Thus began the Vogue’s 28-year career as a central-city neighborhood theatre. After a time, some vaudeville acts were booked, but this never was a major part of the bill at the Vogue, and was all but discontinued by the late 1930’s. The stage was rather shallow - about sixteen feet deep by about twenty-five feet across - but it was adequate for the acts that did play there - mostly jugglers, comics, acrobats and small musical groups. Walter Schlager ran the Vogue for two years, then leased it to the new and shortlived United Theatres chain, which took over the Butterfly Theatre and the Lincoln Theatre as well. The general manager for United was Al Meis of 5930 Fifth Avenue, long experienced in managing the downtown Virginian Theatre. Walter and Rose Schlager went back to operating soft-drink taverns (this was during Prohibitlon) at 2024 56th Street and elsewhere, also living on the premises. But United Theatres didn’t last long, and by 1930 Walter was back in charge of the Vogue Theatre. - Enter Francis B. “Butch” Schlax, who had a love for show business as a young man. Beginning as an usher at the Orpheum and Majestic Theatres, he worked up a partnership with George Fischer of the Hotel Fischer at 508-12 56th Street just east of the Rhode Opera House. Together, Schlax and Fischer leased the Vogue Theatre in 1934. Schlax therefore began a long career in theatre management, eventually operating nearly every theatre in Kenosha, including the inevitable local outdoors, the Mid-City and Keno. - Early movie film stock was of nitrate and very flammable. Projectionist Kenneth Hahn told of an incident involving Louis Goodare, who was operating the Vogue’s twin Simplex projectors one night when the film caught fire. Ever the alert operator, Goodare somehow snatched the flaring reel and pitched it from a front window just in time, where it landed, blazing, atop the Vogue’s marquee. Goodare’s trousers were burned, so he later billed the Milwaukee theatre chain for this. Hahn sald the chain denied the claim. “He saved their theatre, and they wouldn’t replace his burned pants.” (Hahn did verify a good working relationship with “Butch” Schlax, however.) In the Twenties, theatres could do well on box-office receipts alone, but the studios kept taking ever-larger percentages, so all theatres had to rely on popcorn, candy and soft drink vending beginning in the Depression years, and employees were told often to promote the concessions. - Francis B. Schlax, who lived at 6410 Fifth Avenue, is probably the Vogue’s best-remembered manager, and many a youngster without the price of admission was allowed in free as long as there was an empty seat to be had" (and they might have had to sweep up a bit, too), recalled his brother Leslie. But a vicious accident on Highway 38 while returning from a film-booking meeting in Milwaukee cost Francis the sight in one eye, and during the two-month hospital stay that resulted, Leslie and their family members pitched in to run the Vogue. So did Dominick Gallo, later of Gallo Food Products just east of the theatre. Gallo, “houseman” at the Vogue for years, walked to work around the corner from his home at 5129 18th Avenue. (in a way, he stayed in show business; purveying the famed Gallo Hot Tamales to Kenosha’s two outdoors for decades.) A lot of Kenoshans found employment through the years at the Vogue. Some of the better-remembered projectionists included Kenneth Hahn of 7921 19th Avenue, Fred Sherry of 1419 62nd Street, Ray Bacon of 2410 61st Street, Louis Goodare of 5921 6th Avenue, Richard Schnell of 6037 Fifth Avenue, and Percy Garton, 1108 56th Street. Projectionists were every theatre’s unsung heroes, those invisible souls high up in their booths for which audiences gave nary a thought … except if the film should break or the arc lamp fail. Then the unseen projectionist would be roundly cursed with a hail of insults and foot stomping until the picture would resume. Sometimes he would be pressed into part-time security duty as well, patrolling the balcony for rowdy or over-amorous patrons. But watching for a flash fire was a potentially-deadly aspect of the job. Eventually the Vogue was leased by the Standard Theatres chain of Milwaukee that also operated the Hollywood, Lincoln, the Cameo (620 56th Street) and the big Kenosha and Gateway (now Rhode Opera House) and the two outdoors. Schlax was promoted to Standard’s citywide manager. Francis' son Robert Schlax recalled accompanying his father each Thursday night during the war years to the Vogue and other local theatres and watching brief scenes of the current features as his Dad tallied receipts in the varied offices with managers. At some time during this period, the Vogue’s two-rank Moller pipe organ was sold and moved. It had fallen silent since the onset of sound films and wasn’t being used. Fred Hermes of the Dairyland Theatre Organ Society had some data on the Vogue’s organ, but didn’t know where it went. “Probably to some church,” he guessed.
Through the decades, the Vogue was a comfortable if unspectacular addition to the city’s entertainment scene. Many of its patrons were blue-collar families, and often these were newly-arrived Italian immigrants, especially early on. Occasionally foreign films would grace the Vogue’s screen, which usually drew crowds and gave the Vogue its local nickname: the Garlic Opera House. Robert Schlax recalled Vogue employees sharing a good relationship with his father, gifting him tomatoes from their gardens and homemade wine for the boss. To many, the Vogue was a gathering place for a few hours, second only in importance to their churches. In this manner, the Vogue Theatre lived out its career of almost three decades “free trom vicissitudes,” as a 1936 Centennial Edition article in the Kenosha News put it. The vicissitudes would come rather suddenly, when they finally came. But that was not to happen for another decade and a half.
The Congress Theatre (by Sharon Lindy) - - The Congress Theatre, located at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, opened on September 5, 1926 with 2,904 seats, as part of the Lubliner & Trinz chain of theatres. It was the third large theatre to be built in Chicago by the L&T firm as a vaudeville house on the Orpheum circuit. Acts on the circuit would try out their routines at the Congress before taking them downtown. L&T first built the Harding Theatre (2,993 seats), in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, just a few blocks from where the Congress would be erected, in October 1925. The second theatre in their chain was the Tower on the south side at 63rd Street with 2,995 seats. The Congress was the last to be built, and it is the only one of the three which remains standing today, looking very much like it did when it was first opened. A descendant of the builders, Bruce Trinz, carries on the tradition of theatre involvement. He used to operate the Clark Theatre in downtown Chicago in the 1960s. He was one of the first theatre operators to book vintage films at a dollar admission, and the Clark changed its bill every day, showed double features, and was open 24 hours a day. Who in Chicago can forget his advertising slogan over the radio: “Hark Hark! The Clark!” Monthly movie schedules were issued and each film had a clever two-line couplet describing the movie’s theme written by Trinz himself. Alas, the Clark was demolished, and he now manages the McClurg Court Theatres in Chicago’s posh Gold Coast area. But back to the Congress: In the 1920s, there were 20 theatres in Chicago that had 2,990 seats, the odd figure being because there was a Chicago union cutoff at 3,000. If there were less than 3,000 seats, less staff was needed. The Congress was taken over by the Publix Balaban & Katz chain on February 1, 1929. It never did the volume expected of it because Milwaukee Avenue had so many cinemas, not necessarily large ones but lots of little ones. Many of these buildings still stand along Milwaukee Avenue, a 20 block stretch from Division Street to Belmont, with 30 theatres, though they are no longer used as theatres.
The Congress stands on a quarter of a city block, a complex which includes 17 stores and 56 apartments. B&K gave up the theatre to the Plitt chain because of marketing problems. The 40-year manager of the Congress McNeil Smith took good care of the Congress. B&K had a long lease on the building, and so it was well cared for. The lobby, all lined in marble, was extensively redone in the late 1950s. The lobby color scheme was changed, the grand drapery over the staircase was removed, and a painted-on drape mural was produced by Hans Teichert and the B&K poster studio. From a distance, it looks like a real drape and fools many people until they come close. All original furnishings were put in storage. In 1963, the enormous Marbro Theatre closed. The CO2 air conditioner at the Congress was out of service, so at considerable expense, they moved the small air conditioning compressors from the Marbro to the Congress. A most unusual effect is created by the stud lighting around the two original inside box offices. Fridstein was the architect for the Congress, and one of his tricks is the glass-enclosed vestibule with a clean glass ceiling. As one leaves the vestibule and enters the huge lobby, directly above the doorway is a painted cardboard balcony fence mural, another product of the B&K poster studios. The long vertical lobby windows never had any curtains on them, so daylight could always stream into the huge lobby. The large ceiling light fixtures are Pearlman fixtures and are original, as are the smaller fixtures along the walls. The large fixtures are identical to those hanging in the Ambassador Theatre in St. Louis. In 1983, the Theatre Historical Society promoted a tour of the Congress for its annual fall tour. During the tour, it was noted that the fixtures had not been cleaned or working for 25 years. Shortly afterwards, a THS volunteer crew ascended to the attic of the immense dome, skirted along the catwalks, and found the cables holding the chandeliers in place over the lobby. Not having been lowered in so many years, they were dry and buried in dust and dirt (and pigeon feathers). The volunteers carefully oiled and loosened them, and slowly lowered the chandeliers to the lobby floor. Once down, many hands dismantled the glass parts, scrubbed off the grime and dirt which had accumulated over the years, replaced the bulbs, and hosted them back up manually to their former position, When the power was flipped on, they glowed and gleamed just as lovely as they did back in 1926 when they were brand new. And now a whole new generation can enjoy this sight hanging high over the lobby. Each chandelier had so many parts to it and was such an ordeal to disassemble and reassemble that it took an entire day to do just one chandelier. THS volunteers also arranged to have an artist come in, mount scaffolding. and repaint a wall mural that had been water-damaged many years before. The result is that the damage is now undetectable compared to the rest of the mural. The auditorium is of unusual proportions; Fridstein was competing with Rapp & Rapp when he designed this theatre and he had a modest budget, but he tried to make the Congress look as elegant as the R&R theatres. The main floor has 2,200 seats. and the balcony has 790. Standing anywhere on the main floor, you can see the immense flying-saucer dome this theatre has. The auditorium has never been repainted, so the colors are original, and it has been maintained fairly well. The original grand drape, valance, and teaser curtains remain.
The considerable amount of marble on the lobby walls was installed by the Orpheum Circuit bookers who had a passion for marble and put it everywhere they could. The foyer between the lobby and the auditorium is unusual space because of its wide curve, but the main floor is very wide. The foyer is now empty, but it once had a great many sofas and chairs lining its walls. The foyer floor was changed to tile from carpet in the 1950s remodeling. There is a large exit door on Rockwell Street, and the foyer decorative fixtures are also original.
The auditorium gives a large plush feeling to patrons. At this date, with the exception of the Chicago Theatre, the Congress is the largest operating cinema in the city. The auditorium color scheme is gold and burgundy. The auditorium aisles number eight. There are many entrances to the very shallow balcony. The back wall was redone after sound movies came in to reduce the echo. When the Congress first opened, it had one of the first 4- manual 20-rank organs known as a Publix One. Organists who played it, like Edna Sollers, John Mury, etc., said it sounded absolutely fabulous. It was so good that two years after B&K took over the theatre in 1929, they built the Southtown on Chicago’s south side, and they decided that with the depression going on, instead of buying a new organ they would move the splendid Congress organ to the Southtown. Unfortunately it sounded terrible in the Southtown. It was buried behind massive organ screens. It was subsequently broken up for parts, as was the fate of many theatre organs.
(Charles Fulkerson Of The State Journal, Nov. 27, 1975) - The old metal seats in the gloomy theater below the projection room glowed in the soft light reflecting off the screen. Seven people were watching a Monday night showing of “Walking Tall, Part II” at Edgerton’s Rialto theater. There were 401 empty seats. “This used to be a good movie town, if you can explain it. I wish you would,” Bud Horan said glumly as he peered out the tiny projection room window and watched the popular new movie that had drawn big crowds elsewhere. Horan, 51, took over the manager’s job in 1965 when a full house was common and when Esther Williams thrilled moviegoers by adding new dimensions to the one-piece swimsuit. Twenty years later, the Rialto normally is open only on weekends, and even then the big crowds are rare. The last picture show already has played at thousands of theaters like it across the country. A review recently of conditions at a dozen small town theaters left in southern Wisconsin finds the Rialto and a couple of others at one end of the spectrum, some theaters in the middle and a few reporting decent business. All small theater owners are suffering under terms from movie companies which they say make it harder and harder to compete with the big city theaters. Aided by better roads and bigger pictures, the big city theater, whether in Madison, Milwaukee or Dubuque, lowa, has lured away the rural movie goer. These film companies are awfully rough on the small theaters; sometimes you can’t even get a movie,“ said Krith Vance, owner of Viroqua’s Temple Theater. Vance said business is down and he blames it partly on "the product” from Hollywood. “It’s your darn high terms, they’re too high,” said Ed Benes, mayor of Elroy and owner of the Elroy Theater. Benes also grumbled about the Hollywood fare. Business might be decent, he said, “if they’d get off their dead duffs and make a product the public would like to see.” Practically every small theater had a horror story about Universal’s “Jaws.” Benes was no exception.
“If I wanted to run "Jaws” right now they’d want $2,500 in front money and two weeks play time,“ said Benes. "For a town of 1,500 that’s ridiculous.” The theater owner generally gets his films in one of three ways. ONE. Leases them for a prearranged period of time and splits the ticket proceeds with the movie company. TWO. Pays a flat fee and takes the movie for as short a time as he wants. THREE. Rents out his theater to the movie company in the so-called “Four Wall” method. Under the leasing method, the small town theater owners complain they are subjected to the same high terms as their big city counterparts and are in no position to pay. In a box office smash like “Jaws”, the theater owners say the movie companies will settle only for an arrangement that lets them take 30 percent of proceeds from tickets. In a few days every potential movie goer in a small town has seen a new flick, and the owner can lose his shirt if he is forced to sign a lease for more to get a big picture a week. That’s whats happening right now at the Point Theater in Mineral Point, Manager Dave Bachkreski said. He paid $2,000 to Universal just to get “Jaws” and after a few big nights, attendance dropped to nearly nothing. And the Rialto wouldn’t even have been open the weeknight it got seven people, except that the owner had to the take a week’s lease to get a popular first-run movie. According to Jim Thiele of Boscobel’s Blaine Theater, the terms for the big pictures are so outrageous you can’t play them till they’re old. “But if you wait until they’re old”, he says, “your customers have already driven to a big city to see them.” The whole problem boils down to one thing, said Otto Settele, an old movie hand who broke into the business in 1932 when Ethel, John and Lionel Barrymore all starred together in “Rasputin and the Empress.” “We’re fighting a seller’s market now,” Settele said. “There are more screens than there are pictures.” Settele said his Dodge Theater in Dodgeville is “one of the better small-town spots and he said the movie theater may be making a comeback. The number of screens nationally has risen from a low of 11,000 in the 1960s to 15,000 today, Settele said. But those new theaters are in the larger cities and in their shopping centers he said, not in the small towns. Settele, Thiele and many others said it’s the candy and popcorn sales from the concession stand that play a big part in keeping the lights bright at the small town theater. And to make it as a small town theater, the owner has to be dedicate according to Elmer Kramer, owner of both the Badger Theater in Reedsburg and the ailing Rialto. "The only way to survive is if it’s personally owned operation and you put in your own time and don’t get paid for it,” said Krueger, who loves movies so much he has seen “Ben Hur” 67 times.
