Oriental Theatre
2230 N. Farwell Avenue,
Milwaukee,
WI
53202
2230 N. Farwell Avenue,
Milwaukee,
WI
53202
29 people
favorited this theater
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The Oriental has named each of their three auditoriums: the main auditorium is the Abele Cinema and the two smaller auditoriums are the Lubar and Herzfeld Cinemas.
As of May 2022, the Oriental has re-opened. Lots of great movies showing!
Restoration nearly complete. Article with photos below.
https://milwaukeerecord.com/film/check-out-the-nearly-complete-restoration-of-the-oriental-theatre/?fbclid=IwAR2Q3n5tHGGvdHnOz4ycIsee1Dnq5YQ0OyTWd0FkfBiqP3PFXgA_Y6oR_TY
Shouldn’t Cinema Treasures list The Oriental as “closed” and “being restored” rather than “open” since it’s been closed for restoration work since March 13, 2020 (today is August 4, 2020)? I’d be bummed if I were a movie palace fan visiting Milwaukee with visiting The Oriental being a priority (in an alternate reality where flight travel and going to the movies remain normal activities…)
The link below is an article with an excellent slide show that illustrates some amazing cinematic loving care going on at The Oriental Theatre…
I went to The Oriental for the first time in 1980, as a juvenile delinquent film fan with a new driver’s license, accompanied by my friend Karen, my co-pilot and fellow enthusiast of alternative and subversive cinema, to see a double feature of Night of the Living Dead and Eraserhead. In 1980, the number of everyday people realizing that cinema was more than just a disposable medium able to generate profit and/or be an entertaining distraction was about to really become massive. That double feature at the Oriental was an overwhelming five hours from which I will never recover, validating my view that film is a creative artform with history and cultural significance worth studying, as a fan or student. It also emboldened my belief that I could actually make a living as a filmmaker.
I’m so proud of Milwaukee’s generosity, the dedication of Milwaukee Film’s board and members, and the craftspeople responsible for making The Oriental shine like it did when she opened a century ago. A rare, happy instance of an architectural preservation scheme that not only occurs, but provides a place to inspire dreams.
https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2020/07/30/oriental-theatre-continues-renovation-work.html
The 15-day 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival Oct. 17-31 drew a record 87,618, up 12% over 2018. This year, the festival also expanded to the Rivoli Theatre in Cedarburg and the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee … eight screens across six venues, the largest footprint in its history. The Oriental Theatre remains the anchor venue. Audiences voted at each screening to determine the three awards. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature; “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award; and “Tree #3” received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.
Milwaukee Film said Thursday that it has secured a 1925 Wurlitzer pipe organ for the Oriental Theatre; it’s in the process of being restored and is expected to be ready sometime before the end of 2020. From 1991 until last year, a Kimball organ was heard on Saturday nights under the aegis of the Kimball Theatre Organ Society. That organ changed hands in 2017, and its new owners elected to remove it from the Oriental in April 2018, three months before Milwaukee Film formally took over. When it opened in 1927, the Oriental had a Barton pipe organ, built in Oshkosh. That instrument lasted there until 1959, according to Milwaukee Film, which was working on getting a new one in the venue since it took over. “Without a pipe organ, the Oriental Theatre has truly felt incomplete,” Jonathan Jackson, CEO and artistic director for Milwaukee Film, said today. “We’ve heard time and again from members of the community who’ve been clamoring to know when we’re going to install another organ.” This Wurlitzer is a three-manual instrument from the Paramount Theatre in Atlanta, where it operated until the 1950s. Milwaukee Film obtained it through a partnership with JL Weiler Inc., a pipe-organ restoration firm.
Earlier this year, Milwaukee Film announced it had exceeded its $10 million capital fundraising campaign target, clearing the way to complete restoration efforts at the Oriental this summer, to include revamping the concession area and replacing seating in an auxiliary auditorium. (All seats will be replaced in 2020.)
Milwaukee Film created a website that promises regular updates on the Wurlitzer project: mkefilm.org/organ.
