On November 30, 1969, the curtain came down for the final time at the Mondovi Theatre as the credits finished rolling for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Built in 1921, the theatre was razed in 1974.
In January, Celeste Holm visited Oshkosh for a benefit dinner, and while here spent a few moments giving her appraisal of the Grand Theater.
And at that time, Miss Holm expressed her desire to work in the Grand, for in her opinion it would be an excellent theater in which to give a performance, and certainly was a theater well worth saving.
Tonight Miss Holm will fulfill her desire to perform in Oshkosh when she stars in the comedy production of “Not Even In Spring” at 8:15. Асcording to sponsors of the event, a near-capacity audience is expected, although some seats should be available at the door.
Upon arrival in Oshkosh Monday Miss Holm met with the news media at an afternoon press conference at the Grand. She and her company have just finished “Not Even In Spring” in a four week engagement in Chicago, and while having a successful run with the play in Chicago the Hollywood actress devised the idea to bring the play to the Grand, donating the proceeds to the local cause.
In a final appeal to Oshkosh area residents Miss Holm told the press, “Don’t tear down what you will never be able to replace. Here is a theater where you can sit in any seat in the house and see and hear everything that goes on in the theater. In practically every playhouse today, electronics play such a large part in the performing of the show, that the true sound of the natural voice is no longer as important as it once was.
“In fact, there are very few theaters today that I would rank in the same class with the Grand. One would be the Music Box on Broadway, but there are just so few that give the actor the opportunity to display his real talent, as the Grand does.”
Explaining the importance of the small playhouses and theaters to the actress, Miss Holm said “The reason movies in Europe have such a great dramatic quality, is the fact that in Europe the actors have the opportunity to play in good playhouses at the same time they are making a movie, but in this country this is not true. By playing in these local playhouses, the actor has the opportunity to develop the dynamic qualities in his voice, which is so very important.”
“The ‘grass-root’ theaters that are springing up all over the country are worth every penny,” Miss Holm continued, “for they can be used for so much, plays, movies, concerts, almost anything. And any support that can be given to theaters such as the Grand should be given.”
Appearing with Miss Holm in the one-night performance are the other members of her cast direct from the Chicago performance of “Not Even In Spring” including Delphy Lawrence, Wesley Addy, Nelson Welch, and Herbert Nelson.
Following tonight’s show, Miss Holm will leave for Pasadena. Calif., where she will begin rehearsals for a new play, “Captain Brisban’s Conversion” which she will do at the Pasadena Playhouse. (August 30, 1966)
Brothers J.A. Hamlin and L.B. Hamlin bought the Foley’s Billiard Hall property in January 1872 and erected the ornate building with an additional building at the east end as a garden with fountains, waterfalls and stages, reconstructed in September 1878 as Hamlins’ Theater, soon sold to John Borden in 1880, then to his son William Borden, who after more reconstruction opened it on September 6, 1880 as the Grand Opera House under the management of John A. Hamlin. It opened by Hoey & Hardy’s Company in an adaptation of the play “A Child of the State,” followed by Tom Keene in a Shakespearian repertory, and hosted the first production of two hit musicals aimed at children and in June of 1902, the original production of The Wizard of Oz premiered there. In June 1903 came the premiere of Victor Herbert’s “Babes in Toyland”.
The Grand Opera House was built as a legitimate theatre and had seating for 1,750 in an orchestra floor, balcony, and gallery. The interior was lit by gas and described by the Chicago Daily Tribune as having “the beautiful blending of rich colors, and the graceful elegance of the designs charms the eye at every point."
On March 3rd, 1912, George M. Cohan and partner Sam H. Harris leased the theatre and renamed it “George M. Cohan’s Grand Opera House”. In 1926 the façade and auditorium were reconstructed by Andrew Rebori, and it reopened as the Four Cohans. Later the Shuberts took over and it became the Shubert Grand Opera House, but it soon returned to its original name Grand Opera House. When films began, the theatre was renamed the RKO Grand. In March, 1958 the RKO Grand closed, and was demolished a month later.
The Chicago Civic Center was later constructed on the site, now the Richard J. Daley Center.
Among those who played the Grand over the years: Lionel Barrymore, Arthur Byron, Mady Christians, George M. Cohan, Constance Collier, Katharine Cornell, Dudley Digges, Robert Edeson, Leon Errol, Douglas Fairbanks, Walter Hampden, Miriam Hopkins, Allan Jones, Bert Lahr, Eva Le Gallienne, Canada Lee, the Marx Brothers, Chester Morris, Mildred Natwick, Effie Shannon, and Ethel Waters. (Thanks to Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.)
Roy Bogan, 39, of 8918 Blackstone av., assistant manager of the RKO Grand Theater at 119 N. Clark st., was shot above the heart by a holdup man late yesterday afternoon.
The bandit escaped in a gun battle with police during the evening rush hour in the Loop.
Bogan was taken to St. Luke’s hospital, where physicians said his condition is not serious. A 32 caliber bullet which passed thru Bogan’s body was found imbedded in the door of the ticket cage, fronting on the sidewalk where the shooting occurred.
Dares Bandit to Shoot
Bogan had relieved a woman ticket seller at the window only a few moments before the gunman walked up and demanded all the money in the cage.
“No.” Bogan told him.
“I’ll shoot you,” the gunman threatened.
“Go ahead,” Bogan told him.
The gunman fired and fled. Bogan turned sidewise as the shot was fired, the bullet passing diagonally thru the upper part of his chest.
Patrolman Joseph Ostermann, riding a three wheeled motorcycle, heard the shot at Clark and Washington sts. He arrived at the theater just in time to see the gunman dart into an alley north of the theater and run east.
Gunman Fires at Cop
As Ostermann reached the mouth of the alley, the gunman turned and fired two shots at him. Ostermann fired two shots in return, abandoned his motorcycle, and took up the chase on foot.
The gunman fled east to Dearborn st., south to Washington, and then turned east. He was reported to have fled into the basement of the Hillman store, but a search there by police disclosed no trace of him.
Miss Betty Talbott, an usherette at the theater, was the first to reach Bogan after the shooting. He was taken to St. Luke’s hospital by Detectives James Nihill and Harry Gazzola of the cartage detail in their squad car.
Wrecking Crews Give Final Show at RKO Grand Theater
CHICAGO - Chicago’s RKO Grand theater is having its grand finale at the hands of a wrecking crew.
The site on Clark Street, across from the County Building, will become a parking lot. Thus ends a theater tradition that dates back to 1860 when Thomas Barbour Bryan built an auditorium.
Known as Bryan’s Hall, it was taken over by R. M. Hooley in 1870 for minstrel shows.
In 1871, it was partly destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire.
Rebuilt, it became the Grand Opera House. Then in 1873 it became Hamlin’s beer garden and in 1878 Hamlin’s Opera House.
In 1903, just around the corner on Randolph Street, the Iroquois Theater fire claimed 602 lives.
George M. Cohan and Sam Harris bought the theater in 1912 and named it Cohan’s Opera House. In 1926, it became Four Cohans' Theater.
This era in the 20’s brought Katherine Cornell to its stage.
Ziegfield’s Follies, Earl Carroll’s Vanities and George M. Cohan made seasonal appearances.
By 1942, the legitimate theater - Chicago’s first of any consequence - was converted into a movie house.
It then became The RKO Grand until a few weeks ago when the Harvey Wrecking Co., was billed on the marquee as the Grand’s last act and swiftly went about the business of turning the theater to rubble and memories. (4/25/58)
The new Juno Theater, located in the former Zwieg Store building on the corner of Oak and South Main streets, will open Sunday, according to Carl F. Neitzel, owner.
The new establishment enterprise will open at 2 pm with a matinee, and the movie program will be shown continuously until the night closing. The first feature scheduled for the Juno Theater is “Deep Valley”, starring Lupino, Dane Clark, Wayne Morris and Fay Bainter. A newsreel and cartoon will be included.
The building housing the theater has been completely remodeled and redecorated. An inclined flоог offers a clear view of the screen from each of the 400 seats on the main floor. A 12-set “cry room” for mothers with very small children is an added feature of comfort. A separate speaker and large window enables occupants to see and hear as well as from the main floor.
