Baden Theatre

We were at the theater on 4th weekend of the month account we were in the German St Vincent orphanage association on Normandy missouri.

Baden theater seats were given to the Boy Scouts and theater became a funeral home my understanding

A friend of mine from SLTOS , Wes Kamischkie, had told me before he died that adjacent to the right of the Baden was a place called the “Sugar Bowl” There was a window higher than normal into the theatre that patrons could buy their snacks for the movies. According to Wes, the theatre had no concession stand itself during the 1940’s when the ladies got free dishware for attending. In 1992, I was called to tune a piano in the place for a function of the Baden Town Hall. I gained access to the building from what would have been the front left exit door. When you go in that way to the immediate left which would have been the stage area behind the screen there is about 2 to 3 steps and that is where the owners office was. A Mr. Carpenter owned the building then and had owned it for about 25 years he said. Before WWII he sold popcorn at the theatre. He said when he bought the Baden he also had opportunity to buy the Kingsland also for $5,000. At that time, he and one of the Kaimann brothers had planned to build the North Drive In on land they had purchased. Before that happened the one brother died and the rest of the Kaimann family decided to build the drive in themselves. When Carpenter bought the Baden about 25 years ago he remodeled it. He simply gutted the interior and what would have been the entrance and vestibule is now a kitchen and bathrooms on either side. There is no evidence of a projection booth since there is now a dropped ceiling over the whole interior. Carpenter seemed to be a very crass person and he said the main reason most small theatre owners are un co operative is because most of them lost their shirts trying to operate in the green. Back then the only way operators could make money was to rent the films for one price for an extended period of time and for the owner to have close co operation with other small theatres and trade them amongst themselves. Carpenter said he traded with the O'Fallon and the Janet and would transport the films themselves. So competitors found a way to co operate together in spit of their rivalry to survive. There is no record of what would have provided music for the silents before sound movies.

Same here Terryb the Theater was fun to go to with your friends. Only mine was the Sparta Theater (Sparta, IL) when I was kid. Concessions were inside and my mom when she was a teenager worked the counter there. I lived in Baden during 1987, though I never went to see a movie anywhere while there. Baden was a nice community to live and I worked right down the road on jus two blocks north of Broadway at General Envelope & Lithography. I was jus revisiting my old neighborhood on Google Maps. On street view level I see “blight” has begun to overtake the area now. That’s so sad. Now a mult-level Bus Stop where the waving Santa stood out front of the Dollar Store back then. Lived in a 2-story converted carriage house that sits in back of a 3-story house on McLaran Ave. in back abutting the alley that connected to Gimblin St. was up the hill there. It was a neat place to live while there. I could step out my back door since I had the first floor apartment and into the alley and look over downtown Baden from my view. The strip mall was in view from my vantage point there, as well as Vihn Chop Suey. Happy to see that’s still there! Sandlewood Apartments parking lot also abutted the alley there on the south. I remember a bar called “Stooges” down the hill on Broadway there(referencing the Three Stooges).

The Baden Family Theater launched in 1913. In 1921, it was called the Baden Theatre. The Kaiman Brothers Circuit gave it an interior streamline refresh in 1937. It closed on April 25, 1965 with “So Dear to My Heart” and “The Quick Gun.” It became Towne Hall North, a party rental / banquet space.