The Alamo had a blue glass tile front which was quite similar to the glass tile on the front of the Aragon. It had a large vertical sign above the marque with slashes between the letters in Alamo (A/L/A/M/O).
In the early 1950s the owners of the Alamo also owned the nearby Mozart and the Pix(aka. Aragon, Avenue). The Alamo always had a policy of free dinerware to the ladies on Tuesday and Wednesday. The building still stands in one of Milwaukee’s most active business districts.
Robert Flaherty’s THE LOUISIANA STORY with its fine musical score by Virgil Thompson opened at the Sutton in 1948. The Film Daily Year Book for 1944 lists the Sutton as having 569 seats.
The picture in WEEGEE’S NAKED CITY(p.89) is of a corpse of a man killed in an auto accident.Two policemen stand over the newspaper-covered body. In the background is the marquee of the TUDOR which advertises Irene Dunne in Joy of Living and Don’t Turn Them Loose.
There is a famous photograph in Wegee"s THE NAKED CITY of a policemam standing over a bullet-ridden corpse on the sidewalk in front of the Tudor Theater.
It is wonderful to see that during the past eighty years the different owners of the Modjeska Theater have kept the name Modjeska. Not only is the Modjeska one of the few motion picture theaters named for a native of Poland, it is also one of the few that was named for (1) a theater personality and (2) a woman. How many other motion picture theaters were initially named for a woman and used her last name in the title?
Thank you Benjamin for the great tour of the saved Hudson. Many theaters had gallery entrances. Looking at these entrances for the cheap seats makes one wonder whether they were designed for quickly filling and emptying the gallery or was it subtle segregation.
In 1954 the Oakland became the Fred Miller Theater and it was converted to a theater in the round. Its first presentation was Sabrina Fair with Jeffrey Lynn as its star.
THE VISIT, the initial production which opened the newly renamed Lunt-Fontanne Theater, had a large set which used the entire stage. Actors wishing to go from wing to the other without being seen by the audience had to go outside one stage door and around the stage end of the theater reentering at the other stage door.
The wonderful Warner always remained a film house showing popular American films. It was never leased to traveling stageshows, never a church and never a hard-core porno house. However, in the 1940s when everything closed between 12 and 3 on Good Friday, Good Friday services were held during those hours at the Warner, and in the 1950s along with the nearby Riverside, the Warner did show special- ticket televison prize fights projected on its giant screen.
In 1964 when Richard Burton was playing in Hamlet at the Lunt-Fontaine, each night after the performance a bubble-top limo would pull up to the stagedoor and Burton would get into the car where Elizabeth Taylor was waiting. Elizabeth would give Richard a big kiss and the crowds surrounding the car would cheer.
During its porno days as the Avon-at-the-Hudson, the theater had a box office with turnstile on 44th Street. One day while walking by I noticed a young boy of 11 or 12 on his belly crawling under the turnstile while two other boys were crouched down in front of the box office waiting their turn to sneak into the Hudson. I don’t know if they ever made into the theater or had any had idea what was playing at the Hudson.
Wasn"t this proposed site of the new ROSEBUD once the site of Frosty’s Drive In. Frosty"s was moved to the corner of the lot next to the railroad tracks when the National Tea Store was built there. When the National closed Kohl’s took over and opened their store there. Sometime later the Frosty’s building was torn down for additonal parking.
The Mirth later served as home for the Christian Science Society in Bay View. When that organization moved into its own church, the Mirth became a tavern/night club.
The Mirth which became Milwaukee’s Hitching Post had admission prices were much higher than the other theaters which also regulary showed cowboy films. That is probably the reason that Milwaukee"s Hitching Post did not catch on.
The Hitching Post theater in Milwaukee lasted for only for a short time.
Fox Wisconsin Amusement Corp which owned the Mirth never bothered to change the name on the marquee or add any cowboy features to the decor. Within a month or two the Mirth was the Mirth again showing regular Hollywood features
At the Pearl, Grace, Park, Midget or Mozart in Milwaukee theaters which always had coboy pictures,whenever Andy Clyde came on the screen the audience cheered.
Was he as funny as he was in the movies when he had the job of scout master?
The Mozart located just south of Greenfield on 16th Street for years showed last run films with many B westerns. When it closed in the 50s it became a paint store. Recently some pentecostal church has bought the building and is putting a cathedral looking front on the old movie house.