Considerable alteration of the building was necessary in order to comply with requirements of the State Industrial Commission. The entrance will be from the southwest side of the building, with the projection room at the south end. The Juno Sweet Shop will occupy the north end of the building, fronting on Oak Street.
The building was purchased by Neitzel more than a year ago, and he and his family have been residents of Juneau since October, 1946. Before coming here, they lived in Hartland where they owned and operated the Victor Theater for several years.
When this city saved the Chicago Theatre, it earned no right to turn its back on the three other major movie palaces of the 1920s surviving here. Those are the Uptown, the Avalon and the Granada - and among them, the Granada is perhaps the grandest of all.
You have probably seen the elaborately ornamented and arched terra cotta facade of the now-threatened Granada, which stands on a prominent site at 6433 N. Sheridan Rd.
But if you’ve never been inside the theater (which has been dark for several years except for a few rock concerts), you may wish to visit one of two photo exhibitions that will continue through July 31. One is on the fourth floor at the south end of the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; the other at the Rogers Park Branch Library, 6907 N. Clark St.
The recently shot black and white photos of the Granada by Mike Williams are part of a suddenly escalating, last-ditch public effort to find a new use for the theater to prevent its demolition by developers who have talked about building an apartment tower in its place.
Architect Daniel D. Watts curated the photo exhibits. He also organized the Save the Granada Theater Committee, which is working in league with the Rogers Park Community Council and the Theater Historical Society.
Williams' photographs show the exterior of the Granada, some of the more sweeping expanses of its interior and a number of its decorative details. The pictures also convey impressions of desolation and incipient decay in the 3,447-seat house, which opened in 1926.
The Granada is nominally Spanish baroque in style, although it manifests many of the other eclectic, whimsical and deliberately overblown twists and turns of form and ornamentation found in big urban stage-and-screen venues of the time. Its grand staircase, crystal chandeliers, stained glass, use of marble and bronze, coffered ceilings and acres of ornamented plaster give it
a marvelously gaudy quality. Cleveland-born Edward E. Eichenbaum designed the Granada while working for the architectural firm of Levy & Klein in Chicago. He had begun his career in Detroit with the distinguished Albert Kahn and at another point was associated with the Chicago-based design firm of A. Epstein & Sons.
Other Chicago theaters credited to Eichenbaum include the Regal and Diversey. He also designed the Palace in South Bend, Ind., and the Regent in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Eichenbaum’s love of legitimate theater originated during his student days at the University of Pennsylvania, and he even understudied the great George Arliss in “Disraeli” for a year when the play was running in Philadelphia.
Eichenbaum once called the Granada “the greatest design I have ever been privileged to make,” according to a 1983 article by Sharon Lindy published in Marquee magazine. Film palaces were being built so rapidly in the 1920s that Eichenbaum sometimes used the same terra cotta molds on different theaters, ingeniously assembling them into fresh configurations to save time and money.
When the Granada was still on the drafting boards, Eichenbaum told an interviewer: “I want this building to be paradise, so that the common man can leave his meager existence at the door and for a few hours feel that he, too, is among the very rich class that he reads about in the paper.”
Fifty years after he designed it, Eichenbaum returned to the Granada for a visit to receive a 1976 Marquee magazine award from Joseph DuciBella of the Theater Historical Society. Eichenbaum detested the plainness of modern theaters. “They’re nothing but barns,” he said. Eichenbaum died in 1982.
The present effort to save the Granada is supported by DuciBella, a theater historian, and by preservationists. Early this month, a representative of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency said the Granada was a “very good candidate” for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Architect Watts, spearheading the Granada campaign, points out that most of the theater is unaltered and in good condition: Its original marble floor is sound, its organ intact, and even its original stage lighting is in working order. The Granada does not have Chicago municipal landmark status as does the Chicago Theatre on downtown State Street, now a busy venue for live entertainment. Yet it doesn’t necessarily make sense to compare the strategy or business rationale for saving the Granada with the scenario that led to the Chicago’s salvation after a slide to the brink of demolition. The location, economics and re-use factors are disparate, after all.
Still, neither can such differences be used as alibis for shrugging off the Granada. The old North Side movie palace is part of the city’s sociocultural fabric and its brilliant architectural heritage.
There is no doubt, then, about the Granada’s credentials. And so we are left with the basic question about any major preservation effort: How many people care, and how hard are they willing to work?
The Save the Granada Theater Committee is based at 1637 W. Morse Ave.
A woman named Deborah Nerness wants to save the Granada Theater, so it is understandable why she has named the organization fighting toward that goal the “Save the Granada Theater Committee.” It is also, from this seat, understandable why she would care to preserve this glorious building.
We last visited the 3,417-seat movie house in 1981, at the tail end of its decade-or-so fling as a rock concert hall. We saw Cheap Trick. And we also saw the dusty but still unmistakable signs of beauty.
Built in 1922, the Granada, at 6427 N. Sheridan Rd., was one of more than 20 opulent movie palaces that once dotted the city. It was one of the flashiest, with 80-foot ceilings, elaborate hand-carved stone work, painted ornamental ceilings, columns, statues and stained-glass windows.
We haven’t seen the Granada’s interior for so long that we don’t feel like getting in the middle of a battle between those who would save the building and those who seek to raze it - such struggles and their attendant arguments are best left to lawyers and architects. But after thinking about the Save the Granada Theater Committee, 1637 W. Morse Ave., we walked over to the lobby of the Chicago Theatre and wondered: Could it happen here?
Curtain falls on hopes to save theater
(By Peter Kendall)
The curtain has apparently been brought down down on efforts to save the interior of Rogers Park’s historic Granada Theater.
A developer debuted a plan Thursday to keep only the building’s facade as part of a 24-story apartment tower.
Local developer SLC Corp. brought its plans for Granada Centre to Ald. David Orr (49th) and a neighborhood meeting that had little enthusiasm and plenty of empty seats. Granada Centre would include the tower, storefronts and a parking garage.
Preservationists' efforts to save the 1926 Spanish baroque theater at 6433 N. Sheridan Rd. apparently ran its course after several years of unsuccessful attempts to find a developer who would keep intact the building and restore its grand lobby and stage.
“I thought people would be jumping up and down talking about architecture and the importance of history, but all they are talking about is traffic and parking,” said Milwaukee preservationist Fred Jahnke, who walked out of the meeting early.
If the developer wins city approval, the building will be razed but the ornate terra cotta facade will be left intact. The marquee, which was added years after the building went up, will be stripped off, and the facade restored to form a front for the apartment building’s parking garage.
Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, an architect who has been involved with past efforts to save the theater, received applause when he told audience members that they should be happy getting as much much of the old Granada as they will.
“It will continue to be a local landmark, it will be recognizable, and it will be far more usable than what we have there now,” Hasbrouck said.
Although Orr said he has not yet taken a position on the new building, he paid the developers tribute. “I’m excited that we have some responsible developers socking millions of dollars into our neighborhood,” Orr said.
The effort to save the historic building peaked last year with the formation of the Save the Granada Theater Committee.
Last summer, the committee sponsored exhibitions of current photographs inside the theater, showing that the marble floors, sweeping staircases and crystal chandeliers remained intact in the 3,447-seat movie palace.
But the committee was weakened by internal dissention and could not find a developer to take over the plans.
Committee founder Daniel Watts found little satisfaction Thursday in SLC Corp.’s proposal. “It’s eyewash,” he said after looking over the drawings. “The best they can do with the theater is to put a parking garage in it.”
Unimpressed with what the developers called “economic realities, preservationist Jahnke left the meeting remarking "In 15 years, we will look back on this and say, How did we let this happen?” (May 20, 1988 - Chicago Tribune)
Racine’s North Side is losing its two movie Screens
The final shows at Rapids Plaza Cinema I and II, 2200 Mount Pleasant St., will be presented Sunday, said Mark Gramz, Marcus Theatres vice president of operations.
“We just find that operating 13 screens in three buildings isn’t as efficient as 11 screens in two buildings,” he said.
Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres also operates the six-screen Regency Mall Cinemas, 5230 Durand Ave., and the five-screen Westgate Cinemas, 5101 Washington Ave.
Gramz said the two-screen Rapids Plaza operation doesn’t encourage the kind of movie patron traffic that Marcus gets from complexes with more film offerings. Marcus added thrée screens to Westgate last year and remodeled the lobby and concessions area at Regency Mall.
