Downer Theatre

You give no "style" as to the DOWNER in Milwaukee, but as a local theatres historian, I can tell you that it is best described as 'Quasi-Prairie Style' and when I can submit a near opening day facade photo, you will see what I mean. While it was never really a movie palace, it was built to show movies and had a minimal stage without flytower for local events. The decor was/is basic pilaster and box beam design, but the pilaster capitols and the intersections of the grid of box beams were adorned with ornament that was right out of Louis Sullivan. The chandeliers and the 2-manual, 8-rank Wurlitzer pipe organ are gone as is the stage, but when it was split into two rooms they did retain some of the atmosphere of the original. It was designed and built in 1915 by local architect Martin Tullgren who also designed the SAVOY and his son Herbert designed the SHERMAN just 15 years later. A 1917 facade photo of the DOWNER (named after the street it is on) can be seen on page 41 of Larry Widen's 1986 book MILWAUKEE MOVIE PALACES, which is due to be republished in an enlarged edition in the not too distant future.

Please let me know if you learn anything more about this theatre. Thank You. Jim Rankin = jimor@lycos.com

The following message was sent to me by the courtesy of Mr. John Dahlman who is connected to the DOWNER, and is most illuminating regarding the new improvements in sound to come to both the ORIENTAL and DOWNER theatres here. As much as many patrons appreciate the new more 'high fidelity' sound, I shudder to think what the possible addition of future "ceiling speakers" could mean for the decor of the ORIENTAL. The DOWNER's ceilings are no longer pristine since the 1990 splitting of that theatre, so one could add such speakers there with a minimum of architectural disruption, but I am not sure that that will be the case in the as yet untouched, ornate ceiling of the East Indian-inspired ORIENTAL. Let us hope for the best!

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Great news for all who watch movies at the Oriental and Downer: We now have Dolby Digital in both smaller theatres at the Oriental, and we’ve had it in the main theatre for 6 years, so the Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee’s last surviving movie palace, is an all digital sound theatre now. Also, the Downer Theatre now has Dolby Digital in it’s main house. The oldest operating movie theatre in Milwaukee, possibly Wisconsin, now has digital sound.

I’m sure most of you know all of this, but to clarify: there have been 3 competing digital sound formats SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound), DTS (Digital Theatre Sound) and Dolby Digital, all competing with each other for ~13 years. SDDS seems to have lost the battle, and the other 2 are the prevailing digital sounds. SDDS and Dolby Digital sound information is found on the film itself, while DTS sound info is found on an accompanying CD-type disc, which you cannot play on a normal CD player.

Most films that we show currently, say 95%, are encoded with digital sound info. However, not all films we show will have been made with digital sound information. For example, THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS(1965), which we are currently showing, is in mono sound, much like most titles before ~1965, unless they have been digitally-sound-restored. Mono sound means that the sound emanates from the speakers behind the screen only, so there is only one dimension to the sound. All Hollywood studio films today are encoded for all sound formats, the three digitals and stereo. The older titles, and some foreign language films, and smaller independent films and documentaries may not be encoded to play in digital. It is an expensive luxury to some filmmakers and companies on a tight budget. So a few rare films that we will show in the future will be silent, or in mono, or a few more in stereo, and even more in Dolby SR, but most will now be in Dolby Digital. The smaller theatre at the Downer will continue to play films in stereo, which will be fine.

Stereo sound in movie theatres took off in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s and in 1977, STAR WARS was the first film issued with Dolby SR sound. SR means surround sound, or a kind of enhanced stereo. Speakers were not just behind the screen anymore but placed in the auditorium on the left and right side, and in the back. With Dolby SR, you can have a different amplifier process sound for the left and right speakers in the auditorium. Also, it is a kind of branding and marketing tool, of course.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was released in 1975 in stereo. The Oriental Theatre started showing it as a midnight film in January of 1977. The Oriental did show it as a regular first run feature a year earlier for one week; it didn’t do so well. Several years ago, 20th Century Fox recalled all prints of RHPS, and reissued new prints to theatres with a more defined Dolby SR soundtrack, which is how we present it now. Incidentally, we still have the world record of the longest continuous engagement of a film and we are on our 3rd or 4th print of RHPS.

Digital sound really took off in the 1990’s. With digital sound, there is more definition of sound throughout the theatre, especially on the left and right speakers in the auditorium. With digital sound there is more differentiation of sound effects, music, dialogue, etc. emanating from specific speakers. With STAR WARS PHANTOM MENACE, a new sound came in the way of Dolby Digital EX. I’m not sure what the “EX” specifically stands for, but this whole new phase meant that another amplifier was added, and speakers were added in the back of the auditorium(unless the theatre already had back speakers), so sound can emanate from these speakers themselves. EX is something used predominantly in mainstream theatres for certain blockbuster films. I’ve heard tell that the next big thing in sound will be to add speakers to the ceilings of auditoriums so there will be yet another dimension of sound.