Milwaukee Film said it’s beginning the second phase of its Oriental Theatre restoration project with the goal of completing the work in time for the 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival. The organization plans to replace the Oriental’s current concession stand, upgrade the sound system in the main theater, add a new assisted-listening device system, replace all seats in the westernmost theater and upgrade the building’s emergency systems. The first phase of the project, completed in 2018, included adding a women’s lavatory suite to the first floor and replacing project equipment throughout the theater. In February, Milwaukee Film said it surpassed its $10 million capital campaign goal to restore the Oriental and provide the nonprofit with its first-ever operating reserve. In 2017, Milwaukee Film signed a 31-year lease to operate the theatre on Milwaukee’s East Side. “As magnificent as the Oriental Theatre is now, we know there is still work to be done to make it a world-class venue,” said Jonathan Jackson, CEO and artistic director for Milwaukee Film. “Like all our work at the theater, these upgrades will preserve and enhance the historic beauty of this space while creating the best possible film experience for our guests.” All phase-two projects are scheduled to be completed before this year’s film festival, which will run Oct. 17-31. In 2020, the seats in the main and east houses are scheduled to be replaced.
URL for the new Oriental Theatre website:
https://mkefilm.org/oriental-theatre
Milwaukee Film surpassed its $10 million capital campaign goal to restore the Oriental Theatre and even provided the nonprofit with its first-ever operating reserve. The campaign began in 2017 when Milwaukee Film entered into a 31-year lease to operate the 92-year-old Oriental Theatre and assumed operations in July 2018. The campaign drew gifts from 900 contributors and brought in $10.03 million. Lead donors included Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele who made a personal contribution of $2 million to kick off the campaign, the largest gift in Milwaukee Film history, and also Donald and Donna Baumgartner, the Herzfeld Foundation, the Sheldon and Marianne Lubar Charitable Fund, Allen H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig, and The Yabuki Family Foundation. The Seligs offered a $1.5 million matching grant on opening night of the 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival, and an unspecified but “significant" pledge from The Yabuki Family Foundation allowed the campaign to exceed its goal. “We are grateful for the enormous amount of support given by the Milwaukee community” said Jonathan Jackson, CEO and artistic director of Milwaukee Film. “Accomplishing this campaign in such an accelerated timespan speaks not only to the tireless effort of our team, but also to the passion of donors and audiences.” The campaign will support the restoration of the Oriental Theatre and provide financial stability for the organization. The first phase of the project, completed last year, included adding a women’s lavatory suite to the first floor and replacing mechanical equipment throughout the theatre. A full rehabilitation of the main auditorium is expected this year. “We’ve always had an ambitious vision for what Milwaukee Film can become, and we’ve made incredible strides in meeting some pretty big goals,” Jackson said. “The commitment of all of our supporters, and particularly the generosity of our lead donors in this campaign, shows me we can dream even bigger and do more within our community.”
The Changing Face of the Oriental Theatre (by David Luhrssen, July 3, 2018, Shepherd Express) — Although it turns 91 this summer, the Oriental Theatre (2230 N. Farwell Ave.) isn’t Milwaukee’s oldest cinema; the Downer claims that honor. But, with all due respect to the beautiful Avalon, the Oriental was and remains the city’s most spectacular movie palace for its exuberantly Near East-Far East decor. And for several decades, the Oriental has been an anchor of the city’s cinema culture as a repertory house and then as a theater with a consistent lineup of foreign, indie and documentary films.
This month, the venerable Oriental goes dark as its new operators take charge and begin phase one of planned renovations. Milwaukee Film—whose primary project has been the Milwaukee Film Festival—is now the leaseholder, and Jonathan Jackson, MF’s artistic and executive director, has big plans. First off: more ambitious and diverse programming that reflects, and magnifies, the work of the annual festival. “The film community loves the 15-day event, but people have asked us to create more opportunities,” Jackson says.
In 1988, the Oriental caught up with the late 20th century when the Landmark Theatres chain divided its cavernous interior into a three-screen house with great sensitivity to the building’s architectural integrity. To bring it into the 21st century, Jackson has announced an upgrade in sight and sound. The 2K digital projectors will be supplanted by higher-resolution 4K units. And, in a nod to the enduring significance of actual film composed of celluloid (not pixels), MF will also install new 35mm and 70mm projectors. “With those, we expect to secure access to all the leading film archives in the world,” Jackson explains. He has received applications from old-school projectionists—an occupation rendered obsolescent by digital technology—from around the country.
“But first and foremost,” he adds, “I think it’s a great idea that women have a restroom on the first floor!” Since the Oriental Theatre opened, the women’s room has been lodged at the far end of the mezzanine and is inaccessible to the disabled. Women were usually forced into a small chamber, an afterthought added for the handicapped next to the ground floor men’s room. “I was always ashamed to walk to the bathroom during the film festival past a line of women,” Jackson says. “I once saw a gentleman block the men’s room door to allow only women to use it for a given time.”