“We feel 11-screens is a sufficient number for the Racine market, but we’ll monitor the situation,” he said. “We would possibly add screens at Westgate or Regency or both if it becomes necessary.”
The manager at Rapids Plaza will transfer to Marcus South Shore Cinemas in Oak Creek and the company will try to find jobs for other employees at its remaining Racine outlets.
Marcus opened the Rapids Plaza Cinema in 1976. The twin-screen complex has about 900 seats. Gramz said Marcus will keep the seating and equipment for other ventures and put the building up for sale. (9/25/1992)
Yesterday, the City Council finance committee once again extended the Fullerton/Milwaukee TIF district to help protect the Congress Theatre against the oncoming winter and easing the path toward its full $87.8 million restoration. Last year, Ald. Daniel LaSpata asked the commissioners to extend the TIF district to 1/1/2027.
December 3rd, 2024 marks 20 years since the Genesee Theatre reopened to the public after a 15-year closure. The 5-year $23 million renovation included a Broadway-sized stage and rigging system, the addition of 600 seats (1,799 to 2,403), a reproduction of the 1927 marquee with over 2,000 lights, new lighting and sound systems, and more. https://www.geneseetheatre.com
LOVES PARK. II. (AP) - An X-rated theater that a city anti-obscenity ordinance, legal maneuvers and attacks by church and parents groups could not close, finally has had to toss in the towel.
The building was sold out from under the movie house by a crusading real estate man who tracked down the owner.
But Linda Miller, 35, the operator. said Wednesday that the people of Loves Park have not heard the last of her.
She said she has a book full of names of persons who belonged to her Park Adult Motion Picture Club - “names of ministers, judges, attorneys, police officers, doctors, people who wanted me to get out.” she said. “And they are not just names of local persons.” Asked if she were going to release some of the more prominent names, or if she plans to go to court to try to stay open, she said “no comment but I have called a news conference for Thursday (today).”
Keith Iverson, a real estate man with strong religious convictions, says he spent years trying to search out the owner of the quonset hut-type building that seats about 650 persons. He recently found that it was in a Rockford trust and was being rented out to Miller and her truck-driver husband, Don, 40.
Iverson attributed the sale to “the Lord and the power of prayer.” “This is the start of Jesus and me and our venture to eliminate such places,” said Iverson after completing the sale. “I have a personal spiritual conviction to get rid of that theater and other businesses associated with pornography.”
(By MYRACYN ANICH, Freeman Correspondent) For the first time in over 50 years there are no films being shown in Mukwonago and the advertising boards are bare on the theater front.
One more of the nostalgic Institutions of a small town has gone. The Vista theater closed its doors on the showing of movies for the last time.
Owned and operated by one family since 1913, the decline in attendance and the illness of the widow of the last owner forced the demise of the long established business.
John Nowatake came to America in 1885 from Posen, Germany with his wife Albertina and six children. With a broad musical education, he had been a member of a military band.
After arriving in Mukwonago he purchased the large and well known Dillenbeck Hotel on Rochester St.
With the advent of silent pictures, a portion of the hotel, used for a bellroom, was converted into a small theater in 1913, and the musically adept sons of the owner were pressed into service as the orchestra to accompany the films.
The famly orchestra was known throughout the county for their ability and played at the many dances, festivals and masquerades held in the early days.
The orchestra consisted of Father John, who was proficient at many instruments, the violin, bass viol and bass horn. Son Paul Nowatske played the violin, Max the bass viol, Alfred the violin, Fred the saxophone and flute. The other members of the musical family were Emma, Elsie and Walter.
In recalling some of the early times, Fred Nowatske remembers he had the honor of selling the first ticket to a silent movie in the hotel theater, at 5 cents.
The films were not always accompanied by the full orchestra and usually Mrs. Mattie Hillier or Barry Clefton played the plano accompaniment. One of the songs best remembered as being used was “The End of a Perfect Day.”
In the early 1900s John Nowatake had a specially made orchestrion player piano installed, which in addition to the regular rolls played facsimile music of several instruments. The family orchestra played along with the mechanical music, producing the effect of a large and varied orchestra.
The hotel passed to son Paul Nowatske, and in 1927, half of the 130 foot long building was demolished to make room for the present theater building.
When the building was torn down and the basement for the new building being excavated, so much fill was needed that anything at hand was used. Some small part of the fill consisted of bowls and pitchers that had stood on the wash stands of the old hotel. These were thrown from the second story windows down into the hole below.
Since the beginning of the theater in 1927, films were obtained from the same source continuously to 1965, Film Service, inc. of Milwaukee, operated by Ray Trampe.
Besides showing films, until the death of the theater this month, the third generation of the family-operated enterprise, Walter Nowatski has used the building for weekly auctions for the past 15 years.
Sad and silent on Saturday nights, the theater building can still re-echo the whole long era of moviedom from 1913 to 1965.
The theater is being closed because of poor attendance and other family financial interests. The theater, which seats 400, will still be used for auctions. (October 1, 1965)
Milwaukee’s newest amusement center, the Venetian theater, located at Thirty-seventh and Center streels, is now open to the service of the public. It is one of the most modern and beautiful motion picture houses in the city. Built at a cost of over $500,000 it gives to the Northwest side an amusement house which is a credit to this populous and growing neighborhood.
The Venetian theater is admirably named. Its architecture is of the Italian Renaissance period and its interior decorations bespeak the unsurpassing beauty of a summer night in ancient and romantic Venice.
Milwaukee’s newest theater is a tribute to the Universal Pictures, Inc., which owns it and the Milwaukee firms advertised on these pages, which had a part in its actual creation. It is a product of the combined efforts of expert craftsmen in stone, concrete, steel, lighting, ventilation and every other phase of the building art which is necessary to make up a complete, modern motion picture theater, which will give its patrons every comfort in a healthful and beautiful atmosphere.
The building is fireproof throughout. It is of the very newest de luxe type, with main floor and balcony seating 1600 persons. It has a 20 foot stage, permitting vaudeville performances and feature presentations in addition to the regular motion picture program.
The opalesque blue of a Venetian sky at dusk is represented on the arched ceiling and a special “cloud machine,” one of the few in the North-west, creates a soft cloud effect, while behind this screen of vapory light twinkling stars are created by still another device.
Along the walls are hung heavy wine-colored and blue drapes, that add an atmosphere of courtly splendor, and the walls are done in heavy panels, etched in gold. The auditorium itself is lighted by huge flood lamps, concealed in coves to give indirect reflecton and thus create a true night effect. Fresh air is drawn into the building by means of a special ventilating system, which also washes the air and changes it constantly.
Another feature of the theater is the inter- communicating telephone system which enables manager, projection machine operator, orchestra leader and ushers to keep in constant communication with one another.
In the basement will be two large rest rooms designed for the utmost comfort of patrons. The exterior of the building is done in buff terra cotta, making it one of the most beautiful buildings on the Northwest Side.
Over the sidewalk is suspended a huge canopy designed to offer adequate protection during inclement weather, and surrounding this is an electric sign which can be seen for blocks east and west along Center street.
One of the most attractive small theatres to be built recently is the 600-seat Towne, Fox Lake, Ill.
The building is owned by Robert J. Bartelt, a real estate broker in this popular resort city whose winter population of 7,000 jumps to 20,000, or more, during the summer vacation season. It is leased by Robert Nelson Corporation, Libertyville, II. Architects were Sebes, Inc., Minne- apolis, and Kroehler Manufacturing Company supplied the all-mohair covered “Push-Back” chairs.
To the Hanna L. Teichert studios goes the credit for the Towne’s charming and unsual decor. A large black-light mural of the Chain-of-Lakes region sets off the lobby, which is of natural Indiana limestone, blood-striated plywood, and plaster decorated in forest green and watermelon.
Another striking touch is the installation of large flower boxes filled with tropical plants in the four corners of the auditorium. The leaves of these plants are painted with black-light paint, and are illuminated by special lights.
Every known convenience for patrons' comfort and enjoyment is provided at the Towne. There are free parking facilities, modern air conditioning, hearing aids, and the best in projection and sound equipment. The cry room in the rear of the auditorium permits a clear view of the screen, is fitted with individually-controlled speakers and ventilators, and is complete with a handy bottle warmer.