50 years ago I saw a last run of the Wizard of Oz at the Mozart. I also saw THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE at the Mozart. The Mozart was one of the few Milwaukee theaters which showed that Audie Murphy classic.
The Empress Burlesque Theater of the 1940s was located two doors north of the Whitehouse at 755 North 3rd Stree. There had been an earlier Empress on Plankinton Ave, 2 blocks east.
A trip downtown did afford both an opportunity to look at the many lobby cards and pictures outside of the Whitehouse and a more risque peek at the many pictures outside of the Empress Burlesque.
Located at the busy intersections of 27th Street, Center Street, and Fond du Lac Avenue, the SAVOY THEATRE was a very popular movie house. For many years the Savoy was part of the Saxe circuit and even in the 50s long after the heyday of the Saxe Theaters, the Savoy would be listed in The Milwaukee Sentinel as Saxe’s Savoy
In the 40s and 50s the Savoy changed its programs trice a week, on Fridays and on Tuesdays. The Savoy often had original programing of films showing independent releases and British imports not shown in the chain theaters. When the remodelled Savoy became the Oasis in the 60s, the programing became similar to that of other theaters. During its final days it regularly featured Kung Fu films.
Wasn’t the Grand called the Magic Lantern for a short time in the early 70s? In the 40s, 50s and 60s The Grand had the same policy as the nearby Peerless: three changes during each week with a bargain night on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the 40s bargain night was all seats 14 cents and in the 50s the price was 20 cents.
Although it had a short life as a first-run house, the Lincoln Art did preview some prize winning features. These included DARLING, THE GRADUATE and THE LION IN WINTER.
After the Shorewood closed it was used as an ice-skating school. The floor was leveled and an icerink was installed in the auditorium.
The Shorewood was on the west side of the street. I think the old Kohl’s grocery school was built on its site.
With 454 seats, the Peerless was one of Milwaukee"s smallest movie houses. In the 1940s and 50s the Peerless showed last run films.
The program changed three times a week: Sun-Mon; Tues-Wed; Thurs-Fri-Sat. Tuesday and Wednesday were bargain nights with admission set at twenty cents. I saw SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC on bargain night. Not only was the admission low but this was one of the few theaters in Milwaukee which showed the British film.
The Alamo had a blue glass tile front which was quite similar to the glass tile on the front of the Aragon. It had a large vertical sign above the marque with slashes between the letters in Alamo (A/L/A/M/O).
In the early 1950s the owners of the Alamo also owned the nearby Mozart and the Pix(aka. Aragon, Avenue). The Alamo always had a policy of free dinerware to the ladies on Tuesday and Wednesday. The building still stands in one of Milwaukee’s most active business districts.
Robert Flaherty’s THE LOUISIANA STORY with its fine musical score by Virgil Thompson opened at the Sutton in 1948. The Film Daily Year Book for 1944 lists the Sutton as having 569 seats.
The picture in WEEGEE’S NAKED CITY(p.89) is of a corpse of a man killed in an auto accident.Two policemen stand over the newspaper-covered body. In the background is the marquee of the TUDOR which advertises Irene Dunne in Joy of Living and Don’t Turn Them Loose.
There is a famous photograph in Wegee"s THE NAKED CITY of a policemam standing over a bullet-ridden corpse on the sidewalk in front of the Tudor Theater.
It is wonderful to see that during the past eighty years the different owners of the Modjeska Theater have kept the name Modjeska. Not only is the Modjeska one of the few motion picture theaters named for a native of Poland, it is also one of the few that was named for (1) a theater personality and (2) a woman. How many other motion picture theaters were initially named for a woman and used her last name in the title?
Thank you Benjamin for the great tour of the saved Hudson. Many theaters had gallery entrances. Looking at these entrances for the cheap seats makes one wonder whether they were designed for quickly filling and emptying the gallery or was it subtle segregation.
In 1954 the Oakland became the Fred Miller Theater and it was converted to a theater in the round. Its first presentation was Sabrina Fair with Jeffrey Lynn as its star.
Why was the theater renamed Anco?
THE VISIT, the initial production which opened the newly renamed Lunt-Fontanne Theater, had a large set which used the entire stage. Actors wishing to go from wing to the other without being seen by the audience had to go outside one stage door and around the stage end of the theater reentering at the other stage door.
The wonderful Warner always remained a film house showing popular American films. It was never leased to traveling stageshows, never a church and never a hard-core porno house. However, in the 1940s when everything closed between 12 and 3 on Good Friday, Good Friday services were held during those hours at the Warner, and in the 1950s along with the nearby Riverside, the Warner did show special- ticket televison prize fights projected on its giant screen.