Garage Becomes a Gorgeous Movie —– Ansel M. Moore submits an appraisal of a recent conversion project and points out several reasons why the new Times Trans-Lux Theatre is the talk of Milwaukee. / THIS IS news! Here’s a case in reverse. A garage building actually became a moving picture theatre - and it is a modern theatre in every particular. Not so very long ago, it was common practise among owners and builder of moving picture theatres to hedge a bit in their construction plans. Not that all theatre owners are poor sports - decidedly not. This business is pretty much of a sporting event all the way through and the successful theatre owner doesn’t spend much time searching for a sure thing. He’ll take his chance and an even break to win is about all he asks. Nevertheless, there’s still a tendency to hedge in the matter of construction. For instance, many a moving picture theatre has been erected in the past with a predominant idea lurking behind that she don’t go as a picture show, we’ll tear out the seats, level up the floor and make a garage out of her. Significantly, most of those theatres built under the garage complex would not even serve on a good day as nurseries for motor cars although strangely some of them are still
trying to kid the public into classing them as places of amusement. The new Times Theatre in Milwaukee is an example of the application of courage and common sense in the conversion of property. One would never associate this delightfully modern place of amusement with what it was before it became a modern moving picture theatre. The amazing structural transformation was brought about by clever redesigning and furnishing and we are informed that the cost thereof was surprisingly within the bounds of reason. Certainly there is no call for in this project on any point; unrespective of expense involved it is a modern theater of which Milwaukee may well be and is in fact quite proud. Times is a Trans-Lux type of theatre, in which rear-of-screen projection is most successfully employed. In description of other mechanical features of the Times, we abstracted a few paragraphs from the opening announcement program sponsored by the management and quoted them here. Not only have we brought the newest and most modern way of projecting pictures to Milwaukee but the management has spared nothing to make the Times Theatre the most modern and up-to-date theatre possible. The most careful consideration has been given the most minute details. The entire designing and construction has been carefully engineered by experts. The air that you will breath in the Times Theatre has been washed before entering the auditorium cleansed of all dust and bacteria. Proper humidity will be added in the winter to prevent dry, sore throats and headaches. Three times the amount of air required by the State Board of Health for each person will be brought into the theatre every minute. The most comfortabile seats obtainable have been installed, the best in carpets and lighting fixtures. The best obtainable in sound has been installed as well as devices for the hard of hearing. Especially do we wish to bring out this one feature. Tell any of your friends who have not attended talking pictures because they were hard of hearing that they can now enjoy talking pictures. The front of the Times is an extraordinary example of good advertising display in which light and lustre play the leading roles. Unrespective of expense involved it is a modern theatre of which Milwaukee may well be and is in fact quite proud. The foyer is sensibly arranged and furnished in a delightful mix. Of particular note is the lighting arrangement, the effect of which is a system of vari-colored lights produced by the main celling fixture. At the left a pleasingly appointed lounge with side-lighted mirrors and makeup tables. Distinctive tubular steel furniture completes the ensemble. The auditorium delightfully decorated and lighted with color changing fixtures of a new and modem type. The new Times Theatre, in Milwaukee, an example of the application of courage and common sense in the conversion of property. One would never associate this delightfully modern place of amusement with what it was before it became a modern moving picture theatre.
EXCESSIVE SNOW CAUSES COLLAPSE OF WASHINGTON - Crash Comes Without Warning, Burying Scores In Wreckage - Police UnableTo Estimate Number of Victims - Give First Aid To Injured In Emergency Hospital (By Associated Press) WASHINGTON, Jan. 28. Seventeen persons at least are believed to have.been killed and scores injured tonight in the collapse under the weight of two feet of snow of the roof of the Knickerbocker theater, a motion picture house, located in the heart of Washington’s fashionable northwest section. Two hours and a half after the crash, which occurred about 9 o'clock, definite information as to the number of dead and injured was wholly lacking as well as estimates of the number of those in the theater at the time, these estimates ranging from 150 to 500, although the theater, one of the finest motion picture houses in the city, had accommodations for more than 2,000 spectators. All was confusion for hours after the crash while police, firemen, marines from the nearby barracks and soldiers from Walter Reed Military Hospital strove to burrow beneath the mass of debris and bring forth those buried thereunder. Scores had been removed from the edges of the debris and hurried to hospitals but police engaged for hours in battling the worst snow storm to visit Washington in a decade were unable to check up on the number of those taken to hospitals or on whether, or how many, had died after reaching the hospitals. Every fire station in the city was called upon to send Its crew to the scene. With the arrival of the marines, however, order began to be restored. Emergency hospitals were set up in the neighborhood; some in the home of high officials of the government. Finding the tons of concrete and steel of the roof were almost immovable and impenetrable, the street railway company of the city and the Washington navy .yard was called upon to supply acetylene-torches; with these more rapid progress was made and it was hoped that within a few hours it might be possible to reach those buried beneath the debris. Among the injured were Representative Smithwyck of Florida, who was painfully cut about the head and chest but not seriously hurt; and Nobile Toniasso Asserto, third secretary of the Italian embassy. The management of the theater, which was owned add operated by the Harry M. Crandali company; owner of a number of theaters in the city, declared that the building only recently had' been Inspected and approved and that the collapse of the roof only could have been caused by the tremendous weight imposed upon it by the heaviest snowfall that has visited Washington since 1889. The roof fell with such force as to drive three pillars through the orchestra floor. Near the stage, however, its force was arrested, so that the platform successfully acted as a buffer. For this reason, it was said, several of the musicians escaped. One case was-observed of a small boy crawling through a small aperture in the tangled mass of concrete, steel and wood to a man, woman and child who were “pinned” down and giving them water. As the night wore on the work of rescue continued feverishly, but some officials expressed doubt that the debris could be completely removed for several days. No warning was given as the walls crashed, the roof breaking in on the heads of the audience with a noise like thunder and crashing seats and occupants as it fell. It was more than an hour before the rescuers, using gas torches to cut through the accumulated mass of steel and concrete, reached the section where it was believed most of the dead and injured were. The theater, situated in the center of Washington’s fashionable northwest section, presented a scene of horror an hour after the roof fell neath a weight of snow heavier than to which it had been subjected since. The roof, to those able to .push through police lines, seemed to rest on the floor, scarcely a foot and a half separating the lowermost debris and the floor level. Standing up through the debris, however, stark and ragged, were the pillars that had supported the balconies and the roof. The same snowfall which caused the collapse of the theater’s roof also worked to lessen the number of those in the crash, for the theater, being the only one in that section, usually is filled even to standing room on week-nights.
(Joshua Skinner, WANF:) For more than 80 years, the Plaza Theatre has churned out reliable entertainment, complete with popcorn, soda, and, of course, movies. But it was during a November bathroom renovation that owner Chris Escobar discovered a different kind of story. “Once we started taking off the old tile, we discovered a little piece of the wall fell out here in this corner,” Escobar told WANF, showing where the discovery was initially made. “And then we see this space behind the wall that no one knew was there.” That space was a small closet attached to what used to be a manager’s office, now a separate bathroom. “That’s when we discovered this incredible, little historic find,” Escobar said. An item buried under brick and dust. “If you follow my shadow,” Escobar said, pointing to the far corner of the small closet. “It was back here under this pipe.” That little bit of history: a wallet from 1958, likely lost and stored in the manager’s office but never claimed by the owner. “I mean, this is a treasure trove of 1958,” Escobar said. Complete with credit cards for Davison’s and Rich’s Department Stores, family photos, gas receipts (10 gallons for $3.26), and a name: Floy Culbreth. But could Floy possibly be located 65 years later? Escobar enlisted his wife, who he calls an “internet sleuth” for the task. Within hours, Escobar had his answer. “Floy Culbreth was actually started as Floy Porter,” said Thea Chamberlain. Chamberlain is Culbreth’s daughter. The Escobars were to reach the family using social media. To their giddy surprise, Chamberlain lives less than 20 minutes from the theatre. What’s less of a surprise was learning her mother lost her wallet in the late summer of 1958. “To be honest, mother losing stuff would not have been a surprise,” Chamberlain laughed. Floy died over a decade ago. The Escobars and Chamberlains scheduled a gathering at the Plaza Theatre to exchange the wallet and pore through its contents.
Escobar can’t be sure what film was showing at the Plaza that day (the theatre was just one screen at the time). However, newspapers from the summer of 1958 show 1956 Best Picture Winner “Around the World in 80 Days” playing at the Plaza. For Chamberlain, seeing receipts, library cards, and family photos she didn’t know existed brought her to the emotional edge. “It’s meant more to me than I realized it would,” she said. Adding another story for a theatre with a bit of history on the screen and in the walls. “Yeah, this theatre still has a number of stories to tell,” Escobar said. “It still surprises us.”
BEAUTIFUL WISCONSIN THEATRE OPENS MAR. 28 The Wisconsin theatre, largest and most beautiful showhouse in the Northwest, will open in Milwaukee, March 28th. This massive structure, Saxe’s $2,000,000 picture palace, houses not only the theatre proper, with its 3,500 seats, but also the largest ball room in the United States in roof garden on top, and recreation parlors containing billiard and pool tables and bowling alleys in the sub-levels. The building contains every improvement known to modern theatre-craft which can add to the pleasure, comfort and safety of the public.
The theatre will be primarily devoted to motion pictures. However, a large part of each program will be given to stage presentations and musical offerings by the organists and symphony concert orchestra. A feature of the theatre is the $50,000 organ, which when played by two organists at the same time rise from three floors below into full view of the auditors, and later sink from sight. The symphony concert or chestra is the largest in the North west. Each of the 3,500 seats affords an uninterrupted view of the stage.
They are most comfortably designed, con taining specially constructed up holstery and double springs in seat and back. Patrons will breathe pure air at proper temperatures. A re cently designed ventilating system will wash the air, heating or cooling it at the same time, as need be. The cooling system, alone, was installed at a cost of more than $65,000. The plan of decoration throughout the house is artistic and elaborate.
Rare oil paintings, marble pillars and rich drapes lend an atmosphere of grandeur to the lobby. Patrons may keep appointments with friends on the handsomely appointed mezzanine promenade which surrounds the lobby. An orchestra on the mezzanine will play softly for those resting there. The lighting system of the theatre is a triumph of electrical artistry. Light colors will be blended, increasing or decreasing automatically to synchronize with the theme of the production.
The 75-foot electric sign in front of the building is admitted by sign makers to be the largest theatrical sign in the United States, each letter being larger than an ordinary man. The name “Wisconsin” will flash on Grand avenue with a blaze of light which can be seen for more than twenty miles. The ladies' lounging rooms luxuriously furnished, contain many innovations. Maids will direct patrons past full length mirrors to chiffoniers containing every known cosmetic, where they may “see that their powder is on straight.” Three floors beneath the building is the “Laboratory theatre,” a diminutive theatre, not open to the public, where directors and executives will rehearse coming attractions while thousands are enjoying productions in the main theatre above. The stage is of such unusual proportions that the largest spectacle can be presented.
Within 24 hours it can be converted for grand opera or any desired attraction. No possible stage requirement has been overlooked, even to the steel animal rooms, which will house wild beasts during jungle productions. The theatre and roof garden are operated by the Saxe Operating corporation of Milwaukee, the largest operators of theatres in Wisconsin. This corporation conducts eight Milwaukee theatres and fourteen theatres in other Wisconsin towns. The purchasing power of these twenty-two theatres assures patrons of the best productions at the lowest possible rates. (The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, 3/14/1924)
Urban spelunking: The Garfield Theater (Bobby Tanzilo, OnMKE)
Like most cities, Milwaukee was once dotted with movie palaces - stunningly ornate structures that served to entertain a hard-working public with moving pictures and live performers during the vaudeville era. Here’s a look at the most recent to fall. Very few of these survive today – the Oriental, the Avalon, the MSO’s Bradley Symphony Center. But, somewhat amazingly, until now, all three of the movie palaces designed by local architects Gustave Dick and Alex Bauer in 1926-27, have remained on the landscape. While the Oriental, which opened in July 1927, is still up and running, surviving for a variety of reasons, including its division into a triplex, and the empty Tower Theater (1926) awaits redevelopment, the last of the bunch to be built – The Garfield Theater, 2933 N. King Dr – which opened in November 1927, has reached the end of its life, although not entirely. While the auditorium and lobby of the theater is coming down as part of an ambitious residential and library development on King Drive and Locust Street, the facade and foyer of the theater, as well as the long row of retail spaces with offices above, will remain. They will be converted to townhouse-style residences. The site occupied by the auditorium will become parking for the library and residents. The Garfield was built by the Saxe Brothers Amusement Enterprises and developer Oscar Brachman, who had also built Walter Schroeder’s Astor Hotel in 1920. Among his other theater projects were the now-demolished Uptown Theater (1927) and the Downer Theater (1915). Saxe was a local theater chain founded in 1902 by two brothers, mechanics Jack and Tom Saxe. By the time the Garfield opened, the Saxe Brothers possessed an empire of 44 cinemas, a number that would grow to nearly 60 within another year or so. In 1927 (a busy year for theater construction; 16 went up in Milwaukee that year), Saxe controlled a baker’s dozen Brew City venues, including the Uptown, the Modjeska, the Savoy, the Tivoli, the Tower, the Oriental, the Strand, the Miller, the Princess, the Merrill, the Mirth, the Plaza and its local flagship, the Wisconsin on 6th and Wisconsin. Construction on the theater and its row of retail and office buildings along King Drive began at the start of 1927 and there was a steel frame rising by March. By April, the retail portion was taking shape and the following month, more of the auditorium began to rise. By June, the exterior of the theater box was veneered in brick. Early in July, the Oriental opened, and soon after, the Uptown followed. By October, the retail and office spaces were ready for tenants and work proceeded inside the theater, where National Theater Supply Co. was installing the rigging and stage lighting, Heywood-Wakefield was installing the seats and Chicago’s Albert Pick & Co. was painting, decorating and installing drapery. On Nov. 5, the million-dollar theater opened to great fanfare. “The attendant throng of thousands of persons from all parts of Milwaukee who attended the opening performances gave the rapidly growing upper Third Street a holiday appearance,” wrote the Sentinel the following morning. Predictions were made that the new theater will be a leading factor in the development of of real estate values in the community. “The event marked the completion of the 45th theater in the chain of playhouses throughout the state of the Saxe Amusement Enterprises. Those immediately connected with the new theater believe that the Garfield is one of the most beautiful and modern theaters in the midwest and that it will be the forerunner of even greater strides in building and other developments in that section of the city", it was stated. The theater, the Sentinel added, “exemplifies a decidedly French architecture of the early 18th century, which is characterized by its elegance and piquant motifs.” Patrons were treated to screenings of “Adam and Evil,” starring Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle, as well as vaudeville performances by Betty Ouimet, dancer Olga Mishka, and Ford & Harrison. (Ouimet was the daughter of Frances J. Ouimet, who in 1913 was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open golf tournament. Her son John Zielinski would go on to become a big league prospect with the St. Louis Cardinals. Mishka – despite her exotic name – was an American dancer and vaudevillian whose real name was Gladys Buckley. Ford & Harrison may have a connection to the somewhat eponymous actor Harrison Ford, who has a family link to vaudeville.)