The new women’s room—carved out of space opened up by annexing a small retail bay abutting the Oriental’s northeast corner—will, like all future alterations, conform to the building’s character. Jackson adds that MF is more than halfway through the process of adding the Oriental to the National Register of Historic Places.
Most Milwaukeeans were surprised last summer when Milwaukee Film announced its acquisition of the Oriental’s lease from the theater’s longtime operator, Landmark Theatres, but the historic cinema had long been on Jackson’s mind. The Oriental was his first job after moving to Milwaukee. He went on to manage the UW-Milwaukee Union Cinema and became, in 2003, programming director for the Milwaukee International Film Festival. (Full disclosure: I was a co-founder of the MIFF and served as its executive director through 2007.) The Oriental had always been one of that festival’s major venues, and its importance only grew after Jackson became the Milwaukee Film Festival’s executive director in 2008.
So, why not continue renting the Oriental for two weeks each year instead of undertaking the year-round responsibility for a historic landmark?
“Our relationship with the Oriental became the critical factor in our success,” Jackson explains. “It was great working with [theater manager] Eric Levin and his staff, but the growth of the festival was inhibited because we had no long-term contract.” Instead, MF worked with the Oriental year by year; according to Jackson, the paperwork for the next fall festival never arrived before late spring. “Anyone in my position would have lost sleep,” he continues. “It was a challenge for long-range planning, to secure sponsors, to sell advance tickets. You can understand the potential instability of that.”
Also, Landmarks Theatre never rented MF more than two of the Oriental’s three screens and never gave Jackson the timeframe he sought. “We always wanted late October-early November, but Landmarks wanted to save their screens for the big fall releases,” he explains. “Historically, our dates overlapped with the New York Film Festival, one of the biggest film festivals with dibs on all content.” As a result, many significant non-Hollywood movies could never be booked at the Milwaukee Film Festival—until this year. “You can only do so much to grow a film culture in 15 days,” Jackson continues. “From now on, Milwaukee Film have an additional 350 days to play.”
Aside from the opportunity to screen every available movie in the world, Jackson’s decision to assume control of Milwaukee’s flagship cinema has a financial dimension. “Non-profit cinemas are healthier than film festivals,” Jackson explains. “Most film festivals operate on 30-40% earned income, mainly ticket sales, and the rest comes from fundraising. Nonprofit cinemas generally run on 60% earned income and 40% philanthropy. We hope to change our metric by running the Oriental.” And what of Landmarks’ remaining Milwaukee venue—the city’s oldest movie theater, the Downer? “Landmarks has a lease on the Downer,” Jackson says. Landmarks Theatres refused to comment.
Milwaukee Film has an 11-year lease plus two 10-year options on the Oriental. “We have a strong, long lease so that we can fundraise long-term to pay for improvements to the structure of the building,” Jackson says. “We are investing in the building even though we don’t own it, but since we’re running it for 30 years, we’re comfortable with that.”
“Aside from, ‘What about the women’s bathroom?’ the thing that everyone says to me is, ‘Don’t touch the popcorn!’” says Jackson on future plans for the Oriental. Phase two of the facelift will include some changes at the concession stand. “We’ll want to feature as many local products as possible,” he says. The original plasterwork of the cinema’s ceiling needs restoration. And down below, the original seats in the balcony have to be replaced. The curtains and tapestries need cleaning or mending. The HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) system requires updating. “We need to look at the acoustical treatment to insure that the sound is not bouncing within each space or between the theaters,” Jackson says.
He continues: “In the early days of cinema, people might find live programming at a movie theater, a double feature, a newsreel, an organ performance—it was more of a full cultural event, and it’s what film festivals do naturally—to create an experience.” Which leads to the inevitable rebutting of the tired doomsayers who keep forecasting the death of movie theaters. After all, they say, why not stay home with your Plasma screen, your lumpy Barcalounger and your popcorn machine?
“The statistics show that movie attendance is stable,” Jackson replies. “For me, the point is the communal experience. It’s so wonderful and strange, having hundreds of people sitting silently in a room staring at a screen and sharing an experience. It’s an unparalleled opportunity for community engagement. And besides,” he adds, “you cannot beat the experience of seeing a movie on a big screen.”
The Oriental Theatre will reopen on Friday, Aug. 10.