In the spotless restrooms, the walls are done in a new hometown product, “Glamour Tile”. This is the first theatre installation of the product, and the results are pleasing. The foyer Boot is also of antique-ish “Glamour Tile”.
For better vision in the rear of the house, the last 15 rows of “Push-Back” seats are staggered in accordance with a novel seating plan worked out by the Kroehler Company. The projection booth is but five feet above the floor of the lobby, an arrangement which has proved highly satisfactory.
The Towne has been expressly designed to meet the theatre needs of a small community, and in providing a friendly, inviting atmosphere with all the comfort, convenience, and technical excellence that modern equipment can supply, it has fulfilled these requirements
well.
(Kenosha News, 12/ 21/1927) New Roosevelt Theater Opens Door Christmas - Splendid New West Side Play- house Completed and Open- ing is Announced.
Another beautiful new Kenosha theater, the first to be erected on the far west side of the city, will be opened to the public on Christmas day when Dahl’s Roosevelt Theater, located on Roosevelt Road at 29th Avenue, will give its initial performance beginning at noon. The theater opening will mark the completion and occupancy of the modern new Dahl block.
This block, costing approximately $450.000 to construct, was erected by the Dahl Construction Company, and the theater has been leased to the United Theaters Company, operators of the Butterfly, Vogue and Lincoln theaters in Kenosha.
Work on this splendid new building was begun last spring by the Dahl Company. The construction is of brick and concrete, with a beautiful face brick front. It accommodates, beside the theater, six stores, bowling alleys, barber shop, three business offices, dentist’s office and seven apartments entirely furnished. Four of the stores and the apartments on the second floor of the building have been finished for some time and are all occupied.
Equipment Magnificent
The magnificent Dahl’s Roosevelt theater will open equipped with furnishings and appointments that equal. if not surpass, the finest theaters in the city of Kenosha. The organ installed in the theater of Marr-Colton make is the largest and most costly in the city of Kenosha. The seats, capable of seating 1,000 persons, are of high grade and are so arranged and made as to insure the maximum of comfort and a splendid view of the stage from any part of the theater.
The equipment in the operators booth has been pronounced by those familiar with such equipment as even finer and more complete than that installed in the Kenosha high school building, which is conceded to have the best equipment in the city.
The stage, while not the largest in the city, is amply large and has equipment such as is rarely seen in theaters of its size, or even larger. The interior decorative scheme is an old Spanish egect, is most pleasing to the eye and is in harmony with everything else that goes to make up the theater. The electric wiring and fixtures are of the very latest and also harmonize with other features of the theater. The theater is acoustically arranged to provide for every contingency.
Other Features of Building
Beneath the theater there will be a billiard parlor and bowling alleys which are built in foundations of steel and which are adjustable and of the latest type permitting wear and sagging to be easily taken care of. They are being installed by W. F. Bleck & Company of Chicago, The ceiling in the bowling alley, as well as all walls, have been so arranged that no noises whatever from the operating of the alleys will be observed in the theater proper. This has been guaranteed. The barber shop will likewise be beneath the theater and the same entrance will be used as that for the billiard parlor and bowling alleys. Two of the stories in the Dahl block are on either side lobby of the theater
Designed by Einer Dahl
The design of the entire building is a credit to Einar Dahl who superintended its design and construction. and by hard, faithful and untiring work brought to a realization the hope of the people of the west side. While the building and theater were designed by Einar Dahl the theater plans were revised by Architect Charles Augustine.
The Dah! Block was financed through H. L. Bullamore & Son, one of the oldest firms of its kind in the city of Kenosha and particularly through the efforts of H. L. Bullamore was it possible to complete the building.
It is claimed the Dahl block is the largest commercial building and has more floor space than any such building in the entire city of Kenosha.
BURGLARS AS ACTORS; ‘AUDIENCE’ IS VICTIM - Logan Square Theater Safe Is Robbed of $500 While Watchman Looks On, Believing “Show” a Rehearsal.
Five burglars staged a hold-up and safe robbery in the Logan Square theater, 2542 Milwaukee avenue, owned by John R. Thompson, early Sunday morning. The audience consisted of one man, Jackson Le Maire, night watchman. The audience was entertained - also robbed.
While making his rounds, Le Maire let himself in at the front door of the theater. He found the stage bright in the glare of the footlights. He noticed five men moving about on the stage. Three of them wore masks. “These actors are going to pull some Western stuff, I guess,” said the night watchman. The “rehearsal” progressed rapidly. The “actors” went through their parts as if they were letter perfect. Le Maire caught the drift of the “lines” from time to time. “I thought the safe was in the wings,” said one “actor,” who looked like Edwin Booth. “It’ll take me about two minutes to blow her wide open,” said another “artist” up stage, in a melodramatic whisper. ‘The soup’s all right tonight, kid, belleve me,“ said a third, whom Le Maire took to be the low comedian of the sketch. "There’s an old property safe in the right wing” mumbled Le Maire. “I don’t suppose they know where it is and I’ll go back and show them. Their little drama won’t be complete without it.” He strolled down the central aisle and mounted to the stage. “You’ve got a great sketch, boys,” he said genially. “I guess you need a safe for local color. I’ll show you where it is.” His kindly criticism was rudely interrupted. One of the “actors” - undoubtedly the heavy villain - caught him a clip under the chin which knocked him down. Before he recovered, the entire troupe of “Thespians” and tied him, hand and foot, with rope. Incidentally. they rifled his pockets of seventy-five cents.Then they found the safe - not the property one, but the real one - and blew it open with a charge of nitroglycerin. They secured $500 and escaped. Two hours later Le Maire wriggled from his bonds and reported the robbery to the Shakespeare Avenue police. “I don’t mind my loss of seventy-five cents.” said Le Maire. “The performance was worth it. Those fellows are artists. They ought to land on the big time. I only hope I’m the lucky man to 'book’ them.” (April 27, 1914)
I attended a THS tour of the COLONY in mid-1983 (which also included the PEOPLES and MARSHALL SQUARE). The plaster walls had just been sprayed Bakers White.
After exactly two years in Kenosha, Leonard M. Salvo, well known piano teacher of the city and popular organist at the Gateway theater, together with Mrs. Salvo, is returning to Chicago on Monday to make his future home.
All arrangements for the change have been completed. This week Mr. Salvo turned over his plano pupils to Miss Margaret Schmitt, popular music teacher, since both he and Miss Schmitt teach the Leschetisky system of piano study. Sunday will be his last uday at the theater.
In Chicago. Mr. Salvo will start work in about two weeks for the Essaness Theater Corporation, playing at the Chateau theater at Grand and Broadway on the north side. The theater is now being remodeled, re-decorated and sound installed and will be ready for re-opening in about two weeks,
Mr. Salvo was brought to Kenosha two years ago this month by the late Charles Mensing, at that time manager of the Gateway theater here, and he has been organist at the Gateway ever since, organising piano classes of his own.
Prior to coming here, he was organist at the Capitol theater in Chicago, and has a wide circle of friends both in Chicago ard Kenosha to wish him good luck in his new venture.
Jake J. Disch, formerly engaged in the theater business in Kenosha but for more than a quarter of a century in charge of theaters in Cudahy and Milwaukee, received recognition for his long years of service in the industry recently when he was presented with a twenty-five year service plaque at a meeting of prominent film and theater leaders of Wisconsin at the Schroeder hotel in Milwaukee.
Similar plaques were presented to several others, including Thomas Saxe, of Milwaukee, and widely known in Kenosha.
Jake J. Disch was engaged in the show business in Kenosha, prior to 1910, at which time he went to Cudahy. There he has continued directing what is now the Cudahy theater and has been markedly successful in development of that theater. (Kenosha News, 9/24/1938)
On November 30, 1969, the curtain came down for the final time at the Mondovi Theatre as the credits finished rolling for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. Built in 1921, the theatre was razed in 1974.
‘Save The Grand, Urges Celeste Holm
Actress To Perform Tonight
In January, Celeste Holm visited Oshkosh for a benefit dinner, and while here spent a few moments giving her appraisal of the Grand Theater.
