The ORPHEUM’s owners since 2013 Gus and Mary Paras did this $200,000 historic replication of its original six-story 63-foot 1926 vertical sign designed by Rapp and Rapp. The steel face was replaced with an aluminum replica using energy-efficient lights in the original configuration. At some point in mid-century, the word “NEW” was removed from the top, and then it was “dumbed down” to a basic rectangle. The Paras family had already done restoration on the facade, marquee, ticket booth, roof, plaster, downstairs lavatories and dressing rooms, and said the community excitement was encouraging. The ORPHEUM was awarded a $20, city facade restoration matching grant. New front doors, resembling those that first swung open in 1927, are in place, as are veiny black granite panels, replacing blond brick on the facade when it was “remuddled” in the 1960s. Architect Arlan Kay oversaw the changes undoing the alterations at midcentury in the name of “modernization” including the destruction to the vertical sign which became scarred with rust and which stayed in place because a city ordinance banned hanging a replacement over the sidewalk. City leaders modified it.
Exhibitor Jordan Stancil, who operates three historic theatres in Michigan - the Sanctuary in Alpena, the Big Rapids in Big Rapids and the Rialto in Grayling, the latter that his family has owned since 1915 - has leased the closed 1912 New 400 Theatre, a victim of the pandemic, and plans to restore its 65-year name to The 400 Theatre, with its reopening date to be announced. Stancil expects to program the 400 with new domestic and foreign product and live events with updated projection capabilities.
Little Theatre Indicates Interest in Purchase Of Vogue Theatre Site
Kenosha Little Theatre members voted three to one last evening in favor of picking up an option leading toward purchase of the Vogue Theater building.
Final decision rests with the organisation’s Board of Directors, which will meet next week to consider the arguments pro and con heard at meetings last evening and last week in the School Administration building.
The 30-year old building has been offered to Little Theatre by David M. Korf, owner, for $15,000 with no down payment, A report made by Lawrence Monberg, architect, and Frank Zoubek, contractor, states that the property is in good condition though it needs cleaning and decorating.
Little Theatre, which has assets of slightly under $5,000, intends to hold this sum in reserve as a contingency fund and conduct a drive for funds to purchase and remodel its new home, should the board decide to attempt the project.
Outcome of the fund-raising campaign would determine whether or not the organiation to would be able to buy its first quarters.
A total of $25,000 would be needed to pay for the building and to remodel it at a cost of $10,000.
The board is to investigate further the possibility of loss of building frontage through the routing of State Hy. 158 on 52nd St. The theater is at 1820 52nd St.
Korf made one stipulation in offering the building for sale: That Little Theatre give the proceeds of one performance of one show per year to a fund for the benefit of handicapped children.
On Thursday, August 1, 2025 the Milwaukee Common Council approved the sale of the 7,200 square-foot Villa Theatre to Thomas Matthews' Lincoln Creek Development, LLC for $10,125 as-is, including the adjacent 1929 3,612-square-foot multi-story building at 3614-16 W. Villard Ave. and a 24-space parking lot at 5221 N. 36th St. that the city had owned since 1948.
Lincoln plans to re-open the theatre for live performances and to lease the adjacent spaces for which there’s already interest. Kelly Construction is to do the estimated $4 million renovations including marquee work, landscaping, accessibility, and improved parking. Lincoln will have two years to secure a Certificate of Occupancy after closing.
The 840-seat Spanish Colonial theatre opened in 1926 as the Ritz by Michael Brumm, who was already operating the nearby Princess Theatre in 1912 with his son Arnold, who later took over the Ritz. The City of Milwaukee annexed the area in 1929. By the 1940s, the Ritz was a Fox Wisconsin theatre; Marcus Theatres bought the Ritz in 1959, renamed it the Villa in 1962, and closed it in 1986. Tanya and Herman Lewis bought it and operated it as a second-run theatre, then a first-run theatre, and then a community theatre and neighborhood center over nine years.
From original 1930s programs shared by the HPHSociety:
“Shortly after the opening, owners William and Bertha Pearl executed a 15 year lease for both the Alycon and Pearl for 35,000$/year to the Highland Park Theater Co, according to the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 3, 1925), citing lawyers for both parties. The 1925 theater installed a “3/13” Barton Organ. (Junchen, David L. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ. Pasadena, Calif: Showcase Publications, 1985.) In January 1928, a “bandit” robbed the safe and fled with $2100, 3 days income. The thief covered the assistant manager, Saul Greenberg, with a blanket before locking him in the washroom. (Chicago Daily Tribune) The Bulletin of the Chicago Medical Society V33 cites the Alycon for installing systems so the “hearing impaired” could listen to “Talkies.”
In 1940, Pearl installed additional RCA sound equipment in the (now) 1150 seat theater.“
The Department of Planning and Development plans to apply for a 20-year $25.25 million Section 108 loan from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for Congress Theatre “revitalization” and related housing in the $88 million project. If granted, the next step is the city council. Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) says this could be the last piece for the project to get off the ground and that approval could mean that actual construction on the Congress Theatre could begin in Spring, 2026 (its centennial) and be finished by the end of 2027. AEG Presents would manage the theatre for no less than 10 years, and Woodhouse Tinucci Architects' renderings show a restored marquee and a “modernized interior”.
Aug 03, 2001, Chicago Tribune- Duplicate organ sold to theater
The Genesee Theatre Restoration Project has bought a duplicate of the theater’s original Barton organ to be used in the restoration of the 1927 movie palace in downtown Waukegan.
The organ was originally installed in the former Tower Theater in Milwaukee and has been owned by a Downstate Aledo couple since it was removed, said James Neal, executive director of the restoration project.
The couple, now in their 90s, had the large multitiered organ installed in their house so it could be played.
They sold it to the Waukegan group for $35,000, said to be less than its value, because they wanted it in a theater where they feel it belongs, Neal said.
“This is the culmination of a dream for them.” Neal said. “This is part of their legacy.”
The organ is the same model as the Genesee’s original Barton organ, installed in 1927 before the theater opened.
Restorers discovered earlier this year that many of the organ’s internal parts had suffered irreversible water damage, sparking the search for a replacement.
The old organ’s working parts may be sold to other organizations doing restoration projects, offsetting some of the cost of buying the replacement, Neal said.
The $15.5 million Genesee Theatre restoration is envisioned as the centerpiece of plans to revitalize downtown Waukegan.
Aug 03, 2001, Chicago Tribune- Duplicate organ sold to theater
The Genesee Theatre Restoration Project has bought a duplicate of the theater’s original Barton organ to be used in the restoration of the 1927 movie palace in downtown Waukegan.
The organ was originally installed in the former Tower Theater in Milwaukee and has been owned by a Downstate Aledo couple since it was removed, said James Neal, executive director of the restoration project.
The couple, now in their 90s, had the large multitiered organ installed in their house so it could be played.
They sold it to the Waukegan group for $35,000, said to be less than its value, because they wanted it in a theater where they feel it belongs, Neal said.
“This is the culmination of a dream for them.” Neal said. “This is part of their legacy.”
The organ is the same model as the Genesee’s original Barton organ, installed in 1927 before the theater opened.
Restorers discovered earlier this year that many of the organ’s internal parts had suffered irreversible water damage, sparking the search for a replacement.
The old organ’s working parts may be sold to other organizations doing restoration projects, offsetting some of the cost of buying the replacement, Neal said.
The $15.5 million Genesee Theatre restoration is envisioned as the centerpiece of plans to revitalize downtown Waukegan.
La Crosse landmark meant a lot to longtime residents (By Doug Connell of the Tribune staff)
On Dec. 28, 1952, La Crosse lost a popular entertainment spot when fire destroyed the Wisconsin The ater in a “spectacular blaze” that attracted hundreds of onlookers to the downtown scene.
The Wisconsin Theater was housed in a three-story brick building at 514-520 Main St. on the bend in Main Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street.
“I have many fond memories of the Wisconsin Theater,” remarked Joseph Noelke, 64, of La Crosse, “as I went to many movies there during the mid-1940s when I was a young boy. The interior of the Wisconsin wasn’t as fancy as the Rivoli Theater on Fourth Street, but it still was a nice place to take in a movie. I was always impressed by the Wisconsin’s large overhanging marquee. Almost every Saturday as a youngster I would go to the Wisconsin with my brothers, cousins and friends to take in the matinee. That bit of fun would eat up most of my 25-cents weekly allowance, as movie admission was 12 cents and the bus fare to and from downtown was a nickel each way. We always sat in the balcony, in the very last row if possible. Before the main attraction, there would be newsreels about national and world events. Also, there would be commercials for local businesses, and I remember seeing my first Ross of La Crosse furniture commercial there.”
The Wisconsin Theater was housed in a three-story brick building at 514-520 Main St. on the bend in Main Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street.
Fall From Sign Kills Painter (Kenosha Evening News - May 5, 1949)
George B. Jensen 41, 3827 7th Ave., local paint contractor, was killed shortly before 1 o'clock this afternoon when he fell from a sign which he was painting at the Main Street Theater located on the corner of Main and State Sts. in Racine.
Jensen was painting on the vertical sign, 50 feet above the street level, when the swing stage anchorage slipped and plunged the Kenoshan to pavement.
Witnesses said he struck his head on the marquee sign in the fall, and he was pronounced dead immediately by Racine County Coroner Bernard Evenson.
Everett Cayo, 7402 40th Ave:, who was painting on the opposite side of the vertical sign, was uninjured.
The 1911 Crystal (later Lakes) Theatre of Antioch dates was owned by Fred Remer and was sold to Percy Chinn the following year. By 1946 it was renamed the Lakes Theatre. (In 1958, the Lakes Theatre company proposed building a 400-car outdoor theatre on the northwest corner of Route 59 and Grass Lake Road. Strong opposition ended the plan.)
In 1964, the local Palette, Masque and Lyre amateur players began presenting productions at the Lakes Theatre, and in January, 1984 they were able to purchase the theatre. Much of the interior ornament was lost thereafter but the three oval facade windows that had been bricked over were restored after a bequest left by Dolly Spiering. In 2015, the players were able to purchase an adjoining commercial building as a concessions venue.
Editorial: Antioch Theatre rebirth more than a victory for nostalgia (April 04, 2016 - Daily Herald)
In our bigger-is-better world, small businesses often take a beating.
That’s particularly true of one-screen movie theaters that were once staples of community downtowns. Mostly they have disappeared from today’s suburbs, as owners found it difficult to compete with giant multiplexes that offer many more movie choices and a glitzier experience complete with reclining chairs and a nice merlot.
And, that’s what makes the renovation of the old Antioch Theatre, and the community effort that supported the project, so noteworthy and an experience worth saluting.
Sure, it’s a victory for nostalgia, joining the Liberty Theatre in Libertyville and the Catlow in Barrington as another old movie house rebirth.
But the public-private partnership that spurred the project’s success also shows early signs of being a catalyst for other downtown Antioch improvements. The approach could make it a project worth watching by others looking for ways to boost their downtown improvement efforts.
Tim Downey launched the $750,000 plan to rehab the theater building, where deteriorating conditions, slumping attendance and outdated equipment had put it on the endangered list. It was built in 1919 as the Majestic Theatre, a live performance house, and it was converted to the Antioch Theatre five years later. It was never a grand movie house, but it had been a downtown fixture for generations of residents.
Downey invested $300,000 of his own money, found four core sponsors to contribute $150,000, and sold engraved sidewalk stars. With what they said was a “degree of reluctance,” village board members agreed to provide a $200,000 loan, supported by a village-backed 75-cents per-ticket tax. In a town with a tight budget, like many of its neighbors, and concerns about offering overly generous tax incentives, it was no small gesture.
However, the roll of the dice for all involved seems to be paying off.