In 1964 when Richard Burton was playing in Hamlet at the Lunt-Fontaine, each night after the performance a bubble-top limo would pull up to the stagedoor and Burton would get into the car where Elizabeth Taylor was waiting. Elizabeth would give Richard a big kiss and the crowds surrounding the car would cheer.
During its porno days as the Avon-at-the-Hudson, the theater had a box office with turnstile on 44th Street. One day while walking by I noticed a young boy of 11 or 12 on his belly crawling under the turnstile while two other boys were crouched down in front of the box office waiting their turn to sneak into the Hudson. I don’t know if they ever made into the theater or had any had idea what was playing at the Hudson.
Wasn"t this proposed site of the new ROSEBUD once the site of Frosty’s Drive In. Frosty"s was moved to the corner of the lot next to the railroad tracks when the National Tea Store was built there. When the National closed Kohl’s took over and opened their store there. Sometime later the Frosty’s building was torn down for additonal parking.
The Mirth later served as home for the Christian Science Society in Bay View. When that organization moved into its own church, the Mirth became a tavern/night club.
The Mirth which became Milwaukee’s Hitching Post had admission prices were much higher than the other theaters which also regulary showed cowboy films. That is probably the reason that Milwaukee"s Hitching Post did not catch on.
The Hitching Post theater in Milwaukee lasted for only for a short time.
Fox Wisconsin Amusement Corp which owned the Mirth never bothered to change the name on the marquee or add any cowboy features to the decor. Within a month or two the Mirth was the Mirth again showing regular Hollywood features
At the Pearl, Grace, Park, Midget or Mozart in Milwaukee theaters which always had coboy pictures,whenever Andy Clyde came on the screen the audience cheered.
Was he as funny as he was in the movies when he had the job of scout master?
The Mozart located just south of Greenfield on 16th Street for years showed last run films with many B westerns. When it closed in the 50s it became a paint store. Recently some pentecostal church has bought the building and is putting a cathedral looking front on the old movie house.
50 years ago I saw a last run of the Wizard of Oz at the Mozart. I also saw THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE at the Mozart. The Mozart was one of the few Milwaukee theaters which showed that Audie Murphy classic.
The Empress Burlesque Theater of the 1940s was located two doors north of the Whitehouse at 755 North 3rd Stree. There had been an earlier Empress on Plankinton Ave, 2 blocks east.
A trip downtown did afford both an opportunity to look at the many lobby cards and pictures outside of the Whitehouse and a more risque peek at the many pictures outside of the Empress Burlesque.
Located at the busy intersections of 27th Street, Center Street, and Fond du Lac Avenue, the SAVOY THEATRE was a very popular movie house. For many years the Savoy was part of the Saxe circuit and even in the 50s long after the heyday of the Saxe Theaters, the Savoy would be listed in The Milwaukee Sentinel as Saxe’s Savoy
In the 40s and 50s the Savoy changed its programs trice a week, on Fridays and on Tuesdays. The Savoy often had original programing of films showing independent releases and British imports not shown in the chain theaters. When the remodelled Savoy became the Oasis in the 60s, the programing became similar to that of other theaters. During its final days it regularly featured Kung Fu films.
Wasn’t the Grand called the Magic Lantern for a short time in the early 70s? In the 40s, 50s and 60s The Grand had the same policy as the nearby Peerless: three changes during each week with a bargain night on Tuesday and Wednesday. In the 40s bargain night was all seats 14 cents and in the 50s the price was 20 cents.
Although it had a short life as a first-run house, the Lincoln Art did preview some prize winning features. These included DARLING, THE GRADUATE and THE LION IN WINTER.
ij, What was the name of the lunchenette?
After the Shorewood closed it was used as an ice-skating school. The floor was leveled and an icerink was installed in the auditorium.
The Shorewood was on the west side of the street. I think the old Kohl’s grocery school was built on its site.
With 454 seats, the Peerless was one of Milwaukee"s smallest movie houses. In the 1940s and 50s the Peerless showed last run films.
The program changed three times a week: Sun-Mon; Tues-Wed; Thurs-Fri-Sat. Tuesday and Wednesday were bargain nights with admission set at twenty cents. I saw SCOTT OF THE ANTARCTIC on bargain night. Not only was the admission low but this was one of the few theaters in Milwaukee which showed the British film.