Sorry to say, but there are no ‘good’ photos of the VENETIAN known to exist, if one means 8x10 glossies, but there are three small, black and white images of the auditorium in the “Exhibitor’s Herald” magazine of April 16, 1927. One could request this on microfilm via Inter-Library Loan at one’s local library. They are in an article titled: “Elaborate New VENETIAN THEATRE; Wisconsin’s First Atmospheric Theatre is Opened in Milwaukee.” The article is two pages, but the photocopy that was sent to me does not show the page numbers.
A sketchy rendering of the proposed auditorium is in the “Milwaukee Journal (or possibly Sentinel”) of Sunday, March 6, 1927, front page of the Real Estate section. It is available as the above magazine, which are photos, not drawings. There was the same rendering plus a photo of the exterior in the opening day ad in the March 18th issue, 1927, though they are small and poor resolution. I have only xeroxes of these which would not photocopy well, but if that would satisfy you, click on my name in blue below for my E-mail address and send me your mailing address for the photocopies to be sent.
A view of the 1940s marquee, as well as four views of the concession stand through the years are held by the Theatre Historical Society’s Archive in Elmhurst, Ill 15 miles west of Chicago. They may well have obtained other views I am unaware of since I contacted them about this theater in 1980. Go to their web site: www.HistoricTheatres.org as to how to contact them and for directions to their Archive.
Milwaukee usually keeps the blueprints of buildings on microfilm, but in this case all that survives is the seating plan. It is available in a large printout via the Milw. Records Center, Municipal Bldg., 841 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53233; 414-286-3393. It is also possible that the Central Library’s Local History Room (www.mpl.org) (414-286-3061) may have acquired something new, and in the same building is the Wis. Architectural Archive, 414-286-3897 which occasionally has something, and also the Milw. County Historical Society’s library, Third St. at Kilbourn, Milwaukee WI 53233; 414-273-8288.
One might also inquire of the Urban Archives of the Meir Library, University of Wis.-Milw., 414-229-5402. Ask what they have and how best to get copies.
Best Wishes, Jim Rankin
Ross, what I meant was that no matter if I type ‘kon tiki’ into the Current Name, Previous Name, or Description fields as combined or separate searches, it always says “Oops….” and no result is returned when executing a Theatres search. We can hardly expect people to find it by means of News or Links search if they don’t know that any such name existed, as when they might be doing a random search for a term or name.
“Style” is not the same thing as “Type”; ‘Atmospheric’ is a type or class of theatre, as opposed to ‘Standard’ (or ‘Hard Top’), whereas ‘Style’ denotes the theme or period of the decor, and in this case appears to mainly Italinate, as in Italian Baroque, even though there is technically no such style. Italy did foster a number design stylings that did lead to a certain look, and that is what the term ‘style’ is all about. Perhaps the guys did not want to create yet another field to be filled and searchable, so limited the fields to ‘style.’ There is a reasonable limit to how many searchable fields a site can contain and still do its job within good time.
Yes, Patrick, mistakes do happen, but due to your diligence, they happen less often here than on other sites. As Patsy says, you do a fantastic job. Jim …. P.S. I do hope you will find time to list the KON-TIKI as an alternate name.
This seems to be a duplicate of an earlier announcement, but the location for it on this site is: /theaters/9916/
There really should be a listing for it as KON-TIKI as an alternate name so that those looking for it under that will find it.
Milwaukee architect John Roth Jr. was engaged to design a modest 790 seat movie house in 1911 for one Andrew Guttenberg. The building’s pre-1930 address was 1175 Holton St. and was a brick building of 36x140 ft., with wooden floor and roof and seating for 696 according to the city’s inspection report the following year. The boiler room steam heated the building from beneath the stage platform, but there was never a stagehouse. It was a typical box beams and pilasters decor with modest draperies at the doorways to the two aisles, but the Inspector ordered them removed as a potential hazard for fleeing patrons. There were three ceiling ventilators and two floor vents to accommodate the summer heat, but this structure was long before air cooling.
In 1927 the local architect A.L. Seidenschwartz was contracted to turn the then no longer competitive neighborhood cinema into an ‘atmospheric’ or stars-and-clouds design which he did in a most imaginative way, as displayed on the microfilmed blueprints kept at the city’s records center. A new concrete floor replaced the wood, and illuminated glass urns topped the new facade line along the side walls but only inches from the wall with a line of blue horizon lights behind to cast upon the new dark blue plaster vault of a sky. There may have been electric ‘stars’ in the ceiling, but one cannot be sure today after years of rain damaged the ceiling before the place was bought by the Church of the Philippians who run it to this day. They had to make extensive remodelings and repairs, including a new alter wall built over the original screen, but some of the ornament remains. The facade was also completely redesigned in 1927 and one can still see elements of the stepped gable front, with the church’s more modern adaptations to the street level doors and former island box office. A modest, shallow lobby contains some ceramic tiles for decor as well as some antique lanterns of light bulbs suspended from the ceiling. The neighborhood is not prosperous, so one can only hope that this remnant of the city’s six ‘atmopherics’ will remain long enough to someday be restored to its charming second birth.
I could find no images on the Cinema Tour site, so your best bet is to contact the Theatre Historical Society of America via their Ex. Dir., Richard Sklenar, listed on the first page of their web site at: www.HistoricTheatres.org
They have a huge Archive which may have the image you seek. Best Wishes.
Here is the story Bryan refers to without having to Register, which is just a means to sell your name and address to dozens of others; they then profit from your lack of privacy.
Date: 10 Jan 2005 14:19:59 -0000
From:
To:
Subject: [Historic Movie Palaces] Digest Number 75
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 09:46:20 -0800 (PST)
From:
Subject: Waukegan theater a costly gem
This story was sent to you by: Louis Rugani
GENESEE, Waukegan Il.
Waukegan theater a costly gem
Genesee’s restoration price soars while revenue falls short
By Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporter
January 9, 2005
With its domed ceiling and 18-foot crystal chandelier, the newly
restored Genesee Theatre was designed to be the crown jewel in a sweeping
revitalization of Waukegan’s moribund downtown.
But despite a gala opening last month with two sold-out shows by
comedian Bill Cosby, some residents are howling about decisions that nearly
doubled the project’s price while halving the number of shows initially
promised.
Originally envisioned as a moneymaker that would cost $14 million, pay
off the city’s bonds and draw 500,000 people annually, the
Waukegan-owned theater is now expected to operate in the red for years. Just a
handful of shows have been announced so far.
As money woes piled up—the costs ballooned to $24 million—so did
controversy. Ray Shepardson, a nationally known theater restoration expert
hired to run the project and book a packed year of shows, was fired
months before the opening.
Project critics, citing the cost overruns and construction delays that
plagued the theater restoration, now question the city’s ability to
handle an overhaul of its lakefront and downtown that would cost hundreds
of millions of public and private dollars.
“It’s almost mind-boggling,” said Newton Finn, legal counsel for the
local watchdog group, Taskforce on Waukegan Neighborhoods. “If that
project is run the same way, that project is doomed to fail.”
Pointing to, among other issues, a $13.2 million no-bid contract the
city awarded to a company run by sons of a project insider, the task
force has called for an independent audit of the Genesee finances.