The updated version with new seats, restrooms, carpeting, facade, marquee, digital technology and more attracted some 40,000 moviegoers in the first year since the reopening, Downey said. That generated enough money for him to make monthly payments - he’s repaid nearly $30,000 - on the 10-year village note.
Village officials and downtown supporters alike said the Antioch Theatre project has been good for the downtown. It has sparked renovations at some other downtown businesses, boosted foot traffic that is aiding other nearby businesses by bringing people to the area and it is helping renew interest in a downtown development initiative. It is once again a vital part of the village’s historic downtown district, they say.
“It’s fun to report my confidence in the community and the community’s confidence in me has paid off,” Downey told the Daily Herald’s Mick Zawislak.
What the born-again Antioch Theatre shows is that one little project with a motivated developer, a local government willing to take a chance and a supportive community can help spark big things.
(Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1917) Church Women Reveal Suggestive Acts After Peaceful “Raids” on Theaters
BY THE REV. W. B. NORTON.
SCANTILY dressed women, lewd jokes, the American flag disgraced, the Christian religion flouted, drinking, gambling, murder paraded, crowds of men and boys in the audience, many of the boys in knickerbockers.
These are some of the things which shocked the women of the Woman’s Church federation who made a round of a dozen or more of the theaters of Chicago Saturday evening.
Mrs. J. G. Boor, chairman of the morals committee of the Woman’s Church federation, was in charge. She was assisted by fourteen women and up several men, some of whom accompanied the women, while others went to ag the theaters where men only are admitted.
Mrs. H. T. Leslie, 6844 Lafayette avenue, was one of the women who visited the Gayety theater, 531 South State street.
“The performance was vulgar and degrading,” she said. We teach our children to honor the American flag. Here they disgraced it. Girls came on the stage in tights with shoulders and arms entirely bare, draped about the waist in the red, white and blue. They formed a pyramid and the one who came the nearest being nud formed the center of the pyramíd. In this attitude they sang a song entitled “My Country.” not our national anthem, while a flag was lowered from the ceiling.
Sample of “Humor.”
“One of the comedians said: ‘It doesn’t make any difference what a woman has on or whether she has anything on. O yes it does,’ another said. When Gen. Grant surrendered to Lee he only had on a ragged union suit. Our girls have more on than that.”
“One man told a girl he would strip her to the skin. He first made her take off her hat, then her dress, then her petticoat. She had on tights, but the suggestiveness of the act was plain to see.”
Mrs. L. E. Koontz, 653 North Lockwood avenue, was one of three who visited the Star and Garter theater, 815 West Madison street.
“We sat in the gallery,” she said, “and noted that the audience was chiefly made up of young men, some of them nice young, manly looking fellows, others were of the depraved kind. My heart ached for them because I realized their legitimate desires for amusement. The air was thick with tobacco smoke. The jokes were of the coarsest character and evidently intended to inflame the imagination. One comedian told how some one threw a brick through the window and struck the leg of the girl he was sitting with and broke three of his fingers, plainly implying his hand was in contact with the girl’s leg.
Some More “Comedy.”
“In a scene one girl and two men became intoxicated, the girl being dragged off the stage in a beastly state. The men spilled the liquor on the table, dipped their hands in it, and slapped each other. Finally they kicked over the table and spilled the rest of the liquor on the floor.
“The girls were called the Jolly Widows and were dressed in tights.”
Mrs. F. M. Reynolds of Austin confirmed the report of Mrs. Koontz.
“The performance is to be condemned from start to finish,” she said. “There was not one redeeming feature. There was a lewd poem recited about looking at women, in which the name of Christ was mentioned. The drinking scene and the pajama dance were disgusting.” Mrs. R. L. Moffett, 4618 North Racine avenue, visited the Casino at 403 North State street.
“Suggestive jokes and Hula Hula dancing such as I heard and saw ought not to be tolerated,” she said. The Hula Hula dancers were bare legged and their bodies were draped only in a shawl.
Better Features Applauded.
“Were there any more like you in the family?” one coarse joker asked another. “No, when father died mother lost the pattern.”
“I believe the audience would enjoy a higher grade of entertainment, because a moving picture of a war scene and the performance of a player on an accordion, which were good, received the loudest applause.”
Mrs. Boor found conditions at the National, 610 South State street, she said, disgusting in the extreme.
“A young woman described a dance in a most suggestive way. ‘What did you have on?’ her male companion asked. ‘I had on a string of beads, then a little space and another string.’ ‘You ought to leave off the two last strings,’ he replied. ‘Did you dance the seven veils dance?’ she was asked. ‘If you did you left off six and a half of the veils,’ he said.”
“Forty per cent of the audience was under 21 years, many of them young boys.”
“The theaters are not as obscene as they were. They have been improved 75 per cent over the theaters of a few years ago, but they are still demoralizing, corrupting, and a disgrace to a Christian civilization.”
the most objectionable of all,“ said Mrs. E. Pretty.
“The girls were dressed so they appeared perfectly nude. They came on the stage protecting themselves with parasols. They moved the parasols from side to side so as to expose themselves for a moment to full view. Then they sang, ‘To see a little more you must meet us at the door.’ Could there be any plainer solicitation to evil than that?”
Mrs. A. C. O'Neal, 2512 West Sixty-sixth street, expressed in the strongest terms indignation of what she saw at the Haymarket theater, 722 West Madison street.
“If there is anything worse than I saw at the Haymarket, I hope I may never see it,” she said. “There was awful profanity, and from beginning to end vile love making and sexual suggestion. The twenty girls dressed in tights ran out on the run board into the center of the audience, and stooping over to the men sang songs of invitation and suggestion. I saw only two other women in the audience besides the four women in our party.”
Many Theaters Visited.
Among the theaters visited were: the South side, Gayety, National, Gem, and Stella; north side, Casino, Hippodrome; west side, Haymarket and Star and Garter.
“To describe the chorus girls of any theater as shapely, scantily clothed, alluring to men, will displease no owner or manager,” said Mrs. Boor.
“To picture the horror or even wrath of good women at witnessing the members of their sex on exhibition like well groomed prize winners at the international stock exhibit will merely cause a smile of ill concealed approval by those interested in the box office.
“But to pass a law giving authority to close such theaters under an injunction and abatement act, by which managers and owners are held responsible for the character of the performance, will raise a storm of protest because such a law will close the show.”
Need for New Law.
“But this is what led us women to brave the disgraceful and distasteful houses of entertainment which we believe are destructive of the young life of our city. We want our legislature to know that there is a crying need for the passage of the law offering relief from the menace of the immoral show such as is provided by the senate bill 130, introduced by Senator J. J. Barbour, and a similar one introduced by Representative Allen J. Carter, which make the owners and managers liable for whatever is exhibited in the theaters they control.”
(Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1917) Church Women Reveal Suggestive Acts After Peaceful “Raids” on Theaters
BY THE REV. W. B. NORTON.
SCANTILY dressed women, lewd jokes, the American flag disgraced, the Christian religion flouted, drinking, gambling, murder paraded, crowds of men and boys in the audience, many of the boys in knickerbockers.
These are some of the things which shocked the women of the Woman’s Church federation who made a round of a dozen or more of the theaters of Chicago Saturday evening.
Mrs. J. G. Boor, chairman of the morals committee of the Woman’s Church federation, was in charge. She was assisted by fourteen women and up several men, some of whom accompanied the women, while others went to ag the theaters where men only are admitted.
Mrs. H. T. Leslie, 6844 Lafayette avenue, was one of the women who visited the Gayety theater, 531 South State street.
“The performance was vulgar and degrading,” she said. We teach our children to honor the American flag. Here they disgraced it. Girls came on the stage in tights with shoulders and arms entirely bare, draped about the waist in the red, white and blue. They formed a pyramid and the one who came the nearest being nud formed the center of the pyramíd. In this attitude they sang a song entitled “My Country.” not our national anthem, while a flag was lowered from the ceiling.
Sample of “Humor.”
“One of the comedians said: ‘It doesn’t make any difference what a woman has on or whether she has anything on. O yes it does,’ another said. When Gen. Grant surrendered to Lee he only had on a ragged union suit. Our girls have more on than that.”
“One man told a girl he would strip her to the skin. He first made her take off her hat, then her dress, then her petticoat. She had on tights, but the suggestiveness of the act was plain to see.”
Mrs. L. E. Koontz, 653 North Lockwood avenue, was one of three who visited the Star and Garter theater, 815 West Madison street.
“We sat in the gallery,” she said, “and noted that the audience was chiefly made up of young men, some of them nice young, manly looking fellows, others were of the depraved kind. My heart ached for them because I realized their legitimate desires for amusement. The air was thick with tobacco smoke. The jokes were of the coarsest character and evidently intended to inflame the imagination. One comedian told how some one threw a brick through the window and struck the leg of the girl he was sitting with and broke three of his fingers, plainly implying his hand was in contact with the girl’s leg.
Some More “Comedy.”
“In a scene one girl and two men became intoxicated, the girl being dragged off the stage in a beastly state. The men spilled the liquor on the table, dipped their hands in it, and slapped each other. Finally they kicked over the table and spilled the rest of the liquor on the floor.
“The girls were called the Jolly Widows and were dressed in tights.”
Mrs. F. M. Reynolds of Austin confirmed the report of Mrs. Koontz.
“The performance is to be condemned from start to finish,” she said. “There was not one redeeming feature. There was a lewd poem recited about looking at women, in which the name of Christ was mentioned. The drinking scene and the pajama dance were disgusting.” Mrs. R. L. Moffett, 4618 North Racine avenue, visited the Casino at 403 North State street.
“Suggestive jokes and Hula Hula dancing such as I heard and saw ought not to be tolerated,” she said. The Hula Hula dancers were bare legged and their bodies were draped only in a shawl.
Better Features Applauded.
“Were there any more like you in the family?” one coarse joker asked another. “No, when father died mother lost the pattern.”
“I believe the audience would enjoy a higher grade of entertainment, because a moving picture of a war scene and the performance of a player on an accordion, which were good, received the loudest applause.”
Mrs. Boor found conditions at the National, 610 South State street, she said, disgusting in the extreme.
“A young woman described a dance in a most suggestive way. ‘What did you have on?’ her male companion asked. ‘I had on a string of beads, then a little space and another string.’ ‘You ought to leave off the two last strings,’ he replied. ‘Did you dance the seven veils dance?’ she was asked. ‘If you did you left off six and a half of the veils,’ he said.”
“Forty per cent of the audience was under 21 years, many of them young boys.”
“The theaters are not as obscene as they were. They have been improved 75 per cent over the theaters of a few years ago, but they are still demoralizing, corrupting, and a disgrace to a Christian civilization.”
the most objectionable of all,“ said Mrs. E. Pretty.
“The girls were dressed so they appeared perfectly nude. They came on the stage protecting themselves with parasols. They moved the parasols from side to side so as to expose themselves for a moment to full view. Then they sang, ‘To see a little more you must meet us at the door.’ Could there be any plainer solicitation to evil than that?”
Mrs. A. C. O'Neal, 2512 West Sixty-sixth street, expressed in the strongest terms indignation of what she saw at the Haymarket theater, 722 West Madison street.
“If there is anything worse than I saw at the Haymarket, I hope I may never see it,” she said. “There was awful profanity, and from beginning to end vile love making and sexual suggestion. The twenty girls dressed in tights ran out on the run board into the center of the audience, and stooping over to the men sang songs of invitation and suggestion. I saw only two other women in the audience besides the four women in our party.”
Many Theaters Visited.
Among the theaters visited were: the South side, Gayety, National, Gem, and Stella; north side, Casino, Hippodrome; west side, Haymarket and Star and Garter.