From Landmark’s website so this info won’t disappear- INFO: 3 Screens DLP Digital Projection and Sound. Built in 1927. Operated by Landmark since 1976. The Oriental Theatre is located a mile north of downtown, a mile south of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and 5 blocks west of Lake Michigan, in the heart of Milwaukee’s Eastside. On November 13, 2009 the theatre opened its own bar at the concession stand. In addition to a wide selection of gourmet concession items, theatre patrons are now able to enjoy cocktails, wine by the bottle or glass and beer from Milwaukee and the world. Patrons are welcome to bring their drinks into the auditorium, so they may enjoy them prior, during and after their movie-going experience. The Oriental is Milwaukee’s only operating movie palaces, certainly the most beautiful and ornate one that has shown movies for 90 years solid. When the Oriental opened on July 2, 1927, it featured 2 minaret towers, three stained glass chandeliers, 6 larger-than-life Buddhas, several hand drawn murals, 8 porcelain lions, dozens of original draperies, and hundreds of elephants. This is how the papers described the Oriental when it opened and this is how it could be described today! The Oriental Theatre was the crown jewel among the 45 theatres in the Saxe Brothers' chain. The motif is not what first comes to mind today as being ‘oriental.’ Designed by Gustave A. Dick and Alex Bauer, the themes of the decor are East Indian, with no traces of Chinese or Japanese artwork. Milwaukee’s Oriental is said to be the only standard movie palace ever built to incorporate East Indian decor. Miraculously, the Oriental survived as a movie theatre until 1972, when local electricians the Pritchett Brothers purchased the theatre and graciously obliged the request of Parallax Theatres (now Landmark Theatres) to start running the Oriental in 1976. Landmark developed the programming strategy of repertory films; short runs of classic and cult double features, and the Oriental existed as a popular ‘calendar’ house for many years until video and cable TV again took away the customers. Landmark then switched programming strategies to foreign and specialty films and now is the largest “art” house circuit in the country. In the ‘70s and '80s, the Oriental was also known for live performances, and was the venue to see such acts as Iggy Pop, Laurie Anderson, INXS, Supertramp, Jay Leno, Blondie, Devo, REM, Tears for Fears and Milwaukee’s own Bodeans, among others. The Pretenders lost their opening act one fateful day, so they invited three guys who happened to be regular performers on the sidewalk in front of the theatre to take their place. Such was the beginning of the Violent Femmes, whose Greatest Hits compilation pays homage to the Oriental.
After live performances were discontinued, Landmark refocused the Oriental as solely a movie theatre. In 1988, the Oriental was painstakingly and successfully triplexed by adding 2 theatres underneath the balcony without touching any of the original artwork of the main auditorium. A one-of-a-kind vending stand was added, and the two new theatres were sensitively created by architects and artists to match original designs and colors of the theatre. The Oriental Theatre is the U.S. record holder for a current and continuing film engagement. The Rocky Horror Picture Show has played as a midnight film since January, 1978. Rocky Horror now shows every second Saturday of the month with a live shadow cast. Best Movie Theatre (2017, 2015-2001) - Shepherd Express
Top 10 Historic Movie Theatre (2015) - USA Today
“Readers' Choice: The 25 Best Movie Theatres in America” (2011) - Flavorwire.com
“One of the 10 Best Movie Theatres in America” (2009) - Moving Pictures Magazine
“One of the 10 Best Movie Theatres in America” (2005) - Entertainment Weekly
One of Travelocity’s 2005 “Local Secrets, Big Finds” in Wisconsin - Travelocity
Best Make-Out Spot (2004) - OnMilwaukee.com
Best Movie Theatre (2001-1993 Reader’s Choice) - Shepherd Express Metro
Favorite Milwaukee Area Movie Theatre (2001 Web Browser Poll) - OnMilwaukee.com
The ORIENTAL Theatre will close for about three weeks this summer as part of a $10 million re-do between July 1 and July 23, reopening for private screenings on July 23 and to the public in August. In June of 2017, Milwaukee Film, organizers of the city’s annual film festival, signed a 31-year lease to operate and revitalize the theatre, currently operated by Los Angeles-based Landmark Theatres. IFM Farwell LLC is the fully-owned subsidiary of Milwaukee Film that will run the theater and will assume operations on July 1. Dave Cowen is director of cinema and technology for Milwaukee Film. During phase one of the project, a women’s bathroom suite will be added to the first floor to provide more amenities than the single unisex bathroom currently offered on the first floor. Cowen said many women prefer to use the second floor bathroom, but with the addition “No one will have to travel upstairs.” Digital projection equipment will be installed in all three auditoriums, but film projection will remain in the main auditorium. There’ll be new popcorn makers, and Cowen said Milwaukee Film is working with local breweries to eventually serve a selection of craft beer at the ORIENTAL. A full rehab of the main auditorium will likely start in 2019, funded by Milwaukee Film’s fundraising efforts and a capital campaign.