From Chicago to Elgin to Hinsdale, city officials and preservationists
have attempted to revive similar old theaters, often with limited
success as money remains scarce and developers seek to turn them—and their
usually central locations—into condos, stores and office space.
These relics of the past are almost never preserved because turning a
profit can prove difficult and restoring them can be tricky, experts
say.
Waukegan officials and board members of the non-profit Friends of the
Historic Genesee Theatre, which raised money for the restoration,
acknowledge their project ran into trouble. But they also point to the
stunning result—a lavishly renovated theater that in October sold out
Cosby’s two shows in about three hours.
“It couldn’t be better,” said Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde.
The easy thing, said Waukegan director of governmental services Ray
Vukovich, would have been to allow the 77-year-old theater to decay and
eventually face a wrecking ball.
“Looking back, there are a lot of things I would recommend we would
have done differently, after you have been through this mess,” said
Vukovich, who oversaw the project for the city.
Waukegan officials blame the cost overruns on GSI Architects, a
Cleveland-based company the city hired to design the renovation, but then
fired as problems piled up. They also say the price tag grew as the seating
capacity was expanded.
Costs underestimated
Things went awry almost immediately. GSI underestimated how much the
project would cost, saying it could get the job done for $14 million.
“We found out how wrong” they were, said Hyde, who said he felt like he
was “gullible” in accepting GSI’s original estimates.
Many line items in GSI’s original budget wound up costing two or even
three times more than estimated. For example, GSI originally tagged the
stage and seating area expansion at $1.26 million. The work actually
cost about $3 million.
Representatives of GSI did not return calls.
For much of the project, Waukegan didn’t have a construction manager, a
situation that can lead to trouble, said Bruce D'Agostino, executive
director of the McLean, Va.-based Construction Management Association of
America, a national trade organization with 2,300 members.
A construction manager keeps tabs on costs, schedules and change orders
while working independently of architects and contractors, D'Agostino
said.
The fact the theater would cost $10 million more than initially
estimated took Vukovich by surprise when he first found out around April 2003,
two years after the project began.
One problem in determining what happened is the lack of change
orders—written authorizations of changes, which can significantly add to the
cost or deadline of a project. Vukovich said there are “none
whatsoever.”
Change orders were not used because contractors managed to stay within
their budgets and didn’t go back to the City Council for more money,
said architect Steve Kolber, who was hired by the city in 2003 to act as
a construction manager.
The problem, Kolber said, was that those budgets were larger than GSI
originally estimated.
Kolber, who admitted that the frequent delays that pushed back the
theater opening a year or more “technically” should have required change
orders, said there still is a paper trail —files of receipts and
payouts. “You can document exactly where all the monies went,” he said.
A few months after learning the project was over budget and behind, the
city fired GSI in the summer of 2003. Desperate to complete the work,
officials turned to local Pickus Companies, already a contractor on the
job.
Conflicts of interest seen
Waiving its bidding procedures in November 2003, the City Council voted
to enter into a contract of up to $13.2 million with Pickus Companies
run by sons of Friends board secretary Allan Pickus, even though another
company, St. Louis-based Clayco Construction, was preparing to submit a
proposal for $570,000 less. Calls to Allan Pickus were not returned.
Pickus companies officials would not comment.
City attorney Brian Grach said the City Council is allowed to waive bid
procedures with a two-thirds vote of the aldermen.
As Pickus Companies readied to finish the theater, they awarded a $1.9
million contract to install air conditioning and heating to low-bidder
Air-Con, a company run by Fred Abdula, a member of the Friends board
and board chairman until November 2003.
Those moves, and the no-bid contract, caused some residents to question
how board members so intimately involved with the project could benefit
from it financially.
“I am a little surprised that people who hold contracts for major
projects are allowed to be on the board,” said Cheryl Ptasienski, co-chair
of the Taskforce on Waukegan Neighborhoods. “To the general public, it
looks like a pretty big conflict of interest.”
As the city poured more money into the project, the Friends struggled
to raise $4 million to fund Shepardson’s plan to open with a debut
season of hundreds of shows. So far, the board has raised about $1.5
million.
With the theater’s opening looming, the Friends ousted Shepardson, who
says he is still owed $97,000 in back pay, and replaced him with SMG, a
Philadelphia-based company hired to run the venue.
In a management plan presented to the city in July, the company
announced it would start with 86 shows in the first year, with a deficit of
about $900,000 over the first four years. In the fifth year, SMG’s plan
shows a $17,000 profit for the city, with about 124 shows.
Meanwhile, the task force is calling for a public hearing to discuss
the cost overruns, Ptasienski said.
“The whole thing is that it is 200 percent over budget,” she said. “Two
hundred percent over budget is unrealistic without getting any
answers.”
The TOY theatre was not named so because it was small, though 460 seats would make it far from the largest, but due to the fact that the principal original tenant of the six story commercial building was Toy’s Chinese Restaurant. The skeleton letter light bulb sign projected from the facade with the upper frame reading “Toy’s Chop Suey” and the lower frame reading “Toy Theatre” with lines at bottom to put in the title or actor of the day. A loggia with upturned eaves of clay tiles adorned the second story above the entry on the floor below. Along with brass Oriental lanterns illuminating the loggia, the copings flanking the steep mansard of tiles at the roof line were terminal coping pieces of dragons in terra cotta to further advance the theme. While nothing is known of the theatre’s portion of the building, it is known that the restaurant sported winged dragon sculptures atop the square, dark wood columns and beams, so likely the cinema was similarly decorated. The building was most notable for housing many of the city’s early film exchanges in the early days. By time the TOY ceased operating in 1924, the movie palaces were coming upon the scene, and modest cinemas like this were difficulty to adapt in so small a size, so conversion to other uses was customary. When the building was demolished to make way for a new brick office building (itself demolished in the 80s), Milwaukee lost one of its few Chinese themed structures, though surviving examples of a unique Chinese-themed chain of gasoline stations from that day do still keep the sight alive in some areas. Ironically, the Toy restaurant survived several moves over the years and only went out of business recently, long after any memory of a Chinese theatre that probably never showed Chinese language films was long gone too. The TOY was also called the PARADISE and the IMPERIAL at different times. The TOY was designed by local architect Alexander Guth.
Henry Trinz formed a small chain of theatres between Milw. and Chicago. This must have been one of his earliest since the term “Electric Theatre” was actually a British import to distinguish movie (or ‘electric’) cinemas from traditional theatres. The building still stands as a furniture store, but nothing remains to suggest that it ever showed movies, but then Nickelodeons were just really storefronts anyway.
The correct address would still be N. Green Bay Ave. if it were still standing. (Martin Luther King Dr. is really N. Third St.) Sad to say, nothing is known of this place.
