Chief Theatre

LouRugani on November 18, 2024 at 11:53 pm

(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)

Bruce C. on August 28, 2010 at 7:35 am

The book “Historic Movie Theatres of Wisconsin: Nineteenth Century Opera Houses through 1950s Playhouses, Town by Town” by Konrad Schiecke doesn’t list a Chief Theatre in Mukwonago. He lists the Vista (at 222 North Rochester Street) and the Hotel Theatre (at 221 North Rochester Street). This is confusing since he says the Hotel Theatre burned down in 1927 and the Vista was built on its site but then gives an address for the Vista which is across the street.