Fox-Bay Cinema Grill

This is an unusual Streamlined style of cinema with a one line stage having a 6-point suspension contour curtain in red velvet, possibly the only such left in town. When this 988-seater opened in 1951 it was the first of its style in the metro area at 334 E. Silver Spring Dr., Whitefish Bay (this is a northern suburb of Milwaukee). The VARSITY in central Milwaukee had some of the flavor of this design, but not the sculpted, stylized nautical theme projections from the upper walls, nor the stadium-style balcony where one can enter it from the auditorium floor as well as the lobby. One exits the auditorium through light traps with no doors, so sound control can be a problem. The lobby, however, is a gracious curving design with giant showcases a la the adjacent store fronts to hold the posters, etc. The 1952 issue of “Theatre Catalog” had a 2-page photo story on the opening of this then unusual suburban design. Milwaukee’s Pobocki sign company made their patented ‘Inside Service’ marquee where one goes above the lobby, above the upswept canopy and opens a door into the interior of the sign to change the letters on the boards from behind: a real blessing in our snowy, icy winters. The theatre was divided into three screens a few years ago, and a newspaper item on Aug. 22 of ‘99 said that it was the first dinner theatre in the area; how little research was done for that story! In the 30s the CRYSTAL was converted to dinner seating and the tradition of the German Beer Gardens here meant that some form of entertainment with food was as old as the city. A limited menu is served today, and this is one of the few theatres in the city with a liquor license. Two of the three screening rooms are up in the old balcony, while the main floor remains essentially as it has been. The eight 'chandeliers’ there are flattened bowl up-lights suspended up in the attic by clothes line (!) to lower each fixture manually. Theatres were often a mixture of high and low tech to keep costs down, and this is a prime example!

Please let me know if you learn anything more about this theatre. Thank You. Jim Rankin =

Thanks, Tim R., for providing these links which I had not seen. If you would like to be placed on my local list of those to receive occasional bulletins regarding local theatres developments, merely click on my name in blue below to be taken to my Profile page, and there click on CONTACT INFO and send me an E-mail with the word “theatre” somewhere in the Subject line.

The theatre closed for the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 for just over two months. It reopened May 29, 2020 but then closed, apparently for good, on September 15, 2020.