It should be noted that the SHOREWOOD is named after the northern suburb of Milw. it is in along the shore of Lake Michigan. Some 1940s photos of the facade reveal that the theatre had a 16-foot wide entry, 45 feet back from the curb line, with the island box office at the sidewalk line. Above it was a large, semicircular domed canopy rather than a true marquee, the only name sign being a simple double sided rectangle projecting from a multipaned double casement window and balconette on the second story of the two story building. The other seven bays of the facade were also of mottled brown brick with single equilateral arches, or terra cotta topped triple arches in the center bay of the commercial building. The second floor fenestration was double casement windows, with a mock mansard of Spanish tiles on hips above which was a parapet of rectangular grilles formed of white terra cotta squares set into matching rectangles set into the brown brick with matching white terra cotta coping above. In lieu of a marquee (apparently prohibited by this ritzy, leafy suburb at the time) were two large billboards of a demure design flanking the entry area at the sidewalk line, and evidently illuminated from above. The canopy had a single row of light bulbs about its lower edge and, no doubt, underneath, but no other display lighting is apparent. Nothing is known of the interior.
The OASIS never had an Egyptian decor; the reason for the name is unknown. It was a typical box beams-and-pilasters decor, that was not materially remodeled when it changed names. It is in a decaying neighborhood and now is a tavern/bar.
Great news indeed, Howard! At least the younger genreations in a large city will still get to experience what going to a movie palace was like! Now I can only hope to interest Clear Channel in eventually coming here to Milwaukee to rescue the splendid former WARNER, now called the GRAND. It too is partially Art Deco, but much different from the BOYD. Clear Channel has done wonders in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere; let’s hope they can continue!
Benjamin mentions that Ben Hall’s book was essentially an ode to the Roxy, and in that he is essentially right (it is a standard literary tool to select a subject to be the focus of a book so as to make the narrative more personal and relevant to the reader), but it might surprise him to know that while I will defend the Roxy if necessary, it was and is not my favorite movie palace. It was a themed decor if by that one means that the decor can be realistically identified as of a particular period, as opposed to mere ‘anonymous’ or eclectic ornament to create a modest attempt at decor, such as was characteristic of most opera houses. The Roxy’s decor was basically Spanish Baroque, but it, like virtually all movie palaces, was not pure and depended upon a liberal interpretation of any theme designation. RCMH, in contrast, was a more pure theme, in that it was an Art Deco/Art Moderne interpretation not dependent upon styles of ornament to define it. For this reason and others, it is probably best that one not describe the Music Hall as being a movie palace, even if its erection did realistically mark the end of that era, coincidentally. The Music Hall really falls into a class of its own, not only due to its gargantuan size, but also due to the show policy that it promoted and then succeeded in delivering for longer than many true movie palaces/presentation houses existed! It could be called a “Presentation House” by virtue of its performances with films, but it is really more in the category of a ‘Pagentorium,’ (my own coinage for lack of a better term), a less populated class of specialty structures such as the OLYMPIA in London of 1911, though such structures may be more akin to the Civic Auditorium class than theatres. Note Simon Tidworth’s photo of this on page 198 of his excellent book: “Theatres: An Architectural and Cultural History,” Praeger Publishers, London and New York, 1973. (He makes the sad statement on his page 187: “The interwar years belong to the cinema, an architectural romance in its own right, but one that regretfully cannot be told here.”)
Too much speculation about the Roxy’s ownership and that of the land beneath it would be counterproductive, so I suggest that Benjamin or any other New Yorkers interested in this matter go to the Register of Deeds or such other local office as contains the records of legal land ownership and contracts for constructions, to determine once and for all who owned the land in question and whether or not there was a legal tie between the hotel and theatre owners. This may be tedious research, but history is founded on finding facts such as these. Date of construction of the original hotel should also be there, along with its chain of ownership through the years. Who knows but that Roxy himself may be mentioned among the documents. If any reader is in the Chicago area, the collection of author Ben Hall is maintained at the Theatre Historical Soc. headquarters outside of Chicago (www.HistoricTheatres.org) and one might go to their Archive to see if Mr. Hall had retained any such records.
I wish those commenting on the ROXY building would go to the trouble of looking at photos of it and the extensive description given in what is probably the single largest writing about it: the 1961 landmark book, “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall. It is available at most large libraries or they can order it for you via Inter-Library Loan. It can even be purchased in any of three editions at such as Amazon.com. Therein will be seen on pages 3 and 79ff, that the five floors above the ticket lobby were devoted to offices of the theatre, and not to the adjacent Taft hotel, then called the Manger. As explained in the book, the hotel did own the land under the lobby areas, so when the newly remodeled Taft wanted the land under the Roxy, it merely declined to renew the lease. Since the Roxy was then in the 50s not exactly prospering with first run films, it was likely a good deal for the Roxy’s owners to be able to not have to pay the lease any longer, and also to sell all the remainder of the land with the provision that the theatre be razed. Once again, the soaring land value under a theatre determined its fate, as money always will.
Yes, the ticket lobby was a low ceiling area, and yes, it was no doubt partially for the ‘gee whiz’ effect of then proceeding into the “Rotunda” and all its vast glory, but it was also practical since the Roxy had the room to allow building five floors above the ticket lobby and adjacent low ceiling areas to create the space for offices, mechanical room and ushers' lockers. It is the windows for these rooms that one sees in the page 3 photo. See the cross section drawing on page 82. The Roxy like many theatres used the space above the entry for a Musician’s gallery and in its case also the console of a pipe organ, something for which there was precious little room at the floor level, what with perhaps thousands waiting in the huge Oval (actually, an ellipse) for the next show. MARQUEE magazine of the Theatre Historical Soc. has many other photos to verify this.
To follow on Benjamin’s comments: “also think that the clean lines of RCMH makes it more distinctive – especially among movie palaces! – and also more "photogenic” (i.e., a beauty that easily comes across in photos).“ This comment ignores the fact that different owners of the hotel and the Roxy were faced with the common dilemma facing any builder: you can’t control what the neighbor’s building does, or will, look like and how that impacts one’s own building. The Roxy was built to communicate its lavish decor on the exterior, but the existing Manger hotel was not about to redesign itself to address the advent of the Roxy with its more ornate exterior, the two structures having much different purposes. Thus the Roxy may not have been "sleek” as the RCMH done in a different style in a sky scraper structure would be, but it did have the visual distinctiveness amid other nearby buildings to set it apart form them, as most any theatre tries to do.
“I also think that the Roxy interior was maybe more overwhelming for being "gargantuan” than for being visually engaging. (Personally, I think as a kid I was my fascinated by spectacular “themed” theaters, like the Loew’s atmospherics, than by the Roxy.“ If one prefers ‘atmospherics’ (the ‘stars and clouds’ theatres of the 20s) then it is understandable that one would not see anything wonderful in the Roxy, which was diametrically the opposite, or ‘hard top’ school of decor. I find the photos of the Roxy’s interior to reveal a very engaging interior, perhaps not the most artistic and memorable on all levels, but certainly overwhelming if for no other reason than vastness. True, it may not actually have had the vaunted "6000” seats that the RCMH has, but it was indeed vast and “gargantuan” from most any other theatrical definition of the term. One reading of the book will take on into its luxurious appointments and let one see that it had almost all the appointments of the Music Hall without a gleaming complex of buildings to surround and enframe it.