“To describe the chorus girls of any theater as shapely, scantily clothed, alluring to men, will displease no owner or manager,” said Mrs. Boor.
“To picture the horror or even wrath of good women at witnessing the members of their sex on exhibition like well groomed prize winners at the international stock exhibit will merely cause a smile of ill concealed approval by those interested in the box office.
“But to pass a law giving authority to close such theaters under an injunction and abatement act, by which managers and owners are held responsible for the character of the performance, will raise a storm of protest because such a law will close the show.”
Need for New Law.
“But this is what led us women to brave the disgraceful and distasteful houses of entertainment which we believe are destructive of the young life of our city. We want our legislature to know that there is a crying need for the passage of the law offering relief from the menace of the immoral show such as is provided by the senate bill 130, introduced by Senator J. J. Barbour, and a similar one introduced by Representative Allen J. Carter, which make the owners and managers liable for whatever is exhibited in the theaters they control.”
May 26, 1946 - Star and Garter Theater Sold for $110,000 Cash
The Star & Garter theater building. 815 W. Madison st., was sold by the Hyde & Behman Amusement company and the Richard Hyde estate of New York City, to Harold L. Clamage, of St. Louis, and Harold W. Huchberger, of Chicago, for $110,000 cash, thru Thomas H. Fitzgerald. The building will be air conditioned and modernized at an estimated cost of $35,000 and operated with pictures and stage shows, it was said.
The shuttered Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., is under contract to be sold for $25,000 to Chris Bauman, founder of the Zenith Music Group that has operated the Patio Theater and Avondale Music Hall, according to recent court testimony.
Any buyer of the theater would presumably also have to pay the county more than $500,000 in back taxes, Curt Bettiker, the count-appointed receiver for the theater, said at a Sept. 11 housing court hearing.
The city of Chicago last year took the theater’s ownership to court over building code issues. A receivership was appointed to help secure and maintain the building after the ownership or its representatives stopped attending court hearings on the matter.
It was reported at the hearing that the Portage Theater LLC has entered a sales contract to sell the theater to Bauman.
Bauman took over operations of the Patio in 2018 but around a year ago another entity took the helm at the Patio, according to Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th). A license for the Patio expired on May and there is no active business license for 6008 W. Irving Park Road, the theater’s address, according to the city Department of Business Affairs.
No representatives of Bauman nor the Portage Theater LLC were at the Sept. 11 court hearing.
Bettiker, who represents Chicagoland Neighborhood Resources LLC, said that he has been contacted several times about the need for someone to get into the theater to read a water meter so that the sale of the property can proceed. However, it was reported at the hearing that the meter may be located in the residential portion of the building, which has a different owner.
As receiver, Bettiker has control over the theater’s locks and he said that an alarm system needs to be installed. “There’s a number of kids breaking into the building literally to just hang out,” Bettiker said.
If the deal with Bauman is not finished by the next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 16, city attorney Glenn Angel said that the city may ask the court to give Bettiker permission to sell the theater.
At the hearing, Bettiker told another potential buyer, “My hands are kind of tied. The owner still owns the building. … We have to let the contract (with Bauman) play out.”
It was reported at the hearing that the name of a “known real estate investor” was on the sales contract, but the person was not identified.
Currently scaffolding is in place in the front of theater due to safety concerns regarding the marquee. “It’s protecting the public way for when it falls,” Bettiker said.
The theater’s ownership was not covering the cost of city permit fees for the scaffolding, prompting the need for the receivership to pay those fees.
Also at the hearing, a lawyer reported that his client has an $80,000 mechanics lien against the property for unpaid services.
The Portage Theater is a city landmark, and a representative of Preservation Chicago attended the court hearing.
The site originally housed the large 1880s Columbia Hall, which was demolished beginning on September 2, 1916, and ground was broken immediately for the Butterfly Theatre in September of 1916. Racine brewery owner/investor Ernst Klinkert and Kenosha exhibitor Charles Pacini paid a total of $45,000, with Pacini to be the operator with a long term lease. George Lindemann was the general contractor,Tully as the masonry contractor, and designed by local architect Charles O. Augustine for 650 seats and a 14-member orchestra pit. (Pacini already operated the Majestic downtown. the New Strand uptown, and the Cozy Theatre one block south of the Butterfly, which closed, with its equipment transferred to the Butterfly .
The Butterfly Theatre, with its signature butterfly-wings framing the proscenium arch, opened on March 17, 1917 to Chaplin’s “Easy Street,” and the Helen Rosson drama “The Undertow.”
Pacini was murdered in August 1920 (the case remains unsolved) and the Butterfly became a Collins theatre with the Burke and Virginian. By 1929, a Movietone sound system was installed but the Butterfly closed in February 1930, reopening in August 1932 after a major redecoration including a larger screen. Closed again for another redecoration, it reopened in May of 1941 as the Hollywood Theatre.
By April of 1952, and struggling against the threat of free television, the last desperate Hollywood Theatre programs were two 1942 East Side Kids films, “The Smart Alecks” and “The Wise Guy”.
But manager Bill Exton tried again in October 1953 with two popular second-run features - “Niagara” with Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten, paired with “Invaders from Mars”. But it wasn’t enough.
In 1955, the Hollywood Theatre housed the Kenosha Missionary Baptist Church (which by 1959 became the Temple Baptist Church at 47th Ave. and 52nd Street), and in 1963, the Auxiliary of the Polish Legion of American Veterans began raising funds to convert the theatre into its hall. It remained so into its sale in the Spring of 2012 and reopened as Circa on Seventh in 2013. (This article appeared in a September, 2025 Kenosha History Center post.)
This week marks the windup of Bill Exton’s tenth year and start of his eleventh year as owner-manager of the independent Roosevelt Theater, 29th Ave. and Roosevelt Rd.
Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 he will present his tenth annual Back-to-School show for the children. This idea was introduced to Kenosha by Exton during his first year at the Kenosha theater, and has been continued by him every year since taking over the Roosevelt. A special program is booked for the occasion.
The remodeling of the entire front of the theater has just been completed, with the latest design of canopy construction injected, making the appearance much different than other local theaters.
Exton has no affiliations with any other theaters in the state, but he has associated for the past year and a half with the Zion theater at Zion, III.
The Roosevelt staff consists of the following: Franklyn Williams, assistant, third year; Jack Schumaker and Wayne Burke, first year; Gilda Zaubrauskis and Margaret Vittorio, cleaners, third year; Terry Matoska and Meredith Gentes, vendettes, second year, and Joan Saeger, Gladys Strusky and June Baterl, the most recent additions to the staff, well on to their first year of service.
Since taking over the Roosevelt, Exton has completely remodeled the booth, and has the latest and most efficient equipment necessary for proper projection and sound, which has received much praisworthy comment from patrons.
The Roosevelt operates as a family neighborhood theater, opening each evening at 6:30 and continuous from 1 p. m. on Sunday. It is a theater with a personality, since each member of the staff has been there long enough to become acquainted with the patrons, and Exton himself is always on hand during the hours of theater operation, giving patrons that glad-to-see-you feeling as they enter the doors.
Although he announces himself as the only independent theater operator in Kenosha, Exton has no interference from any of the other theaters, since he is designated as a third run situation and his programs and booking availabilities reach him regularly on scheduled dates. Pictures playing at the first runs in downtown Kenosha usually reach the Roosevelt screen about 70 days afterward, so that steady Roosevelt patrons get the benefit of first run operation on the west side of Kenosha.
Opinion: Why I bought the Uptown Theatre
By Jerry Mickelsen, August 15, 2025 (Chicago Tribune - chicagotribune.com )
I fell in love with the Uptown Theatre upon walking into that amazing lobby in 1975 and was able to truly come to appreciate it even more over the next six years when Jam Productions produced all of the many outstanding concerts on its stage. I could not put my finger on it back then, but when it closed at the end of 1981 I always had this feeling that I would at some point cross paths with the Uptown Theatre again. It was my fate to be part of this theater’s preservation.
From 1978 until 2008 there was a line of nefarious owners who had no plan on how to resuscitate the theater, which ended up drowning in financial trouble, burdened with multiple mortgages and unpaid debts. The only reason the Uptown Theatre survived during that 30-year period was due to the tireless efforts of Bob Boin, Dave Syfczak, Jimmy Wiggins, Curt Mangel, former 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith and Friends of the Uptown.
In 2007, I met with the first mortgage holder, who revealed his plan to turn the Uptown into an indoor go-kart track. That conversation lit a fire in me to start piecing together this distressed property’s future in order to bring it back to life.
In 2008, I was the only bidder who showed up at the foreclosure auction - and I became the Uptown’s new owner. On that day, I had no clear plan for how I was going to save it, only a deep conviction that it needed my help. The one thing I did know was that Jam Productions had the content, programming and management expertise to support the theater once it opened.
But this quest is about more than saving the Uptown Theatre. As the Urban Land Institute (ULI) report pointed out, this theater could be the catalyst for the economic development of the Uptown community.
The ULI report provided a road map on how to get this project completed: “The challenging opportunities facing Uptown cannot be met with limited resources. A wide array of both private and public sector resources will need to be tapped. Assistance from all levels of government - local, state and federal - will be needed to achieve the panel’s strategy outlined in the Uptown plan.”
In addition, tax increment financing for Uptown needs a special provision for new and special taxes. Since an ordinary TIF district will not generate sufficient funds to cover all the needs of Uptown, the panel suggests new TIF taxes, including the allocation of taxes generated by parking, amusement, utilities and any other tax generators to which a connection to the Uptown Theatre can be shown.
The Uptown Theatre turns 100 on Aug. 18. That is incredible - and a reminder of both its storied past and the challenges ahead. As Chicago’s grandest movie palace even larger than Radio City Music Hall, its 100-year mark underscores its cultural importance to our city and state, but most importantly, the Uptown community.
I completely understand the skepticism surrounding this project. People have heard about the Uptown’s potential comeback for a long time, only to see the doors remain shut. But here’s why this time is different: We’re not chasing a dream; we’re building a plan. The conversations now taking place with the city are serious, strategic and grounded in reality. Hopefully there’s alignment between public and private interests that hasn’t existed before, and a clear recognition of the Uptown Theatre’s value not just as a historic gem, but as an economic engine for the entire Uptown neighborhood as well as the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois.
That said, confidence comes from progress, and the single most important step right now is securing the city’s financial commitment. Once that piece is in place, everything else will fall in line. Private investors, philanthropic partners, and cultural institutions will, with any luck, follow - but they need to see that the city believes in this project first.
Saving the Uptown isn’t just about preserving bricks, plaster, and history - it’s about creating real jobs and opportunities at the theater for our youth, drawing talent from After School Matters, Chicago Public Schools, Merit School, ChiArts, and the People’s Music School that will ignite opportunities for Chicago’s young people. It’s about honoring Chicago’s legacy as the birthplace of the movie palace. And above all, it’s about choosing hope over cynicism.
The time is now.
The Uptown Theatre must be saved because it is one of the most extraordinary and historically significant movie palaces ever built - not just in Chicago, but anywhere in the United States. Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. The Uptown has waited decades for its second act. Now it’s our turn to make it happen in order to restore a legacy, uplift a community, and leave a lasting mark on Chicago’s cultural history.
We are at a rare and powerful moment when timing, vision and talent have all aligned. We have an extraordinary lineup of professionals, each a leader in their field, working to bring the Uptown Theatre back to life. With their collective expertise, there can be no doubt we have the right team in place.
This project needs the support of people who see the Uptown for what it truly is: a living, breathing work of art and a rare cultural jewel that can once again inspire millions. We need those who have the wherewithal to help, who understand that giving isn’t just about money, but about preserving beauty, culture, and community for generations to come. We need people who fall in love with masterpieces of architecture not just for their grandeur, but for the stories they hold, the history they safeguard, and the inspiration they spark. The Uptown is more than a building; it is a stage for human connection, a monument to creativity, and a beacon of what can be achieved when vision meets commitment.