During its first week, the Garfield would screen a number of films, including “Shanghai Bound” Sunday and Monday with Mary Brian and Richard Dix, followed Tuesday-Thursday by “What Price Glory” with Victor MacLaglen, and then Richard Barthelmess in “The Drop Kick” Friday and Saturday. Arriving at the theater, patrons would surely have noticed the gorgeous terra cotta decoration on the facade above the marquee and entrance. In the foyer – the 50x50-foot area where the ticket booth was located – and in the lobby beyond there were lavish decorations, including mirrors, terrazzo floors, a regal staircase up to the balcony level and even a white marble fireplace. The 50x70-foot lobby was illuminated by a trio of large chandeliers, made by Milwaukee’s Charles Polacheck & Bro. Five sets of double doors each opened to an aisle inside the 1,800-seat auditorium. Patrons entered beneath the low ceiling of the balcony above, which created a feeling of compression. Walking forward, one was then hit by an awe-inspiring sense of release provided by the soaring expanse of the theater. There were murals on the side walls and, as was common, ornate painted plaster details everywhere: on the ceiling, on the proscenium around the 40x30-foot stage opening, on the walls. Thanks to a series of colonnades on either side that mimicked opera boxes, offered the look and feel of a European opera house. Carytids stood sentry between these openings. There were damask, velvet and satin drapery and other elements. Described later as “Milwaukee’s most elegant neighborhood theater; a miniature Viennese Opera house,” admission was 40 cents on Saturday evenings – less at other days and times – which got you a feature film, several short films, three vaudeville acts and musical accompaniment by an orchestra and organist. “If the eyes were pleased, so were the ears as the house orchestra, the ‘Saxonians,’ appeared complete with tympani, at evening performances,” notes CinemaTreasures.org. “At other times it was the job of the organist to ‘perfume the air with music’ (as famed 1920s organist Gaylord Carter so well put it in the video: ‘The Movie Palaces’ by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988) and accompany the silent movies. The Garfield was well equipped for this with its Barton theatre pipe organ of three manuals and eleven ranks (voices) which was opened by organist Jack Martin. It rose into view from the orchestra pit upon its four-post Barton lift every time it started the overture.” However, by the time the Garfield swung open its doors, Saxe was feeling pressure from the big Hollywood studios like Loew’s, Warner Brothers, Fox and Paramount, who were swallowing up indie theater chains. In December, Saxe sold its theaters to the California-based Midwesco Theaters Inc., which already owned a couple hundred theaters. Soon after, Fox Film Corp., in turn, gulped down that chain and Fox-Midwesco became the big kid on the block in Wisconsin theaters for a quarter-century, and it put veteran theater manager Milton Harman in charge of the Garfield. Meanwhile, the Saxe clan busied itself with businesses like the White Tower fast food chain and later, Thomas Saxe got back into the theater game during the Depression, buying back his theaters and running them until his death in 1938. As the movie business and entertainment landscape changed, so did the theater. By the 1940s, the Saxonians were gone. The marquee was changed and the large arched window in the facade was covered. Sometimes movies weren’t earning enough and other events were held, including concerts, fashion shows, union meetings, teen dances and conventions. With TV taking over, the Garfield closed in 1965. After some changes in 1967 – including the removal of the seats – the building was occupied in 1968 by The Opportunities Industrialization Center, an apparently windowless vocational school. The OIC was founded in Philadelphia and opened its first Milwaukee site in the old Rosenberg’s department store on King Drive at North Avenue in March 1967. Some of its lavishness was sold off, including the Polacheck lobby chandeliers, which ultimately ended up in the Barrington, Illinois mansion of the Sanfilippo family. “The once fashionable Garfield Theater, a flashy but fading dame on Milwaukee’s near north side, is trying to recapture her youth,” wrote Barbara H. Kuehn in the Sentinel in January 1968. “She’s likely to pass her new lease on life to people in the neighborhood. But she’ll have to part with her frills first.” An OIC counselor told Kuehn that the goal was to “motivate self-renewal, so we start by trying to get the trainee to think for himself” in terms of selecting an area of study. “The theater was once a hub of community entertainment as people flocked to its movies, vaudeville shows and musical programs,” Kuehn wrote. “OIC hopes to transform it into a center where people in the surrounding inner city can get a new start in life.” After OIC closed in a swirl of controversy in the early 2000s, the Philadelphia Church of God in Christ purchased the building and converted it into a church in 2006.
While the lobby and foyer maintained some of their grandeur, if dulled, a dropped ceiling that ran from the edge of the balcony all the way to the stage killed that sense of release, leaving only the feeling of compression. In order to suspend the ceiling, hundreds of holes were popped through the ornate plaster ceiling. Upstairs, the balcony was enclosed and diced up into a series of classrooms (likely by the vocational school). Before work to demolish the lobby and auditorium began, I was invited over for a full-on, Indiana Jones-style “spelunk,” as Jackson Lindsay II of General Capital, architect Keith Stachowiak – who, thankfully, brought a really powerful light source – and I climbed to the catwalks, opened a locked door via a convenient hole in the wall to access a bit of remaining balcony, explored the basement, nosed around the dressing rooms below the stage, peered through the openings in the projection booth, stuck our heads up into the upper level fan room and did our best to photograph what we could see from our limited vantage points. Alas, we never could find a navigable route onto those colonnades that looked like European opera house boxes.
I’d been trying for years to get inside to see what remained and had heard that there wasn’t much to see, but as is often the case, this was not true at all. The exterior terra cotta is lovely and there for all passersby to see and enjoy. Just next to the main entrance, workers uncovered a vintage sign, reading “First run on the North Side,” which was removed and saved. While the elaborate ticket booth and chandeliers are long gone, the foyer decor is largely intact and quite beautiful. Fortunately, this space – as well as that terra cotta facade – will survive as a lobby for the new apartment building. Through the doors into the much larger lobby space, with its higher ceiling and grand staircase feels a bit like a revelation. Perhaps not on the scale of the former Warner Grand Theater Downtown – now the MSO’s Bradley Symphony Center – but still awe-inspiring with its marble fireplace and extant decor. While climbing the grand staircase is rewarding, entering the balcony at the top and the auditorium below are disappointing. There’s nothing to see in the balcony and in the former church sanctuary below there are only some hints (admittedly lovely) of what could be seen during the Garfield Theater days. The real excitement comes when we visit the backstage rooms (sadly stripped of their original wall finishes and any old performer graffiti that may have existed), the catwalks (creepy and alluring as any) and, especially, what little remains of the balcony, the projection booth and the organ loft.
From these latter spaces, the awesome – if dark and crumbly – scene of that “European opera house” reveals itself. We can see the proscenium – though the top half or more of the stage opening is blocked up – and the ceiling with their elaborate painted plaster motifs. We can see the colonnades with their decorative railings. We spy the carytids standing tall and proud. We can see the project booth, tacked onto the back wall as if an afterthought. Later, looking at Dick & Bauer’s original plans, Stachowiak notices that they don’t match the built theater. The carytids, for example, are nowhere to be seen. In fact, neither are the colonnades. “I can’t find those caryatids in the interior sections / elevations – (it) seems like the design was changed,” he says. “They were never a part of the original plan – as a matter of fact neither were the side aisles/corridors, upper or lower. These plans had to have changed significantly during construction. Not all that surprising for the time – I also love how they reference ‘murals by decorator.’ Like the architects had no care about what was applied after the fact by someone else because it was ‘decoration’.” Stachowiak also sees later plans and notes changes that took place long after the original construction. “It was so poorly altered by two notable architects,” he says. “First the sloped theater floor was covered and the fly loft infilled in 1967 by Fitzhugh Scott for the Opportunities Industrialization Center. Then in 1983 Alonzo Robinson added this monstrosity of a floor plan to the theater along with the drop ceiling and fluorescent lights. Imagine going to a vocational school for the disabled and having no access to natural daylight.” While we’re there we see all those holes popped into the ceiling and we see that time has taken its toll on much of the splendor. While, perhaps, someone with absolutely unlimited funding MIGHT be able to return the Garfield Theater to its original splendor, what then? Few are looking to open new movie theaters, even if it were to be divided like the Oriental into a triplex, and the city, if anything, is reaching a glut of concert and event venues. Movie palaces were very specialized buildings that are difficult to convert. I’m sad to think that it will be gone forever, one more vintage movie palace condemned to history, but what Milwaukee does need now is housing, and especially affordable housing, and that’s what this site will provide. Fortunately, some of that will occupy the retail/office space, which will allow the street-facing aspect of the old Garfield Theater to not only remain intact, but to get a much needed restoration. The project will provide a new 18,000-square-foot library with flexible-use community rooms, a makerspace, improved access to technology, new furnishings and an updated and refreshed presentation of library materials and resources. The library building will also have 42 affordable apartments. There will be another eight in the former storefronts and 43 more in the building to the north. As Barbara Kuehn wrote of the Garfield in the Sentinel in 1968: “Sad, in a way, to see the old lady lose her ruffles. But she was past her prime in both beauty and usefulness. The face lifting may well put her back in touch with the neighborhood.” (Bobby Tanzilo, Senior Editor/Writer, OnMKE)
Quincy Jones, actress/singer Jennifer Hudson, and entertainer Chance the Rapper and Quincy Jones have teamed up to reopen and revitalize the Ramova Theatre. Jones told the media “With Ramova, I see a future where the rich cultural heritage of Chicago shines even brighter alongside the country’s most talented artists, which will inspire future generations to come and bring glory to America’s Second City.” A press release said “Ramova will also offer educational programs [and] workshops, and amplify community initiatives from local nonprofits.” And the Ramova Grill, which closed in 2012 after 82 years of service, is reopening as a 20-seat restaurant.
No doubt there are people today who gaze at the long-silent theatre, and imagine all sorts of architectural wonders within. They’d be disappointed, since Charles Augustine had to work within a budget, and he saved most of the ornament for the outer facade (much of which is still visible). The Vogue Theatre got a handsome, well-proportioned face-brick facade heavily trimmed in cream terra cotta above and colored Irish tiles at ground level, in the American neo-classic architectural style. It was unarguably one of the best-looking of all exterior designs for a small theatre. Inside, though, the economies were apparent. A tiny lobby led directly to the auditorium; here the straight walls were relieved only by upright pilasters, panels of floral-print fabric, and double-candle light sconces of plaster with small shades. The lower walls were trimmed to resemble stone.
The reopened Ramova Theatre will also be home to Other Half Brewing, which will open a brewery and taproom inside the Ramova Theatre that will be a 1,500-capacity concert venue and dining destination in the coming months. Developer Tyler Nevius is spearheading the Ramova redevelopment with Emily Nevius, his wife. “This idea of creating a music venue and a brewery was really developed organically with them to a great extent.”
Other Half chose to join the Ramova project for one primary reason: music. Other Half’s founder Matt Mohanan said “It just seems like a natural evolution for what we’re doing. Adding a music component to what we do, we’re just lucky to be here and excited.”
Other Half Ramova will include a taproom along Halsted Street. Behind that will be a glass wall where visitors can check out the on-site brewery production floor below with around 20 draft lines available in the taproom.
Other Half Ramova will adjoin the 20-seat Ramova Grill, itself reopening after an 82-year run in 2012. Kevin Hickey and Brandon Phillips will oversee the culinary and beverage programs at the grill respectively, with a full menu available to OHR patrons.
The city bought the Ramova Theatre, closed since 1985, in 2001 to preserve it for development, but officials struggled for years to find developers willing to invest in rehabilitating it. In 2020, the Ramova was sold to a venture led by Nevius’ Our Revival Chicago LLC. The $30 million project broke ground in 2021.
There’s a plan to reopen the ROSEBUD Theatre after more than three years.
The theatre near North Avenue and 68th Street closed in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alderman Andrew Meindl, who oversees that district, told WISN 12 News the owner is targeting a Christmas return.
Meindl said the owner plans reopening the ROSEBUD as a first-run theatre with newly-released pictures.
A community-owned theatre group is looking to turn the ROSEBUD into a community-led nonprofit. The owner told Ald. Meindl he will continue working with the group on a possible transfer of ownership in 2025.
(Beginning a four-chapter feature article I wrote for the Midweek Bulletin starting November 15, 1988.)
Even today, passersby along busy 52nd Street might imagine, if they squint a bit, the old Vogue Theatre alive again, with several hundred excited kids in line for a 1940s Saturday-afternoon double-feature Western show, each clutching his or her ten-cent admission; and a harried staff struggling to keep up with the crush.
This fall marks the 100th year since the Vogue Theatre opened its doors on September 15, 1923. For the next 28 years, the Vogue was mainly an unpretentious neighborhood movie theatre, and it never attempted to outdo the bigger, grander movie palaces downtown. It fulfilled its modest role in Kenosha’s entertainment scene…until a sudden change in national trends sealed not only the Vogue’s fate but that of thousands of similar neighborhood movie houses across America.
In 1923, postwar America was basking in prosperity; President Calvin (“Silent Cal”) Coolidge took office, and Hollywood was in its lusty adolescence. Just ten years earlier, most movies were brief little novelties shown in “nickelodeons,” converted storefronts with blackened windows and rows of benches seating perhaps 75 people, with a sheet for a screen. (One of the first of these, the Electric Theatre, was operated by Adolph Alfieri on north Seventh Avenue east of Union Park.) But in the early 20s the movies were eager for respectability, so real movie theatres were being built everywhere by recently-formed chains or by single entrepeneurs eager to cash in on America’s growing love for the ever-improving medium of film.
Water Schager ran several theatres in Kenosha with his wife Rose. But Prohibition was on, and those who once sold or made liquor and beer were looking to invest in other ventures. As an example, Racine’s Klinkert Brewery had just built the BUTTERFLY (later, HOLLYWOOD) Theatre at 4902 Seventh Avenue.
In 1923, Kenosha’s operating film theaters included the Z Rhode Opera House, the new ORPHEUM, the BUTTERFLY, the BURKE (later CAMEO), the MAJESTIC, the LINCOLN, the STRAND (later NORGE), and the COLUMBIA. (The Kenosha, Gateway and Roosevelt Theatres were still four years in the future.) But in a time when people were much less mobile and by far more apt to function mostly within their home neighborhoods, Kenosha’s central city had no movie house of its own.
Schlager selected some long-vacant property at 1820 52nd Street and had well-known Kenosha architect Charles Augustine design a state-of-the-art theatre for the site. (Augustine lived then with his wife Lillian at 7428 22nd Avenue; his designs include the Terrace Court Apartments, the West Branch Library, the old Barden Store and the Roosevelt Theatre.) Then Schlager signed on long-time contractor George Lindemann of 4724 Fifth Avenue to build his new Vogue Theatre. Work continued throughout the summer of 1923 as passing motorists and passengers on the Grand Avenue line of the Kenosha Electric Railway monitored the theatre’s progress. The final touch was the installation of the vertical sign, traditional on theatres then, which spelled out VOGUE in white bulbs with a twinkling border; the sign was visible for over ten blocks in either direction. That was the clue the Vogue Theatre was ready, and in early September small teaser ads appeared in the papers - not that anyone needed teasing, of course. A full page ad appeared on opening night, Saturday, September 15, 1923 in which manager Clarence Eschenberg welcomed present and future patrons, concluding with “This is your theatre.”
The Vogue’s doors opened at six p.m.; adult tickets were 25 cents and children paid a dime.
The Majestic Theater was established in 1909 by the partnership of Italian immigrants Ciali (Charles) Pacini, Joseph Unti and Dominic Lencioni of Kenosha. The Majestic was located in a building owned by the estate of Rasmus O. Gottfredson. Though a lease agreement would have been approved, it was not recorded with the Register of Deeds. Prior to their lease agreement, the building had been occupied by the Oscar Robbel Laundry.