Some may have seen the Roxy as “old hat” when the Music Hall opened, but Roxy himself did not abandon it. As related in the book, he was forced out by new owners who were desperately trying to cut costs as the Depression was descending. Roxy was invited to help with the RCMH opening and it was publicized as having this ‘master’ at hand, and no doubt with a very nice salary to boot, but it seems that he did not get a private box there as he did at the Roxy. When any new theatre opened in those days, there was a concentrated effort to mine the press for maximum publicity, and with the Rockefeller’s fortune behind them, the Music Hall did indeed have the press department it needed to make it seem to eclipse all previous ‘palaces’ even though it never termed itself that. The Hall might have been said to ‘stand upon the shoulders’ of its many predecessors, and would have done anything to make other theatres seem ‘old hat’ if for no other reason than to ensure patronage which means profits, the purpose for which it was built.
I admire both theatres for what they were and see no competition between them in memory, though of course, the Music Hall can today dismiss the Roxy as merely an inflated memory if it wishes. Those of us who study theatre history will always know otherwise.
Information about the kindred Polynesian themed KON-TIKI theatre along with photos is found here: http://cinematreasures.org/news/12583_0_1_0_C/
Such a pity that both of these unique designs are lost to us, apparently with no photos of thier interiors at opening.
For those born too late, it may sound curious to name a theatre “KON-TIKI” and wonder at the abstruse imagination of the builder, but to set history straight, it may interest readers to know that the name is that of a Polynesian who was later deified, and the name is drawn from the famous documentary novel by the late Thor Heyerdahl writing in Norwegian, as the following excerpt from a review of his book at www.amazon.com: shows, making the name of the theatre appropriate to the day and age it was conceived, since the hullabaloo then surrounding the publishing of the book made it a cause celeb:
“ Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure — a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage.
On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, whales, and sharks, they sighted land — the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.
Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage — a magnificent saga of men against the sea."
The now lost KON-TIKI theatre is summarized in these posts here at CT: http://cinematreasures.org/news/12583_0_1_0_C/
Last day photos are included there. A great pity is that the interior at opening is not shown so that we all might have known of this unique design.
After weeks of investigation, the capitol city of Wisconsin has determined that its ORPHEUM theatre was indeed a victim of arson, not once, but at least twice, and a third time is suspected. Read the account here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: View link
Film reports were shown on Milwaukee’s WTMJ-4, channel 4 TV, which showed only the exterior of the closed theatre with notices on the doors promising reopening.
The Fire Marshall asks for any tips and a reward of $5,000 is being offered.
It would seem that not everyone appreciates theatres, but at least most Wisconsinites must like them else a city 80 miles from Madison wouldn’t have run the story, possibly to be repeated at later broadcasts. (The story originated with the Wis. State Journal, but I couldn’t find it there.)
From Porter’s comment it appears that it no longer drapes in changeable patterns, merely goes down with a horizontal line along the bottom swags. There is a photo in MARQUEE magazine of the Theatre Historical Soc. of Third Qtr. 1999, page 23 showing the original crossbar-and-peg pattern selection switch matrix, and if such could be done in an electromechanical method, it could certainly be done today with electronic stepping motors via computer or push button. They were just too cheap to do it, apparently.
It could be simply that the chemistry of paints has changed considerably since the 1920s and today we can obtain much brighter pigments than was possible then. Of course, it is possible to determine original color and brilliance and duplicate it with careful paint sourcing and mixing, but something tells me that they weren’t about to go to that expense of color matching in view of all the other expenses of restoration.
It is unlikely in the extreme that any insurance company demanded a net below the ceiling as part of their policy coverage, but since insurance lives on premiums paid by the insured, and the insured can only pay premiums if they are making money, then any company would cooperate in any scheme to prosper the insured if no one would attach any suspicion of compliance to the insurance company. Insurers are very savvy as to what can damage an insured and foster a claim — something to be avoided — so they would have barred any theatre from employing any method that might cause a claim. Standard language to this effect is in all policies, even in a homeowners' policy to the effect that one cannot put any property in jeopardy. Especially in Hollywood are such antics to be expected, and the insurance industry has long worked with them and knows the score. As to THX, that was an attempt at greater fidelity; “Sensurround” was strictly intentional rumbling noise, and thus a very limited gimmick in the face of Dolby, THX and other greater fidelity systems which can virtually shatter ears in normal use anyway.
Getting DVDs is easy nowadays, but, sad to say, getting performance rights to them in a public place is not. The owner of each title must be tracked down and persuaded to give written permission to use the source of their property that they designate, usually for a very stiff fee! This is one reason that ‘vintage movies’ festivals seldom occur nowadays outside of non-profits for limited audiences.
It is good that Porter Faulkner chose to mention that brochure for the grand reopening with its swatch of the contour front curtain preceding the restoration, since it is a good visual record of the fabulous place today. I too bought a copy, though on-line from their ‘Gift Shop’ at their site: www.RadioCity.com where they sell it via credit card payment only, and via UPS shipment only. For those outside of New York area not able to meet those terms, one could write to its publisher: Radio City Entertainment, Two Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY 10121-0091 USA. The 48-page glossy softbound is titled: “RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL: A Legend Is Reborn” and while having a poor glue binding, and being focused more on what occurred there over the years than on the building, there is that invaluable swatch as well as a spectacular vintage painting/drawing of the understage area via a cutaway view that shows just how those three giant stage elevators work. As a side note, the woman who wrote the brochure should have done better research, since right in the photo of the famous contour curtain can be seen to those knowing how such things work, that it was a 15-point suspension, not 13 as she claims in her caption on page 20. She forgot that there are also lines on each end of the curtain off stage that help pull the entire mass up out of sight and into storage in the apparent ‘ceiling.’
It is a shame that they are evidently not using the curtain at every performance, since I know from seeing it move in filmstrips, that were I a tourist there visiting the place, I would definitely want to see that lustrous ‘waterfall’ of drapery rising and descending as no other curtain of such size any longer does on these shores. If Porter did not see it move when he paid to go in there, then he was cheated, as will be anyone else denied this spectacle!
AS anyone who read my comment carefully will know, I didn’t say it wasn’t fun, I simply said it wasn’t real in the sense of being able to damage any theatre. I enjoyed the film in “Sensurround” also, but I was under no illusion as to where the sounds were coming from and what was going to happen to me or the theatre during “Earthquake.” Further insight into the whole thing is the development and popularity then of true four channel sound, as on the ‘quad’ amplifiers that nobody could seem to live without then. Also, new high Q ferromagnetic high compliance speakers had just come upon the scene making the subwoofer possible at a smaller size and price than huge pro equipment, and I will bet that the speaker makers were in cahoots with the film maker to to promote this ‘new’ sound. “Now your living room can sound just like the theatre!!” is it easy to remember then saying. It may have all been fun, but just let’s keep the idea of old, falling-down movie palaces out of it!
Sorry to say, but there are no ‘good’ photos of the VENETIAN known to exist, if one means 8x10 glossies, but there are three small, black and white images of the auditorium in the “Exhibitor’s Herald” magazine of April 16, 1927. One could request this on microfilm via Inter-Library Loan at one’s local library. They are in an article titled: “Elaborate New VENETIAN THEATRE; Wisconsin’s First Atmospheric Theatre is Opened in Milwaukee.” The article is two pages, but the photocopy that was sent to me does not show the page numbers.
