Crystal Theatre #2

The Crystal Theatre had three locations in Downtown Burlington and this entry will cover each. Edward Westberg and August Theide partnered in bringing a pretty much full-time movie theater to town with the Crystal Theatre. Westberg operated here four days a weekend in Antioch two days a week. It was located in the new-build, multi-purpose Fenn Building on Chestnut Street. And it was a change maker opening December 30, 1908.

Business was better than expected and competition came in 1909 from the new Majestic Theatre and, more importantly, in 1910 from the long-standing Burlington Opera House - which had only just refreshed heavily for stage plays in 1908. They changed names under new operators to the Orpheum Theatre becoming the “A” house in town with 600 seats. Crystal #1 struggled in its cramped store-show location, although they did try to improve the presentation by elevating the chair layout to provide better sightlines to the screen.

Crystal #2 opened with more seats here on Pine Street on February 15, 1911. Even though it was the newest house, Westberg and Theide’s - along with new partner Matthew Rewald - Crystal clearly remained the “B” house to the Orpheum Theatre with just 400 seats. Meanwhile, the Majestic Theatre had no future in a town that had just reached just 3,000 residents and had previously closed within a year of launching.

Crystal Theatre #2 was on 564 North Pine Street just off what was Geneva Street - that part of Geneva Street was renamed Milwaukee Avenue in 1962. Martin Prailes and H.C. Hanson operated Crystal Theatre #2 in 1912 and E.D. Perkins in 1913. But during World War I, Walter McNeel was in charge and the theatre had the Paramount and the Pathé contracts. Clearly, silent comedies played very well by way of McNeel’s reports published in the trade press. Also the venue operated with a single projector so short films were welcomed and comedies were plentiful.

Willard L. Uglow and Kenneth J. Uglow of the Waterford Theatre took on the operation the 1920’s. Willard L. decided to move the operation across the street to a building he owned creating Crystal Theatre “#3” in September of 1924. The history of Crystal Theatre #2 therefore ends here, although the subsequent history of the Crystal name is notable so some #3 Crystal information continues here.

Among the many improvements to help presentations at Crystal #3 was the addition of a second Multipgraph projector so longer photoplays could be run without pausing to change reels and a two manual, four ranks Wanegrin pipe organ. Gladys Krueger was hired as the organist. (Krueger would continue her organistcareer in Milwaukee theatres and playing the Wurlitzer at WHAD radio; she was replaced at Crystal Theatre #3 in 1927 by Elizabeth Smithers.) As for its architecture, the venue was gangly with a gabled roofline and two furnace flues - a bit odd to see in a movie house.

As for Crystal Theatre #3, it was the only independently owned theatre in town after Fischer (Paramount) bought the Orpheum Theatre and refreshed it as an Atmospheric style movie theatre. Then Community Theatres of Milwaukee took over the Plaza Theatre just hours prior to its opening. In 1928, Community Theatres of Milwaukee went for the local movie monopoly. They first bought the Orpheum Theatre wiring it for sound. They then took on the Crystal Theatre #3 on a sublease and stopped running films quickly - just weeks after the sublease began. A few sporadic events took place but it was clear that the venue was going to be dormant.

Kevin J. Uglow ended the sublease with Community Theatre of Milwaukee after just one year. He reopened Crystal Theatre #3 with silent films on April 4, 1929 but there was little interest in that. So after closing many months, the Crystal Theatre reopened November 9, 1929 advertising silent films as the only locally-owned theatre in town. It closed again reopening with Vitaphone sound-on-disc talkies on March 30, 1930 with “The Gold Diggers”.

Uglow sold the Crystal’s two manual Wangerin pipe organ at a favorable rate to the St. John’s Episcopal Church in 1930. That organ required the creation of a special gallery in 1930 but rocked the congregation December 21, 1930 at its dedication.

Crystal Theatre #3 continued to scuffle as an independent in the Depression. Opening and closing often in 1931, 1932, and 1933 the Crystal Theatre #3 offered more live events than films. It was closed in 1934 and most of 1935. But J.H. Yeo took on the operation in late-1935 finally moving the venue past its inferior Vitaphone sound-on-disc system. It reopened with a Streamline Moderne style makeover on November 7, 1935 as the State Theatre running to its last film was “Kentucky” supported by “Man Killers” on October 5, 1952. That theatre has its own entry on Ciinema Treasures as the State Theatre.

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