And at that time, Miss Holm expressed her desire to work in the Grand, for in her opinion it would be an excellent theater in which to give a performance, and certainly was a theater well worth saving.
Tonight Miss Holm will fulfill her desire to perform in Oshkosh when she stars in the comedy production of “Not Even In Spring” at 8:15. Асcording to sponsors of the event, a near-capacity audience is expected, although some seats should be available at the door.
Upon arrival in Oshkosh Monday Miss Holm met with the news media at an afternoon press conference at the Grand. She and her company have just finished “Not Even In Spring” in a four week engagement in Chicago, and while having a successful run with the play in Chicago the Hollywood actress devised the idea to bring the play to the Grand, donating the proceeds to the local cause.
In a final appeal to Oshkosh area residents Miss Holm told the press, “Don’t tear down what you will never be able to replace. Here is a theater where you can sit in any seat in the house and see and hear everything that goes on in the theater. In practically every playhouse today, electronics play such a large part in the performing of the show, that the true sound of the natural voice is no longer as important as it once was.
“In fact, there are very few theaters today that I would rank in the same class with the Grand. One would be the Music Box on Broadway, but there are just so few that give the actor the opportunity to display his real talent, as the Grand does.”
Explaining the importance of the small playhouses and theaters to the actress, Miss Holm said “The reason movies in Europe have such a great dramatic quality, is the fact that in Europe the actors have the opportunity to play in good playhouses at the same time they are making a movie, but in this country this is not true. By playing in these local playhouses, the actor has the opportunity to develop the dynamic qualities in his voice, which is so very important.”
“The ‘grass-root’ theaters that are springing up all over the country are worth every penny,” Miss Holm continued, “for they can be used for so much, plays, movies, concerts, almost anything. And any support that can be given to theaters such as the Grand should be given.”
Appearing with Miss Holm in the one-night performance are the other members of her cast direct from the Chicago performance of “Not Even In Spring” including Delphy Lawrence, Wesley Addy, Nelson Welch, and Herbert Nelson.
Following tonight’s show, Miss Holm will leave for Pasadena. Calif., where she will begin rehearsals for a new play, “Captain Brisban’s Conversion” which she will do at the Pasadena Playhouse. (August 30, 1966)
1971 photo.
As the Auditorium Theatre.
Brothers J.A. Hamlin and L.B. Hamlin bought the Foley’s Billiard Hall property in January 1872 and erected the ornate building with an additional building at the east end as a garden with fountains, waterfalls and stages, reconstructed in September 1878 as Hamlins’ Theater, soon sold to John Borden in 1880, then to his son William Borden, who after more reconstruction opened it on September 6, 1880 as the Grand Opera House under the management of John A. Hamlin. It opened by Hoey & Hardy’s Company in an adaptation of the play “A Child of the State,” followed by Tom Keene in a Shakespearian repertory, and hosted the first production of two hit musicals aimed at children and in June of 1902, the original production of The Wizard of Oz premiered there. In June 1903 came the premiere of Victor Herbert’s “Babes in Toyland”.
The Grand Opera House was built as a legitimate theatre and had seating for 1,750 in an orchestra floor, balcony, and gallery. The interior was lit by gas and described by the Chicago Daily Tribune as having “the beautiful blending of rich colors, and the graceful elegance of the designs charms the eye at every point."
On March 3rd, 1912, George M. Cohan and partner Sam H. Harris leased the theatre and renamed it “George M. Cohan’s Grand Opera House”. In 1926 the façade and auditorium were reconstructed by Andrew Rebori, and it reopened as the Four Cohans. Later the Shuberts took over and it became the Shubert Grand Opera House, but it soon returned to its original name Grand Opera House. When films began, the theatre was renamed the RKO Grand. In March, 1958 the RKO Grand closed, and was demolished a month later. The Chicago Civic Center was later constructed on the site, now the Richard J. Daley Center.
Among those who played the Grand over the years: Lionel Barrymore, Arthur Byron, Mady Christians, George M. Cohan, Constance Collier, Katharine Cornell, Dudley Digges, Robert Edeson, Leon Errol, Douglas Fairbanks, Walter Hampden, Miriam Hopkins, Allan Jones, Bert Lahr, Eva Le Gallienne, Canada Lee, the Marx Brothers, Chester Morris, Mildred Natwick, Effie Shannon, and Ethel Waters. (Thanks to Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.)
BANDIT SHOOTS
THEATER MAN, FIRES AT COP
Loop Crowd Sees Gun Battle
Roy Bogan, 39, of 8918 Blackstone av., assistant manager of the RKO Grand Theater at 119 N. Clark st., was shot above the heart by a holdup man late yesterday afternoon.
The bandit escaped in a gun battle with police during the evening rush hour in the Loop.
Bogan was taken to St. Luke’s hospital, where physicians said his condition is not serious. A 32 caliber bullet which passed thru Bogan’s body was found imbedded in the door of the ticket cage, fronting on the sidewalk where the shooting occurred.
Dares Bandit to Shoot
Bogan had relieved a woman ticket seller at the window only a few moments before the gunman walked up and demanded all the money in the cage.
“No.” Bogan told him.
“I’ll shoot you,” the gunman threatened.
“Go ahead,” Bogan told him.
The gunman fired and fled. Bogan turned sidewise as the shot was fired, the bullet passing diagonally thru the upper part of his chest.
Patrolman Joseph Ostermann, riding a three wheeled motorcycle, heard the shot at Clark and Washington sts. He arrived at the theater just in time to see the gunman dart into an alley north of the theater and run east.
Gunman Fires at Cop
As Ostermann reached the mouth of the alley, the gunman turned and fired two shots at him. Ostermann fired two shots in return, abandoned his motorcycle, and took up the chase on foot.
The gunman fled east to Dearborn st., south to Washington, and then turned east. He was reported to have fled into the basement of the Hillman store, but a search there by police disclosed no trace of him.
Miss Betty Talbott, an usherette at the theater, was the first to reach Bogan after the shooting. He was taken to St. Luke’s hospital by Detectives James Nihill and Harry Gazzola of the cartage detail in their squad car.
Wrecking Crews Give Final Show at RKO Grand Theater
CHICAGO - Chicago’s RKO Grand theater is having its grand finale at the hands of a wrecking crew.
The site on Clark Street, across from the County Building, will become a parking lot. Thus ends a theater tradition that dates back to 1860 when Thomas Barbour Bryan built an auditorium.
Known as Bryan’s Hall, it was taken over by R. M. Hooley in 1870 for minstrel shows.
In 1871, it was partly destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire.
Rebuilt, it became the Grand Opera House. Then in 1873 it became Hamlin’s beer garden and in 1878 Hamlin’s Opera House.
In 1903, just around the corner on Randolph Street, the Iroquois Theater fire claimed 602 lives.
George M. Cohan and Sam Harris bought the theater in 1912 and named it Cohan’s Opera House. In 1926, it became Four Cohans' Theater.
This era in the 20’s brought Katherine Cornell to its stage.
Ziegfield’s Follies, Earl Carroll’s Vanities and George M. Cohan made seasonal appearances.
By 1942, the legitimate theater - Chicago’s first of any consequence - was converted into a movie house.
It then became The RKO Grand until a few weeks ago when the Harvey Wrecking Co., was billed on the marquee as the Grand’s last act and swiftly went about the business of turning the theater to rubble and memories. (4/25/58)
☺️Opens Sunday
The new Juno Theater, located in the former Zwieg Store building on the corner of Oak and South Main streets, will open Sunday, according to Carl F. Neitzel, owner.
The new establishment enterprise will open at 2 pm with a matinee, and the movie program will be shown continuously until the night closing. The first feature scheduled for the Juno Theater is “Deep Valley”, starring Lupino, Dane Clark, Wayne Morris and Fay Bainter. A newsreel and cartoon will be included.
The building housing the theater has been completely remodeled and redecorated. An inclined flоог offers a clear view of the screen from each of the 400 seats on the main floor. A 12-set “cry room” for mothers with very small children is an added feature of comfort. A separate speaker and large window enables occupants to see and hear as well as from the main floor.
Considerable alteration of the building was necessary in order to comply with requirements of the State Industrial Commission. The entrance will be from the southwest side of the building, with the projection room at the south end. The Juno Sweet Shop will occupy the north end of the building, fronting on Oak Street.
