Cameo Budget Theatre

The Cameo is listed in the 1951 Film Daily Yearbook as having seating for 600. No address is given. It is not listed in the 1945 Film Daily Yearbook.

This is the website for the Cameo Budget Theater. Thats the name given on their website.

This theatre reopened in the 60's after being used for storage for many years. The premiere movie was The Sound of Music and it played there for over a year. If has not been split into two theatres.

Here is another photo of the Cameo.

Another photo can be seen here.

Blueprints for a Cameo Theatre at Eau Claire are in the collection of the papers of the architectural firm Liebenberg and Kaplan held by the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Various items about the theater in the collection are dated 1940, 1945 and 1946. I don't know if this was a new building in 1940, or if Liebenberg and Kaplan just did a remodeling of an existing theater.

According to this article the Cameo was built in 1945 and opened in 1946. A second screen was added in the 1970s.

In that case, the 1940 date on the Liebenberg and Kaplan papers web site might be a mistake, or perhaps a plan to build in 1940 ran into problems, and then the owner had to wait until after the war to get the project built.

As you said, it's possible that they had plans to build the theater in 1940 but something happened to change those plans. Maybe they had problems with financing. The Cameo is not listed in the 1940 or 1945 Film Daily. It is listed in 1950.

This is a 2008 photo.

Several articles that I have come across, construction started on the theatre in 1945 and opened as the Cameo Theatre in 1946.