Strand Theatre

The name Strand was common to theatres ever since the famous archetype of the Strand Theatre opened on Broadway in New York City in 1914 with 3,000 seats as the first of the “super cinemas” according to the Collier’s Encyclopedia article “Motion Pictures”. It in turn, was named after the famous entertainment district along Strand Street in London. To emulate the grand palatial features of the New York City prototype was not the aim of the Strand in Milwaukee, which opened later in 1914 for it was a double-level, flat roofed, commercial building done in buff and cream faince, ornamented in leaf and forest green terra ornament of cartouches above the theatre entrance and on the ends of the corner-of-the-block building, which also sported several stores and apartments. It was a respectable 2,000 seats but of a modest design, the space being originally intended as store fronts, but the owner noted the rapid rise in motion picture acceptance and hastily revised the plans by local architects Wolff and Ewens to include the cinema without a stage.

The original screen was a tiny rectangle without any stage or drapery around it, smack upon the north (back) wall with an orchestra pit sunk into the floor and a small Wangerin pipe organ speaking through small chambers on either side of the screen. The 30-foot-high ceiling allowed them to incorporate two boxes of seats on either side of the screen, but anyone who bought these more ‘exclusive’ and expensive seats in them must have never repeated the mistake, since the sight lines would have been atrocious! This was the Photoplay Parlor era of exhibition after all, so interior decor was scant being only shallow pilasters along the painted plaster wall, seeming to support box beams which crisscrossed the ceiling dividing it into white-painted squares, each centered with a pendant bowl fixture casting its light upward. The concrete floor supported the wooden seats and had a carpet strip running down the middle of the aisle.

In 1921 it was acquired by the local Saxe chain of theatres and they put in a single line ‘stage’ platform (no fly tower; the single draw drapery line was mounted to the ceiling) fronted by a shallow proscenium frame, some ornamental draperies and did other sprucing up of the simple auditorium including new light fixtures and wall coverings and carpets. The original lobby’s box bays with stud light rims were fitted with fixtures of more elaborate design and the mosaic tile floor was carpeted over as the potted palms were removed and new, elegant furniture took their place. The projection was improved and then sound movies came in 1930, after which the pit was floored over to allow more seating.

By 1947, the Strand had new owners and a new need to compete in a new era of exhibition, and so its fancy glazed tile front was removed in the area of the theatre entry along with the cast iron French curve and stained glass canopy and marquee. Two-foot-wide vertical aluminum strips were affixed to the brickwork and a new name sign and marquee in the new aluminum was installed by Milwaukee’s Pablocki Sign Co. which had specialized in remodeling the fronts of theatres throughout the Mid-West. The new canopy was merely that: a horizontal triangle cantilevered out over the sidewalk with the only lights being those in its fluorescent soffit to illuminate the sidewalk line where the new box office stood. That island structure was at first a standard six-sided affair, but less than ten years later it was remodeled into a sweeping streamlined design that was almost bullet-shaped, with a wainscot of curved, horizontal, polished stainless steel bands, with a wraparound curved glass enclosure above it. The ‘vertical’ sign was much different too, being a hybrid of the old attraction boards of a traditional marquee with the outward thrust of a double-sided sign, it being one of the first of Poblicki’s new, patented “Inside Service” marquees which were serviced from inside the sign via a door from the building hidden on the back edge of the sign.

Little was done to enhance the auditorium, with only a forestage platform being built to support the new wide-angle screen which wrapped across the proscenium and the old space of the boxes, which had been removed. Tracks for ornamental drapery were attached to the ceiling and added some glamour to the spare auditorium, but they did little to conceal the fact that the Strand was never designed as a movie palace as had been other theatres nearby. It was a first run house for many years, not withstanding its secondary architectural nature, and the lack of a balcony. It rose to perhaps its finest hour when it was the long-run home of “The Sound Of Music” in 1965-1967, but by 1978 it was closed to movies and only occasionally open for special events. In 1980, the entire block was cleared by the neighboring insurance company which itself was bought by another firm and the site was declared surplus, but it and the next block were later bought by the city to house the new Mid-West Airlines Convention Center, and thus the era of one of the city’s earliest “Super cinemas” came to an end.

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

JimRankin on October 9, 2004 at 1:18 pm

Please let me know if you learn anything more about this theatre.
Jim Rankin

Hal on March 1, 2006 at 12:59 pm

Back in the early 70’s, I was on loan from IATSE Local 251 in Madison to Local 164 in Milwaukee and worked at the Strand. It was equipped with a pair of Norelco AA11’s with Strong Carbon Arcs. By the time I got there it was pretty run down, running mostly junk film, we did run The Sound of Music in 70mm during one holiday season, a new print too! In it’s heyday it was THE roadshow house in Milwaukee, the 1st 70mm was Oklahoma and it ran virtually all the big ones after that. I saw Music there as a kid, fond memories indeed!

kencmcintyre on August 10, 2006 at 10:56 pm

Here is a photo from the Milwaukee Public Library. The Strand is on the left side, and the Palace/Orpheum is on the right:
http://tinyurl.com/pwhn2

kucharsk on January 13, 2008 at 1:15 pm

I have amazing memories of The Strand in the mid 1970s as, as a child, my parents took me there to show me what widescreen films were REALLY all about.

The Strand was doing a run of Todd-AO and 70 mm films, and as a result I got to see Sound of Music, South Pacific, and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World the way they were MEANT to be seen.

The two memories I will never forget are seeing the pre-intermission montage of Mad World and the wedding scene of Sound of Music on THAT screen.

Those showings at The Strand were solely responsible for my life-long love of large widescreen film processes.

Those experiences simply can never be recreated except at one of the very, very few film palaces left.

Gerald A. DeLuca on March 5, 2011 at 11:33 am

Newspaper ad for opening of Tol'able David in January 1922.

Tinseltoes on July 4, 2012 at 3:53 pm

Description of 1949 modernization: boxofficemagazine

1chinatown on October 19, 2012 at 4:39 am

It was 1959. I was in 7th grade, St. Aloysius in West Allis. The nuns took us to see “Ben Hur”. I will never forget when they opened the drapes ( remember those days). The screen was crimped on both ends as that was the only way it could be fitted. Yes, it was not a Cinerama production, but stunning just the same. It is a shame that this cannot be duplicated today. The chariot race was breathtaking.