Preserving the theater calls to those who understand that true legacy is built not just through wealth, but through what that wealth makes possible. Let’s not stand by while time takes it from us. The Uptown’s story can end in silence or rise again in brilliance.
A new $200,000 32-foot marquee for the Mineral Point Opera House from Sign Art Studio in Mount Horeb (which recently restored the 55-foot vertical sign for the Orpheum Theatre in Madison) is set to be installed in late August and lighted on Sept. 4. The 1915 marquee had fallen into disrepair and lacked lights at the front. It’s part of a $400,000 exterior project: new front doors and poster boxes, roof work and tuckpointing.
A recent $2.25 million interior restoration included upgrades to sprinklers, electricals, HVAC, dressing rooms/green rooms, and lighting and audio systems with new cushioned wood seats and carpeting, correct color schemes, and repairs to the ornate plaster. (In 2003, nearly $100,000 went to improve restroom facilities and to restore the lobby and ticket booth.) The city owns the theatre and rents it to the board for $1 yearly.
A $100,000 matching grant for the marquee came from the National Park Service in 2021. The Trump administration revoked the grant this year, but the park service reapproved the grant.
Designed by Claude and Stark of Madison (also the Orpheum Theatre there) and opened in February 1915 with “The Misleading Lady”, the 725-seat Mineral Point Municipal Theatre and Opera House hosted many famous stars and acts. But alterations over the decades cut capacity to 386 seats.
The Mineral Point Opera House is now the planned venue for a new film society.
The city Landmarks Commission Wednesday night declined to recommend placing a six-month hold on razing the Orpheum Theater building.
Meanwhile, a city official warned that authorities should consider measures to rehabilitate the Kenosha Theater, 5915 Sixth Ave., which has been vacant for about 30 years.
Commission Member Louis Rugani’s proposal on the Orpheum was defeated, 5-2, after 90 minutes of sometimes heated debate. Rugani wanted the City Council to not appropriate money to raze the building. 5819-31 Sixth Ave., for six months so other options could be considered.
“I’m not saying, ‘Save the building’ anymore.” Rugani said. “If all the alternatives are exhausted, I’ll be the first one to say, ‘We tried.” "
Vernon Gerth, city chief of inspection, has said the city is about to seek offers from companies wishing to raze the building. He said the building could be down by the summer.
Alderman Lydia Spottswood, chairman of the commission, opposed Rugani’s proposal. She said the commission should meet with the city Redevelopment Authority to find out if the authority had plans to redevelop the area.
In addition, she said the commission should consider forming a task force to discuss the future of the four-story building. The building does not have landmark status.
At one point, Rugani and Spottswood each said the other was “out of order” during the meeting. Rugani spoke many times on the matter, holding the floor for several minutes.
Spottswood near the end of the debate interrupted Rugani to make a point. Rugani said, “You have a history of interrupting me and it won’t be tolerated.”
Rugani, who said he thought the building should have landmark status, later said he could continue talking as long as he had the floor and Spottswood quickly asked him if he was attempting to filibuster so no vote could be taken. Rugani moments later relinquished the floor.
Four downtown business owners and the manager of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District attended to voice support in razing the building.
“I look at the Orpheum build ing and I don’t see, at least in my layman’s eyes, much architectural significance,” said Michael Bjorn, 3813 16th Ave.
Bjorn and other downtown businessmen told the commission it would be difficult to redevelop that part of the neighborhood if the Orpheum still were standing. The theater in the Orpheum showed its last movie in the middle 1970s, officials said.
Gerth gave a rough estimate of $200,000 to raze the building. The city would pay the cost and place a special assessment on the owner, Trend Setters Inc: San Antonio.
Mayor John Antaramian, who did not attend the meeting, said in a telephone interview there currently was no money for rażing the building in the budget, but there were some areas in the Capital Improvements Plan that could be amended to pay for the removal.
Gerth also said the commission should consider what to do with the Kenosha Theater, which does have landmark status. He said the building has no heat, roof and water damage and other general deterioration.
“I have looked at it and it is in bad shape, unfortunately, Gerth said. "We need to conceńtrate on that building if we wish to save it.”
AEC Group Inc. Architectural Engineering Division
SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION & FINDINGS
KENOSHA/RHODE THEATRE STUDY
MARCH 27, 1989
Investigations indicated a local theatre market area consisting of Kenosha and Racine counties in Wisconsin, population 258,000, and Lake County, Illinois, population in excess of 500,000, provides a potential local market of ¾ million people. Organized bus tours and effective tourism promotion can extend a theatre’s market area to over a 50 mile radius. This extended market area is especially important for a dinner theatre. This size market area has the potential to support both a performing art theatre and a dinner theatre. Through a questionnaire Kenosha and Racine counties were surveyed. Source of Lake County information is a 1987 art study. Questionnaires were circulated in Walworth County through the newspapers and a few by direct mailing with no success.
The questionnaire survey was conducted as follows:
1. Newspapers: Display ads in the Kenosha News, the Midweek Bulletin, the Kenosha News Courier and the Messenger.
2. Direct Mailing #1: Selection of individual’s names at a pre-determined interval established so that 406 selected names would span the entire Kenosha, Wisconsin Bell telephone directory.
3. Direct Mailing #2: Individual names (1048) selected from the Racine Theatre Guild mailing list.
4. Services and Professional Organizations: Members of nine organizations, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary clubs and the County Bar and the County Dental associations; completed questionnaire during their meetings.
Provide for a concession area in the main lobby and on the mezzanine level.
Redesign the dressing areas below and to the east of the stage creating stage storage behind the stage and new, more flexible dressing facilities below the stage.
The Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House both are capable and worthwhile to restore. The structural systems are sound in each building. Each have good design details that, when fully restored, will provide a House of Enchantment for theater goers of all ages. However, to be a viable asset to the community each theater must meet certain criterion.
Have a defined purpose.tt
Provide quality entertainment at reasonable prices.
Facilities must be convenient and comfortable.
Be a year-round operation.
Develop a reputation that will draw beyond the local market area.
Be a part of a viable ‘People Collecting’ center with a ‘I would like to be there’ image.
Meet the needs for local performance participation.
Have sound management.
Both theatres appear, at this stage of the study, to have the potential to satisfy the criterion.
Alterations over the years: The major alterations are the twinning of the House, the abandoned balcony, and alterations to the mezzanine foyer. The marquee is not original. Original construction drawings have not been located, so all original features cannot be identified.
Decorating:
The theatre has been cleaned and there has been limited use of the facilities. As a dinner theatre, complete renovation and decorating would be required.
The study has identified definite local support and persuasive reasons as to why the Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House have the potential to play a supportive role in the redevelopment of the Lakeshore and the revitalizing of the adjacent business district. The two theatres would support a lakeshore recreation/entertainment image and enhance the culture image of Kenosha. By expansion of the local entertainment facilities many area people will be able to participate and/or enjoy theatre art more often. The previous quoted comment is only one of many expressing this desire. The theatres, properly managed and promoted, will also bring people into the lakeshore area. New higher income housing in the immediate and adjacent areas will be an asset to the theatres.
General atmosphere after renovation/restoration:
Spacious, ornate, impressive lobby and staircase. The House; more intimate relationship with performance, a more relaxed atmosphere, with well designed, orderly, decorative features.
Current general conditions:
In considerably better condition. Some decay due to inadequate maintenance during recent years. Can be restored to original splendor.
Size - Seating, can influence the price of tickets for some events.
1,100/1,200 seating capacity on main floor and small balcony. Existing seats can be restored. Seats have been removed in balcony.
AEC Group Inc. Architectural Engineering Division
SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION & FINDINGS
KENOSHA/RHODE THEATRE STUDY
MARCH 27, 1989
Investigations indicated a local theatre market area consisting of Kenosha and Racine counties in Wisconsin, population 258,000, and Lake County, Illinois, population in excess of 500,000, provides a potential local market of ¾ million people. Organized bus tours and effective tourism promotion can extend a theatre’s market area to over a 50 mile radius. This extended market area is especially important for a dinner theatre. This size market area has the potential to support both a performing art theatre and a dinner theatre. Through a questionnaire Kenosha and Racine counties were surveyed. Source of Lake County information is a 1987 art study. Questionnaires were circulated in Walworth County through the newspapers and a few by direct mailing with no success.
The questionnaire survey was conducted as follows:
1. Newspapers: Display ads in the Kenosha News, the Midweek Bulletin, the Kenosha News Courier and the Messenger.
2. Direct Mailing #1: Selection of individual’s names at a pre-determined interval established so that 406 selected names would span the entire Kenosha, Wisconsin Bell telephone directory.
3. Direct Mailing #2: Individual names (1048) selected from the Racine Theatre Guild mailing list.
4. Services and Professional Organizations: Members of nine organizations, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary clubs and the County Bar and the County Dental associations; completed questionnaire during their meetings.
Provide for a concession area in the main lobby and on the mezzanine level. Redesign the dressing areas below and to the east of the stage creating stage storage behind the stage and new, more flexible dressing facilities below the stage.
The Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House both are capable and worthwhile to restore. The structural systems are sound in each building. Each have good design details that, when fully restored, will provide a House of Enchantment for theater goers of all ages. However, to be a viable asset to the community each theater must meet certain criterion.
1. Have a defined purpose.
2. Provide quality entertainment at reasonable prices.
3. Facilities must be convenient and comfortable.
4. Be a year-round operation.
5. Develop a reputation that will draw beyond the local market area.
Be a part of a viable ‘People Collecting’ center with a ‘I would like to be there’ image.
Meet the needs for local performance participation.
Have sound management.
Both theatres appear, at this stage of the study, to have the potential to satisfy the criterion.
Alterations over the years: Has only limited alterations. Most notable is the entrance and the missing marquee. Marble drinking fountain, decorative lighting fixtures and other decorative artifacts are missing.
Theatrical systems:
Will require all new rigging, curtains, sound, and stage lighting systems. Projection equipment will be required.
Decorating:
Complete cleaning and decorating of the entire theatre required.
Systems:
Renovation of the General, Plumbing, Fire/Sprinkler, HVAC and Electrical systems of the Kenosha are detailed in the budget estimate.
As a restored performing art theatre the Kenosha will need the following:
New restrooms on the main floor and rehabilitated restrooms on the mezzanine level.
Relocation of the lower run of the rear exit stairs in the apartments to relocate the exit door to the south end of the building.
Conversion of the north street level store front into a theatre office.
The study has identified definite local support and persuasive reasons as to why the Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House have the potential to play a supportive role in the redevelopment of the Lakeshore and the revitalizing of the adjacent business district. The two theatres would support a lakeshore recreation/entertainment image and enhance the culture image of Kenosha. By expansion of the local entertainment facilities many area people will be able to participate and/or enjoy theatre art more often. The previous quoted comment is only one of many expressing this desire. The theatres, properly managed and promoted, will also bring people into the lakeshore area. New higher income housing in the immediate and adjacent areas will be an asset to the theatres.
Comparisons of the features of the Kenosha Theatre - General atmosphere after renovation/restoration:
Impressive lobby, foyers and staircases. The House; spacious, elaborate, ornate, a theatrical extravaganza.
Current general conditions:
Decayed from lack of use and maintenance for many years. Not completely secured from the elements. Can be restored to its original splendor.
Size - Seating, can influence the price of tickets for some events. 2,200/2,300 seating capacity on main floor and large balcony. Seats have been removed.
