Rhode Center for the Arts
514 56th Street,
Kenosha,
WI
53140
514 56th Street,
Kenosha,
WI
53140
3 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1927, the former Lake Theater, and later Gateway Theater is now home to the Lakeside Players, a community theater group.
Contributed by
Pete Christy
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Recent comments (view all 47 comments)
Sorry I never followed this up. The theater has recovered from the water damage. The only casualty was the original stage lighting panel from 1927 got flooded and had to be disconnected and any power routed through it had to be rerouted.
FYI. I’ve added a few pages of interior photos of the Rhode Opera House in the Photos section. Thank You to the Rhode Staff for access to your beautiful theatre.
David! Great photos! I was there when you took those as we were getting ready for a concert that night. In fact, I was probably the one that let you up in the balcony to take some of those photos. Since then we have relamped the majority of the lights in the chandeliers with energy efficient bulbs making them brighter AND using less energy, the fans on the lobby ceiling were also cleaned.
Also, the website is now rhodecenter.org to reflect the name change from Rhode Opera House to Rhode Center for the Arts.
The marquee and attraction board are in need of relamping.
Stage Carpenter at the Rhode Opera House Suffers Injury.
Sept. 20, 1907 — Joseph Faulhaber, a stage carpenter, was injured at the Rhode opera house Thursday night when the big steel fire curtain fell with a crash at the close of the performance by the Grace Hayward company. Fortunately none of the stage people who had thronged the stage a minute earlier were caught under the falling curtain. Faulhaber was caught in the machinery in an effort to stop the fall of the curtain. The occurrence caused great excitement in the crowd which was leaving the theatre.
Yes, they are in need of relamping. Also, needs some electrical work besides relamping. Right now the current project is replacing the roof over the lobby and some flashing work on the marquee that would need to be done before relamping could happen. The roof over the lobby should be replaced by the end of next week. The flashing work will be taking place sometime after that.
Replacement of the lobby roof was completed last week.
(Kenosha News article on the GATEWAY Theatre [July 16, 2012] by Diane Giles)
People stood in line on Dec. 29, 1927 at the Gateway Theater box office to pay 30 cents for tickets to see live entertainment in addition to the silent film comedy adventure “She’s a Sheik,” staring Bebe Daniels.
The Gateway is now Rhode Center for the Arts, 514 56th St. The Gateway was the third building to stand on the site. The original Rhode Opera House, built in 1891 was destroyed in 1896 fire and rebuilt the same year.
The second building was razed by Milwaukee entertainment giants the Saxe Brothers in 1926 to make way for the “modern” building costing a half million dollars. That’s more than $6.5 million in today’s money.
The theater was designed by George Leslie Rapp of Chicago. George and his brother Cornelius W. Rapp, who died a year before the Gateway opened, designed some of the finest movie palaces in the country.
“We found the blueprints at the Chicago Historical Society and were able to purchase a copy,” said Judy Rossow, manager of Pollard Gallery and former board member of Rhode Center for the Arts.
The Rapp firm’s three greatest achievements, according to “Motion Picture News” of Dec. 25, 1926, were the Paramount Theater in New York, the Oriental in Chicago and Shea’s Buffalo Theater in Buffalo, N.Y. The Rapps also designed the grand Chicago Theater in the heart of Chicago.
Seating 1,260, the Gateway Theater boasted a $60,000 organ offering wide instrumentation and sound effects.
But the real magnificence of the theater wasn’t in the auditorium. It was in the lobby, and much of it still is visible today.
“It’s different but basically the underlying is the same,” Rossow said.
Victor S. Pearlman and Co. of Chicago created the four crystal chandeliers that hang from the ceiling. The brown tiles on the floor that continue up the walls are original, made in Milwaukee at Continental Faience and Tile Co.
Perhaps the most intriguing are the decorative tiles made in Seville, Spain, at the Manuel Ramos Rejano factory.
Some frame panels stretching up two stories. Then there are the six ceramic benches that tell the story of Cervantes’ “Don Quixote.” Each has a different scene, but all of them are signed by the artist.
Rossow says the benches once had wrought iron arms and backs, but those amenities were removed. The railings on the balcony and stairway, ribbed glass on the front doors and the mirrored walls in the outer ladies lounge also date back to 1927.
But there have been changes. Missing are the draperies and mural panels that once graced the lobby walls. A fountain that once stood in the lobby was removed in the 1970s.
The four large sconces in the lobby once hung in the auditorium, but they were moved. Others installed in the 1960s makeover into the Lake Theater have disappeared over the years.
“The sconces that were in the lobby in pre-1970 are no longer around,” Rossow explained. “I know of only one in the vicinity. The rest belong to collectors.”
TRIPLE SCREEN (Kenosha News; Tuesday, December 9, 1975, p. 31)
The Lake Theater will be remodeled and expanded into a triple screen theater in late 1976, John F. Ling, theater owner, announced Monday.
The project’s first phase entails dividing the theater in half to make two auditoriums, one seating 475 persons and the other 485.
Work on the theater’s “twinning” should begin in January and be completed by March, Ling said. The Lake Geneva architectural firm Nafziger and Howard, currently involved in constructing a double-screen theater in Lake Geneva, was the designer.
The project’s second phase, beginning in the Fall of 1976, will put a third, mini-theater seating 300, in part of the area presently the lobby. The balcony will be eliminated.
Ling said he had also been thinking of selling the theater, called by some a city landmark, to build a theater outside of the downtown area. He said the Southport Mall project and expanded parking facilities via a recent trade with American Motors convinced him to stay downtown.
Mayor Wallace Burkee said the city was considering buying the Union Dye building, east of the theater on 5th Avenue, for conversion to a 28-space parking lot.
The theater remodeling will cost $100,000 to $150,000, Ling said. He added the cost to expand to a third screen area will equal the first phase cost.
The revamping will give patrons a wider choice of movies by allowing more films to be shown, said Ling. The theater had previously been remodeled in the late 1950s (sic), Ling said.
Burkee called the plans one of the “first tangible large remodeling projects since the mall.” He said he expects further such downtown projects.
The twinning is what they called remodeling? Wow, funny way to use that term, and it cost 100 to 150k to do it? Wow, amazing it cost that much money to muck it all up. Its a shame what the twinning did to that theater. I heard even in its beaten-up condition it was an impressive single theater.
Also, glad to see that 3rd phase never happened. That would have been the end of that building for sure had the lobby been gutted.
‘’‘Today is the GATEWAY Theatre’s 85th Anniversary.’‘’
Twenty-five years ago tonight I conducted a well-attended Theatre Historical Society tour through the GATEWAY which had closed in April 1984 but reopened that night with a live performance by a local amateur theatrical company.
(Thursday, June 1, 1939)
Onyx Club Orchestra to Play at Gateway Theater
“Stuff” Smith, composer of “I'se a Muggin” and the leader of the famed Onyx Club orchestra, will be at the Gateway theater in Kenosha next Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4, at the matinee and evening performances, to entertain with the swing music which has made the name of “Stuff” Smith a Broadway and Chicago byword.
When Walter Winchell wrote “Look for the next wallop in swing bands when "Stuff” Smith and his boys open at the Onyx club,“ he was right, for "Stuff” and his boys have made the Onyx Club nationally famous as “The Cradle of Swing.”
This great colored orchestra has recently completed a successful five month engagement at the Blue Fountain room of Chicago’s Hotel La Salle.
Featured with the orchestra are several of the hottest stars of swing, including Jonah Jones, Harlem’s famous “Gabriel of the Trumpet.” Regular admission prices will prevail.