A sketchy rendering of the proposed auditorium is in the “Milwaukee Journal (or possibly Sentinel”) of Sunday, March 6, 1927, front page of the Real Estate section. It is available as the above magazine, which are photos, not drawings. There was the same rendering plus a photo of the exterior in the opening day ad in the March 18th issue, 1927, though they are small and poor resolution. I have only xeroxes of these which would not photocopy well, but if that would satisfy you, click on my name in blue below for my E-mail address and send me your mailing address for the photocopies to be sent.
A view of the 1940s marquee, as well as four views of the concession stand through the years are held by the Theatre Historical Society’s Archive in Elmhurst, Ill 15 miles west of Chicago. They may well have obtained other views I am unaware of since I contacted them about this theater in 1980. Go to their web site: www.HistoricTheatres.org as to how to contact them and for directions to their Archive.
Milwaukee usually keeps the blueprints of buildings on microfilm, but in this case all that survives is the seating plan. It is available in a large printout via the Milw. Records Center, Municipal Bldg., 841 N. Broadway, Milwaukee, WI 53233; 414-286-3393. It is also possible that the Central Library’s Local History Room (www.mpl.org) (414-286-3061) may have acquired something new, and in the same building is the Wis. Architectural Archive, 414-286-3897 which occasionally has something, and also the Milw. County Historical Society’s library, Third St. at Kilbourn, Milwaukee WI 53233; 414-273-8288.
One might also inquire of the Urban Archives of the Meir Library, University of Wis.-Milw., 414-229-5402. Ask what they have and how best to get copies.
Best Wishes, Jim Rankin
Ross, what I meant was that no matter if I type ‘kon tiki’ into the Current Name, Previous Name, or Description fields as combined or separate searches, it always says “Oops….” and no result is returned when executing a Theatres search. We can hardly expect people to find it by means of News or Links search if they don’t know that any such name existed, as when they might be doing a random search for a term or name.
“Style” is not the same thing as “Type”; ‘Atmospheric’ is a type or class of theatre, as opposed to ‘Standard’ (or ‘Hard Top’), whereas ‘Style’ denotes the theme or period of the decor, and in this case appears to mainly Italinate, as in Italian Baroque, even though there is technically no such style. Italy did foster a number design stylings that did lead to a certain look, and that is what the term ‘style’ is all about. Perhaps the guys did not want to create yet another field to be filled and searchable, so limited the fields to ‘style.’ There is a reasonable limit to how many searchable fields a site can contain and still do its job within good time.
Yes, Patrick, mistakes do happen, but due to your diligence, they happen less often here than on other sites. As Patsy says, you do a fantastic job. Jim …. P.S. I do hope you will find time to list the KON-TIKI as an alternate name.
This seems to be a duplicate of an earlier announcement, but the location for it on this site is:
/theaters/9916/
There really should be a listing for it as KON-TIKI as an alternate name so that those looking for it under that will find it.
Milwaukee architect John Roth Jr. was engaged to design a modest 790 seat movie house in 1911 for one Andrew Guttenberg. The building’s pre-1930 address was 1175 Holton St. and was a brick building of 36x140 ft., with wooden floor and roof and seating for 696 according to the city’s inspection report the following year. The boiler room steam heated the building from beneath the stage platform, but there was never a stagehouse. It was a typical box beams and pilasters decor with modest draperies at the doorways to the two aisles, but the Inspector ordered them removed as a potential hazard for fleeing patrons. There were three ceiling ventilators and two floor vents to accommodate the summer heat, but this structure was long before air cooling.
In 1927 the local architect A.L. Seidenschwartz was contracted to turn the then no longer competitive neighborhood cinema into an ‘atmospheric’ or stars-and-clouds design which he did in a most imaginative way, as displayed on the microfilmed blueprints kept at the city’s records center. A new concrete floor replaced the wood, and illuminated glass urns topped the new facade line along the side walls but only inches from the wall with a line of blue horizon lights behind to cast upon the new dark blue plaster vault of a sky. There may have been electric ‘stars’ in the ceiling, but one cannot be sure today after years of rain damaged the ceiling before the place was bought by the Church of the Philippians who run it to this day. They had to make extensive remodelings and repairs, including a new alter wall built over the original screen, but some of the ornament remains. The facade was also completely redesigned in 1927 and one can still see elements of the stepped gable front, with the church’s more modern adaptations to the street level doors and former island box office. A modest, shallow lobby contains some ceramic tiles for decor as well as some antique lanterns of light bulbs suspended from the ceiling. The neighborhood is not prosperous, so one can only hope that this remnant of the city’s six ‘atmopherics’ will remain long enough to someday be restored to its charming second birth.
I could find no images on the Cinema Tour site, so your best bet is to contact the Theatre Historical Society of America via their Ex. Dir., Richard Sklenar, listed on the first page of their web site at: www.HistoricTheatres.org
They have a huge Archive which may have the image you seek. Best Wishes.
Here is the story Bryan refers to without having to Register, which is just a means to sell your name and address to dozens of others; they then profit from your lack of privacy.
Date: 10 Jan 2005 14:19:59 -0000
From:
To:
Subject: [Historic Movie Palaces] Digest Number 75
Message: 1
Date: Sun, 9 Jan 2005 09:46:20 -0800 (PST)
From:
Subject: Waukegan theater a costly gem
This story was sent to you by: Louis Rugani
GENESEE, Waukegan Il.
Waukegan theater a costly gem
Genesee’s restoration price soars while revenue falls short
By Trine Tsouderos
Tribune staff reporter
January 9, 2005
With its domed ceiling and 18-foot crystal chandelier, the newly
restored Genesee Theatre was designed to be the crown jewel in a sweeping
revitalization of Waukegan’s moribund downtown.
But despite a gala opening last month with two sold-out shows by
comedian Bill Cosby, some residents are howling about decisions that nearly
doubled the project’s price while halving the number of shows initially
promised.
Originally envisioned as a moneymaker that would cost $14 million, pay
off the city’s bonds and draw 500,000 people annually, the
Waukegan-owned theater is now expected to operate in the red for years. Just a
handful of shows have been announced so far.
As money woes piled up—the costs ballooned to $24 million—so did
controversy. Ray Shepardson, a nationally known theater restoration expert
hired to run the project and book a packed year of shows, was fired
months before the opening.
Project critics, citing the cost overruns and construction delays that
plagued the theater restoration, now question the city’s ability to
handle an overhaul of its lakefront and downtown that would cost hundreds
of millions of public and private dollars.
“It’s almost mind-boggling,” said Newton Finn, legal counsel for the
local watchdog group, Taskforce on Waukegan Neighborhoods. “If that
project is run the same way, that project is doomed to fail.”
Pointing to, among other issues, a $13.2 million no-bid contract the
city awarded to a company run by sons of a project insider, the task
force has called for an independent audit of the Genesee finances.
From Chicago to Elgin to Hinsdale, city officials and preservationists
have attempted to revive similar old theaters, often with limited
success as money remains scarce and developers seek to turn them—and their
usually central locations—into condos, stores and office space.