The ORPHEUM’s owners since 2013 Gus and Mary Paras did this $200,000 historic replication of its original six-story 63-foot 1926 vertical sign designed by Rapp and Rapp. The steel face was replaced with an aluminum replica using energy-efficient lights in the original configuration. At some point in mid-century, the word “NEW” was removed from the top, and then it was “dumbed down” to a basic rectangle. The Paras family had already done restoration on the facade, marquee, ticket booth, roof, plaster, downstairs lavatories and dressing rooms, and said the community excitement was encouraging. The ORPHEUM was awarded a $20, city facade restoration matching grant. New front doors, resembling those that first swung open in 1927, are in place, as are veiny black granite panels, replacing blond brick on the facade when it was “remuddled” in the 1960s. Architect Arlan Kay oversaw the changes undoing the alterations at midcentury in the name of “modernization” including the destruction to the vertical sign which became scarred with rust and which stayed in place because a city ordinance banned hanging a replacement over the sidewalk. City leaders modified it.
Exhibitor Jordan Stancil, who operates three historic theatres in Michigan - the Sanctuary in Alpena, the Big Rapids in Big Rapids and the Rialto in Grayling, the latter that his family has owned since 1915 - has leased the closed 1912 New 400 Theatre, a victim of the pandemic, and plans to restore its 65-year name to The 400 Theatre, with its reopening date to be announced. Stancil expects to program the 400 with new domestic and foreign product and live events with updated projection capabilities.
Little Theatre Indicates Interest in Purchase Of Vogue Theatre Site
Kenosha Little Theatre members voted three to one last evening in favor of picking up an option leading toward purchase of the Vogue Theater building.
Final decision rests with the organisation’s Board of Directors, which will meet next week to consider the arguments pro and con heard at meetings last evening and last week in the School Administration building.
The 30-year old building has been offered to Little Theatre by David M. Korf, owner, for $15,000 with no down payment, A report made by Lawrence Monberg, architect, and Frank Zoubek, contractor, states that the property is in good condition though it needs cleaning and decorating.
Little Theatre, which has assets of slightly under $5,000, intends to hold this sum in reserve as a contingency fund and conduct a drive for funds to purchase and remodel its new home, should the board decide to attempt the project.
Outcome of the fund-raising campaign would determine whether or not the organiation to would be able to buy its first quarters.
A total of $25,000 would be needed to pay for the building and to remodel it at a cost of $10,000.
The board is to investigate further the possibility of loss of building frontage through the routing of State Hy. 158 on 52nd St. The theater is at 1820 52nd St.
Korf made one stipulation in offering the building for sale: That Little Theatre give the proceeds of one performance of one show per year to a fund for the benefit of handicapped children.
(July 18, 1957)
On Thursday, August 1, 2025 the Milwaukee Common Council approved the sale of the 7,200 square-foot Villa Theatre to Thomas Matthews' Lincoln Creek Development, LLC for $10,125 as-is, including the adjacent 1929 3,612-square-foot multi-story building at 3614-16 W. Villard Ave. and a 24-space parking lot at 5221 N. 36th St. that the city had owned since 1948. Lincoln plans to re-open the theatre for live performances and to lease the adjacent spaces for which there’s already interest. Kelly Construction is to do the estimated $4 million renovations including marquee work, landscaping, accessibility, and improved parking. Lincoln will have two years to secure a Certificate of Occupancy after closing.
The 840-seat Spanish Colonial theatre opened in 1926 as the Ritz by Michael Brumm, who was already operating the nearby Princess Theatre in 1912 with his son Arnold, who later took over the Ritz. The City of Milwaukee annexed the area in 1929. By the 1940s, the Ritz was a Fox Wisconsin theatre; Marcus Theatres bought the Ritz in 1959, renamed it the Villa in 1962, and closed it in 1986. Tanya and Herman Lewis bought it and operated it as a second-run theatre, then a first-run theatre, and then a community theatre and neighborhood center over nine years.
This may be the best photo of the REX Theatre near the end of its brief career.
From original 1930s programs shared by the HPHSociety:
“Shortly after the opening, owners William and Bertha Pearl executed a 15 year lease for both the Alycon and Pearl for 35,000$/year to the Highland Park Theater Co, according to the Chicago Tribune (Nov. 3, 1925), citing lawyers for both parties. The 1925 theater installed a “3/13” Barton Organ. (Junchen, David L. Encyclopedia of the American Theatre Organ. Pasadena, Calif: Showcase Publications, 1985.) In January 1928, a “bandit” robbed the safe and fled with $2100, 3 days income. The thief covered the assistant manager, Saul Greenberg, with a blanket before locking him in the washroom. (Chicago Daily Tribune) The Bulletin of the Chicago Medical Society V33 cites the Alycon for installing systems so the “hearing impaired” could listen to “Talkies.” In 1940, Pearl installed additional RCA sound equipment in the (now) 1150 seat theater.“
The Department of Planning and Development plans to apply for a 20-year $25.25 million Section 108 loan from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for Congress Theatre “revitalization” and related housing in the $88 million project. If granted, the next step is the city council. Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st) says this could be the last piece for the project to get off the ground and that approval could mean that actual construction on the Congress Theatre could begin in Spring, 2026 (its centennial) and be finished by the end of 2027. AEG Presents would manage the theatre for no less than 10 years, and Woodhouse Tinucci Architects' renderings show a restored marquee and a “modernized interior”.
Aug 03, 2001, Chicago Tribune- Duplicate organ sold to theater
The Genesee Theatre Restoration Project has bought a duplicate of the theater’s original Barton organ to be used in the restoration of the 1927 movie palace in downtown Waukegan.
The organ was originally installed in the former Tower Theater in Milwaukee and has been owned by a Downstate Aledo couple since it was removed, said James Neal, executive director of the restoration project.
The couple, now in their 90s, had the large multitiered organ installed in their house so it could be played.
They sold it to the Waukegan group for $35,000, said to be less than its value, because they wanted it in a theater where they feel it belongs, Neal said.
“This is the culmination of a dream for them.” Neal said. “This is part of their legacy.”
The organ is the same model as the Genesee’s original Barton organ, installed in 1927 before the theater opened.
Restorers discovered earlier this year that many of the organ’s internal parts had suffered irreversible water damage, sparking the search for a replacement.
The old organ’s working parts may be sold to other organizations doing restoration projects, offsetting some of the cost of buying the replacement, Neal said.
The $15.5 million Genesee Theatre restoration is envisioned as the centerpiece of plans to revitalize downtown Waukegan.
Aug 03, 2001, Chicago Tribune- Duplicate organ sold to theater
The Genesee Theatre Restoration Project has bought a duplicate of the theater’s original Barton organ to be used in the restoration of the 1927 movie palace in downtown Waukegan.
The organ was originally installed in the former Tower Theater in Milwaukee and has been owned by a Downstate Aledo couple since it was removed, said James Neal, executive director of the restoration project.
The couple, now in their 90s, had the large multitiered organ installed in their house so it could be played.
They sold it to the Waukegan group for $35,000, said to be less than its value, because they wanted it in a theater where they feel it belongs, Neal said.
“This is the culmination of a dream for them.” Neal said. “This is part of their legacy.”
The organ is the same model as the Genesee’s original Barton organ, installed in 1927 before the theater opened.
Restorers discovered earlier this year that many of the organ’s internal parts had suffered irreversible water damage, sparking the search for a replacement.
The old organ’s working parts may be sold to other organizations doing restoration projects, offsetting some of the cost of buying the replacement, Neal said.
The $15.5 million Genesee Theatre restoration is envisioned as the centerpiece of plans to revitalize downtown Waukegan.
La Crosse landmark meant a lot to longtime residents (By Doug Connell of the Tribune staff)
On Dec. 28, 1952, La Crosse lost a popular entertainment spot when fire destroyed the Wisconsin The ater in a “spectacular blaze” that attracted hundreds of onlookers to the downtown scene.
The Wisconsin Theater was housed in a three-story brick building at 514-520 Main St. on the bend in Main Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street.
“I have many fond memories of the Wisconsin Theater,” remarked Joseph Noelke, 64, of La Crosse, “as I went to many movies there during the mid-1940s when I was a young boy. The interior of the Wisconsin wasn’t as fancy as the Rivoli Theater on Fourth Street, but it still was a nice place to take in a movie. I was always impressed by the Wisconsin’s large overhanging marquee. Almost every Saturday as a youngster I would go to the Wisconsin with my brothers, cousins and friends to take in the matinee. That bit of fun would eat up most of my 25-cents weekly allowance, as movie admission was 12 cents and the bus fare to and from downtown was a nickel each way. We always sat in the balcony, in the very last row if possible. Before the main attraction, there would be newsreels about national and world events. Also, there would be commercials for local businesses, and I remember seeing my first Ross of La Crosse furniture commercial there.”
The Wisconsin Theater was housed in a three-story brick building at 514-520 Main St. on the bend in Main Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Street.
Fall From Sign Kills Painter (Kenosha Evening News - May 5, 1949)
George B. Jensen 41, 3827 7th Ave., local paint contractor, was killed shortly before 1 o'clock this afternoon when he fell from a sign which he was painting at the Main Street Theater located on the corner of Main and State Sts. in Racine.
Jensen was painting on the vertical sign, 50 feet above the street level, when the swing stage anchorage slipped and plunged the Kenoshan to pavement.
Witnesses said he struck his head on the marquee sign in the fall, and he was pronounced dead immediately by Racine County Coroner Bernard Evenson.
Everett Cayo, 7402 40th Ave:, who was painting on the opposite side of the vertical sign, was uninjured.
The Lakes Theatre was still operating in the early 1960s. Military members were offered discounts on admissions.
The 1911 Crystal (later Lakes) Theatre of Antioch dates was owned by Fred Remer and was sold to Percy Chinn the following year. By 1946 it was renamed the Lakes Theatre. (In 1958, the Lakes Theatre company proposed building a 400-car outdoor theatre on the northwest corner of Route 59 and Grass Lake Road. Strong opposition ended the plan.)
In 1964, the local Palette, Masque and Lyre amateur players began presenting productions at the Lakes Theatre, and in January, 1984 they were able to purchase the theatre. Much of the interior ornament was lost thereafter but the three oval facade windows that had been bricked over were restored after a bequest left by Dolly Spiering. In 2015, the players were able to purchase an adjoining commercial building as a concessions venue.
Editorial: Antioch Theatre rebirth more than a victory for nostalgia (April 04, 2016 - Daily Herald) In our bigger-is-better world, small businesses often take a beating.
That’s particularly true of one-screen movie theaters that were once staples of community downtowns. Mostly they have disappeared from today’s suburbs, as owners found it difficult to compete with giant multiplexes that offer many more movie choices and a glitzier experience complete with reclining chairs and a nice merlot.
And, that’s what makes the renovation of the old Antioch Theatre, and the community effort that supported the project, so noteworthy and an experience worth saluting.
Sure, it’s a victory for nostalgia, joining the Liberty Theatre in Libertyville and the Catlow in Barrington as another old movie house rebirth.
But the public-private partnership that spurred the project’s success also shows early signs of being a catalyst for other downtown Antioch improvements. The approach could make it a project worth watching by others looking for ways to boost their downtown improvement efforts.
Tim Downey launched the $750,000 plan to rehab the theater building, where deteriorating conditions, slumping attendance and outdated equipment had put it on the endangered list. It was built in 1919 as the Majestic Theatre, a live performance house, and it was converted to the Antioch Theatre five years later. It was never a grand movie house, but it had been a downtown fixture for generations of residents.
Downey invested $300,000 of his own money, found four core sponsors to contribute $150,000, and sold engraved sidewalk stars. With what they said was a “degree of reluctance,” village board members agreed to provide a $200,000 loan, supported by a village-backed 75-cents per-ticket tax. In a town with a tight budget, like many of its neighbors, and concerns about offering overly generous tax incentives, it was no small gesture.
