Delavan Theatre
405 E. Walworth Avenue,
Delavan,
WI
53115
405 E. Walworth Avenue,
Delavan,
WI
53115
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This was a charming small-town theatre at the east edge of the downtown business district on busy Wisconsin State Highway 11. Through the 1960s it retained its original appearance, with its rectangular marquee and classic chaser-lighted vertical sign. But by the 1970s much of the lower facade was redone in the current simplistic style of that age, exterior ornament was removed, and its circa-1929 exterior charm was largely gone.
In 1999, newspapers reported that theatre operator Carmike Cinemas was sued by Standard Theatres of Brookfield, Wisconsin (which no longer operated theatres) for leaving the Delavan in unsatisfactory condition after vacating its tenancy.
After being listed on the real-estate market for some time, the Delavan was sold in about 2006 to the River Of Life Christian Church of Williams Bay, Wisconsin, which has assembled some historic photos of the Delavan Theatre on its website, including construction photos and interior scenes. (See link.)
Contributed by
Louis Rugani
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
A Wurlitzer theater organ opus 1086 was installed in the Delavan Theater on 1/12/1929.
Here is a view of the church from Google maps:
http://tinyurl.com/6s3u2e
Still ripping off Google photos. LOL
1983 Photo
Here is a better view of the 11/14/08 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yz97gmj
Hit the map key in the header and you can get the same photo.
January 14, 1955) (AP) FREIGHT TRAIN KILLS DELAVAN THEATRE MAN
Irwin Stephan, 36, was killed Thursday afternoon when his car collided with a freight train at a crossing in Delavan. Stephan, married and the father of four, came here six weeks ago from Palmyra (Jefferson County) to manage the Delavan movie theatre.
Manager of this theatre quits after protest on Italian film Bitter Rice.
Article in Boxoffice magazine, July 7, 1951:
View link
[For the record, Bitter Rice is now considered a major Italian film classic and even appeared on an Italian postage stamp commemorating the films of the Italian neo-realist period after World War II.]
(Janesville Gazette, September 26, 1969)
ELKHORN â€" Daniel F. Kelliher, 87, a native of Mt. Horeb and operator of the Sprague Theater here for 47 years, died at home Thursday September 25. Mr. Kelliher operated a movie theater at Mt. Horeb for 11 years. He bought a theater here in 1922 and later built the Sprague Theater, which he operated until his retirement. Mr. Kelliher also had operated theaters in Lake Geneva, Delavan, East Troy, and Burlington. He has been credited for holding the state record for longtime theater operation. The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in St. Patrick’s Catholic Church here. Friends may call at the Murray funeral home here after 4 p.m. today. He is survived by his wife, Luella.
From the 1950s a photo postcard image of the Delevan in Delevan