Kenosha Theatre

LouRugani on March 6, 2012 at 5:43 pm

Kenosha Theatre projectionist Elmer George Hayek, 84, of Springfield, Illinois and formerly of Kenosha, WI, passed away at 5:00 p.m., November 5, 2001 at his residence. He was born June 23, 1917 in Detroit, MI, the son of George and Mary Exton Hayek. He married Alice Louise Reis in Lake Geneva, WI on August 30, 1938 and she preceded him in death in 1995. He moved to Kenosha at age 16 to work for his uncle, William “Bill” Exton at the Roosevelt Theater. Later in life, he was a motion picture operator at the Kenosha, Orpheum, Roosevelt, Gateway, and Keno theaters. He then worked as a linotype operator and foreman of the composing room at Lloyd Hollister Printing and Pioneer Press in Wilmette, IL. Mr. Hayek lived in Kenosha from 1950 until 1999 when he moved to Springfield, IL. Mr. Hayek was a member of Bristol Oaks Country Club, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and was a volunteer for the Kenosha Memorial Hospital. He had also served his country in the U.S. Army during World War II. He enjoyed playing golf and was devoted to his family. He was also preceded in death by his parents, and a brother: Albert. He is survived by a daughter: Susan (husband, Michael) Shaw of Springfield; a sister: Evelyn Willard of Mena, AR; a grandson: Scot Shaw of Cambridge, MA; and a nephew: George Hayek of El Dorado Hills, CA. Remains were cremated and Private Memorial Services will be observed at a later date. Memorial contributions may be made to the Adams Wildlife Sanctuary, 2315 Clearlake Ave., Springfield, IL 62703. (The Kirlin-Egan and Butler Funeral Home and Cremation Tribute Center, 900 S. 6th St., Springfield, IL.)

LouRugani on August 26, 2013 at 3:13 pm

(From Boxoffice, October 29, 1938:) William Exton posted $10 to be given any man over 21 years who would remain two full days and one whole night in the lobby of the Kenosha Theatre in a coffin during the two-day engagement of “Frankenstein” and “Dracula”.

Matt Lambros on March 24, 2017 at 7:53 am

The Kenosha is one of the 24 theaters in my new book, “After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater,” which is available on Amazon or your local bookstore

BobbyS on September 16, 2018 at 11:02 pm

We visited the theater two days ago and saw wheel barrows and opened paint cans and brushes and ladders in the lobby. The same items we saw last year. Yet next door were fixtures with exit signs etc and chairs & table and a set of golf clubs. We thought maybe the people just walked away yet the lights and a ceiling fan were on. Does anybody know what is going on? Only a block from from the beautiful Library Park. This looks like a beautiful theater project in the making!

LouRugani on June 22, 2024 at 8:46 pm

(9/6/1987) New future for theater?

By DANIEL FISHER Staff Writer

A Madison consultant who specializes in breathing new life into faded downtown movie palaces thinks the Kenosha Theatre, 5913 Sixth Ave., is a good candidate for restoration. But before the curtain goes up, he said, local organizations may have to raise more than $1 million.

“This is a big one. And it’s gorgeous inside. But it needs a lot of work,” said Daniel Pierotti, whose firm, Daniel L. Pierotti & Co., is is currently renovating or developing performing arts centers in Minnesota, Milwaukee, and Peoria, III.

“The Kenosha Theatre has been sitting empty for years without heat,” he said. “It’s going to need a whole new roof,electrical system, and mechanicals.”

Pierotti has been retained by the Citizens Group for the Kenosha Theatre, an organization of downtown business owners and other interested people, to conduct feasibility studies on the renovation. He spoke Thursday night at a fundraiser for the group at the Holiday Inn.

In an interview before the meeting. Pierotti said he envisions the Kenosha Theatre as a regional performing arts center serving Kenosha, Walworth and Racine counties as well as Lake and McHenry counties in Illinois. Following the pattern set by renovated theaters in other cities, he foresees the Kenosha Theatre booking a variety of touring shows - “from Chinese acrobats to Itzhak Perlman,” he said as well as local concerts, meetings and movie festivals.

Since the theater was constructed in the 1920s for both live performances and movies, he said, it would cost less to renovate than some of the other projects he has overseen.

If the Citizens Group can raise Pierotti’s $60,000 fee, he will conduct feasibility studies on the costs of renovation and marketing surveys to determine the demand for theatrical productions in this area.

“Your only competition will be in Woodstock, III. and Alpine Valley, and Alpine Valley is open only in the summer,” he said.

But before renovation can start, the Citizens Group must raise an enormous amount of money, perhaps in the millions. Pierotti’s firm will lead the fundraising effort, seeking corporate and private donations. But before they start, the Baas family, which bought the theatre building in 1983, must transfer ownership over to a nonprofit corporation.

The Baas family will retain the apartments and storefronts facing Sixth Avenue, he said, which are actually in a separate building from the massive theatre behind.

Pierotti said he would hire Architect Dan Coffey, who led the renovation of the Chicago Theatre last year, to renovate the Kenosha Theatre. In addition to replacing the roof, he said, workers would have to rebuild much of the ornate plasterwork inside the theatre.

“It’s very ornate, very elaborate, kind of an Italianate/Moorish design,” he said. But moisture and cold have taken their toll on the horsehair-based plaster, he said, so workers would have to recreate it with modern, fiberglass-based plaster instead. Still, Pierotti is optimistic about the renovation.

“My feeling is, with Kenosha’s kind of upbeat atmosphere, there will be a market for this kind of theater,” he said. “As you know, the yuppies are creeping into town.”