However, the roll of the dice for all involved seems to be paying off.
The updated version with new seats, restrooms, carpeting, facade, marquee, digital technology and more attracted some 40,000 moviegoers in the first year since the reopening, Downey said. That generated enough money for him to make monthly payments - he’s repaid nearly $30,000 - on the 10-year village note.
Village officials and downtown supporters alike said the Antioch Theatre project has been good for the downtown. It has sparked renovations at some other downtown businesses, boosted foot traffic that is aiding other nearby businesses by bringing people to the area and it is helping renew interest in a downtown development initiative. It is once again a vital part of the village’s historic downtown district, they say.
“It’s fun to report my confidence in the community and the community’s confidence in me has paid off,” Downey told the Daily Herald’s Mick Zawislak.
What the born-again Antioch Theatre shows is that one little project with a motivated developer, a local government willing to take a chance and a supportive community can help spark big things.
(Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1917) Church Women Reveal Suggestive Acts After Peaceful “Raids” on Theaters
BY THE REV. W. B. NORTON.
SCANTILY dressed women, lewd jokes, the American flag disgraced, the Christian religion flouted, drinking, gambling, murder paraded, crowds of men and boys in the audience, many of the boys in knickerbockers.
These are some of the things which shocked the women of the Woman’s Church federation who made a round of a dozen or more of the theaters of Chicago Saturday evening.
Mrs. J. G. Boor, chairman of the morals committee of the Woman’s Church federation, was in charge. She was assisted by fourteen women and up several men, some of whom accompanied the women, while others went to ag the theaters where men only are admitted.
Mrs. H. T. Leslie, 6844 Lafayette avenue, was one of the women who visited the Gayety theater, 531 South State street.
“The performance was vulgar and degrading,” she said. We teach our children to honor the American flag. Here they disgraced it. Girls came on the stage in tights with shoulders and arms entirely bare, draped about the waist in the red, white and blue. They formed a pyramid and the one who came the nearest being nud formed the center of the pyramíd. In this attitude they sang a song entitled “My Country.” not our national anthem, while a flag was lowered from the ceiling.
Sample of “Humor.”
“One of the comedians said: ‘It doesn’t make any difference what a woman has on or whether she has anything on. O yes it does,’ another said. When Gen. Grant surrendered to Lee he only had on a ragged union suit. Our girls have more on than that.”
“One man told a girl he would strip her to the skin. He first made her take off her hat, then her dress, then her petticoat. She had on tights, but the suggestiveness of the act was plain to see.”
Mrs. L. E. Koontz, 653 North Lockwood avenue, was one of three who visited the Star and Garter theater, 815 West Madison street.
“We sat in the gallery,” she said, “and noted that the audience was chiefly made up of young men, some of them nice young, manly looking fellows, others were of the depraved kind. My heart ached for them because I realized their legitimate desires for amusement. The air was thick with tobacco smoke. The jokes were of the coarsest character and evidently intended to inflame the imagination. One comedian told how some one threw a brick through the window and struck the leg of the girl he was sitting with and broke three of his fingers, plainly implying his hand was in contact with the girl’s leg.
Some More “Comedy.”
“In a scene one girl and two men became intoxicated, the girl being dragged off the stage in a beastly state. The men spilled the liquor on the table, dipped their hands in it, and slapped each other. Finally they kicked over the table and spilled the rest of the liquor on the floor.
“The girls were called the Jolly Widows and were dressed in tights.”
Mrs. F. M. Reynolds of Austin confirmed the report of Mrs. Koontz.
“The performance is to be condemned from start to finish,” she said. “There was not one redeeming feature. There was a lewd poem recited about looking at women, in which the name of Christ was mentioned. The drinking scene and the pajama dance were disgusting.” Mrs. R. L. Moffett, 4618 North Racine avenue, visited the Casino at 403 North State street.
“Suggestive jokes and Hula Hula dancing such as I heard and saw ought not to be tolerated,” she said. The Hula Hula dancers were bare legged and their bodies were draped only in a shawl.
Better Features Applauded.
“Were there any more like you in the family?” one coarse joker asked another. “No, when father died mother lost the pattern.”
“I believe the audience would enjoy a higher grade of entertainment, because a moving picture of a war scene and the performance of a player on an accordion, which were good, received the loudest applause.”
Mrs. Boor found conditions at the National, 610 South State street, she said, disgusting in the extreme.
“A young woman described a dance in a most suggestive way. ‘What did you have on?’ her male companion asked. ‘I had on a string of beads, then a little space and another string.’ ‘You ought to leave off the two last strings,’ he replied. ‘Did you dance the seven veils dance?’ she was asked. ‘If you did you left off six and a half of the veils,’ he said.”
“Forty per cent of the audience was under 21 years, many of them young boys.”
“The theaters are not as obscene as they were. They have been improved 75 per cent over the theaters of a few years ago, but they are still demoralizing, corrupting, and a disgrace to a Christian civilization.”
the most objectionable of all,“ said Mrs. E. Pretty.
“The girls were dressed so they appeared perfectly nude. They came on the stage protecting themselves with parasols. They moved the parasols from side to side so as to expose themselves for a moment to full view. Then they sang, ‘To see a little more you must meet us at the door.’ Could there be any plainer solicitation to evil than that?”
Mrs. A. C. O'Neal, 2512 West Sixty-sixth street, expressed in the strongest terms indignation of what she saw at the Haymarket theater, 722 West Madison street.
“If there is anything worse than I saw at the Haymarket, I hope I may never see it,” she said. “There was awful profanity, and from beginning to end vile love making and sexual suggestion. The twenty girls dressed in tights ran out on the run board into the center of the audience, and stooping over to the men sang songs of invitation and suggestion. I saw only two other women in the audience besides the four women in our party.”
Many Theaters Visited.
Among the theaters visited were: the South side, Gayety, National, Gem, and Stella; north side, Casino, Hippodrome; west side, Haymarket and Star and Garter.
“To describe the chorus girls of any theater as shapely, scantily clothed, alluring to men, will displease no owner or manager,” said Mrs. Boor.
“To picture the horror or even wrath of good women at witnessing the members of their sex on exhibition like well groomed prize winners at the international stock exhibit will merely cause a smile of ill concealed approval by those interested in the box office.
“But to pass a law giving authority to close such theaters under an injunction and abatement act, by which managers and owners are held responsible for the character of the performance, will raise a storm of protest because such a law will close the show.”
Need for New Law.
“But this is what led us women to brave the disgraceful and distasteful houses of entertainment which we believe are destructive of the young life of our city. We want our legislature to know that there is a crying need for the passage of the law offering relief from the menace of the immoral show such as is provided by the senate bill 130, introduced by Senator J. J. Barbour, and a similar one introduced by Representative Allen J. Carter, which make the owners and managers liable for whatever is exhibited in the theaters they control.”
(Chicago Tribune, March 12, 1917) Church Women Reveal Suggestive Acts After Peaceful “Raids” on Theaters
BY THE REV. W. B. NORTON.
SCANTILY dressed women, lewd jokes, the American flag disgraced, the Christian religion flouted, drinking, gambling, murder paraded, crowds of men and boys in the audience, many of the boys in knickerbockers.
These are some of the things which shocked the women of the Woman’s Church federation who made a round of a dozen or more of the theaters of Chicago Saturday evening.
Mrs. J. G. Boor, chairman of the morals committee of the Woman’s Church federation, was in charge. She was assisted by fourteen women and up several men, some of whom accompanied the women, while others went to ag the theaters where men only are admitted.
Mrs. H. T. Leslie, 6844 Lafayette avenue, was one of the women who visited the Gayety theater, 531 South State street.
“The performance was vulgar and degrading,” she said. We teach our children to honor the American flag. Here they disgraced it. Girls came on the stage in tights with shoulders and arms entirely bare, draped about the waist in the red, white and blue. They formed a pyramid and the one who came the nearest being nud formed the center of the pyramíd. In this attitude they sang a song entitled “My Country.” not our national anthem, while a flag was lowered from the ceiling.
Sample of “Humor.”
“One of the comedians said: ‘It doesn’t make any difference what a woman has on or whether she has anything on. O yes it does,’ another said. When Gen. Grant surrendered to Lee he only had on a ragged union suit. Our girls have more on than that.”
“One man told a girl he would strip her to the skin. He first made her take off her hat, then her dress, then her petticoat. She had on tights, but the suggestiveness of the act was plain to see.”
Mrs. L. E. Koontz, 653 North Lockwood avenue, was one of three who visited the Star and Garter theater, 815 West Madison street.
“We sat in the gallery,” she said, “and noted that the audience was chiefly made up of young men, some of them nice young, manly looking fellows, others were of the depraved kind. My heart ached for them because I realized their legitimate desires for amusement. The air was thick with tobacco smoke. The jokes were of the coarsest character and evidently intended to inflame the imagination. One comedian told how some one threw a brick through the window and struck the leg of the girl he was sitting with and broke three of his fingers, plainly implying his hand was in contact with the girl’s leg.
Some More “Comedy.”
“In a scene one girl and two men became intoxicated, the girl being dragged off the stage in a beastly state. The men spilled the liquor on the table, dipped their hands in it, and slapped each other. Finally they kicked over the table and spilled the rest of the liquor on the floor.
“The girls were called the Jolly Widows and were dressed in tights.”
Mrs. F. M. Reynolds of Austin confirmed the report of Mrs. Koontz.
“The performance is to be condemned from start to finish,” she said. “There was not one redeeming feature. There was a lewd poem recited about looking at women, in which the name of Christ was mentioned. The drinking scene and the pajama dance were disgusting.” Mrs. R. L. Moffett, 4618 North Racine avenue, visited the Casino at 403 North State street.
“Suggestive jokes and Hula Hula dancing such as I heard and saw ought not to be tolerated,” she said. The Hula Hula dancers were bare legged and their bodies were draped only in a shawl.
Better Features Applauded.
“Were there any more like you in the family?” one coarse joker asked another. “No, when father died mother lost the pattern.”
“I believe the audience would enjoy a higher grade of entertainment, because a moving picture of a war scene and the performance of a player on an accordion, which were good, received the loudest applause.”
Mrs. Boor found conditions at the National, 610 South State street, she said, disgusting in the extreme.
“A young woman described a dance in a most suggestive way. ‘What did you have on?’ her male companion asked. ‘I had on a string of beads, then a little space and another string.’ ‘You ought to leave off the two last strings,’ he replied. ‘Did you dance the seven veils dance?’ she was asked. ‘If you did you left off six and a half of the veils,’ he said.”
“Forty per cent of the audience was under 21 years, many of them young boys.”
“The theaters are not as obscene as they were. They have been improved 75 per cent over the theaters of a few years ago, but they are still demoralizing, corrupting, and a disgrace to a Christian civilization.”
the most objectionable of all,“ said Mrs. E. Pretty.
“The girls were dressed so they appeared perfectly nude. They came on the stage protecting themselves with parasols. They moved the parasols from side to side so as to expose themselves for a moment to full view. Then they sang, ‘To see a little more you must meet us at the door.’ Could there be any plainer solicitation to evil than that?”
Mrs. A. C. O'Neal, 2512 West Sixty-sixth street, expressed in the strongest terms indignation of what she saw at the Haymarket theater, 722 West Madison street.
“If there is anything worse than I saw at the Haymarket, I hope I may never see it,” she said. “There was awful profanity, and from beginning to end vile love making and sexual suggestion. The twenty girls dressed in tights ran out on the run board into the center of the audience, and stooping over to the men sang songs of invitation and suggestion. I saw only two other women in the audience besides the four women in our party.”
Many Theaters Visited.