All of this enhanced sound doesn’t matter too much in a dialogue-driven movie; it’s the story for which everyone’s looking. But proper use of sound can really enhance the movie. You will notice that the sound will be louder, and that there will be more definition of sound on the left and right sides of the auditorium. The sound presentation will be more in tune with how the filmmaker(s) have created the film. In my experience, some filmmakers are extremely good with using the potential of digital sound, certain films could be improved with better uses of sound, and some filmmakers really need some instructing in how to use sound. I’m sure we’ve all heard abuses of the sound as well. We’ve shown low-budget films in stereo that are far superior in sound quality to A-list multi-million dollar blockbusters. But we’ve also shown some great sounding blockbusters, and poor sounding smaller budget films. It all comes down to how well the filmmaker recorded the film, and how much emphasis they have placed in creating the sound environment of the film. Unfortunately, there does not yet exist an amplifier to better process those pesky British, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Australian, New Zealand, South African, etc. accents. You’ll just have to play it by ear.

Now, what is THX? THX is not an amplifier, nor a speaker, nor information on film. THX is a term and the concept was developed by George Lucas with projectionists and technicians to create some kind of perfectly balanced auditorium. For an auditorium to be “THX Certified,” technicians must come in and test the sound levels at all locations throughout the auditorium, and try to balance the sound levels so that wherever you sit everything sounds perfectly balanced. So an auditorium is THX certified, not an entire theatre, unless it’s a 1-screen, or all auditoriums are THX certified. One component for a theatre to be THX certified is that there can be no internal or external sound influences heard in the theatre. The Oriental’s main theatre could not be THX certified because we have air conditioners that make a small amount of noise in the auditorium when we use them in the summer. Theatres built today generally have all HVAC machines built on the roof, with long ducts separating the noisy machine from each auditorium. Neither the Oriental or Downer has THX certified auditoriums, but there are some in the area.

To find out what sound formats our films will be played in, refer to our website, the Milwaukee page of www.landmarktheatres.com, or refer to the daily ad in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We will also have this info on our recorded message line, which for both theatres is (414) 276-8711.

Sorry to ramble….. perhaps in a year or 2 we’ll have our tutorial on Digital Cinema. I lament the passing of film, but we seem to be heading that way.


Dolby website: http://www.dolby.com/


THX: http://www.thx.com/index.html

Thanks,

John Dahlman

Milwaukee Marketing Leader for Landmark Theatres

(414) 276-8711, ext. 6

johnd@landmarktheatres.com

Downer House Manager

(414) 964-2916
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The Downer's past is very interesting. It was one of the few movie houses in Milwaukee not on a streetcar/bus tansfer corner. For years the Downer did poor business. Even in the war years of the 40s when all theaters did well, the Downer struggled. In the late 40s when it was operated by Fox Wisconsin the Downer became an art theater. For years it was the only art theater in the area. It had many long runs. Bitter Rice, Diabolique, and Carry On Nurse played for several weeks. Tales of Hoffmann had a roadshow engagement.
Following the Downer's success as an art house, other Milwaukee theaters adopted an art theater policy. The Parkway (35th and Lisbon)for a short time showed art picture, the Hollywood (Green Bay Avenue)changed its name to the Coronet and for a few years showed art pictures. The Times (60th and Vliet) became the Times Fine Art and for many years had art films. The Times is still going.

Here is a 2003 photo of the Downer Theater in Milwaukee.

One more photo of the Downer Theater can be seen here.

When I worked here as a projectionist, it was still a single screen, had OLD Super Simplex projectors I believe (maybe E-7's, it's been a long time!). I always got a kick out of telling people I worked at the Downer Theatre, it always got a chuckle out of them! Got alot of lame comments like, gee, it must be a real depressing place to work, and on and on. There really wasn't anything earth shattering about this place, kind of a nice art house in a trendy neighborhood, got on the arthouse format long before the larger Oriental did, now both are run by the same company, Landmark Theatres. I only ran 2 films here, Annie Hall (which seemed to run forever) and Altman's
3 Women. It was a fun place to work, great neighborhood, and still is.

This is a recent photo of the Downer Theater.

Here is a 2007 photo of the Downer Theater.

A more recent photo can be seen here.

A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1630 style "E" was installed in the Downer Theater on 5/2/1927.

Here is a recent close-up view of the Downer marquee.

This is a December 2007 photo.

1979 Photo

1983 Photo