The popular Kimball theatre organ played its final show in the iconic Milwaukee movie palace last weekend. The Kimball Theatre Organ Society owned and maintained the organ since 1979 and moved it into the Oriental in 1991, but last year the KTOS unanimously decided it would transfer ownership of the Kimball organ into new hands. Months later a new owner took over and in July 2017, the KTOS has been removing the Kimball organ from the Oriental Theatre for safe storage while the new, unnamed owner determines its next destination. Simon Gledhill is a UK-based representative for the new owner and was a KTOS member himself and a semi-professional organist who performed three times over the years on the Oriental’s Kimball organ.
The Kimball was first installed in the former Warner Grand Theatre for the venue’s opening in 1931. In 1973, when the Warner was twinned, the Kimball was donated to the Milwaukee Trade & Technical High School (now Bradley Tech) Auditorium but was too large for the space, so KTOS was formed to protect and restore the instrument. After its installation within the Oriental, it almost doubled in size with vintage Kimball parts in a sensitive manner to which the manufacturer would not have objected.
Sources say the new owner is searching for a new organ to take the Kimball’s place. When the Oriental first opened in 1927, it used a Barton organ, which was removed in 1959. (Milwaukee theatres once had more Barton organs than any other make.)
Milwaukee Film to operate Oriental Theatre; Fundraising $10 million to revitalize 90-year-old facility (by Lauren Anderson, BizTimes, June 19, 2017)
Milwaukee Film, the organizer of the city’s annual film festival, has entered into a 31-year lease to operate the Oriental Theatre and announced plans to make upgrades to the historic facility. The nonprofit organization is fundraising $10 million to revitalize the 1927 theater with the goal of “creating a superior customer experience and making the Oriental Theatre a state of the art historic cinema,” according to a Milwaukee Film news release.
The Oriental Theatre, located on Milwaukee’s east side, opened in 1927. The theater, located on Milwaukee’s East Side at 2230 N. Farwell Ave., is currently operated by Los Angeles-based Landmark Theatres. When it assumes operation of the theater in July 2018, Milwaukee Film plans to run a year-round, nonprofit cinema.
“The Oriental Theatre is a treasure. I have visited hundreds of cinemas worldwide and the Oriental Theatre is my favorite. It is magical to see 1,000 of our members fill the main house at our monthly screenings,” said Jonathan Jackson, artistic and executive director of Milwaukee Film. “Our nine-year-old organization securing long-term control of this cinema is a momentous occasion. We have cemented our permanence in Milwaukee and intend to greatly expand our cultural, economic, and educational impact on our community.”
The organization has secured $3 million of its $10 million fundraising goal. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who co-founded Milwaukee Film, made a personal contribution of $2 million.
“From day one, every person involved in Milwaukee Film – from staff, to volunteers, to the board, to our dedicated 3,600 members – has been driven by the goal of not simply creating a film festival, but creating one of the best and biggest film festivals in the world,” Abele said. “This announcement brings us closer to that goal. It isn’t the culmination or an end point, it’s the start of the next chapter.”
The Herzfeld Foundation has also committed $1 million to the initiative.
Designs haven’t yet been completed, but the organization is “committed to maintaining the existing aesthetics and character of this iconic Milwaukee building,” according to the release.
Updated website link: https://www.landmarktheatres.com/milwaukee/oriental-theatre
I am a student at MATC studying tv/video production.. I;m currently doing a project called Milwaukee’s entertainment history and am looking for someone to interview who is knowledgable about the Oriental’s history.. If you have any questions feel free to email @ .com THanks a bunch
Hey Lee. I was one of the RHPS regulars back in the mid-1980s (along with Betzi and the Celluloid Jam). I enjoyed your comment and would love to read your script some day. The best part about being in the cast was getting to hang out in the Oriental every weekend. It’s such an amazing theater.
I worked at the Oriental from 1978-1990, first as a relief projectionist, then as the main projectionist, and finally as the manager/projectionist. I showed ROCKY HORROR so many times I am amazed I am still functional. And I was present during the transformation to 3 screens.