These relics of the past are almost never preserved because turning a
profit can prove difficult and restoring them can be tricky, experts
say.
Waukegan officials and board members of the non-profit Friends of the
Historic Genesee Theatre, which raised money for the restoration,
acknowledge their project ran into trouble. But they also point to the
stunning result—a lavishly renovated theater that in October sold out
Cosby’s two shows in about three hours.
“It couldn’t be better,” said Waukegan Mayor Richard Hyde.
The easy thing, said Waukegan director of governmental services Ray
Vukovich, would have been to allow the 77-year-old theater to decay and
eventually face a wrecking ball.
“Looking back, there are a lot of things I would recommend we would
have done differently, after you have been through this mess,” said
Vukovich, who oversaw the project for the city.
Waukegan officials blame the cost overruns on GSI Architects, a
Cleveland-based company the city hired to design the renovation, but then
fired as problems piled up. They also say the price tag grew as the seating
capacity was expanded.
Costs underestimated
Things went awry almost immediately. GSI underestimated how much the
project would cost, saying it could get the job done for $14 million.
“We found out how wrong” they were, said Hyde, who said he felt like he
was “gullible” in accepting GSI’s original estimates.
Many line items in GSI’s original budget wound up costing two or even
three times more than estimated. For example, GSI originally tagged the
stage and seating area expansion at $1.26 million. The work actually
cost about $3 million.
Representatives of GSI did not return calls.
For much of the project, Waukegan didn’t have a construction manager, a
situation that can lead to trouble, said Bruce D'Agostino, executive
director of the McLean, Va.-based Construction Management Association of
America, a national trade organization with 2,300 members.
A construction manager keeps tabs on costs, schedules and change orders
while working independently of architects and contractors, D'Agostino
said.
The fact the theater would cost $10 million more than initially
estimated took Vukovich by surprise when he first found out around April 2003,
two years after the project began.
One problem in determining what happened is the lack of change
orders—written authorizations of changes, which can significantly add to the
cost or deadline of a project. Vukovich said there are “none
whatsoever.”
Change orders were not used because contractors managed to stay within
their budgets and didn’t go back to the City Council for more money,
said architect Steve Kolber, who was hired by the city in 2003 to act as
a construction manager.
The problem, Kolber said, was that those budgets were larger than GSI
originally estimated.
Kolber, who admitted that the frequent delays that pushed back the
theater opening a year or more “technically” should have required change
orders, said there still is a paper trail —files of receipts and
payouts. “You can document exactly where all the monies went,” he said.
A few months after learning the project was over budget and behind, the
city fired GSI in the summer of 2003. Desperate to complete the work,
officials turned to local Pickus Companies, already a contractor on the
job.
Conflicts of interest seen
Waiving its bidding procedures in November 2003, the City Council voted
to enter into a contract of up to $13.2 million with Pickus Companies
run by sons of Friends board secretary Allan Pickus, even though another
company, St. Louis-based Clayco Construction, was preparing to submit a
proposal for $570,000 less. Calls to Allan Pickus were not returned.
Pickus companies officials would not comment.
City attorney Brian Grach said the City Council is allowed to waive bid
procedures with a two-thirds vote of the aldermen.
As Pickus Companies readied to finish the theater, they awarded a $1.9
million contract to install air conditioning and heating to low-bidder
Air-Con, a company run by Fred Abdula, a member of the Friends board
and board chairman until November 2003.
Those moves, and the no-bid contract, caused some residents to question
how board members so intimately involved with the project could benefit
from it financially.
“I am a little surprised that people who hold contracts for major
projects are allowed to be on the board,” said Cheryl Ptasienski, co-chair
of the Taskforce on Waukegan Neighborhoods. “To the general public, it
looks like a pretty big conflict of interest.”
As the city poured more money into the project, the Friends struggled
to raise $4 million to fund Shepardson’s plan to open with a debut
season of hundreds of shows. So far, the board has raised about $1.5
million.
With the theater’s opening looming, the Friends ousted Shepardson, who
says he is still owed $97,000 in back pay, and replaced him with SMG, a
Philadelphia-based company hired to run the venue.
In a management plan presented to the city in July, the company
announced it would start with 86 shows in the first year, with a deficit of
about $900,000 over the first four years. In the fifth year, SMG’s plan
shows a $17,000 profit for the city, with about 124 shows.
Meanwhile, the task force is calling for a public hearing to discuss
the cost overruns, Ptasienski said.
“The whole thing is that it is 200 percent over budget,” she said. “Two
hundred percent over budget is unrealistic without getting any
answers.”
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
The TOY theatre was not named so because it was small, though 460 seats would make it far from the largest, but due to the fact that the principal original tenant of the six story commercial building was Toy’s Chinese Restaurant. The skeleton letter light bulb sign projected from the facade with the upper frame reading “Toy’s Chop Suey” and the lower frame reading “Toy Theatre” with lines at bottom to put in the title or actor of the day. A loggia with upturned eaves of clay tiles adorned the second story above the entry on the floor below. Along with brass Oriental lanterns illuminating the loggia, the copings flanking the steep mansard of tiles at the roof line were terminal coping pieces of dragons in terra cotta to further advance the theme. While nothing is known of the theatre’s portion of the building, it is known that the restaurant sported winged dragon sculptures atop the square, dark wood columns and beams, so likely the cinema was similarly decorated. The building was most notable for housing many of the city’s early film exchanges in the early days. By time the TOY ceased operating in 1924, the movie palaces were coming upon the scene, and modest cinemas like this were difficulty to adapt in so small a size, so conversion to other uses was customary. When the building was demolished to make way for a new brick office building (itself demolished in the 80s), Milwaukee lost one of its few Chinese themed structures, though surviving examples of a unique Chinese-themed chain of gasoline stations from that day do still keep the sight alive in some areas. Ironically, the Toy restaurant survived several moves over the years and only went out of business recently, long after any memory of a Chinese theatre that probably never showed Chinese language films was long gone too. The TOY was also called the PARADISE and the IMPERIAL at different times. The TOY was designed by local architect Alexander Guth.
Henry Trinz formed a small chain of theatres between Milw. and Chicago. This must have been one of his earliest since the term “Electric Theatre” was actually a British import to distinguish movie (or ‘electric’) cinemas from traditional theatres. The building still stands as a furniture store, but nothing remains to suggest that it ever showed movies, but then Nickelodeons were just really storefronts anyway.
The correct address would still be N. Green Bay Ave. if it were still standing. (Martin Luther King Dr. is really N. Third St.) Sad to say, nothing is known of this place.
It should be noted that the SHOREWOOD is named after the northern suburb of Milw. it is in along the shore of Lake Michigan. Some 1940s photos of the facade reveal that the theatre had a 16-foot wide entry, 45 feet back from the curb line, with the island box office at the sidewalk line. Above it was a large, semicircular domed canopy rather than a true marquee, the only name sign being a simple double sided rectangle projecting from a multipaned double casement window and balconette on the second story of the two story building. The other seven bays of the facade were also of mottled brown brick with single equilateral arches, or terra cotta topped triple arches in the center bay of the commercial building. The second floor fenestration was double casement windows, with a mock mansard of Spanish tiles on hips above which was a parapet of rectangular grilles formed of white terra cotta squares set into matching rectangles set into the brown brick with matching white terra cotta coping above. In lieu of a marquee (apparently prohibited by this ritzy, leafy suburb at the time) were two large billboards of a demure design flanking the entry area at the sidewalk line, and evidently illuminated from above. The canopy had a single row of light bulbs about its lower edge and, no doubt, underneath, but no other display lighting is apparent. Nothing is known of the interior.