The building was purchased by Neitzel more than a year ago, and he and his family have been residents of Juneau since October, 1946. Before coming here, they lived in Hartland where they owned and operated the Victor Theater for several years.
A gesture to throw new light on the Granada
(Paul Gapp, Architecture critic; July 20, 1987)
When this city saved the Chicago Theatre, it earned no right to turn its back on the three other major movie palaces of the 1920s surviving here. Those are the Uptown, the Avalon and the Granada - and among them, the Granada is perhaps the grandest of all.
You have probably seen the elaborately ornamented and arched terra cotta facade of the now-threatened Granada, which stands on a prominent site at 6433 N. Sheridan Rd.
But if you’ve never been inside the theater (which has been dark for several years except for a few rock concerts), you may wish to visit one of two photo exhibitions that will continue through July 31. One is on the fourth floor at the south end of the Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; the other at the Rogers Park Branch Library, 6907 N. Clark St.
The recently shot black and white photos of the Granada by Mike Williams are part of a suddenly escalating, last-ditch public effort to find a new use for the theater to prevent its demolition by developers who have talked about building an apartment tower in its place.
Architect Daniel D. Watts curated the photo exhibits. He also organized the Save the Granada Theater Committee, which is working in league with the Rogers Park Community Council and the Theater Historical Society.
Williams' photographs show the exterior of the Granada, some of the more sweeping expanses of its interior and a number of its decorative details. The pictures also convey impressions of desolation and incipient decay in the 3,447-seat house, which opened in 1926.
The Granada is nominally Spanish baroque in style, although it manifests many of the other eclectic, whimsical and deliberately overblown twists and turns of form and ornamentation found in big urban stage-and-screen venues of the time. Its grand staircase, crystal chandeliers, stained glass, use of marble and bronze, coffered ceilings and acres of ornamented plaster give it a marvelously gaudy quality. Cleveland-born Edward E. Eichenbaum designed the Granada while working for the architectural firm of Levy & Klein in Chicago. He had begun his career in Detroit with the distinguished Albert Kahn and at another point was associated with the Chicago-based design firm of A. Epstein & Sons. Other Chicago theaters credited to Eichenbaum include the Regal and Diversey. He also designed the Palace in South Bend, Ind., and the Regent in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Eichenbaum’s love of legitimate theater originated during his student days at the University of Pennsylvania, and he even understudied the great George Arliss in “Disraeli” for a year when the play was running in Philadelphia.
Eichenbaum once called the Granada “the greatest design I have ever been privileged to make,” according to a 1983 article by Sharon Lindy published in Marquee magazine. Film palaces were being built so rapidly in the 1920s that Eichenbaum sometimes used the same terra cotta molds on different theaters, ingeniously assembling them into fresh configurations to save time and money.
When the Granada was still on the drafting boards, Eichenbaum told an interviewer: “I want this building to be paradise, so that the common man can leave his meager existence at the door and for a few hours feel that he, too, is among the very rich class that he reads about in the paper.”
Fifty years after he designed it, Eichenbaum returned to the Granada for a visit to receive a 1976 Marquee magazine award from Joseph DuciBella of the Theater Historical Society. Eichenbaum detested the plainness of modern theaters. “They’re nothing but barns,” he said. Eichenbaum died in 1982.
The present effort to save the Granada is supported by DuciBella, a theater historian, and by preservationists. Early this month, a representative of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency said the Granada was a “very good candidate” for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Architect Watts, spearheading the Granada campaign, points out that most of the theater is unaltered and in good condition: Its original marble floor is sound, its organ intact, and even its original stage lighting is in working order. The Granada does not have Chicago municipal landmark status as does the Chicago Theatre on downtown State Street, now a busy venue for live entertainment. Yet it doesn’t necessarily make sense to compare the strategy or business rationale for saving the Granada with the scenario that led to the Chicago’s salvation after a slide to the brink of demolition. The location, economics and re-use factors are disparate, after all.
Still, neither can such differences be used as alibis for shrugging off the Granada. The old North Side movie palace is part of the city’s sociocultural fabric and its brilliant architectural heritage.
There is no doubt, then, about the Granada’s credentials. And so we are left with the basic question about any major preservation effort: How many people care, and how hard are they willing to work?
The Save the Granada Theater Committee is based at 1637 W. Morse Ave.
A pitch for the Granada
By Rick Kogan (July 22, 1988)
A woman named Deborah Nerness wants to save the Granada Theater, so it is understandable why she has named the organization fighting toward that goal the “Save the Granada Theater Committee.” It is also, from this seat, understandable why she would care to preserve this glorious building.
We last visited the 3,417-seat movie house in 1981, at the tail end of its decade-or-so fling as a rock concert hall. We saw Cheap Trick. And we also saw the dusty but still unmistakable signs of beauty.
Built in 1922, the Granada, at 6427 N. Sheridan Rd., was one of more than 20 opulent movie palaces that once dotted the city. It was one of the flashiest, with 80-foot ceilings, elaborate hand-carved stone work, painted ornamental ceilings, columns, statues and stained-glass windows.
We haven’t seen the Granada’s interior for so long that we don’t feel like getting in the middle of a battle between those who would save the building and those who seek to raze it - such struggles and their attendant arguments are best left to lawyers and architects. But after thinking about the Save the Granada Theater Committee, 1637 W. Morse Ave., we walked over to the lobby of the Chicago Theatre and wondered: Could it happen here?
Curtain falls on hopes to save theater (By Peter Kendall)
The curtain has apparently been brought down down on efforts to save the interior of Rogers Park’s historic Granada Theater.
A developer debuted a plan Thursday to keep only the building’s facade as part of a 24-story apartment tower.
Local developer SLC Corp. brought its plans for Granada Centre to Ald. David Orr (49th) and a neighborhood meeting that had little enthusiasm and plenty of empty seats. Granada Centre would include the tower, storefronts and a parking garage.
Preservationists' efforts to save the 1926 Spanish baroque theater at 6433 N. Sheridan Rd. apparently ran its course after several years of unsuccessful attempts to find a developer who would keep intact the building and restore its grand lobby and stage.
“I thought people would be jumping up and down talking about architecture and the importance of history, but all they are talking about is traffic and parking,” said Milwaukee preservationist Fred Jahnke, who walked out of the meeting early.
If the developer wins city approval, the building will be razed but the ornate terra cotta facade will be left intact. The marquee, which was added years after the building went up, will be stripped off, and the facade restored to form a front for the apartment building’s parking garage.
Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, an architect who has been involved with past efforts to save the theater, received applause when he told audience members that they should be happy getting as much much of the old Granada as they will.
“It will continue to be a local landmark, it will be recognizable, and it will be far more usable than what we have there now,” Hasbrouck said.
Although Orr said he has not yet taken a position on the new building, he paid the developers tribute. “I’m excited that we have some responsible developers socking millions of dollars into our neighborhood,” Orr said.
The effort to save the historic building peaked last year with the formation of the Save the Granada Theater Committee.
Last summer, the committee sponsored exhibitions of current photographs inside the theater, showing that the marble floors, sweeping staircases and crystal chandeliers remained intact in the 3,447-seat movie palace.
But the committee was weakened by internal dissention and could not find a developer to take over the plans.
Committee founder Daniel Watts found little satisfaction Thursday in SLC Corp.’s proposal. “It’s eyewash,” he said after looking over the drawings. “The best they can do with the theater is to put a parking garage in it.”
Unimpressed with what the developers called “economic realities, preservationist Jahnke left the meeting remarking "In 15 years, we will look back on this and say, How did we let this happen?” (May 20, 1988 - Chicago Tribune)
Curtain will close on Rapids Plaza Cinema
PAUL J. MOLLEY
Racine’s North Side is losing its two movie Screens
The final shows at Rapids Plaza Cinema I and II, 2200 Mount Pleasant St., will be presented Sunday, said Mark Gramz, Marcus Theatres vice president of operations.
“We just find that operating 13 screens in three buildings isn’t as efficient as 11 screens in two buildings,” he said.
Milwaukee-based Marcus Theatres also operates the six-screen Regency Mall Cinemas, 5230 Durand Ave., and the five-screen Westgate Cinemas, 5101 Washington Ave.