Among the theaters visited were: the South side, Gayety, National, Gem, and Stella; north side, Casino, Hippodrome; west side, Haymarket and Star and Garter.
“To describe the chorus girls of any theater as shapely, scantily clothed, alluring to men, will displease no owner or manager,” said Mrs. Boor.
“To picture the horror or even wrath of good women at witnessing the members of their sex on exhibition like well groomed prize winners at the international stock exhibit will merely cause a smile of ill concealed approval by those interested in the box office.
“But to pass a law giving authority to close such theaters under an injunction and abatement act, by which managers and owners are held responsible for the character of the performance, will raise a storm of protest because such a law will close the show.”
Need for New Law.
“But this is what led us women to brave the disgraceful and distasteful houses of entertainment which we believe are destructive of the young life of our city. We want our legislature to know that there is a crying need for the passage of the law offering relief from the menace of the immoral show such as is provided by the senate bill 130, introduced by Senator J. J. Barbour, and a similar one introduced by Representative Allen J. Carter, which make the owners and managers liable for whatever is exhibited in the theaters they control.”
May 26, 1946 - Star and Garter Theater Sold for $110,000 Cash
The Star & Garter theater building. 815 W. Madison st., was sold by the Hyde & Behman Amusement company and the Richard Hyde estate of New York City, to Harold L. Clamage, of St. Louis, and Harold W. Huchberger, of Chicago, for $110,000 cash, thru Thomas H. Fitzgerald. The building will be air conditioned and modernized at an estimated cost of $35,000 and operated with pictures and stage shows, it was said.
The shuttered Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., is under contract to be sold for $25,000 to Chris Bauman, founder of the Zenith Music Group that has operated the Patio Theater and Avondale Music Hall, according to recent court testimony.
Any buyer of the theater would presumably also have to pay the county more than $500,000 in back taxes, Curt Bettiker, the count-appointed receiver for the theater, said at a Sept. 11 housing court hearing.
The city of Chicago last year took the theater’s ownership to court over building code issues. A receivership was appointed to help secure and maintain the building after the ownership or its representatives stopped attending court hearings on the matter.
It was reported at the hearing that the Portage Theater LLC has entered a sales contract to sell the theater to Bauman. Bauman took over operations of the Patio in 2018 but around a year ago another entity took the helm at the Patio, according to Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th). A license for the Patio expired on May and there is no active business license for 6008 W. Irving Park Road, the theater’s address, according to the city Department of Business Affairs.
No representatives of Bauman nor the Portage Theater LLC were at the Sept. 11 court hearing.
Bettiker, who represents Chicagoland Neighborhood Resources LLC, said that he has been contacted several times about the need for someone to get into the theater to read a water meter so that the sale of the property can proceed. However, it was reported at the hearing that the meter may be located in the residential portion of the building, which has a different owner.
As receiver, Bettiker has control over the theater’s locks and he said that an alarm system needs to be installed.
“There’s a number of kids breaking into the building literally to just hang out,” Bettiker said.
If the deal with Bauman is not finished by the next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 16, city attorney Glenn Angel said that the city may ask the court to give Bettiker permission to sell the theater.
At the hearing, Bettiker told another potential buyer, “My hands are kind of tied. The owner still owns the building. … We have to let the contract (with Bauman) play out.”
It was reported at the hearing that the name of a “known real estate investor” was on the sales contract, but the person was not identified.
Currently scaffolding is in place in the front of theater due to safety concerns regarding the marquee. “It’s protecting the public way for when it falls,” Bettiker said.
The theater’s ownership was not covering the cost of city permit fees for the scaffolding, prompting the need for the receivership to pay those fees.
Also at the hearing, a lawyer reported that his client has an $80,000 mechanics lien against the property for unpaid services.
The Portage Theater is a city landmark, and a representative of Preservation Chicago attended the court hearing.
(Brian Nadig, Nadig Newspapers)
The site originally housed the large 1880s Columbia Hall, which was demolished beginning on September 2, 1916, and ground was broken immediately for the Butterfly Theatre in September of 1916. Racine brewery owner/investor Ernst Klinkert and Kenosha exhibitor Charles Pacini paid a total of $45,000, with Pacini to be the operator with a long term lease. George Lindemann was the general contractor,Tully as the masonry contractor, and designed by local architect Charles O. Augustine for 650 seats and a 14-member orchestra pit. (Pacini already operated the Majestic downtown. the New Strand uptown, and the Cozy Theatre one block south of the Butterfly, which closed, with its equipment transferred to the Butterfly .
The Butterfly Theatre, with its signature butterfly-wings framing the proscenium arch, opened on March 17, 1917 to Chaplin’s “Easy Street,” and the Helen Rosson drama “The Undertow.”
Pacini was murdered in August 1920 (the case remains unsolved) and the Butterfly became a Collins theatre with the Burke and Virginian. By 1929, a Movietone sound system was installed but the Butterfly closed in February 1930, reopening in August 1932 after a major redecoration including a larger screen. Closed again for another redecoration, it reopened in May of 1941 as the Hollywood Theatre.
By April of 1952, and struggling against the threat of free television, the last desperate Hollywood Theatre programs were two 1942 East Side Kids films, “The Smart Alecks” and “The Wise Guy”.
But manager Bill Exton tried again in October 1953 with two popular second-run features - “Niagara” with Marilyn Monroe and Joseph Cotten, paired with “Invaders from Mars”. But it wasn’t enough.
In 1955, the Hollywood Theatre housed the Kenosha Missionary Baptist Church (which by 1959 became the Temple Baptist Church at 47th Ave. and 52nd Street), and in 1963, the Auxiliary of the Polish Legion of American Veterans began raising funds to convert the theatre into its hall. It remained so into its sale in the Spring of 2012 and reopened as Circa on Seventh in 2013. (This article appeared in a September, 2025 Kenosha History Center post.)
(August 30, 1949) - Bill Exton Marks Anniversary
This week marks the windup of Bill Exton’s tenth year and start of his eleventh year as owner-manager of the independent Roosevelt Theater, 29th Ave. and Roosevelt Rd.
Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 he will present his tenth annual Back-to-School show for the children. This idea was introduced to Kenosha by Exton during his first year at the Kenosha theater, and has been continued by him every year since taking over the Roosevelt. A special program is booked for the occasion.
The remodeling of the entire front of the theater has just been completed, with the latest design of canopy construction injected, making the appearance much different than other local theaters.
Exton has no affiliations with any other theaters in the state, but he has associated for the past year and a half with the Zion theater at Zion, III.
The Roosevelt staff consists of the following: Franklyn Williams, assistant, third year; Jack Schumaker and Wayne Burke, first year; Gilda Zaubrauskis and Margaret Vittorio, cleaners, third year; Terry Matoska and Meredith Gentes, vendettes, second year, and Joan Saeger, Gladys Strusky and June Baterl, the most recent additions to the staff, well on to their first year of service.
Since taking over the Roosevelt, Exton has completely remodeled the booth, and has the latest and most efficient equipment necessary for proper projection and sound, which has received much praisworthy comment from patrons.
The Roosevelt operates as a family neighborhood theater, opening each evening at 6:30 and continuous from 1 p. m. on Sunday. It is a theater with a personality, since each member of the staff has been there long enough to become acquainted with the patrons, and Exton himself is always on hand during the hours of theater operation, giving patrons that glad-to-see-you feeling as they enter the doors.
Although he announces himself as the only independent theater operator in Kenosha, Exton has no interference from any of the other theaters, since he is designated as a third run situation and his programs and booking availabilities reach him regularly on scheduled dates. Pictures playing at the first runs in downtown Kenosha usually reach the Roosevelt screen about 70 days afterward, so that steady Roosevelt patrons get the benefit of first run operation on the west side of Kenosha.
Opinion: Why I bought the Uptown Theatre By Jerry Mickelsen, August 15, 2025 (Chicago Tribune - chicagotribune.com )
I fell in love with the Uptown Theatre upon walking into that amazing lobby in 1975 and was able to truly come to appreciate it even more over the next six years when Jam Productions produced all of the many outstanding concerts on its stage. I could not put my finger on it back then, but when it closed at the end of 1981 I always had this feeling that I would at some point cross paths with the Uptown Theatre again. It was my fate to be part of this theater’s preservation.
From 1978 until 2008 there was a line of nefarious owners who had no plan on how to resuscitate the theater, which ended up drowning in financial trouble, burdened with multiple mortgages and unpaid debts. The only reason the Uptown Theatre survived during that 30-year period was due to the tireless efforts of Bob Boin, Dave Syfczak, Jimmy Wiggins, Curt Mangel, former 48th Ward Ald. Mary Ann Smith and Friends of the Uptown.
In 2007, I met with the first mortgage holder, who revealed his plan to turn the Uptown into an indoor go-kart track. That conversation lit a fire in me to start piecing together this distressed property’s future in order to bring it back to life.
In 2008, I was the only bidder who showed up at the foreclosure auction - and I became the Uptown’s new owner. On that day, I had no clear plan for how I was going to save it, only a deep conviction that it needed my help. The one thing I did know was that Jam Productions had the content, programming and management expertise to support the theater once it opened.
But this quest is about more than saving the Uptown Theatre. As the Urban Land Institute (ULI) report pointed out, this theater could be the catalyst for the economic development of the Uptown community.
The ULI report provided a road map on how to get this project completed: “The challenging opportunities facing Uptown cannot be met with limited resources. A wide array of both private and public sector resources will need to be tapped. Assistance from all levels of government - local, state and federal - will be needed to achieve the panel’s strategy outlined in the Uptown plan.”
In addition, tax increment financing for Uptown needs a special provision for new and special taxes. Since an ordinary TIF district will not generate sufficient funds to cover all the needs of Uptown, the panel suggests new TIF taxes, including the allocation of taxes generated by parking, amusement, utilities and any other tax generators to which a connection to the Uptown Theatre can be shown.
The Uptown Theatre turns 100 on Aug. 18. That is incredible - and a reminder of both its storied past and the challenges ahead. As Chicago’s grandest movie palace even larger than Radio City Music Hall, its 100-year mark underscores its cultural importance to our city and state, but most importantly, the Uptown community.
I completely understand the skepticism surrounding this project. People have heard about the Uptown’s potential comeback for a long time, only to see the doors remain shut. But here’s why this time is different: We’re not chasing a dream; we’re building a plan. The conversations now taking place with the city are serious, strategic and grounded in reality. Hopefully there’s alignment between public and private interests that hasn’t existed before, and a clear recognition of the Uptown Theatre’s value not just as a historic gem, but as an economic engine for the entire Uptown neighborhood as well as the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois.
That said, confidence comes from progress, and the single most important step right now is securing the city’s financial commitment. Once that piece is in place, everything else will fall in line. Private investors, philanthropic partners, and cultural institutions will, with any luck, follow - but they need to see that the city believes in this project first.
Saving the Uptown isn’t just about preserving bricks, plaster, and history - it’s about creating real jobs and opportunities at the theater for our youth, drawing talent from After School Matters, Chicago Public Schools, Merit School, ChiArts, and the People’s Music School that will ignite opportunities for Chicago’s young people. It’s about honoring Chicago’s legacy as the birthplace of the movie palace. And above all, it’s about choosing hope over cynicism.
The time is now.
The Uptown Theatre must be saved because it is one of the most extraordinary and historically significant movie palaces ever built - not just in Chicago, but anywhere in the United States. Opportunities like this come once in a lifetime. The Uptown has waited decades for its second act. Now it’s our turn to make it happen in order to restore a legacy, uplift a community, and leave a lasting mark on Chicago’s cultural history.
We are at a rare and powerful moment when timing, vision and talent have all aligned. We have an extraordinary lineup of professionals, each a leader in their field, working to bring the Uptown Theatre back to life. With their collective expertise, there can be no doubt we have the right team in place.