The OASIS never had an Egyptian decor; the reason for the name is unknown. It was a typical box beams-and-pilasters decor, that was not materially remodeled when it changed names. It is in a decaying neighborhood and now is a tavern/bar.
Great news indeed, Howard! At least the younger genreations in a large city will still get to experience what going to a movie palace was like! Now I can only hope to interest Clear Channel in eventually coming here to Milwaukee to rescue the splendid former WARNER, now called the GRAND. It too is partially Art Deco, but much different from the BOYD. Clear Channel has done wonders in New York, Chicago, and elsewhere; let’s hope they can continue!
Benjamin mentions that Ben Hall’s book was essentially an ode to the Roxy, and in that he is essentially right (it is a standard literary tool to select a subject to be the focus of a book so as to make the narrative more personal and relevant to the reader), but it might surprise him to know that while I will defend the Roxy if necessary, it was and is not my favorite movie palace. It was a themed decor if by that one means that the decor can be realistically identified as of a particular period, as opposed to mere ‘anonymous’ or eclectic ornament to create a modest attempt at decor, such as was characteristic of most opera houses. The Roxy’s decor was basically Spanish Baroque, but it, like virtually all movie palaces, was not pure and depended upon a liberal interpretation of any theme designation. RCMH, in contrast, was a more pure theme, in that it was an Art Deco/Art Moderne interpretation not dependent upon styles of ornament to define it. For this reason and others, it is probably best that one not describe the Music Hall as being a movie palace, even if its erection did realistically mark the end of that era, coincidentally. The Music Hall really falls into a class of its own, not only due to its gargantuan size, but also due to the show policy that it promoted and then succeeded in delivering for longer than many true movie palaces/presentation houses existed! It could be called a “Presentation House” by virtue of its performances with films, but it is really more in the category of a ‘Pagentorium,’ (my own coinage for lack of a better term), a less populated class of specialty structures such as the OLYMPIA in London of 1911, though such structures may be more akin to the Civic Auditorium class than theatres. Note Simon Tidworth’s photo of this on page 198 of his excellent book: “Theatres: An Architectural and Cultural History,” Praeger Publishers, London and New York, 1973. (He makes the sad statement on his page 187: “The interwar years belong to the cinema, an architectural romance in its own right, but one that regretfully cannot be told here.”)
Too much speculation about the Roxy’s ownership and that of the land beneath it would be counterproductive, so I suggest that Benjamin or any other New Yorkers interested in this matter go to the Register of Deeds or such other local office as contains the records of legal land ownership and contracts for constructions, to determine once and for all who owned the land in question and whether or not there was a legal tie between the hotel and theatre owners. This may be tedious research, but history is founded on finding facts such as these. Date of construction of the original hotel should also be there, along with its chain of ownership through the years. Who knows but that Roxy himself may be mentioned among the documents. If any reader is in the Chicago area, the collection of author Ben Hall is maintained at the Theatre Historical Soc. headquarters outside of Chicago (www.HistoricTheatres.org) and one might go to their Archive to see if Mr. Hall had retained any such records.
I wish those commenting on the ROXY building would go to the trouble of looking at photos of it and the extensive description given in what is probably the single largest writing about it: the 1961 landmark book, “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall. It is available at most large libraries or they can order it for you via Inter-Library Loan. It can even be purchased in any of three editions at such as Amazon.com. Therein will be seen on pages 3 and 79ff, that the five floors above the ticket lobby were devoted to offices of the theatre, and not to the adjacent Taft hotel, then called the Manger. As explained in the book, the hotel did own the land under the lobby areas, so when the newly remodeled Taft wanted the land under the Roxy, it merely declined to renew the lease. Since the Roxy was then in the 50s not exactly prospering with first run films, it was likely a good deal for the Roxy’s owners to be able to not have to pay the lease any longer, and also to sell all the remainder of the land with the provision that the theatre be razed. Once again, the soaring land value under a theatre determined its fate, as money always will.
Yes, the ticket lobby was a low ceiling area, and yes, it was no doubt partially for the ‘gee whiz’ effect of then proceeding into the “Rotunda” and all its vast glory, but it was also practical since the Roxy had the room to allow building five floors above the ticket lobby and adjacent low ceiling areas to create the space for offices, mechanical room and ushers' lockers. It is the windows for these rooms that one sees in the page 3 photo. See the cross section drawing on page 82. The Roxy like many theatres used the space above the entry for a Musician’s gallery and in its case also the console of a pipe organ, something for which there was precious little room at the floor level, what with perhaps thousands waiting in the huge Oval (actually, an ellipse) for the next show. MARQUEE magazine of the Theatre Historical Soc. has many other photos to verify this.
To follow on Benjamin’s comments: “also think that the clean lines of RCMH makes it more distinctive – especially among movie palaces! – and also more "photogenic” (i.e., a beauty that easily comes across in photos).“ This comment ignores the fact that different owners of the hotel and the Roxy were faced with the common dilemma facing any builder: you can’t control what the neighbor’s building does, or will, look like and how that impacts one’s own building. The Roxy was built to communicate its lavish decor on the exterior, but the existing Manger hotel was not about to redesign itself to address the advent of the Roxy with its more ornate exterior, the two structures having much different purposes. Thus the Roxy may not have been "sleek” as the RCMH done in a different style in a sky scraper structure would be, but it did have the visual distinctiveness amid other nearby buildings to set it apart form them, as most any theatre tries to do.
“I also think that the Roxy interior was maybe more overwhelming for being "gargantuan” than for being visually engaging. (Personally, I think as a kid I was my fascinated by spectacular “themed” theaters, like the Loew’s atmospherics, than by the Roxy.“ If one prefers ‘atmospherics’ (the ‘stars and clouds’ theatres of the 20s) then it is understandable that one would not see anything wonderful in the Roxy, which was diametrically the opposite, or ‘hard top’ school of decor. I find the photos of the Roxy’s interior to reveal a very engaging interior, perhaps not the most artistic and memorable on all levels, but certainly overwhelming if for no other reason than vastness. True, it may not actually have had the vaunted "6000” seats that the RCMH has, but it was indeed vast and “gargantuan” from most any other theatrical definition of the term. One reading of the book will take on into its luxurious appointments and let one see that it had almost all the appointments of the Music Hall without a gleaming complex of buildings to surround and enframe it.
Some may have seen the Roxy as “old hat” when the Music Hall opened, but Roxy himself did not abandon it. As related in the book, he was forced out by new owners who were desperately trying to cut costs as the Depression was descending. Roxy was invited to help with the RCMH opening and it was publicized as having this ‘master’ at hand, and no doubt with a very nice salary to boot, but it seems that he did not get a private box there as he did at the Roxy. When any new theatre opened in those days, there was a concentrated effort to mine the press for maximum publicity, and with the Rockefeller’s fortune behind them, the Music Hall did indeed have the press department it needed to make it seem to eclipse all previous ‘palaces’ even though it never termed itself that. The Hall might have been said to ‘stand upon the shoulders’ of its many predecessors, and would have done anything to make other theatres seem ‘old hat’ if for no other reason than to ensure patronage which means profits, the purpose for which it was built.