Gramz said the two-screen Rapids Plaza operation doesn’t encourage the kind of movie patron traffic that Marcus gets from complexes with more film offerings. Marcus added thrée screens to Westgate last year and remodeled the lobby and concessions area at Regency Mall.
“We feel 11-screens is a sufficient number for the Racine market, but we’ll monitor the situation,” he said. “We would possibly add screens at Westgate or Regency or both if it becomes necessary.”
The manager at Rapids Plaza will transfer to Marcus South Shore Cinemas in Oak Creek and the company will try to find jobs for other employees at its remaining Racine outlets.
Marcus opened the Rapids Plaza Cinema in 1976. The twin-screen complex has about 900 seats. Gramz said Marcus will keep the seating and equipment for other ventures and put the building up for sale. (9/25/1992)
The early 1950s.
Yesterday, the City Council finance committee once again extended the Fullerton/Milwaukee TIF district to help protect the Congress Theatre against the oncoming winter and easing the path toward its full $87.8 million restoration. Last year, Ald. Daniel LaSpata asked the commissioners to extend the TIF district to 1/1/2027.
December 3rd, 2024 marks 20 years since the Genesee Theatre reopened to the public after a 15-year closure. The 5-year $23 million renovation included a Broadway-sized stage and rigging system, the addition of 600 seats (1,799 to 2,403), a reproduction of the 1927 marquee with over 2,000 lights, new lighting and sound systems, and more. https://www.geneseetheatre.com
Crusader closes X-rated movie (May 3, 1979)
LOVES PARK. II. (AP) - An X-rated theater that a city anti-obscenity ordinance, legal maneuvers and attacks by church and parents groups could not close, finally has had to toss in the towel.
The building was sold out from under the movie house by a crusading real estate man who tracked down the owner.
But Linda Miller, 35, the operator. said Wednesday that the people of Loves Park have not heard the last of her.
She said she has a book full of names of persons who belonged to her Park Adult Motion Picture Club - “names of ministers, judges, attorneys, police officers, doctors, people who wanted me to get out.” she said. “And they are not just names of local persons.” Asked if she were going to release some of the more prominent names, or if she plans to go to court to try to stay open, she said “no comment but I have called a news conference for Thursday (today).”
Keith Iverson, a real estate man with strong religious convictions, says he spent years trying to search out the owner of the quonset hut-type building that seats about 650 persons. He recently found that it was in a Rockford trust and was being rented out to Miller and her truck-driver husband, Don, 40.
Iverson attributed the sale to “the Lord and the power of prayer.” “This is the start of Jesus and me and our venture to eliminate such places,” said Iverson after completing the sale. “I have a personal spiritual conviction to get rid of that theater and other businesses associated with pornography.”
(By MYRACYN ANICH, Freeman Correspondent) For the first time in over 50 years there are no films being shown in Mukwonago and the advertising boards are bare on the theater front.
One more of the nostalgic Institutions of a small town has gone. The Vista theater closed its doors on the showing of movies for the last time.
Owned and operated by one family since 1913, the decline in attendance and the illness of the widow of the last owner forced the demise of the long established business.
John Nowatake came to America in 1885 from Posen, Germany with his wife Albertina and six children. With a broad musical education, he had been a member of a military band.
After arriving in Mukwonago he purchased the large and well known Dillenbeck Hotel on Rochester St.
With the advent of silent pictures, a portion of the hotel, used for a bellroom, was converted into a small theater in 1913, and the musically adept sons of the owner were pressed into service as the orchestra to accompany the films.
The famly orchestra was known throughout the county for their ability and played at the many dances, festivals and masquerades held in the early days.
The orchestra consisted of Father John, who was proficient at many instruments, the violin, bass viol and bass horn. Son Paul Nowatske played the violin, Max the bass viol, Alfred the violin, Fred the saxophone and flute. The other members of the musical family were Emma, Elsie and Walter.
In recalling some of the early times, Fred Nowatske remembers he had the honor of selling the first ticket to a silent movie in the hotel theater, at 5 cents.
The films were not always accompanied by the full orchestra and usually Mrs. Mattie Hillier or Barry Clefton played the plano accompaniment. One of the songs best remembered as being used was “The End of a Perfect Day.”
In the early 1900s John Nowatake had a specially made orchestrion player piano installed, which in addition to the regular rolls played facsimile music of several instruments. The family orchestra played along with the mechanical music, producing the effect of a large and varied orchestra.
The hotel passed to son Paul Nowatske, and in 1927, half of the 130 foot long building was demolished to make room for the present theater building.
When the building was torn down and the basement for the new building being excavated, so much fill was needed that anything at hand was used. Some small part of the fill consisted of bowls and pitchers that had stood on the wash stands of the old hotel. These were thrown from the second story windows down into the hole below.
Since the beginning of the theater in 1927, films were obtained from the same source continuously to 1965, Film Service, inc. of Milwaukee, operated by Ray Trampe.
Besides showing films, until the death of the theater this month, the third generation of the family-operated enterprise, Walter Nowatski has used the building for weekly auctions for the past 15 years.
Sad and silent on Saturday nights, the theater building can still re-echo the whole long era of moviedom from 1913 to 1965.
The theater is being closed because of poor attendance and other family financial interests. The theater, which seats 400, will still be used for auctions. (October 1, 1965)
Milwaukee’s newest amusement center, the Venetian theater, located at Thirty-seventh and Center streels, is now open to the service of the public. It is one of the most modern and beautiful motion picture houses in the city. Built at a cost of over $500,000 it gives to the Northwest side an amusement house which is a credit to this populous and growing neighborhood. The Venetian theater is admirably named. Its architecture is of the Italian Renaissance period and its interior decorations bespeak the unsurpassing beauty of a summer night in ancient and romantic Venice.
Milwaukee’s newest theater is a tribute to the Universal Pictures, Inc., which owns it and the Milwaukee firms advertised on these pages, which had a part in its actual creation. It is a product of the combined efforts of expert craftsmen in stone, concrete, steel, lighting, ventilation and every other phase of the building art which is necessary to make up a complete, modern motion picture theater, which will give its patrons every comfort in a healthful and beautiful atmosphere.
The building is fireproof throughout. It is of the very newest de luxe type, with main floor and balcony seating 1600 persons. It has a 20 foot stage, permitting vaudeville performances and feature presentations in addition to the regular motion picture program.
The opalesque blue of a Venetian sky at dusk is represented on the arched ceiling and a special “cloud machine,” one of the few in the North-west, creates a soft cloud effect, while behind this screen of vapory light twinkling stars are created by still another device.
Along the walls are hung heavy wine-colored and blue drapes, that add an atmosphere of courtly splendor, and the walls are done in heavy panels, etched in gold. The auditorium itself is lighted by huge flood lamps, concealed in coves to give indirect reflecton and thus create a true night effect. Fresh air is drawn into the building by means of a special ventilating system, which also washes the air and changes it constantly.
Another feature of the theater is the inter- communicating telephone system which enables manager, projection machine operator, orchestra leader and ushers to keep in constant communication with one another.
In the basement will be two large rest rooms designed for the utmost comfort of patrons. The exterior of the building is done in buff terra cotta, making it one of the most beautiful buildings on the Northwest Side.
Over the sidewalk is suspended a huge canopy designed to offer adequate protection during inclement weather, and surrounding this is an electric sign which can be seen for blocks east and west along Center street.
One of the most attractive small theatres to be built recently is the 600-seat Towne, Fox Lake, Ill. The building is owned by Robert J. Bartelt, a real estate broker in this popular resort city whose winter population of 7,000 jumps to 20,000, or more, during the summer vacation season. It is leased by Robert Nelson Corporation, Libertyville, II. Architects were Sebes, Inc., Minne- apolis, and Kroehler Manufacturing Company supplied the all-mohair covered “Push-Back” chairs.
To the Hanna L. Teichert studios goes the credit for the Towne’s charming and unsual decor. A large black-light mural of the Chain-of-Lakes region sets off the lobby, which is of natural Indiana limestone, blood-striated plywood, and plaster decorated in forest green and watermelon.
Another striking touch is the installation of large flower boxes filled with tropical plants in the four corners of the auditorium. The leaves of these plants are painted with black-light paint, and are illuminated by special lights.