This project needs the support of people who see the Uptown for what it truly is: a living, breathing work of art and a rare cultural jewel that can once again inspire millions. We need those who have the wherewithal to help, who understand that giving isn’t just about money, but about preserving beauty, culture, and community for generations to come. We need people who fall in love with masterpieces of architecture not just for their grandeur, but for the stories they hold, the history they safeguard, and the inspiration they spark. The Uptown is more than a building; it is a stage for human connection, a monument to creativity, and a beacon of what can be achieved when vision meets commitment.
Preserving the theater calls to those who understand that true legacy is built not just through wealth, but through what that wealth makes possible. Let’s not stand by while time takes it from us. The Uptown’s story can end in silence or rise again in brilliance.
A new $200,000 32-foot marquee for the Mineral Point Opera House from Sign Art Studio in Mount Horeb (which recently restored the 55-foot vertical sign for the Orpheum Theatre in Madison) is set to be installed in late August and lighted on Sept. 4. The 1915 marquee had fallen into disrepair and lacked lights at the front. It’s part of a $400,000 exterior project: new front doors and poster boxes, roof work and tuckpointing.
A recent $2.25 million interior restoration included upgrades to sprinklers, electricals, HVAC, dressing rooms/green rooms, and lighting and audio systems with new cushioned wood seats and carpeting, correct color schemes, and repairs to the ornate plaster. (In 2003, nearly $100,000 went to improve restroom facilities and to restore the lobby and ticket booth.) The city owns the theatre and rents it to the board for $1 yearly. A $100,000 matching grant for the marquee came from the National Park Service in 2021. The Trump administration revoked the grant this year, but the park service reapproved the grant. Designed by Claude and Stark of Madison (also the Orpheum Theatre there) and opened in February 1915 with “The Misleading Lady”, the 725-seat Mineral Point Municipal Theatre and Opera House hosted many famous stars and acts. But alterations over the decades cut capacity to 386 seats. The Mineral Point Opera House is now the planned venue for a new film society.
Panel says no to Orpheum reprieve
By Joe DiGiovanni Staff Writer
The city Landmarks Commission Wednesday night declined to recommend placing a six-month hold on razing the Orpheum Theater building.
Meanwhile, a city official warned that authorities should consider measures to rehabilitate the Kenosha Theater, 5915 Sixth Ave., which has been vacant for about 30 years.
Commission Member Louis Rugani’s proposal on the Orpheum was defeated, 5-2, after 90 minutes of sometimes heated debate. Rugani wanted the City Council to not appropriate money to raze the building. 5819-31 Sixth Ave., for six months so other options could be considered.
“I’m not saying, ‘Save the building’ anymore.” Rugani said. “If all the alternatives are exhausted, I’ll be the first one to say, ‘We tried.” "
Vernon Gerth, city chief of inspection, has said the city is about to seek offers from companies wishing to raze the building. He said the building could be down by the summer.
Alderman Lydia Spottswood, chairman of the commission, opposed Rugani’s proposal. She said the commission should meet with the city Redevelopment Authority to find out if the authority had plans to redevelop the area.
In addition, she said the commission should consider forming a task force to discuss the future of the four-story building. The building does not have landmark status.
At one point, Rugani and Spottswood each said the other was “out of order” during the meeting. Rugani spoke many times on the matter, holding the floor for several minutes.
Spottswood near the end of the debate interrupted Rugani to make a point. Rugani said, “You have a history of interrupting me and it won’t be tolerated.”
Rugani, who said he thought the building should have landmark status, later said he could continue talking as long as he had the floor and Spottswood quickly asked him if he was attempting to filibuster so no vote could be taken. Rugani moments later relinquished the floor.
Four downtown business owners and the manager of the Lakeshore Business Improvement District attended to voice support in razing the building.
“I look at the Orpheum build ing and I don’t see, at least in my layman’s eyes, much architectural significance,” said Michael Bjorn, 3813 16th Ave.
Bjorn and other downtown businessmen told the commission it would be difficult to redevelop that part of the neighborhood if the Orpheum still were standing. The theater in the Orpheum showed its last movie in the middle 1970s, officials said.
Gerth gave a rough estimate of $200,000 to raze the building. The city would pay the cost and place a special assessment on the owner, Trend Setters Inc: San Antonio.
Mayor John Antaramian, who did not attend the meeting, said in a telephone interview there currently was no money for rażing the building in the budget, but there were some areas in the Capital Improvements Plan that could be amended to pay for the removal.
Gerth also said the commission should consider what to do with the Kenosha Theater, which does have landmark status. He said the building has no heat, roof and water damage and other general deterioration.
“I have looked at it and it is in bad shape, unfortunately, Gerth said. "We need to conceńtrate on that building if we wish to save it.”
AEC Group Inc. Architectural Engineering Division SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION & FINDINGS KENOSHA/RHODE THEATRE STUDY MARCH 27, 1989
Investigations indicated a local theatre market area consisting of Kenosha and Racine counties in Wisconsin, population 258,000, and Lake County, Illinois, population in excess of 500,000, provides a potential local market of ¾ million people. Organized bus tours and effective tourism promotion can extend a theatre’s market area to over a 50 mile radius. This extended market area is especially important for a dinner theatre. This size market area has the potential to support both a performing art theatre and a dinner theatre. Through a questionnaire Kenosha and Racine counties were surveyed. Source of Lake County information is a 1987 art study. Questionnaires were circulated in Walworth County through the newspapers and a few by direct mailing with no success.
The questionnaire survey was conducted as follows: 1. Newspapers: Display ads in the Kenosha News, the Midweek Bulletin, the Kenosha News Courier and the Messenger. 2. Direct Mailing #1: Selection of individual’s names at a pre-determined interval established so that 406 selected names would span the entire Kenosha, Wisconsin Bell telephone directory. 3. Direct Mailing #2: Individual names (1048) selected from the Racine Theatre Guild mailing list. 4. Services and Professional Organizations: Members of nine organizations, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary clubs and the County Bar and the County Dental associations; completed questionnaire during their meetings.
Provide for a concession area in the main lobby and on the mezzanine level.
Redesign the dressing areas below and to the east of the stage creating stage storage behind the stage and new, more flexible dressing facilities below the stage.
The Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House both are capable and worthwhile to restore. The structural systems are sound in each building. Each have good design details that, when fully restored, will provide a House of Enchantment for theater goers of all ages. However, to be a viable asset to the community each theater must meet certain criterion.
Alterations over the years:
The major alterations are the twinning of the House, the abandoned balcony, and alterations to the mezzanine foyer. The marquee is not original. Original construction drawings have not been located, so all original features cannot be identified.
Decorating: The theatre has been cleaned and there has been limited use of the facilities. As a dinner theatre, complete renovation and decorating would be required.
The study has identified definite local support and persuasive reasons as to why the Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House have the potential to play a supportive role in the redevelopment of the Lakeshore and the revitalizing of the adjacent business district. The two theatres would support a lakeshore recreation/entertainment image and enhance the culture image of Kenosha. By expansion of the local entertainment facilities many area people will be able to participate and/or enjoy theatre art more often. The previous quoted comment is only one of many expressing this desire. The theatres, properly managed and promoted, will also bring people into the lakeshore area. New higher income housing in the immediate and adjacent areas will be an asset to the theatres.
General atmosphere after renovation/restoration: Spacious, ornate, impressive lobby and staircase. The House; more intimate relationship with performance, a more relaxed atmosphere, with well designed, orderly, decorative features.
Current general conditions: In considerably better condition. Some decay due to inadequate maintenance during recent years. Can be restored to original splendor.
Size - Seating, can influence the price of tickets for some events. 1,100/1,200 seating capacity on main floor and small balcony. Existing seats can be restored. Seats have been removed in balcony.
AEC Group Inc. Architectural Engineering Division SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION & FINDINGS KENOSHA/RHODE THEATRE STUDY MARCH 27, 1989 Investigations indicated a local theatre market area consisting of Kenosha and Racine counties in Wisconsin, population 258,000, and Lake County, Illinois, population in excess of 500,000, provides a potential local market of ¾ million people. Organized bus tours and effective tourism promotion can extend a theatre’s market area to over a 50 mile radius. This extended market area is especially important for a dinner theatre. This size market area has the potential to support both a performing art theatre and a dinner theatre. Through a questionnaire Kenosha and Racine counties were surveyed. Source of Lake County information is a 1987 art study. Questionnaires were circulated in Walworth County through the newspapers and a few by direct mailing with no success.
The questionnaire survey was conducted as follows: 1. Newspapers: Display ads in the Kenosha News, the Midweek Bulletin, the Kenosha News Courier and the Messenger. 2. Direct Mailing #1: Selection of individual’s names at a pre-determined interval established so that 406 selected names would span the entire Kenosha, Wisconsin Bell telephone directory. 3. Direct Mailing #2: Individual names (1048) selected from the Racine Theatre Guild mailing list. 4. Services and Professional Organizations: Members of nine organizations, Kiwanis, Lions, Rotary clubs and the County Bar and the County Dental associations; completed questionnaire during their meetings.
Provide for a concession area in the main lobby and on the mezzanine level.
Redesign the dressing areas below and to the east of the stage creating stage storage behind the stage and new, more flexible dressing facilities below the stage.
The Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House both are capable and worthwhile to restore. The structural systems are sound in each building. Each have good design details that, when fully restored, will provide a House of Enchantment for theater goers of all ages. However, to be a viable asset to the community each theater must meet certain criterion. 1. Have a defined purpose. 2. Provide quality entertainment at reasonable prices. 3. Facilities must be convenient and comfortable. 4. Be a year-round operation. 5. Develop a reputation that will draw beyond the local market area.
Be a part of a viable ‘People Collecting’ center with a ‘I would like to be there’ image.
Meet the needs for local performance participation.
Have sound management.
Both theatres appear, at this stage of the study, to have the potential to satisfy the criterion.
Alterations over the years:
Has only limited alterations. Most notable is the entrance and the missing marquee. Marble drinking fountain, decorative lighting fixtures and other decorative artifacts are missing.
Theatrical systems: Will require all new rigging, curtains, sound, and stage lighting systems. Projection equipment will be required.
Decorating: Complete cleaning and decorating of the entire theatre required.
Systems: Renovation of the General, Plumbing, Fire/Sprinkler, HVAC and Electrical systems of the Kenosha are detailed in the budget estimate.
As a restored performing art theatre the Kenosha will need the following: New restrooms on the main floor and rehabilitated restrooms on the mezzanine level. Relocation of the lower run of the rear exit stairs in the apartments to relocate the exit door to the south end of the building. Conversion of the north street level store front into a theatre office.
The study has identified definite local support and persuasive reasons as to why the Kenosha Theatre and the Rhode Opera House have the potential to play a supportive role in the redevelopment of the Lakeshore and the revitalizing of the adjacent business district. The two theatres would support a lakeshore recreation/entertainment image and enhance the culture image of Kenosha. By expansion of the local entertainment facilities many area people will be able to participate and/or enjoy theatre art more often. The previous quoted comment is only one of many expressing this desire. The theatres, properly managed and promoted, will also bring people into the lakeshore area. New higher income housing in the immediate and adjacent areas will be an asset to the theatres.
Comparisons of the features of the Kenosha Theatre - General atmosphere after renovation/restoration:
Impressive lobby, foyers and staircases. The House; spacious, elaborate, ornate, a theatrical extravaganza.
Current general conditions: Decayed from lack of use and maintenance for many years. Not completely secured from the elements. Can be restored to its original splendor.
Size - Seating, can influence the price of tickets for some events. 2,200/2,300 seating capacity on main floor and large balcony. Seats have been removed.