Cameo Budget Theatre
315 S. Barstow Street,
Eau Claire,
WI
54701
315 S. Barstow Street,
Eau Claire,
WI
54701
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It was built in 1945 by Minnesota Amusement Company the owners of the other theatres in Eau Claire at that time, (State Theatre, O'Klare Theater, Badger Theatre) The Hollywood Theatre was under construction at that time also, it was being built by Sheldon Grengs. To my knowledge, MN Amusement Co. put up the Cameo in hopes of keeping the Grengs family from completing construction of the Hollywood. The plan didn’t work out, the Hollywood construction was completed and opened. The Cameo was open until 1951 then closed until 1966, when Gene Grengs, Sheldon Grengs son re opened it as the Cinema 1 theatre in 1966. It ran as a first run theatre til 1992, then closed for a year and re-opened as a Budget theatre in October 1993. It was called the Cameo Budget Theatre until Sept 2010 when Micon Cinemas of Chippewa Falls purchased the Grengs Theatres and re-named it the “Downtown Cinema. I know a lot of Eau Claire theatre history, as I have worked at them since 1976, and done extensive research.
Theater website refers to it as “Downtown Cinema>”
Back when this was a one screen theatre it was known as Cinema 1 for a period of time.
2009 photo of the Cameo Budget Cinema
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Several articles that I have come across, construction started on the theatre in 1945 and opened as the Cameo Theatre in 1946.
This is a 2008 photo.
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.
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.
According to this article the Cameo was built in 1945 and opened in 1946. A second screen was added in the 1970s.
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.
Another photo can be seen here.
Here is another photo of the Cameo.
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.
This is the website for the Cameo Budget Theater. Thats the name given on their website.
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.