The grand opening of the Majestic was held on Saturday, December 4, 1909 following the conversion of the building into a moving picture and music playhouse.
The Majestic closed around April 27, 1912 when its last advertisement appeared in the Kenosha Evening News. When it re-opened on Saturday, August 17, 1912, it was called the New Majestic Theater. The Monday, August 19, 1912 issue of the Kenosha Evening News gave rave reviews about the New Majestic Theater, reporting eight shows on Saturday attracted 2100 patrons. The theater had been renovated with soft concrete floors and expanded seating. Most noticeable was the installation of the first “daylight pictures” system in Kenosha, where films were shown on a mirror screen 110 feet from the projector. The article said the picture on the screen was of such clarity that the theater was lighted at all times.
At the re-opening, Charles Pacini was the sole proprietor, Unti and Lencioni having left the partnership. Dominic Lencioni started his own business, a confectionery store. at 69 N. Main Street (5030 6th Avenue) in Kenosha. Joseph Unti left the theatrical business to work as a clerk for Dominic Unti at his confectionery at 317 Main Street (5824 6th Avenue) in Kenosha.
On July 21, 1913, the Majestic closed again for four days for the installation of new leather seats and other interior and exterior improvements. Pacini assured the public the Majestic would continue with the best in pictures, music and general features.
On April 25, 1919, Catherine Gottfredson became sole owner of the property and building as the beneficiary of a last will & testament, and by then, Pacini had established the Charles Pacini Amusements pmanagement company, with the motto “Go where the crowd goes.”
On December 29, 1919, the Kenosha Evening News reported on an ambitious expansion of the New Majestic Theater by Charles Pacini Amusements. Pacini had secured possession of the Matt D. Schmidt Building just to the north of the theater. The addition would have doubled the seating capacity to about 1,000, and the project was expected to begin in March, 1920 and be finished by early summer. On June 10, the Kenosha Evening News reported that builder George Lindemann of Kenosha was awarded the contract by Charles Pacini Amusements to enlarge the New Majestic, and the architect chosen was Kenoshan Charles Augustine (who would later design Kenosha’s 1927 Roosevelt Theatre). The cost of rebuilding the theater was estimated at $85,000. There would be two foyers opening into the enlarged auditorium, a right and left balcony with special exits for safety, a large organ and enlarged orchestra pit, a smoking room for the gentlemen and a lounge for the ladies. Pacini anticipated completion around November 1. But those hopes abruptly ended with the murder of Charles Pacini on August 15, 1920, shot by a lone assailant a block east at his car after he’d closed the Majestic for the evening. Though the expansion was cancelled, his estate under Charles Pacini Amusements continued with the operation of the Majestic and his other theaters. But on March 17, 1921, the Telegraph Courier reported the sale of all of Pacini’s theatrical properties and interests including the leases for the Strand, New Majestic and Butterfly Theaters to the Saxe-Dayton Orpheum Theatre Company for $100,000. The Saxe-Dayton Company was a merger of the interests of John E. and Thomas E. Saxe of Milwaukee and Edward and Fred L. Dayton of Kenosha. Willard C. Welch of Saxe Amusement Enterprises was installed as manager of the Majestic Theater, Saxe-Dayton dropping the “New” from its title to call it Saxe’s Majestic. By early 1924, Edward Dayton took over its management.
But by that December, the theater stopped advertising its listings in local newspapers, and it was not until October 1925 when advertisements resumed, and during all of 1926 the Majestic’s programs were overwhelmingly dominated by a Westerns.
Then on February 2, 1927, building owner Catherine Gottfredson entered into a lease agreement with the Kenosha Orpheum Theater Company calling for a monthly payment of $400 for a period of 15 years. The manager was James L. Morrissey. Still, it appears the Majestic theater may have closed that summer, as its last advertisement in a local newspaper was on July 9, 1927. On the following December 20, the Kenosha Orpheum Theater Company subleased the theater to Midwesco Theaters Inc. at the same rates as its then-current lease with Catherine Gottfredson. It is unknown if the Majestic re-opened following the sublease, as no advertisements were placed in the local newspapers during all of 1928. On December 11 of that year the Kenosha Evening News reported that Cunningham’s Clothing Store had leased the Majestic Theater from Fox-Midwesco Enterprises for a period of 14 years, the final curtain after nineteen years at Kenosha’s Majestic Theatre.
I see that the source didn’t make it onto the post, although I felt it should be known to the public. It was a message from the operators of the Keno Family Drive-In Theatre just after its closure to dispel any misunderstandings about the reasons.
We just want to let our followers know that the Keno Drive-In movie theater will not reopen. Our company has operated the Drive-In for 9 years. Our current lease was terminated and we were advised that the owners of the property made a business decision to find another use for the property and we would not be permitted to open the Drive-In. Every attempt was made by our company to continue the operation of the theater which included participation in the conversion to digital. My family has operated Drive-In movie theaters for over 60 years and we have a passion for the continuation of this American icon. We operate another Drive-In in Illinois, Cascade Drive-In which continues to operate successfully with top grossing movies usually in the top ten of all theaters in the country. Today Drive-In movie theaters are more popular then ever thanks to people like the Kenosha residents and beyond. Our hearts go out to every person that visited the Keno Drive-In for we really appreciated your business. We would like to extend an invitation to everyone of the Kenosha residents to visit our Cascade Drive-In in Illinois free of charge for a limited time to give thanks for all the years you supported the Keno Drive-In.
Thank you!
Management
The HI-WAY’s final performance for the 1950 season, its first and last, was on Saturday, September 30th. Admission was $0.55 including tax; children under 12 were admitted free, and the final two features were “Three Came Home” with Claudette Colbert, and “Sand” with Mark Stevens, Colleen Gray and Rory Calhoun.
The Vogue Theatre’s grand opening was heralded with a full-page ad in in the Kenosha Evening News on September 15, 1923. Strangely, several days after the gala there were no more ads for the Vogue. As days passed, Vogue ads finally reappeared the following weekend. Either the theatre closed down briefly after its grand opening due to some problem or, more likely, the inexperienced management following the excitement surrounding the premiere forgot to order ads in advance. The name of the lady who was opening night organist on the Vogue’s new Moller instrument has also been lost, but a week later, Dr. E. M. Hyland Slatre-Wilson, a colorful, many-faceted Kenoshan who then operated many clinics and classes in music, science and art within the new Orpheum Building, took command of the Vogue Theatre organ to accompany the films and provide solo interludes. Thus began the Vogue’s 28-year career as a central-city neighborhood theatre. After a time, some vaudeville acts were booked, but this never was a major part of the bill at the Vogue, and was all but discontinued by the late 1930’s. The stage was rather shallow - about sixteen feet deep by about twenty-five feet across - but it was adequate for the acts that did play there - mostly jugglers, comics, acrobats and small musical groups. Walter Schlager ran the Vogue for two years, then leased it to the new and shortlived United Theatres chain, which took over the Butterfly Theatre and the Lincoln Theatre as well. The general manager for United was Al Meis of 5930 Fifth Avenue, long experienced in managing the downtown Virginian Theatre. Walter and Rose Schlager went back to operating soft-drink taverns (this was during Prohibitlon) at 2024 56th Street and elsewhere, also living on the premises. But United Theatres didn’t last long, and by 1930 Walter was back in charge of the Vogue Theatre. - Enter Francis B. “Butch” Schlax, who had a love for show business as a young man. Beginning as an usher at the Orpheum and Majestic Theatres, he worked up a partnership with George Fischer of the Hotel Fischer at 508-12 56th Street just east of the Rhode Opera House. Together, Schlax and Fischer leased the Vogue Theatre in 1934. Schlax therefore began a long career in theatre management, eventually operating nearly every theatre in Kenosha, including the inevitable local outdoors, the Mid-City and Keno. - Early movie film stock was of nitrate and very flammable. Projectionist Kenneth Hahn told of an incident involving Louis Goodare, who was operating the Vogue’s twin Simplex projectors one night when the film caught fire. Ever the alert operator, Goodare somehow snatched the flaring reel and pitched it from a front window just in time, where it landed, blazing, atop the Vogue’s marquee. Goodare’s trousers were burned, so he later billed the Milwaukee theatre chain for this. Hahn sald the chain denied the claim. “He saved their theatre, and they wouldn’t replace his burned pants.” (Hahn did verify a good working relationship with “Butch” Schlax, however.) In the Twenties, theatres could do well on box-office receipts alone, but the studios kept taking ever-larger percentages, so all theatres had to rely on popcorn, candy and soft drink vending beginning in the Depression years, and employees were told often to promote the concessions. - Francis B. Schlax, who lived at 6410 Fifth Avenue, is probably the Vogue’s best-remembered manager, and many a youngster without the price of admission was allowed in free as long as there was an empty seat to be had" (and they might have had to sweep up a bit, too), recalled his brother Leslie. But a vicious accident on Highway 38 while returning from a film-booking meeting in Milwaukee cost Francis the sight in one eye, and during the two-month hospital stay that resulted, Leslie and their family members pitched in to run the Vogue. So did Dominick Gallo, later of Gallo Food Products just east of the theatre. Gallo, “houseman” at the Vogue for years, walked to work around the corner from his home at 5129 18th Avenue. (in a way, he stayed in show business; purveying the famed Gallo Hot Tamales to Kenosha’s two outdoors for decades.) A lot of Kenoshans found employment through the years at the Vogue. Some of the better-remembered projectionists included Kenneth Hahn of 7921 19th Avenue, Fred Sherry of 1419 62nd Street, Ray Bacon of 2410 61st Street, Louis Goodare of 5921 6th Avenue, Richard Schnell of 6037 Fifth Avenue, and Percy Garton, 1108 56th Street. Projectionists were every theatre’s unsung heroes, those invisible souls high up in their booths for which audiences gave nary a thought … except if the film should break or the arc lamp fail. Then the unseen projectionist would be roundly cursed with a hail of insults and foot stomping until the picture would resume. Sometimes he would be pressed into part-time security duty as well, patrolling the balcony for rowdy or over-amorous patrons. But watching for a flash fire was a potentially-deadly aspect of the job. Eventually the Vogue was leased by the Standard Theatres chain of Milwaukee that also operated the Hollywood, Lincoln, the Cameo (620 56th Street) and the big Kenosha and Gateway (now Rhode Opera House) and the two outdoors. Schlax was promoted to Standard’s citywide manager. Francis' son Robert Schlax recalled accompanying his father each Thursday night during the war years to the Vogue and other local theatres and watching brief scenes of the current features as his Dad tallied receipts in the varied offices with managers. At some time during this period, the Vogue’s two-rank Moller pipe organ was sold and moved. It had fallen silent since the onset of sound films and wasn’t being used. Fred Hermes of the Dairyland Theatre Organ Society had some data on the Vogue’s organ, but didn’t know where it went. “Probably to some church,” he guessed. Through the decades, the Vogue was a comfortable if unspectacular addition to the city’s entertainment scene. Many of its patrons were blue-collar families, and often these were newly-arrived Italian immigrants, especially early on. Occasionally foreign films would grace the Vogue’s screen, which usually drew crowds and gave the Vogue its local nickname: the Garlic Opera House. Robert Schlax recalled Vogue employees sharing a good relationship with his father, gifting him tomatoes from their gardens and homemade wine for the boss. To many, the Vogue was a gathering place for a few hours, second only in importance to their churches. In this manner, the Vogue Theatre lived out its career of almost three decades “free trom vicissitudes,” as a 1936 Centennial Edition article in the Kenosha News put it. The vicissitudes would come rather suddenly, when they finally came. But that was not to happen for another decade and a half.
Friday, December 21, 1928 advertisement on Page 11 in the Downers Grove Reporter.
The Congress Theatre (by Sharon Lindy) - - The Congress Theatre, located at 2135 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago, opened on September 5, 1926 with 2,904 seats, as part of the Lubliner & Trinz chain of theatres. It was the third large theatre to be built in Chicago by the L&T firm as a vaudeville house on the Orpheum circuit. Acts on the circuit would try out their routines at the Congress before taking them downtown. L&T first built the Harding Theatre (2,993 seats), in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, just a few blocks from where the Congress would be erected, in October 1925. The second theatre in their chain was the Tower on the south side at 63rd Street with 2,995 seats. The Congress was the last to be built, and it is the only one of the three which remains standing today, looking very much like it did when it was first opened. A descendant of the builders, Bruce Trinz, carries on the tradition of theatre involvement. He used to operate the Clark Theatre in downtown Chicago in the 1960s. He was one of the first theatre operators to book vintage films at a dollar admission, and the Clark changed its bill every day, showed double features, and was open 24 hours a day. Who in Chicago can forget his advertising slogan over the radio: “Hark Hark! The Clark!” Monthly movie schedules were issued and each film had a clever two-line couplet describing the movie’s theme written by Trinz himself. Alas, the Clark was demolished, and he now manages the McClurg Court Theatres in Chicago’s posh Gold Coast area. But back to the Congress: In the 1920s, there were 20 theatres in Chicago that had 2,990 seats, the odd figure being because there was a Chicago union cutoff at 3,000. If there were less than 3,000 seats, less staff was needed. The Congress was taken over by the Publix Balaban & Katz chain on February 1, 1929. It never did the volume expected of it because Milwaukee Avenue had so many cinemas, not necessarily large ones but lots of little ones. Many of these buildings still stand along Milwaukee Avenue, a 20 block stretch from Division Street to Belmont, with 30 theatres, though they are no longer used as theatres. The Congress stands on a quarter of a city block, a complex which includes 17 stores and 56 apartments. B&K gave up the theatre to the Plitt chain because of marketing problems. The 40-year manager of the Congress McNeil Smith took good care of the Congress. B&K had a long lease on the building, and so it was well cared for. The lobby, all lined in marble, was extensively redone in the late 1950s. The lobby color scheme was changed, the grand drapery over the staircase was removed, and a painted-on drape mural was produced by Hans Teichert and the B&K poster studio. From a distance, it looks like a real drape and fools many people until they come close. All original furnishings were put in storage. In 1963, the enormous Marbro Theatre closed. The CO2 air conditioner at the Congress was out of service, so at considerable expense, they moved the small air conditioning compressors from the Marbro to the Congress. A most unusual effect is created by the stud lighting around the two original inside box offices. Fridstein was the architect for the Congress, and one of his tricks is the glass-enclosed vestibule with a clean glass ceiling. As one leaves the vestibule and enters the huge lobby, directly above the doorway is a painted cardboard balcony fence mural, another product of the B&K poster studios. The long vertical lobby windows never had any curtains on them, so daylight could always stream into the huge lobby. The large ceiling light fixtures are Pearlman fixtures and are original, as are the smaller fixtures along the walls. The large fixtures are identical to those hanging in the Ambassador Theatre in St. Louis. In 1983, the Theatre Historical Society promoted a tour of the Congress for its annual fall tour. During the tour, it was noted that the fixtures had not been cleaned or working for 25 years. Shortly afterwards, a THS volunteer crew ascended to the attic of the immense dome, skirted along the catwalks, and found the cables holding the chandeliers in place over the lobby. Not having been lowered in so many years, they were dry and buried in dust and dirt (and pigeon feathers). The volunteers carefully oiled and loosened them, and slowly lowered the chandeliers to the lobby floor. Once down, many hands dismantled the glass parts, scrubbed off the grime and dirt which had accumulated over the years, replaced the bulbs, and hosted them back up manually to their former position, When the power was flipped on, they glowed and gleamed just as lovely as they did back in 1926 when they were brand new. And now a whole new generation can enjoy this sight hanging high over the lobby. Each chandelier had so many parts to it and was such an ordeal to disassemble and reassemble that it took an entire day to do just one chandelier. THS volunteers also arranged to have an artist come in, mount scaffolding. and repaint a wall mural that had been water-damaged many years before. The result is that the damage is now undetectable compared to the rest of the mural. The auditorium is of unusual proportions; Fridstein was competing with Rapp & Rapp when he designed this theatre and he had a modest budget, but he tried to make the Congress look as elegant as the R&R theatres. The main floor has 2,200 seats. and the balcony has 790. Standing anywhere on the main floor, you can see the immense flying-saucer dome this theatre has. The auditorium has never been repainted, so the colors are original, and it has been maintained fairly well. The original grand drape, valance, and teaser curtains remain. The considerable amount of marble on the lobby walls was installed by the Orpheum Circuit bookers who had a passion for marble and put it everywhere they could. The foyer between the lobby and the auditorium is unusual space because of its wide curve, but the main floor is very wide. The foyer is now empty, but it once had a great many sofas and chairs lining its walls. The foyer floor was changed to tile from carpet in the 1950s remodeling. There is a large exit door on Rockwell Street, and the foyer decorative fixtures are also original. The auditorium gives a large plush feeling to patrons. At this date, with the exception of the Chicago Theatre, the Congress is the largest operating cinema in the city. The auditorium color scheme is gold and burgundy. The auditorium aisles number eight. There are many entrances to the very shallow balcony. The back wall was redone after sound movies came in to reduce the echo. When the Congress first opened, it had one of the first 4- manual 20-rank organs known as a Publix One. Organists who played it, like Edna Sollers, John Mury, etc., said it sounded absolutely fabulous. It was so good that two years after B&K took over the theatre in 1929, they built the Southtown on Chicago’s south side, and they decided that with the depression going on, instead of buying a new organ they would move the splendid Congress organ to the Southtown. Unfortunately it sounded terrible in the Southtown. It was buried behind massive organ screens. It was subsequently broken up for parts, as was the fate of many theatre organs.