I have fond memories from those years. Many a night after work I went out with two others on staff, Chris and Jerry, to one of the bars—Von Trier, Landmark Lanes, or Vituccis, mostly. We became the Farwell-North Society, and the members each possessed a Portuguese coin that I had brought back from a trip to Portugal with Tony Bronson (Charles’s son) on a film shoot. The member had to produce his coin on demand or he would have to buy the next round. I was there the night Century Hall burned to the ground and we all just watched in disbelief. I had performed there years earlier as a cast member of Krystal Set a live radio-comedy improv group.
I’m also a writer (thelastreveal.blogspot.com), with several books out and screenplays looking for production. My favorite memory of the Oriental is the long hot summer (1984) when I wrote THE JUPE, kind of THE SHINING in a movie palace. Many a night I scared myself so bad I had trouble leaving through that dark balcony and upper foyer as the last one at the end of the night. After a table reading of THE JUPE, one of the audience members, a theater owner, told me he thought he’d have a hard time closing his theater late at night after that. The Jupiter Theater in the story is the Oriental down to the last detail, including the sub-basements, false ceiling and attic, and ghosts.
Lee Matthias
As of the summer of 2012, the Oriental is showing most of their films via digital projector. I think The Master was one of the first they ran that way. And to answer a question from two year ago, they do a very good keeping up the Oriental. They even let you sneak up into the balcony to look around.
Landmark Theatres has a facebook page for the Oriental theatre at
http://www.landmarktheatres.com/Market/Milwaukee/Milwaukee_Frameset.htm
They have a photo gallery with some nice interior photos.
I was just reading this (better late than never) and was amused and confused by the posting way above talking about Dolby Stereo, in particular Dolby SR. SR was and is a special noise reduction system which is used only when the SVA tracks are in use, those would be the “2 wiggles” alongside the picture area. Most theaters these days only use the digital track, but most systems will automatically default to the Dolby SR tracks if the digital fails. Dolby optical stereo always had a surround track, unless the director chose not to use one. Dolby EX was a split “stereo surround system” for 35mm, frankly it never really worked all that well and most theaters don’t use it anymore, 70mm Dolby always had stereo surrounds and this was supposed to be a way for a 35mm house to have the same effect. It worked well for 70mm because of the discrete magnetic tracks, but for 35mm it was like trying to put 10 gallons in a 5 gallon hat, too much stuff! Some of you may remember “Quintaphonic Sound” for Tommy, this was a magnetic system but it was pretty much the same idea, it didn’t work very well either, it split the surround track for 2 surround feeds but the surround track on magnetic 35mm was very narrow and prone to noise and other issues. When Dolby Stereo came out it was really a 2 channel system with left and right with a mix to fill the center channel, and they used a SQ matrix to come up with a surround track, if a theater runs a Dolby stereo print in standard analog (no digital or SR) that’s pretty much what you still wind up with. The new digital projection and sound (no film) systems now can reproduce multiple surround sound tracks in addition to the normal left, center, right and subwoofer. Early Dolby Stereo was pretty primitive, compared to discrete magnetic sound (there were some attempts at Dolby 35mm magnetic but only 70mm wound up with them)but Dolby has made quantum leaps in technology to give us the superb sound we sometimes take for granted today.
Does Landmark do a good job with upkeep at the Oriental? Landmark owns the Uptown in Minneapolis and it’s awful: rickety seats, torn carpeting, etc. I’d like to hear from someone who has recently visited.
Another ad from July 29 at
View link
Opened July 2nd, 1927
ad is at View link
February 3, 2010:
Oriental Theatre is target in foreclosure suit.
Several properties owned by New Land Enterprises, including the Oriental Theatre and Landmark Lanes, are the targets of a new foreclosure lawsuit. Local developer Boris Gohkman told WISN-Channel 12 that three properties in Milwaukee County are being targeted in the suit. Gohkman said Madison-based Anchorbank filed a foreclosure suit against him and other partners. Anchorbank is seeking nearly $15 million owed on the loans, late fees and interest. The Oriental Theatre, which is more than 75 years old, is still operating on Milwaukee’s east side. Gokhman said the Hebhegger Building on Milwaukee’s east side and a property in Whitefish Bay also are targets in the suit. Gokhman said New Land’s partners are confident they will come to a “mutually satisfactory conclusion” and continue with future development. (From BizTimes)