I admire both theatres for what they were and see no competition between them in memory, though of course, the Music Hall can today dismiss the Roxy as merely an inflated memory if it wishes. Those of us who study theatre history will always know otherwise.
Information about the kindred Polynesian themed KON-TIKI theatre along with photos is found here: http://cinematreasures.org/news/12583_0_1_0_C/
Such a pity that both of these unique designs are lost to us, apparently with no photos of thier interiors at opening.
For those born too late, it may sound curious to name a theatre “KON-TIKI” and wonder at the abstruse imagination of the builder, but to set history straight, it may interest readers to know that the name is that of a Polynesian who was later deified, and the name is drawn from the famous documentary novel by the late Thor Heyerdahl writing in Norwegian, as the following excerpt from a review of his book at www.amazon.com: shows, making the name of the theatre appropriate to the day and age it was conceived, since the hullabaloo then surrounding the publishing of the book made it a cause celeb:
“ Kon-Tiki is the record of an astonishing adventure — a journey of 4,300 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean by raft. Intrigued by Polynesian folklore, biologist Thor Heyerdahl suspected that the South Sea Islands had been settled by an ancient race from thousands of miles to the east, led by a mythical hero, Kon-Tiki. He decided to prove his theory by duplicating the legendary voyage.
On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl and five other adventurers sailed from Peru on a balsa log raft. After three months on the open sea, encountering raging storms, whales, and sharks, they sighted land — the Polynesian island of Puka Puka.
Translated into sixty-five languages, Kon-Tiki is a classic, inspiring tale of daring and courage — a magnificent saga of men against the sea."
The now lost KON-TIKI theatre is summarized in these posts here at CT:
http://cinematreasures.org/news/12583_0_1_0_C/
Last day photos are included there. A great pity is that the interior at opening is not shown so that we all might have known of this unique design.
Madison, WI
Arson damages Rapp & Rapp’s ORPHEUM
After weeks of investigation, the capitol city of Wisconsin has determined that its ORPHEUM theatre was indeed a victim of arson, not once, but at least twice, and a third time is suspected. Read the account here from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
View link
Film reports were shown on Milwaukee’s WTMJ-4, channel 4 TV, which showed only the exterior of the closed theatre with notices on the doors promising reopening.
The Fire Marshall asks for any tips and a reward of $5,000 is being offered.
The theatre is profiled at: /theaters/233/
It would seem that not everyone appreciates theatres, but at least most Wisconsinites must like them else a city 80 miles from Madison wouldn’t have run the story, possibly to be repeated at later broadcasts. (The story originated with the Wis. State Journal, but I couldn’t find it there.)
From Porter’s comment it appears that it no longer drapes in changeable patterns, merely goes down with a horizontal line along the bottom swags. There is a photo in MARQUEE magazine of the Theatre Historical Soc. of Third Qtr. 1999, page 23 showing the original crossbar-and-peg pattern selection switch matrix, and if such could be done in an electromechanical method, it could certainly be done today with electronic stepping motors via computer or push button. They were just too cheap to do it, apparently.
It could be simply that the chemistry of paints has changed considerably since the 1920s and today we can obtain much brighter pigments than was possible then. Of course, it is possible to determine original color and brilliance and duplicate it with careful paint sourcing and mixing, but something tells me that they weren’t about to go to that expense of color matching in view of all the other expenses of restoration.
It is unlikely in the extreme that any insurance company demanded a net below the ceiling as part of their policy coverage, but since insurance lives on premiums paid by the insured, and the insured can only pay premiums if they are making money, then any company would cooperate in any scheme to prosper the insured if no one would attach any suspicion of compliance to the insurance company. Insurers are very savvy as to what can damage an insured and foster a claim — something to be avoided — so they would have barred any theatre from employing any method that might cause a claim. Standard language to this effect is in all policies, even in a homeowners' policy to the effect that one cannot put any property in jeopardy. Especially in Hollywood are such antics to be expected, and the insurance industry has long worked with them and knows the score. As to THX, that was an attempt at greater fidelity; “Sensurround” was strictly intentional rumbling noise, and thus a very limited gimmick in the face of Dolby, THX and other greater fidelity systems which can virtually shatter ears in normal use anyway.
Getting DVDs is easy nowadays, but, sad to say, getting performance rights to them in a public place is not. The owner of each title must be tracked down and persuaded to give written permission to use the source of their property that they designate, usually for a very stiff fee! This is one reason that ‘vintage movies’ festivals seldom occur nowadays outside of non-profits for limited audiences.
It is good that Porter Faulkner chose to mention that brochure for the grand reopening with its swatch of the contour front curtain preceding the restoration, since it is a good visual record of the fabulous place today. I too bought a copy, though on-line from their ‘Gift Shop’ at their site: www.RadioCity.com where they sell it via credit card payment only, and via UPS shipment only. For those outside of New York area not able to meet those terms, one could write to its publisher: Radio City Entertainment, Two Pennsylvania Plaza, New York, NY 10121-0091 USA. The 48-page glossy softbound is titled: “RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL: A Legend Is Reborn” and while having a poor glue binding, and being focused more on what occurred there over the years than on the building, there is that invaluable swatch as well as a spectacular vintage painting/drawing of the understage area via a cutaway view that shows just how those three giant stage elevators work. As a side note, the woman who wrote the brochure should have done better research, since right in the photo of the famous contour curtain can be seen to those knowing how such things work, that it was a 15-point suspension, not 13 as she claims in her caption on page 20. She forgot that there are also lines on each end of the curtain off stage that help pull the entire mass up out of sight and into storage in the apparent ‘ceiling.’
It is a shame that they are evidently not using the curtain at every performance, since I know from seeing it move in filmstrips, that were I a tourist there visiting the place, I would definitely want to see that lustrous ‘waterfall’ of drapery rising and descending as no other curtain of such size any longer does on these shores. If Porter did not see it move when he paid to go in there, then he was cheated, as will be anyone else denied this spectacle!
AS anyone who read my comment carefully will know, I didn’t say it wasn’t fun, I simply said it wasn’t real in the sense of being able to damage any theatre. I enjoyed the film in “Sensurround” also, but I was under no illusion as to where the sounds were coming from and what was going to happen to me or the theatre during “Earthquake.” Further insight into the whole thing is the development and popularity then of true four channel sound, as on the ‘quad’ amplifiers that nobody could seem to live without then. Also, new high Q ferromagnetic high compliance speakers had just come upon the scene making the subwoofer possible at a smaller size and price than huge pro equipment, and I will bet that the speaker makers were in cahoots with the film maker to to promote this ‘new’ sound. “Now your living room can sound just like the theatre!!” is it easy to remember then saying. It may have all been fun, but just let’s keep the idea of old, falling-down movie palaces out of it!