Mitch O'Connell artwork.
(Charles Fulkerson Of The State Journal, Nov. 27, 1975) - The old metal seats in the gloomy theater below the projection room glowed in the soft light reflecting off the screen. Seven people were watching a Monday night showing of “Walking Tall, Part II” at Edgerton’s Rialto theater. There were 401 empty seats. “This used to be a good movie town, if you can explain it. I wish you would,” Bud Horan said glumly as he peered out the tiny projection room window and watched the popular new movie that had drawn big crowds elsewhere. Horan, 51, took over the manager’s job in 1965 when a full house was common and when Esther Williams thrilled moviegoers by adding new dimensions to the one-piece swimsuit. Twenty years later, the Rialto normally is open only on weekends, and even then the big crowds are rare. The last picture show already has played at thousands of theaters like it across the country. A review recently of conditions at a dozen small town theaters left in southern Wisconsin finds the Rialto and a couple of others at one end of the spectrum, some theaters in the middle and a few reporting decent business. All small theater owners are suffering under terms from movie companies which they say make it harder and harder to compete with the big city theaters. Aided by better roads and bigger pictures, the big city theater, whether in Madison, Milwaukee or Dubuque, lowa, has lured away the rural movie goer. These film companies are awfully rough on the small theaters; sometimes you can’t even get a movie,“ said Krith Vance, owner of Viroqua’s Temple Theater. Vance said business is down and he blames it partly on "the product” from Hollywood. “It’s your darn high terms, they’re too high,” said Ed Benes, mayor of Elroy and owner of the Elroy Theater. Benes also grumbled about the Hollywood fare. Business might be decent, he said, “if they’d get off their dead duffs and make a product the public would like to see.” Practically every small theater had a horror story about Universal’s “Jaws.” Benes was no exception. “If I wanted to run "Jaws” right now they’d want $2,500 in front money and two weeks play time,“ said Benes. "For a town of 1,500 that’s ridiculous.” The theater owner generally gets his films in one of three ways. ONE. Leases them for a prearranged period of time and splits the ticket proceeds with the movie company. TWO. Pays a flat fee and takes the movie for as short a time as he wants. THREE. Rents out his theater to the movie company in the so-called “Four Wall” method. Under the leasing method, the small town theater owners complain they are subjected to the same high terms as their big city counterparts and are in no position to pay. In a box office smash like “Jaws”, the theater owners say the movie companies will settle only for an arrangement that lets them take 30 percent of proceeds from tickets. In a few days every potential movie goer in a small town has seen a new flick, and the owner can lose his shirt if he is forced to sign a lease for more to get a big picture a week. That’s whats happening right now at the Point Theater in Mineral Point, Manager Dave Bachkreski said. He paid $2,000 to Universal just to get “Jaws” and after a few big nights, attendance dropped to nearly nothing. And the Rialto wouldn’t even have been open the weeknight it got seven people, except that the owner had to the take a week’s lease to get a popular first-run movie. According to Jim Thiele of Boscobel’s Blaine Theater, the terms for the big pictures are so outrageous you can’t play them till they’re old. “But if you wait until they’re old”, he says, “your customers have already driven to a big city to see them.” The whole problem boils down to one thing, said Otto Settele, an old movie hand who broke into the business in 1932 when Ethel, John and Lionel Barrymore all starred together in “Rasputin and the Empress.” “We’re fighting a seller’s market now,” Settele said. “There are more screens than there are pictures.” Settele said his Dodge Theater in Dodgeville is “one of the better small-town spots and he said the movie theater may be making a comeback. The number of screens nationally has risen from a low of 11,000 in the 1960s to 15,000 today, Settele said. But those new theaters are in the larger cities and in their shopping centers he said, not in the small towns. Settele, Thiele and many others said it’s the candy and popcorn sales from the concession stand that play a big part in keeping the lights bright at the small town theater. And to make it as a small town theater, the owner has to be dedicate according to Elmer Kramer, owner of both the Badger Theater in Reedsburg and the ailing Rialto. "The only way to survive is if it’s personally owned operation and you put in your own time and don’t get paid for it,” said Krueger, who loves movies so much he has seen “Ben Hur” 67 times.
Garage Becomes a Gorgeous Movie —– Ansel M. Moore submits an appraisal of a recent conversion project and points out several reasons why the new Times Trans-Lux Theatre is the talk of Milwaukee. / THIS IS news! Here’s a case in reverse. A garage building actually became a moving picture theatre - and it is a modern theatre in every particular. Not so very long ago, it was common practise among owners and builder of moving picture theatres to hedge a bit in their construction plans. Not that all theatre owners are poor sports - decidedly not. This business is pretty much of a sporting event all the way through and the successful theatre owner doesn’t spend much time searching for a sure thing. He’ll take his chance and an even break to win is about all he asks. Nevertheless, there’s still a tendency to hedge in the matter of construction. For instance, many a moving picture theatre has been erected in the past with a predominant idea lurking behind that she don’t go as a picture show, we’ll tear out the seats, level up the floor and make a garage out of her. Significantly, most of those theatres built under the garage complex would not even serve on a good day as nurseries for motor cars although strangely some of them are still trying to kid the public into classing them as places of amusement. The new Times Theatre in Milwaukee is an example of the application of courage and common sense in the conversion of property. One would never associate this delightfully modern place of amusement with what it was before it became a modern moving picture theatre. The amazing structural transformation was brought about by clever redesigning and furnishing and we are informed that the cost thereof was surprisingly within the bounds of reason. Certainly there is no call for in this project on any point; unrespective of expense involved it is a modern theater of which Milwaukee may well be and is in fact quite proud. Times is a Trans-Lux type of theatre, in which rear-of-screen projection is most successfully employed. In description of other mechanical features of the Times, we abstracted a few paragraphs from the opening announcement program sponsored by the management and quoted them here. Not only have we brought the newest and most modern way of projecting pictures to Milwaukee but the management has spared nothing to make the Times Theatre the most modern and up-to-date theatre possible. The most careful consideration has been given the most minute details. The entire designing and construction has been carefully engineered by experts. The air that you will breath in the Times Theatre has been washed before entering the auditorium cleansed of all dust and bacteria. Proper humidity will be added in the winter to prevent dry, sore throats and headaches. Three times the amount of air required by the State Board of Health for each person will be brought into the theatre every minute. The most comfortabile seats obtainable have been installed, the best in carpets and lighting fixtures. The best obtainable in sound has been installed as well as devices for the hard of hearing. Especially do we wish to bring out this one feature. Tell any of your friends who have not attended talking pictures because they were hard of hearing that they can now enjoy talking pictures. The front of the Times is an extraordinary example of good advertising display in which light and lustre play the leading roles. Unrespective of expense involved it is a modern theatre of which Milwaukee may well be and is in fact quite proud. The foyer is sensibly arranged and furnished in a delightful mix. Of particular note is the lighting arrangement, the effect of which is a system of vari-colored lights produced by the main celling fixture. At the left a pleasingly appointed lounge with side-lighted mirrors and makeup tables. Distinctive tubular steel furniture completes the ensemble. The auditorium delightfully decorated and lighted with color changing fixtures of a new and modem type. The new Times Theatre, in Milwaukee, an example of the application of courage and common sense in the conversion of property. One would never associate this delightfully modern place of amusement with what it was before it became a modern moving picture theatre.
Cinema Chatham, One Of The South Side’s Few Movie Theaters, Closes Permanently. —– Officials posted a sign on the entrance alerting neighbors the movie theater was permanently closed. It opened in August 2021. (By Atavia Reed) - CHATHAM: Cinema Chatham permanently closed this week, shutting down just days after hosting a screening with a local alderperson’s office. Cinema Chatham officials posted a sign on the entrance this week saying the theatre was permanently closed. Shocked neighbors responded to the news on Facebook Tuesday. “We extend our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and patronage,” the sign read. “It has been a pleasure serving you.” Anthony LaVerde, CEO of parent company Emagine Entertainment, said in a statement that the theater at 210 W. 87th St was no longer economically viable. “It is with deep regret that Cinema Chatham, a franchise operator under the Emagine brand, announces its closure,” Emagine leaders said in a statement. “The decision comes as a result of the business at this specific location no longer being economically viable. When our franchise partner reopened the theatre in 2021, they were hopeful they could to continue to carry on the legacy of serving this community, so we understand that this news may be disheartening.” Jon Goldstein, owner of Cinema Chatham, did not immediately respond to Block Club’s request for comment. Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st), whose ward includes the theater, said it’s a “major blow to the arts and entertainment scene in the 21st Ward. Despite the decline of the movie theatre industry in the U.S., further worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic and growing popularity of streaming services, Cinema Chatham made a valiant effort to stay open, and their efforts are appreciated,” Mosley said in a statement. Worlee Glover, a longtime Chatham resident, learned about the closing after neighbors began texting him with pictures of the sign, he said. Most people found out about the closing only after visiting the theatre, 210 W. 87th St., Glover said. “It looks to us like it was a last-minute decision,” Glover said. Cinema Chatham opened in August 2021. Goldstein, an avid movie fan and Emagine Theatre franchisee, bought the 87th Street building in 2019 when it still housed Studio Movie Grill. Studio Movie Grill filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and permanently closed in April 2021. Goldstein filled the vacant space with Cinema Chatham. South Side moviegoers slowly flocked back to the theater in August 2021 while Goldstein worked to open all 14 theaters to the public and obtain a liquor license. The theater hosted a grand opening celebration in July 2022 with new renovations and a screening of Jordan Peele’s film, “Nope.” “This might sound cheesy, but there’s nothing better than doing this,” Goldstein previously told Block Club. “Something about entertaining people and making people happy through entertainment has always been a real joy for me. The thought that I provided a couple of hours of escapism has always been something that just feels like my purpose. What a great business to be in.” Glover used to visit Cinema Chatham often, he said. The theatre was known for partnering with local community organizations for special screenings. Ald. Stephanie Coleman (16th) hosted a 16th Ward Movie Day screening of “The Color Purple” on Jan. 25. Cinema Chatham also often screened films by independent filmmakers and hosted festivals for up-and-coming artists, like the Cinema Soup Film Festival and the Indie Horror Film Festival. “I’ve been a supporter since they first opened,” Glover said. “We’re losing out.” Cinema Chatham joins a list of national chains that have abruptly left the 87th Street building. A Best Buy in the Chatham Ridge Shopping Mall closed in April 2013. A Toys R Us store occupied the building before that. “National chains do this all the time to us,” Glover said. “We have to stop depending on them for our goods and services and start focusing on individual entrepreneurs.” Cinema Chatham’s closing leaves South Side moviegoers with only two easily accessible theaters: The Harper Theater, 5238 S. Harper, and AMC Ford City 14, 7601 S. Cicero Ave. Glover would like to see another movie chain set up shop in the 87th Street building, he said. Developers could pair the theater with a sit-down restaurant — another amenity lacking in the community, Glover said. “Hopefully, another operator will come in and open it back up with a new plan,” Glover said. “I’d like to see something fast casual there, too, like a Chili’s. That would be a big improvement.” (© 2024 Block Club Chicago)
EXCESSIVE SNOW CAUSES COLLAPSE OF WASHINGTON - Crash Comes Without Warning, Burying Scores In Wreckage - Police UnableTo Estimate Number of Victims - Give First Aid To Injured In Emergency Hospital (By Associated Press) WASHINGTON, Jan. 28. Seventeen persons at least are believed to have.been killed and scores injured tonight in the collapse under the weight of two feet of snow of the roof of the Knickerbocker theater, a motion picture house, located in the heart of Washington’s fashionable northwest section. Two hours and a half after the crash, which occurred about 9 o'clock, definite information as to the number of dead and injured was wholly lacking as well as estimates of the number of those in the theater at the time, these estimates ranging from 150 to 500, although the theater, one of the finest motion picture houses in the city, had accommodations for more than 2,000 spectators. All was confusion for hours after the crash while police, firemen, marines from the nearby barracks and soldiers from Walter Reed Military Hospital strove to burrow beneath the mass of debris and bring forth those buried thereunder. Scores had been removed from the edges of the debris and hurried to hospitals but police engaged for hours in battling the worst snow storm to visit Washington in a decade were unable to check up on the number of those taken to hospitals or on whether, or how many, had died after reaching the hospitals. Every fire station in the city was called upon to send Its crew to the scene. With the arrival of the marines, however, order began to be restored. Emergency hospitals were set up in the neighborhood; some in the home of high officials of the government. Finding the tons of concrete and steel of the roof were almost immovable and impenetrable, the street railway company of the city and the Washington navy .yard was called upon to supply acetylene-torches; with these more rapid progress was made and it was hoped that within a few hours it might be possible to reach those buried beneath the debris. Among the injured were Representative Smithwyck of Florida, who was painfully cut about the head and chest but not seriously hurt; and Nobile Toniasso Asserto, third secretary of the Italian embassy. The management of the theater, which was owned add operated by the Harry M. Crandali company; owner of a number of theaters in the city, declared that the building only recently had' been Inspected and approved and that the collapse of the roof only could have been caused by the tremendous weight imposed upon it by the heaviest snowfall that has visited Washington since 1889. The roof fell with such force as to drive three pillars through the orchestra floor. Near the stage, however, its force was arrested, so that the platform successfully acted as a buffer. For this reason, it was said, several of the musicians escaped. One case was-observed of a small boy crawling through a small aperture in the tangled mass of concrete, steel and wood to a man, woman and child who were “pinned” down and giving them water. As the night wore on the work of rescue continued feverishly, but some officials expressed doubt that the debris could be completely removed for several days. No warning was given as the walls crashed, the roof breaking in on the heads of the audience with a noise like thunder and crashing seats and occupants as it fell. It was more than an hour before the rescuers, using gas torches to cut through the accumulated mass of steel and concrete, reached the section where it was believed most of the dead and injured were. The theater, situated in the center of Washington’s fashionable northwest section, presented a scene of horror an hour after the roof fell neath a weight of snow heavier than to which it had been subjected since. The roof, to those able to .push through police lines, seemed to rest on the floor, scarcely a foot and a half separating the lowermost debris and the floor level. Standing up through the debris, however, stark and ragged, were the pillars that had supported the balconies and the roof. The same snowfall which caused the collapse of the theater’s roof also worked to lessen the number of those in the crash, for the theater, being the only one in that section, usually is filled even to standing room on week-nights.