Every known convenience for patrons' comfort and enjoyment is provided at the Towne. There are free parking facilities, modern air conditioning, hearing aids, and the best in projection and sound equipment. The cry room in the rear of the auditorium permits a clear view of the screen, is fitted with individually-controlled speakers and ventilators, and is complete with a handy bottle warmer.
In the spotless restrooms, the walls are done in a new hometown product, “Glamour Tile”. This is the first theatre installation of the product, and the results are pleasing. The foyer Boot is also of antique-ish “Glamour Tile”.
For better vision in the rear of the house, the last 15 rows of “Push-Back” seats are staggered in accordance with a novel seating plan worked out by the Kroehler Company. The projection booth is but five feet above the floor of the lobby, an arrangement which has proved highly satisfactory.
The Towne has been expressly designed to meet the theatre needs of a small community, and in providing a friendly, inviting atmosphere with all the comfort, convenience, and technical excellence that modern equipment can supply, it has fulfilled these requirements well.
(Kenosha News, 12/ 21/1927) New Roosevelt Theater Opens Door Christmas - Splendid New West Side Play- house Completed and Open- ing is Announced.
Another beautiful new Kenosha theater, the first to be erected on the far west side of the city, will be opened to the public on Christmas day when Dahl’s Roosevelt Theater, located on Roosevelt Road at 29th Avenue, will give its initial performance beginning at noon. The theater opening will mark the completion and occupancy of the modern new Dahl block.
This block, costing approximately $450.000 to construct, was erected by the Dahl Construction Company, and the theater has been leased to the United Theaters Company, operators of the Butterfly, Vogue and Lincoln theaters in Kenosha.
Work on this splendid new building was begun last spring by the Dahl Company. The construction is of brick and concrete, with a beautiful face brick front. It accommodates, beside the theater, six stores, bowling alleys, barber shop, three business offices, dentist’s office and seven apartments entirely furnished. Four of the stores and the apartments on the second floor of the building have been finished for some time and are all occupied.
Equipment Magnificent
The magnificent Dahl’s Roosevelt theater will open equipped with furnishings and appointments that equal. if not surpass, the finest theaters in the city of Kenosha. The organ installed in the theater of Marr-Colton make is the largest and most costly in the city of Kenosha. The seats, capable of seating 1,000 persons, are of high grade and are so arranged and made as to insure the maximum of comfort and a splendid view of the stage from any part of the theater.
The equipment in the operators booth has been pronounced by those familiar with such equipment as even finer and more complete than that installed in the Kenosha high school building, which is conceded to have the best equipment in the city.
The stage, while not the largest in the city, is amply large and has equipment such as is rarely seen in theaters of its size, or even larger. The interior decorative scheme is an old Spanish egect, is most pleasing to the eye and is in harmony with everything else that goes to make up the theater. The electric wiring and fixtures are of the very latest and also harmonize with other features of the theater. The theater is acoustically arranged to provide for every contingency.
Other Features of Building
Beneath the theater there will be a billiard parlor and bowling alleys which are built in foundations of steel and which are adjustable and of the latest type permitting wear and sagging to be easily taken care of. They are being installed by W. F. Bleck & Company of Chicago, The ceiling in the bowling alley, as well as all walls, have been so arranged that no noises whatever from the operating of the alleys will be observed in the theater proper. This has been guaranteed. The barber shop will likewise be beneath the theater and the same entrance will be used as that for the billiard parlor and bowling alleys. Two of the stories in the Dahl block are on either side lobby of the theater
Designed by Einer Dahl
The design of the entire building is a credit to Einar Dahl who superintended its design and construction. and by hard, faithful and untiring work brought to a realization the hope of the people of the west side. While the building and theater were designed by Einar Dahl the theater plans were revised by Architect Charles Augustine.
The Dah! Block was financed through H. L. Bullamore & Son, one of the oldest firms of its kind in the city of Kenosha and particularly through the efforts of H. L. Bullamore was it possible to complete the building.
It is claimed the Dahl block is the largest commercial building and has more floor space than any such building in the entire city of Kenosha.
BURGLARS AS ACTORS; ‘AUDIENCE’ IS VICTIM - Logan Square Theater Safe Is Robbed of $500 While Watchman Looks On, Believing “Show” a Rehearsal.
Five burglars staged a hold-up and safe robbery in the Logan Square theater, 2542 Milwaukee avenue, owned by John R. Thompson, early Sunday morning. The audience consisted of one man, Jackson Le Maire, night watchman. The audience was entertained - also robbed.
While making his rounds, Le Maire let himself in at the front door of the theater. He found the stage bright in the glare of the footlights. He noticed five men moving about on the stage. Three of them wore masks. “These actors are going to pull some Western stuff, I guess,” said the night watchman. The “rehearsal” progressed rapidly. The “actors” went through their parts as if they were letter perfect. Le Maire caught the drift of the “lines” from time to time. “I thought the safe was in the wings,” said one “actor,” who looked like Edwin Booth. “It’ll take me about two minutes to blow her wide open,” said another “artist” up stage, in a melodramatic whisper. ‘The soup’s all right tonight, kid, belleve me,“ said a third, whom Le Maire took to be the low comedian of the sketch. "There’s an old property safe in the right wing” mumbled Le Maire. “I don’t suppose they know where it is and I’ll go back and show them. Their little drama won’t be complete without it.” He strolled down the central aisle and mounted to the stage. “You’ve got a great sketch, boys,” he said genially. “I guess you need a safe for local color. I’ll show you where it is.” His kindly criticism was rudely interrupted. One of the “actors” - undoubtedly the heavy villain - caught him a clip under the chin which knocked him down. Before he recovered, the entire troupe of “Thespians” and tied him, hand and foot, with rope. Incidentally. they rifled his pockets of seventy-five cents.Then they found the safe - not the property one, but the real one - and blew it open with a charge of nitroglycerin. They secured $500 and escaped. Two hours later Le Maire wriggled from his bonds and reported the robbery to the Shakespeare Avenue police. “I don’t mind my loss of seventy-five cents.” said Le Maire. “The performance was worth it. Those fellows are artists. They ought to land on the big time. I only hope I’m the lucky man to 'book’ them.” (April 27, 1914)
I attended a THS tour of the COLONY in mid-1983 (which also included the PEOPLES and MARSHALL SQUARE). The plaster walls had just been sprayed Bakers White.
Local Musician to Leave City (9-20-1930)
After exactly two years in Kenosha, Leonard M. Salvo, well known piano teacher of the city and popular organist at the Gateway theater, together with Mrs. Salvo, is returning to Chicago on Monday to make his future home.
All arrangements for the change have been completed. This week Mr. Salvo turned over his plano pupils to Miss Margaret Schmitt, popular music teacher, since both he and Miss Schmitt teach the Leschetisky system of piano study. Sunday will be his last uday at the theater.
In Chicago. Mr. Salvo will start work in about two weeks for the Essaness Theater Corporation, playing at the Chateau theater at Grand and Broadway on the north side. The theater is now being remodeled, re-decorated and sound installed and will be ready for re-opening in about two weeks,
Mr. Salvo was brought to Kenosha two years ago this month by the late Charles Mensing, at that time manager of the Gateway theater here, and he has been organist at the Gateway ever since, organising piano classes of his own.
Prior to coming here, he was organist at the Capitol theater in Chicago, and has a wide circle of friends both in Chicago ard Kenosha to wish him good luck in his new venture.
Movies Honor Jake J. Disch wer
Present Former Kenoshan with Plaque in Milwaukee
Jake J. Disch, formerly engaged in the theater business in Kenosha but for more than a quarter of a century in charge of theaters in Cudahy and Milwaukee, received recognition for his long years of service in the industry recently when he was presented with a twenty-five year service plaque at a meeting of prominent film and theater leaders of Wisconsin at the Schroeder hotel in Milwaukee.
Similar plaques were presented to several others, including Thomas Saxe, of Milwaukee, and widely known in Kenosha.
Jake J. Disch was engaged in the show business in Kenosha, prior to 1910, at which time he went to Cudahy. There he has continued directing what is now the Cudahy theater and has been markedly successful in development of that theater. (Kenosha News, 9/24/1938)
The feature picture “San Francisco Docks” was released in 1940.