The Lyric Theater: A reminder of an age gone by (Paul S. Peterson, Managing Editor, originally published in the Dec. 17, 1975 edition of the Daily News) —- The Lyric Theater is a reminder of an age gone by, a time when the motion picture was the social event of a Saturday evening and the last word — and only word — in the land of make-believe entertainment for youngsters. Today, the old theater is a victim of a different culture and the movies themselves, as well as the building, reflect the change. So do the audiences. “We are getting a lot younger audience than we did years ago,” says Ray Bowen, who just recently retired after more than 50 years as operator of the Lyric’s projectors. “And the audience doesn’t seem as concerned with the plot or with the acting as it did 10 or 15 years ago,” he added. Whether it is because of the change in the make-up of the audience today or simply because of the impact of television or simply because people are more inclined toward out-of-door activities, the Lyric Theater is a far cry from the Lyric that is remembered from the late 1950s. Even as late as 1960, the Lyric was playing to good-sized audiences during the week and to full houses on Sundays and for the two shows on Friday and Saturday nights. Today, the Lyric is barely keepings its financial head above water. Rod Grams, who resigned as the theater’s manager earlier this year to become director of Dial-A-Ride Transportation in Ludington, said it takes a gross income of $1,000 a week to keep the Lyric out of the red. “Right now the theater is breaking even and actually will show a profit of about $5,000 for the year,” Grams said. “If this continues, if the theater doesn’t fall into the red, then it is possible some repairs may be made soon.” And most important repair to be faced in the immediate future is to the boiler, an item of no small expense. “I really don’t know if Butterfield (Butterfield Theaters, Inc. of Detroit) will authorize the repairs or not,” Grams said. “If things keep going the way they are, it is possible Butterfield will OK it and the theater will continue to operate. If not, the theater will have to close.” The decline of the Lyric is not unique among movie theaters in small towns. The income is no longer there to make the Lyric the movie palace it once was. Costs continue to rise; the staff has been drastically reduced; there is little chance of getting good release dates for quality films and the building is having aesthetic, as well as mechanical, problems. “When I started there,” Grams said, “We had two doormen, two ushers, a person to handle the concession stand and the manager on duty all the time.” Now the manager doubles as ticket-taker and there is usually just one other employee to handle the rest of the work during an evening. And the cutback in personnel shows up in a hurry when the movie begins. Patrons at times are fortunate if they can hear the sound or escape being trampled by kids running up and down the aisles. And the theater itself is far from a “sparkling movie palace,” as it was once billed. Grams’ daughter, Mrs. Sally Taylor, is the new manager — and only the fourth — and she and her skeleton crew can only do so much. But she has received permission from Butterfield, the moviehouse chain that owns the Lyric, to hire special police to help patrol the theater during Friday nights in particular. So if this is the Lyric Theater today, what was it like in its heyday? It was, in an understatement, an altogether different place. The Lyric, as we know it today, was opened to the public on Oct. 28, 1925. Its predecessor was the Opera House, which later become known as the Lyric Theater, and was located right alongside the present Lyric. The Opera House was the scene of numerous performances of the legitimate stage. Traveling troupes came to Ludington at regular intervals to perform many of the top plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With the arrival of the silent films, the Opera House, which by that time had become the Lyric Theater, underwent the necessary modification so that such pictures at James Oliver Curwood’s “The Trail’s End,” could be seen. On Feb. 15, 1922, one of the all-time great silent films came to the Lyric for a three-day stand. It was “The Sheik,” starring Rudolph Valentino and Agnes Ayres. Shortly after World War I, Ludington opened its second movie theater, the Kozy — Shrine of Silent Art. For the next 35 years or better, the two theaters operated in the city, each drawing its own special audience. By 1925, the popularity of the motion pictured had increased to such a pitch that certain movies earned a front page story in the Daily News. Early in 1925, the Ludington firm of Fitzpatrick & McElroy Co. decided to go ahead with plans for the new Lyric Theater and on April 18 of that year construction on the building began. It was completed six months later, on Oct. 25, 1925. The Daily News carried a big front page story about the new theater. The headline read: “New Lyric, Fire-Proof, Artistic, Rich in Coloring and Commodious, Opens to Ludington Folk Thursday.” With Frank W. Hawley as its manager, the Lyric opened amid a gala celebration that included organ and violin solos. The following is the text of the front page ad on Oct. 23 that told about the first movie, a silent film, to be shown in the new theater: “Monte Blue in ‘Hogan’s Alley,’ thrills, comedy, pathos, drama, romance. The heartbeats of genuine folks throbbing through a thrilling story. Matinee at 2:30 p.m. Special children’s matinee at 4 p.m. All seats on opening night will be 30 cents. No children will be admitted at evening shows without their parents; baby cabs will not be permitted to be brought into the new Lyric Theater.” The day after the opening of the theater, the Daily News front page coverage was headlined “Auspicious Opening At Lyric Theater.” Organ and violin solos by Miss Marie Litka and Mrs. M.F. Mangrum helped making opening night a smashing success. The theater itself was described by the Daily News in the most glowing terms. The article said, in part: “Entrance to the large lobby is gained through French doors on either side of the ticket booth. Two hand-wrought circular chandelier in bronze, with crystal decorations, furnish light for the lobby. On one side of the lobby is the ladies’ waiting room, a daintily furnished room, a tribute to feminine vanity. The walls are blue while the woodwork is oyster white. Pretty tables and a writing desk, all of French design, and two floor lamps give a homelike touch to the room. Between the lobby and the foyer are French windows and the doors of mirror glass.” That hardly sounds like the Lyric Theater today. The year the Lyric opened, Hawley formed a company with Butterfield Theaters as joint owners and operators of the Lyric and Kozy theaters: It was at about this time that Ray Bowen began working at the Lyric. “That was, of course, still during the time of silent movies,” Bowen said. “And we had to crank the projector by hand. The big thing about doing it by hand was to make sure you kept the frames moving at a uniform speed or else the picture became jerky.” But the first big improvement in the Lyric’s equipment came not too long after Bowen started work. During the spring of 1929 Frank Hawley installed the equipment necessary to bring the “talkies” to Ludington. That, too, was page one news in the Daily News in May of that year. “Lyric Theater Installs Movietone, Vitaphone; First ‘Talkie’ Will be Sunday,” said the headline. The first “talkie,” shown on May 19, 1939, starred the great Broadway tenor, Morton Downey, in “Mother’s Boy.” “When the ‘talkies’ came,” Bowen recalled, “We had records for the soundtrack and we played them on a huge turntable. You hoped to heck you had enough feet of film to go with the amount of sound record you had left.” It didn’t always work out that way. “I remember one time,” Bowen said, “We were showing a film in which soldiers were marching up the ramp to their ship. When they got to the rail, the hero turned to say something and at that moment came the sound of marching feet.” In those days, Bowen said, the reels had 10 minutes of film and about the time you got one projector set up for running the other was about out of film and you had to get that one set up. Today, the reels run 22 minutes. The Lyric and the Kozy continued to share the entertainment spotlight for the next three decades, although in early 1942 the Kozy closed for extensive remodeling. It reopened as the Center Theater on Saturday, June 5, 1942, with Tim Holt and Jane Withers sharing the double feature billing. But the first concession to, and indication of, a different public attitude toward the movies came with the Center. Instead of being a six-day a week operation, the Center would now be open on Saturdays and Sundays. Frank Hawley, who Bowen said ran the Lyric and Kozy with an iron hand, continued to run both theaters until his death on Oct. 9, 1941. During the time Hawley ran the theaters no food or beverages were sold in either theater. “He wouldn’t allow even chewing gum inside the Lyric,” Bowen said. and the tight discipline showed up in well behaved, orderly audiences that probably never though of intentionally damaging any part of the theater. When Hawley died in 1941, Butterfield Theaters took over complete control of the Lyric and Kozy. The firm immediately installed W.C. Green as the new manager of both the Lyric and Kozy. Green, who later was to serve for years as a city commissioner-at-large and member of the county board of supervisors, carried on the strict tradition of Frank Hawley. But in a short time he did make some concessions, allowing a candy machine to be installed in the Kozy and finally bringing in a popcorn machine in the Lyric. As World War II swept the nation, the movies did a great business and the Center Theater soon added Friday nights to its weekend schedule. It was during the early 1940s that the Lyric came up with its major change from the time the theater opened. New seats were bought in 1944, the same ones that are in use today, and a new heating plant was installed. “There were good actors and actresses in those days,” Bowen said. “And movie plots themselves were good. People would even give up their Sunday night radio programs to see a movie and that was a major concession in those days.” But after the war ended and technology that had been born in the war or delayed because of it came into its own — namely television. The Center Theater cut back to a two-day operation in 1953 and on Sunday, March 14, 1954, it closed its doors for the final time. Ludington was now a one-moviehouse town, something that it hadn’t known in over 35 years. But the Lyric was experiencing problems of its own and in 1960 the theater was forced to cut back from three to two movies a week. Green resigned as manager of the Lyric on Sept. 11, 1961 to join the advertising staff at the Daily News. A short time later, Rod Grams became the manager and began the difficult task of trying to keep the Lyric ahead of financial problems. Grams, whose father-in-law, William Griffin, owned theaters in Frankfort, Manton, Lake City and Honor, says that if he owned the Lyric he would make some drastic changes..“I would pull the screen about a third of the way in toward the seats and divide the theater in two parts. That way I could show films geared to youngsters and at the same time have movies designed more toward an adult audience,” he said. “The theater has to take in $52,000 a year just to break even,” he said. “And it is just barely doing that now. The Disney movies, for instance, have a big audience on Friday and Saturday nights but during the remainder of the week they don’t do a thing. And it is hard to get a good release date for quality pictures. Wisconsin theaters may get them ahead of us and ads for them on television are seen here long before we get the film.” Another thing Grams would like to see, if he were still running it and had the authority to do so, would be to bring back some of the selected shorts that were seen years ago. “We dropped the newsreels whenI first took over,” Grams said. “And then they stopped filming ‘The March of Time’ and ‘Pete Smith Specialities.’ I think both of those were very good and should be resumed. The newsreels, of course, no longer have a place in the movie theater.” Now the Lyric is down to one feature film a week and some of those aren’t very good to start with. “Neither Sally nor I have anything to say about what pictures come to the Lyric,” said Grams, who acts as an advisor to his daughter. “The bookings are handled by Butterfield and at this time of the year we are booked about three to four weeks in advance. During the summer we would have the schedule for three months at a time.” A lot of things are wrong with the Lyric today but then a lot of things seem wrong with Hollywood and the type of pictures being produced. Bowen, who has seen more films, more actors and actresses than any other person in Ludington, says it is evident that the quality of movies is poorer. “Look at the background in some of today’s films for instances,” says Ray. “You can’t see much because they want it dark. They don’t want you to see how cheaply they are made. In the old days a lot of money went into making a film but not today.” Bowen said the biggest movie, from the standpoint of the audience, has been “Gone With the Wind.” “It has played here four or five times and is the biggest by far,” he said. “The Sting,” however, is the biggest thing that has happened to the Lyric in recent years. Grams said the theater was packed for all performances every night the show played. “I don’t agree with the emphasis now placed on the amount of money a film makes,” Grams said. “I think the true test of a picture should be the number of people who go to see it, not how much it earns.” Movie buffs, those who remember the “way it used to be” at the Lyric, yearn for the old, simple movie that was entertainment — not a sermon on the ills, real or imagined, that plague society. The man who has seen just about all of them since the birth of the “talkies” — Ray Bowen — still gets his biggest kick out of watching a Western. “The Westerns are my favorites,” he said. “I enjoyed them. They were a lot of entertainment.” And Ray Bowen’s favorite actor? John Wayne. There is strong evidence that movies are making a comeback. But whether their revival will come in time to save the Lyric is doubtful. Just as it it is doubtful the screen will ever again see the likes of Bogart, Gable, Crawford or Davis. But those of us who wept for Lassie and laughed with the Bowery Boys are still hoping. (© Copyright 2024 Shoreline Media Group 202 N. Rath Ave., Ludington, MI)
(Joshua Skinner, WANF:) For more than 80 years, the Plaza Theatre has churned out reliable entertainment, complete with popcorn, soda, and, of course, movies. But it was during a November bathroom renovation that owner Chris Escobar discovered a different kind of story. “Once we started taking off the old tile, we discovered a little piece of the wall fell out here in this corner,” Escobar told WANF, showing where the discovery was initially made. “And then we see this space behind the wall that no one knew was there.” That space was a small closet attached to what used to be a manager’s office, now a separate bathroom. “That’s when we discovered this incredible, little historic find,” Escobar said. An item buried under brick and dust. “If you follow my shadow,” Escobar said, pointing to the far corner of the small closet. “It was back here under this pipe.” That little bit of history: a wallet from 1958, likely lost and stored in the manager’s office but never claimed by the owner. “I mean, this is a treasure trove of 1958,” Escobar said. Complete with credit cards for Davison’s and Rich’s Department Stores, family photos, gas receipts (10 gallons for $3.26), and a name: Floy Culbreth. But could Floy possibly be located 65 years later? Escobar enlisted his wife, who he calls an “internet sleuth” for the task. Within hours, Escobar had his answer. “Floy Culbreth was actually started as Floy Porter,” said Thea Chamberlain. Chamberlain is Culbreth’s daughter. The Escobars were to reach the family using social media. To their giddy surprise, Chamberlain lives less than 20 minutes from the theatre. What’s less of a surprise was learning her mother lost her wallet in the late summer of 1958. “To be honest, mother losing stuff would not have been a surprise,” Chamberlain laughed. Floy died over a decade ago. The Escobars and Chamberlains scheduled a gathering at the Plaza Theatre to exchange the wallet and pore through its contents. Escobar can’t be sure what film was showing at the Plaza that day (the theatre was just one screen at the time). However, newspapers from the summer of 1958 show 1956 Best Picture Winner “Around the World in 80 Days” playing at the Plaza. For Chamberlain, seeing receipts, library cards, and family photos she didn’t know existed brought her to the emotional edge. “It’s meant more to me than I realized it would,” she said. Adding another story for a theatre with a bit of history on the screen and in the walls. “Yeah, this theatre still has a number of stories to tell,” Escobar said. “It still surprises us.”
BEAUTIFUL WISCONSIN THEATRE OPENS MAR. 28 The Wisconsin theatre, largest and most beautiful showhouse in the Northwest, will open in Milwaukee, March 28th. This massive structure, Saxe’s $2,000,000 picture palace, houses not only the theatre proper, with its 3,500 seats, but also the largest ball room in the United States in roof garden on top, and recreation parlors containing billiard and pool tables and bowling alleys in the sub-levels. The building contains every improvement known to modern theatre-craft which can add to the pleasure, comfort and safety of the public.
The theatre will be primarily devoted to motion pictures. However, a large part of each program will be given to stage presentations and musical offerings by the organists and symphony concert orchestra. A feature of the theatre is the $50,000 organ, which when played by two organists at the same time rise from three floors below into full view of the auditors, and later sink from sight. The symphony concert or chestra is the largest in the North west. Each of the 3,500 seats affords an uninterrupted view of the stage.
They are most comfortably designed, con taining specially constructed up holstery and double springs in seat and back. Patrons will breathe pure air at proper temperatures. A re cently designed ventilating system will wash the air, heating or cooling it at the same time, as need be. The cooling system, alone, was installed at a cost of more than $65,000. The plan of decoration throughout the house is artistic and elaborate.
Rare oil paintings, marble pillars and rich drapes lend an atmosphere of grandeur to the lobby. Patrons may keep appointments with friends on the handsomely appointed mezzanine promenade which surrounds the lobby. An orchestra on the mezzanine will play softly for those resting there. The lighting system of the theatre is a triumph of electrical artistry. Light colors will be blended, increasing or decreasing automatically to synchronize with the theme of the production.
The 75-foot electric sign in front of the building is admitted by sign makers to be the largest theatrical sign in the United States, each letter being larger than an ordinary man. The name “Wisconsin” will flash on Grand avenue with a blaze of light which can be seen for more than twenty miles. The ladies' lounging rooms luxuriously furnished, contain many innovations. Maids will direct patrons past full length mirrors to chiffoniers containing every known cosmetic, where they may “see that their powder is on straight.” Three floors beneath the building is the “Laboratory theatre,” a diminutive theatre, not open to the public, where directors and executives will rehearse coming attractions while thousands are enjoying productions in the main theatre above. The stage is of such unusual proportions that the largest spectacle can be presented.
Within 24 hours it can be converted for grand opera or any desired attraction. No possible stage requirement has been overlooked, even to the steel animal rooms, which will house wild beasts during jungle productions. The theatre and roof garden are operated by the Saxe Operating corporation of Milwaukee, the largest operators of theatres in Wisconsin. This corporation conducts eight Milwaukee theatres and fourteen theatres in other Wisconsin towns. The purchasing power of these twenty-two theatres assures patrons of the best productions at the lowest possible rates. (The Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle, 3/14/1924)
A.W. Hodge abd Merl Reynolds outside the BONN Theatre in about 1955, judging from the poster.
JW Hodge (L) and Merl Reynolds at the Bonn Theatre.
Urban spelunking: The Garfield Theater (Bobby Tanzilo, OnMKE) Like most cities, Milwaukee was once dotted with movie palaces - stunningly ornate structures that served to entertain a hard-working public with moving pictures and live performers during the vaudeville era. Here’s a look at the most recent to fall. Very few of these survive today – the Oriental, the Avalon, the MSO’s Bradley Symphony Center. But, somewhat amazingly, until now, all three of the movie palaces designed by local architects Gustave Dick and Alex Bauer in 1926-27, have remained on the landscape. While the Oriental, which opened in July 1927, is still up and running, surviving for a variety of reasons, including its division into a triplex, and the empty Tower Theater (1926) awaits redevelopment, the last of the bunch to be built – The Garfield Theater, 2933 N. King Dr – which opened in November 1927, has reached the end of its life, although not entirely. While the auditorium and lobby of the theater is coming down as part of an ambitious residential and library development on King Drive and Locust Street, the facade and foyer of the theater, as well as the long row of retail spaces with offices above, will remain. They will be converted to townhouse-style residences. The site occupied by the auditorium will become parking for the library and residents. The Garfield was built by the Saxe Brothers Amusement Enterprises and developer Oscar Brachman, who had also built Walter Schroeder’s Astor Hotel in 1920. Among his other theater projects were the now-demolished Uptown Theater (1927) and the Downer Theater (1915). Saxe was a local theater chain founded in 1902 by two brothers, mechanics Jack and Tom Saxe. By the time the Garfield opened, the Saxe Brothers possessed an empire of 44 cinemas, a number that would grow to nearly 60 within another year or so. In 1927 (a busy year for theater construction; 16 went up in Milwaukee that year), Saxe controlled a baker’s dozen Brew City venues, including the Uptown, the Modjeska, the Savoy, the Tivoli, the Tower, the Oriental, the Strand, the Miller, the Princess, the Merrill, the Mirth, the Plaza and its local flagship, the Wisconsin on 6th and Wisconsin. Construction on the theater and its row of retail and office buildings along King Drive began at the start of 1927 and there was a steel frame rising by March. By April, the retail portion was taking shape and the following month, more of the auditorium began to rise. By June, the exterior of the theater box was veneered in brick. Early in July, the Oriental opened, and soon after, the Uptown followed. By October, the retail and office spaces were ready for tenants and work proceeded inside the theater, where National Theater Supply Co. was installing the rigging and stage lighting, Heywood-Wakefield was installing the seats and Chicago’s Albert Pick & Co. was painting, decorating and installing drapery. On Nov. 5, the million-dollar theater opened to great fanfare. “The attendant throng of thousands of persons from all parts of Milwaukee who attended the opening performances gave the rapidly growing upper Third Street a holiday appearance,” wrote the Sentinel the following morning. Predictions were made that the new theater will be a leading factor in the development of of real estate values in the community. “The event marked the completion of the 45th theater in the chain of playhouses throughout the state of the Saxe Amusement Enterprises. Those immediately connected with the new theater believe that the Garfield is one of the most beautiful and modern theaters in the midwest and that it will be the forerunner of even greater strides in building and other developments in that section of the city", it was stated. The theater, the Sentinel added, “exemplifies a decidedly French architecture of the early 18th century, which is characterized by its elegance and piquant motifs.” Patrons were treated to screenings of “Adam and Evil,” starring Lew Cody and Aileen Pringle, as well as vaudeville performances by Betty Ouimet, dancer Olga Mishka, and Ford & Harrison. (Ouimet was the daughter of Frances J. Ouimet, who in 1913 was the first amateur to win the U.S. Open golf tournament. Her son John Zielinski would go on to become a big league prospect with the St. Louis Cardinals. Mishka – despite her exotic name – was an American dancer and vaudevillian whose real name was Gladys Buckley. Ford & Harrison may have a connection to the somewhat eponymous actor Harrison Ford, who has a family link to vaudeville.) During its first week, the Garfield would screen a number of films, including “Shanghai Bound” Sunday and Monday with Mary Brian and Richard Dix, followed Tuesday-Thursday by “What Price Glory” with Victor MacLaglen, and then Richard Barthelmess in “The Drop Kick” Friday and Saturday. Arriving at the theater, patrons would surely have noticed the gorgeous terra cotta decoration on the facade above the marquee and entrance. In the foyer – the 50x50-foot area where the ticket booth was located – and in the lobby beyond there were lavish decorations, including mirrors, terrazzo floors, a regal staircase up to the balcony level and even a white marble fireplace. The 50x70-foot lobby was illuminated by a trio of large chandeliers, made by Milwaukee’s Charles Polacheck & Bro. Five sets of double doors each opened to an aisle inside the 1,800-seat auditorium. Patrons entered beneath the low ceiling of the balcony above, which created a feeling of compression. Walking forward, one was then hit by an awe-inspiring sense of release provided by the soaring expanse of the theater. There were murals on the side walls and, as was common, ornate painted plaster details everywhere: on the ceiling, on the proscenium around the 40x30-foot stage opening, on the walls. Thanks to a series of colonnades on either side that mimicked opera boxes, offered the look and feel of a European opera house. Carytids stood sentry between these openings. There were damask, velvet and satin drapery and other elements. Described later as “Milwaukee’s most elegant neighborhood theater; a miniature Viennese Opera house,” admission was 40 cents on Saturday evenings – less at other days and times – which got you a feature film, several short films, three vaudeville acts and musical accompaniment by an orchestra and organist. “If the eyes were pleased, so were the ears as the house orchestra, the ‘Saxonians,’ appeared complete with tympani, at evening performances,” notes CinemaTreasures.org. “At other times it was the job of the organist to ‘perfume the air with music’ (as famed 1920s organist Gaylord Carter so well put it in the video: ‘The Movie Palaces’ by the Smithsonian Institution in 1988) and accompany the silent movies. The Garfield was well equipped for this with its Barton theatre pipe organ of three manuals and eleven ranks (voices) which was opened by organist Jack Martin. It rose into view from the orchestra pit upon its four-post Barton lift every time it started the overture.” However, by the time the Garfield swung open its doors, Saxe was feeling pressure from the big Hollywood studios like Loew’s, Warner Brothers, Fox and Paramount, who were swallowing up indie theater chains. In December, Saxe sold its theaters to the California-based Midwesco Theaters Inc., which already owned a couple hundred theaters. Soon after, Fox Film Corp., in turn, gulped down that chain and Fox-Midwesco became the big kid on the block in Wisconsin theaters for a quarter-century, and it put veteran theater manager Milton Harman in charge of the Garfield. Meanwhile, the Saxe clan busied itself with businesses like the White Tower fast food chain and later, Thomas Saxe got back into the theater game during the Depression, buying back his theaters and running them until his death in 1938. As the movie business and entertainment landscape changed, so did the theater. By the 1940s, the Saxonians were gone. The marquee was changed and the large arched window in the facade was covered. Sometimes movies weren’t earning enough and other events were held, including concerts, fashion shows, union meetings, teen dances and conventions. With TV taking over, the Garfield closed in 1965. After some changes in 1967 – including the removal of the seats – the building was occupied in 1968 by The Opportunities Industrialization Center, an apparently windowless vocational school. The OIC was founded in Philadelphia and opened its first Milwaukee site in the old Rosenberg’s department store on King Drive at North Avenue in March 1967. Some of its lavishness was sold off, including the Polacheck lobby chandeliers, which ultimately ended up in the Barrington, Illinois mansion of the Sanfilippo family. “The once fashionable Garfield Theater, a flashy but fading dame on Milwaukee’s near north side, is trying to recapture her youth,” wrote Barbara H. Kuehn in the Sentinel in January 1968. “She’s likely to pass her new lease on life to people in the neighborhood. But she’ll have to part with her frills first.” An OIC counselor told Kuehn that the goal was to “motivate self-renewal, so we start by trying to get the trainee to think for himself” in terms of selecting an area of study. “The theater was once a hub of community entertainment as people flocked to its movies, vaudeville shows and musical programs,” Kuehn wrote. “OIC hopes to transform it into a center where people in the surrounding inner city can get a new start in life.” After OIC closed in a swirl of controversy in the early 2000s, the Philadelphia Church of God in Christ purchased the building and converted it into a church in 2006. While the lobby and foyer maintained some of their grandeur, if dulled, a dropped ceiling that ran from the edge of the balcony all the way to the stage killed that sense of release, leaving only the feeling of compression. In order to suspend the ceiling, hundreds of holes were popped through the ornate plaster ceiling. Upstairs, the balcony was enclosed and diced up into a series of classrooms (likely by the vocational school). Before work to demolish the lobby and auditorium began, I was invited over for a full-on, Indiana Jones-style “spelunk,” as Jackson Lindsay II of General Capital, architect Keith Stachowiak – who, thankfully, brought a really powerful light source – and I climbed to the catwalks, opened a locked door via a convenient hole in the wall to access a bit of remaining balcony, explored the basement, nosed around the dressing rooms below the stage, peered through the openings in the projection booth, stuck our heads up into the upper level fan room and did our best to photograph what we could see from our limited vantage points. Alas, we never could find a navigable route onto those colonnades that looked like European opera house boxes. I’d been trying for years to get inside to see what remained and had heard that there wasn’t much to see, but as is often the case, this was not true at all. The exterior terra cotta is lovely and there for all passersby to see and enjoy. Just next to the main entrance, workers uncovered a vintage sign, reading “First run on the North Side,” which was removed and saved. While the elaborate ticket booth and chandeliers are long gone, the foyer decor is largely intact and quite beautiful. Fortunately, this space – as well as that terra cotta facade – will survive as a lobby for the new apartment building. Through the doors into the much larger lobby space, with its higher ceiling and grand staircase feels a bit like a revelation. Perhaps not on the scale of the former Warner Grand Theater Downtown – now the MSO’s Bradley Symphony Center – but still awe-inspiring with its marble fireplace and extant decor. While climbing the grand staircase is rewarding, entering the balcony at the top and the auditorium below are disappointing. There’s nothing to see in the balcony and in the former church sanctuary below there are only some hints (admittedly lovely) of what could be seen during the Garfield Theater days. The real excitement comes when we visit the backstage rooms (sadly stripped of their original wall finishes and any old performer graffiti that may have existed), the catwalks (creepy and alluring as any) and, especially, what little remains of the balcony, the projection booth and the organ loft. From these latter spaces, the awesome – if dark and crumbly – scene of that “European opera house” reveals itself. We can see the proscenium – though the top half or more of the stage opening is blocked up – and the ceiling with their elaborate painted plaster motifs. We can see the colonnades with their decorative railings. We spy the carytids standing tall and proud. We can see the project booth, tacked onto the back wall as if an afterthought. Later, looking at Dick & Bauer’s original plans, Stachowiak notices that they don’t match the built theater. The carytids, for example, are nowhere to be seen. In fact, neither are the colonnades. “I can’t find those caryatids in the interior sections / elevations – (it) seems like the design was changed,” he says. “They were never a part of the original plan – as a matter of fact neither were the side aisles/corridors, upper or lower. These plans had to have changed significantly during construction. Not all that surprising for the time – I also love how they reference ‘murals by decorator.’ Like the architects had no care about what was applied after the fact by someone else because it was ‘decoration’.” Stachowiak also sees later plans and notes changes that took place long after the original construction. “It was so poorly altered by two notable architects,” he says. “First the sloped theater floor was covered and the fly loft infilled in 1967 by Fitzhugh Scott for the Opportunities Industrialization Center. Then in 1983 Alonzo Robinson added this monstrosity of a floor plan to the theater along with the drop ceiling and fluorescent lights. Imagine going to a vocational school for the disabled and having no access to natural daylight.” While we’re there we see all those holes popped into the ceiling and we see that time has taken its toll on much of the splendor. While, perhaps, someone with absolutely unlimited funding MIGHT be able to return the Garfield Theater to its original splendor, what then? Few are looking to open new movie theaters, even if it were to be divided like the Oriental into a triplex, and the city, if anything, is reaching a glut of concert and event venues. Movie palaces were very specialized buildings that are difficult to convert. I’m sad to think that it will be gone forever, one more vintage movie palace condemned to history, but what Milwaukee does need now is housing, and especially affordable housing, and that’s what this site will provide. Fortunately, some of that will occupy the retail/office space, which will allow the street-facing aspect of the old Garfield Theater to not only remain intact, but to get a much needed restoration. The project will provide a new 18,000-square-foot library with flexible-use community rooms, a makerspace, improved access to technology, new furnishings and an updated and refreshed presentation of library materials and resources. The library building will also have 42 affordable apartments. There will be another eight in the former storefronts and 43 more in the building to the north. As Barbara Kuehn wrote of the Garfield in the Sentinel in 1968: “Sad, in a way, to see the old lady lose her ruffles. But she was past her prime in both beauty and usefulness. The face lifting may well put her back in touch with the neighborhood.” (Bobby Tanzilo, Senior Editor/Writer, OnMKE)
Rita Rinelli gets into the act at the do-it-yourself HITCHCOCK poster in the grand lobby of the ORIENTAL Theatre.
“Preservation Chicago is working closely with Craig Loftis, leadership of the Great Lakes Elks Club, their architect and lawyers, and other stakeholders to prevent the demolition of the Lodge. Urgency steps are being taken to resolve and correct deferred maintenance issues that have been identified by city inspectors. Additinally, we have attended Building Court to stand alongside preservation partners to formally request a delay in any movement towards emergency demolition and to request additinoal time to raise funds and hire contractors to resolve specific code related issues. Significant progress is being made. Additionally, we are working to help resolve contradictory directives from the City of Chicago regarding the Elks Lodge status as a theater or a dance club. The 86-year-old space–once a cinema and meeting point for the Chicago Suffragists–was opened as a private house music members club in 2015 by local artist Craig Loftis. He told Resident Advisor that he’s been battling with the City Council over “minor issues” to do with the building for several years. Since 1937, the building has been under the ownership of African-American fraternity group The Elks. Members of the group have been throwing music and dance events for the local community for decades. Loftis, who is also a member of the group, told RA that without the means to stay open for business, raising the target amount has become a catch-22 situation. For this reason, Loftis has launched a fundraiser to help the cause. While he’s confident that he can make the necessary repairs by the chosen date, he said shutting the building down was ‘unwarranted when one branch of the city government said we were operating in complete compliance and the other decided we weren’t.’ Preservation Chicago, a local architectural conservation group, has joined forces with Loftis to help protect the venue from any possible future demolition threats, should it ever change hands. If granted, this would give the venue the chance to apply for city funding to help with restoration and renovation. The group’s spokesperson, Max Chavez, told RA that an application to get the building landmark status was submitted to the local authority last week and achieving this will mean the building ‘would be well-positioned’ to receive the funds. He continued: ‘Preservation Chicago is proud to partner with Craig Loftis on this important effort to save this significant historic site. This building is too important to lose and deserves to be honored as an official Chicago landmark.‘ (Resident Advisor, 9/27/23) The venue will go into receivership and shut for good without the necessary funding. (Resident Advisor, 9/27/23) (© Preservation Chicago | All rights reserved)
Quincy Jones, actress/singer Jennifer Hudson, and entertainer Chance the Rapper and Quincy Jones have teamed up to reopen and revitalize the Ramova Theatre. Jones told the media “With Ramova, I see a future where the rich cultural heritage of Chicago shines even brighter alongside the country’s most talented artists, which will inspire future generations to come and bring glory to America’s Second City.” A press release said “Ramova will also offer educational programs [and] workshops, and amplify community initiatives from local nonprofits.” And the Ramova Grill, which closed in 2012 after 82 years of service, is reopening as a 20-seat restaurant.
No doubt there are people today who gaze at the long-silent theatre, and imagine all sorts of architectural wonders within. They’d be disappointed, since Charles Augustine had to work within a budget, and he saved most of the ornament for the outer facade (much of which is still visible). The Vogue Theatre got a handsome, well-proportioned face-brick facade heavily trimmed in cream terra cotta above and colored Irish tiles at ground level, in the American neo-classic architectural style. It was unarguably one of the best-looking of all exterior designs for a small theatre. Inside, though, the economies were apparent. A tiny lobby led directly to the auditorium; here the straight walls were relieved only by upright pilasters, panels of floral-print fabric, and double-candle light sconces of plaster with small shades. The lower walls were trimmed to resemble stone.
The reopened Ramova Theatre will also be home to Other Half Brewing, which will open a brewery and taproom inside the Ramova Theatre that will be a 1,500-capacity concert venue and dining destination in the coming months. Developer Tyler Nevius is spearheading the Ramova redevelopment with Emily Nevius, his wife. “This idea of creating a music venue and a brewery was really developed organically with them to a great extent.”
Other Half chose to join the Ramova project for one primary reason: music. Other Half’s founder Matt Mohanan said “It just seems like a natural evolution for what we’re doing. Adding a music component to what we do, we’re just lucky to be here and excited.”
Other Half Ramova will include a taproom along Halsted Street. Behind that will be a glass wall where visitors can check out the on-site brewery production floor below with around 20 draft lines available in the taproom.
Other Half Ramova will adjoin the 20-seat Ramova Grill, itself reopening after an 82-year run in 2012. Kevin Hickey and Brandon Phillips will oversee the culinary and beverage programs at the grill respectively, with a full menu available to OHR patrons.
The city bought the Ramova Theatre, closed since 1985, in 2001 to preserve it for development, but officials struggled for years to find developers willing to invest in rehabilitating it. In 2020, the Ramova was sold to a venture led by Nevius’ Our Revival Chicago LLC. The $30 million project broke ground in 2021.
There’s a plan to reopen the ROSEBUD Theatre after more than three years.
The theatre near North Avenue and 68th Street closed in March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Alderman Andrew Meindl, who oversees that district, told WISN 12 News the owner is targeting a Christmas return. Meindl said the owner plans reopening the ROSEBUD as a first-run theatre with newly-released pictures.
A community-owned theatre group is looking to turn the ROSEBUD into a community-led nonprofit. The owner told Ald. Meindl he will continue working with the group on a possible transfer of ownership in 2025.
(Beginning a four-chapter feature article I wrote for the Midweek Bulletin starting November 15, 1988.)
Even today, passersby along busy 52nd Street might imagine, if they squint a bit, the old Vogue Theatre alive again, with several hundred excited kids in line for a 1940s Saturday-afternoon double-feature Western show, each clutching his or her ten-cent admission; and a harried staff struggling to keep up with the crush.
This fall marks the 100th year since the Vogue Theatre opened its doors on September 15, 1923. For the next 28 years, the Vogue was mainly an unpretentious neighborhood movie theatre, and it never attempted to outdo the bigger, grander movie palaces downtown. It fulfilled its modest role in Kenosha’s entertainment scene…until a sudden change in national trends sealed not only the Vogue’s fate but that of thousands of similar neighborhood movie houses across America.
In 1923, postwar America was basking in prosperity; President Calvin (“Silent Cal”) Coolidge took office, and Hollywood was in its lusty adolescence. Just ten years earlier, most movies were brief little novelties shown in “nickelodeons,” converted storefronts with blackened windows and rows of benches seating perhaps 75 people, with a sheet for a screen. (One of the first of these, the Electric Theatre, was operated by Adolph Alfieri on north Seventh Avenue east of Union Park.) But in the early 20s the movies were eager for respectability, so real movie theatres were being built everywhere by recently-formed chains or by single entrepeneurs eager to cash in on America’s growing love for the ever-improving medium of film.
Water Schager ran several theatres in Kenosha with his wife Rose. But Prohibition was on, and those who once sold or made liquor and beer were looking to invest in other ventures. As an example, Racine’s Klinkert Brewery had just built the BUTTERFLY (later, HOLLYWOOD) Theatre at 4902 Seventh Avenue.
In 1923, Kenosha’s operating film theaters included the Z Rhode Opera House, the new ORPHEUM, the BUTTERFLY, the BURKE (later CAMEO), the MAJESTIC, the LINCOLN, the STRAND (later NORGE), and the COLUMBIA. (The Kenosha, Gateway and Roosevelt Theatres were still four years in the future.) But in a time when people were much less mobile and by far more apt to function mostly within their home neighborhoods, Kenosha’s central city had no movie house of its own.
Schlager selected some long-vacant property at 1820 52nd Street and had well-known Kenosha architect Charles Augustine design a state-of-the-art theatre for the site. (Augustine lived then with his wife Lillian at 7428 22nd Avenue; his designs include the Terrace Court Apartments, the West Branch Library, the old Barden Store and the Roosevelt Theatre.) Then Schlager signed on long-time contractor George Lindemann of 4724 Fifth Avenue to build his new Vogue Theatre. Work continued throughout the summer of 1923 as passing motorists and passengers on the Grand Avenue line of the Kenosha Electric Railway monitored the theatre’s progress. The final touch was the installation of the vertical sign, traditional on theatres then, which spelled out VOGUE in white bulbs with a twinkling border; the sign was visible for over ten blocks in either direction. That was the clue the Vogue Theatre was ready, and in early September small teaser ads appeared in the papers - not that anyone needed teasing, of course. A full page ad appeared on opening night, Saturday, September 15, 1923 in which manager Clarence Eschenberg welcomed present and future patrons, concluding with “This is your theatre.” The Vogue’s doors opened at six p.m.; adult tickets were 25 cents and children paid a dime.
The Majestic Theater was established in 1909 by the partnership of Italian immigrants Ciali (Charles) Pacini, Joseph Unti and Dominic Lencioni of Kenosha. The Majestic was located in a building owned by the estate of Rasmus O. Gottfredson. Though a lease agreement would have been approved, it was not recorded with the Register of Deeds. Prior to their lease agreement, the building had been occupied by the Oscar Robbel Laundry. The grand opening of the Majestic was held on Saturday, December 4, 1909 following the conversion of the building into a moving picture and music playhouse. The Majestic closed around April 27, 1912 when its last advertisement appeared in the Kenosha Evening News. When it re-opened on Saturday, August 17, 1912, it was called the New Majestic Theater. The Monday, August 19, 1912 issue of the Kenosha Evening News gave rave reviews about the New Majestic Theater, reporting eight shows on Saturday attracted 2100 patrons. The theater had been renovated with soft concrete floors and expanded seating. Most noticeable was the installation of the first “daylight pictures” system in Kenosha, where films were shown on a mirror screen 110 feet from the projector. The article said the picture on the screen was of such clarity that the theater was lighted at all times.
At the re-opening, Charles Pacini was the sole proprietor, Unti and Lencioni having left the partnership. Dominic Lencioni started his own business, a confectionery store. at 69 N. Main Street (5030 6th Avenue) in Kenosha. Joseph Unti left the theatrical business to work as a clerk for Dominic Unti at his confectionery at 317 Main Street (5824 6th Avenue) in Kenosha.
On July 21, 1913, the Majestic closed again for four days for the installation of new leather seats and other interior and exterior improvements. Pacini assured the public the Majestic would continue with the best in pictures, music and general features. On April 25, 1919, Catherine Gottfredson became sole owner of the property and building as the beneficiary of a last will & testament, and by then, Pacini had established the Charles Pacini Amusements pmanagement company, with the motto “Go where the crowd goes.”
On December 29, 1919, the Kenosha Evening News reported on an ambitious expansion of the New Majestic Theater by Charles Pacini Amusements. Pacini had secured possession of the Matt D. Schmidt Building just to the north of the theater. The addition would have doubled the seating capacity to about 1,000, and the project was expected to begin in March, 1920 and be finished by early summer. On June 10, the Kenosha Evening News reported that builder George Lindemann of Kenosha was awarded the contract by Charles Pacini Amusements to enlarge the New Majestic, and the architect chosen was Kenoshan Charles Augustine (who would later design Kenosha’s 1927 Roosevelt Theatre). The cost of rebuilding the theater was estimated at $85,000. There would be two foyers opening into the enlarged auditorium, a right and left balcony with special exits for safety, a large organ and enlarged orchestra pit, a smoking room for the gentlemen and a lounge for the ladies. Pacini anticipated completion around November 1. But those hopes abruptly ended with the murder of Charles Pacini on August 15, 1920, shot by a lone assailant a block east at his car after he’d closed the Majestic for the evening. Though the expansion was cancelled, his estate under Charles Pacini Amusements continued with the operation of the Majestic and his other theaters. But on March 17, 1921, the Telegraph Courier reported the sale of all of Pacini’s theatrical properties and interests including the leases for the Strand, New Majestic and Butterfly Theaters to the Saxe-Dayton Orpheum Theatre Company for $100,000. The Saxe-Dayton Company was a merger of the interests of John E. and Thomas E. Saxe of Milwaukee and Edward and Fred L. Dayton of Kenosha. Willard C. Welch of Saxe Amusement Enterprises was installed as manager of the Majestic Theater, Saxe-Dayton dropping the “New” from its title to call it Saxe’s Majestic. By early 1924, Edward Dayton took over its management. But by that December, the theater stopped advertising its listings in local newspapers, and it was not until October 1925 when advertisements resumed, and during all of 1926 the Majestic’s programs were overwhelmingly dominated by a Westerns. Then on February 2, 1927, building owner Catherine Gottfredson entered into a lease agreement with the Kenosha Orpheum Theater Company calling for a monthly payment of $400 for a period of 15 years. The manager was James L. Morrissey. Still, it appears the Majestic theater may have closed that summer, as its last advertisement in a local newspaper was on July 9, 1927. On the following December 20, the Kenosha Orpheum Theater Company subleased the theater to Midwesco Theaters Inc. at the same rates as its then-current lease with Catherine Gottfredson. It is unknown if the Majestic re-opened following the sublease, as no advertisements were placed in the local newspapers during all of 1928. On December 11 of that year the Kenosha Evening News reported that Cunningham’s Clothing Store had leased the Majestic Theater from Fox-Midwesco Enterprises for a period of 14 years, the final curtain after nineteen years at Kenosha’s Majestic Theatre.
I see that the source didn’t make it onto the post, although I felt it should be known to the public. It was a message from the operators of the Keno Family Drive-In Theatre just after its closure to dispel any misunderstandings about the reasons.
We just want to let our followers know that the Keno Drive-In movie theater will not reopen. Our company has operated the Drive-In for 9 years. Our current lease was terminated and we were advised that the owners of the property made a business decision to find another use for the property and we would not be permitted to open the Drive-In. Every attempt was made by our company to continue the operation of the theater which included participation in the conversion to digital. My family has operated Drive-In movie theaters for over 60 years and we have a passion for the continuation of this American icon. We operate another Drive-In in Illinois, Cascade Drive-In which continues to operate successfully with top grossing movies usually in the top ten of all theaters in the country. Today Drive-In movie theaters are more popular then ever thanks to people like the Kenosha residents and beyond. Our hearts go out to every person that visited the Keno Drive-In for we really appreciated your business. We would like to extend an invitation to everyone of the Kenosha residents to visit our Cascade Drive-In in Illinois free of charge for a limited time to give thanks for all the years you supported the Keno Drive-In. Thank you! Management
The HI-WAY’s final performance for the 1950 season, its first and last, was on Saturday, September 30th. Admission was $0.55 including tax; children under 12 were admitted free, and the final two features were “Three Came Home” with Claudette Colbert, and “Sand” with Mark Stevens, Colleen Gray and Rory Calhoun.