The sign that you inquire about, is properly called the VERTICAL SIGN (the MARQUEE below it consists of a Canopy surrounded by some sort of Attraction Boards with the changeable letters for the current attraction, with the theatre’s Name Sign and often ornaments atop it). The Vertical Signs were often the first to go for a variety of reasons:
1) Change of name of theatre or ownership
2) Damage to expensive sign as by lightning
3) Changes to building necessitating removal
4) The “modernization” programs in many cities, especially in the 1950s when owners were persuaded by firms offering such as sheet alluminum and plexiglas that a theatre must look new and ‘with it’ to compete with new cinemas then being built.
5) Maintenance costs that involved often replacing hundreds of light bulbs, scraping rust and repainting by specialists well paid for hanging in a bosun’s seat at that height!
9) Feared physical damage as during the Second World War when the nation was in a mass fear over possible bombings and consequent falling signs, along with that perennial fear in earthquake-prone areas — and the resultant repair expenses and liability litigation.
10) The restrictions upon repair materials during the War years, and the elimination of certain neon colors in the 50s which made authentic repairs impossible in some cases.
11) The progressive change of politics which encouraged demolition of such signs by taxing them.
The Theatre Historical Society has many photos of the removal of the Vertical Signs but it is often difficult to know the actual combination of reasons in any one case. In many cities it is now illegal to re-construct such Vertical Signs, so exciting though they were, there is little hope of returning them in most cases.
Does the Green Mill building’s owner agree to such floodlights, and who pays the hundreds or thousands for them, the electricians (at almost $100 the hour) to put in the wiring to them and then the daily electric power for them? How helpful would such be if the lights illuminate only one side of the building and thus the miscreants simply move their attentions to other sides then more deeply in darkness? If only some high powered flood lights could do it all. It seems that there are a few questions to be answered first, sad to say.
It is excellent news about the DVD coming out through Compass Rose! Let us hope that selling these at a reasonable price will promote their circulation and thus raise awareness of the UPTOWN as the landmark it really is.
It does not surprise me, Brucec. Politicians exist for the purpose of gathering money and power to themselves, so when others with money approach them with secret offers of LOTS of money for their ‘campaigns for reelection’ to gain more power, the politicos do what is to be expected and promise the money bags in return any property their corrupt hands can turn over — landmark or not. Since politics is defined as the secret transfer of public funds to private hands, we can expect nothiung else. A politician sees the past —as in buildings— only as something to be plundered. Greedy businessmen, and increasingly women, are as much to blame for viewing a city as nothing more than their financial ‘playground.’ While they usually have their mansions in far removed suburbs. I moan for the once lavish MIDLAND too, and treasure my copy of the Theatre Historical Society’s ANNUAL about it, which I believe can still be purchased from them at: www.historictheatres.org
Savor the many vintage photos in that ANNUAL, but don’t ask the politicos or the money bags to have concern for a landmark: they will laugh at you — unless you have millions of dirty dollars with which to further caress their filthy hands. After all, everything is for sale to them, especially the public trust.
Bway: That’s a very interesting image and one of the few exterior images to convey the massiveness of the KINGS. How would you like to pay to re-do that multi-acre roof? $50,000?
As to theatres that did not sit square on their lots, there were many, with New York’s own long-lost ROXY being perhaps the most notorious for this. Ben Hall explains in his landmark book “The Best Remaining Seats” that it was very difficult to install symetrical stage sets there due to this.
All of the big movie palaces —and most of the smaller ones— had “walkways” like the one described above called “Catwalks” They were indeed used to access the indirect lighting and chandelier winches and were often spooky journeys in the ill-lit vastness of the multi-story heights between the auditorium ceiling and the roof where there were no windows. In the larger theatres, some architects specified concrete catwalks with steel strap railings, but in many lower budgeted houses it was a few boards just set upon the trusses with nary a railing in sight! Not every workman was as surefooted as the rest, as a scar in the repaired ceiling of the SOUTHTOWN in Chicago testified to the puncture of it by the body of a man who stepped off the catwalk, showed as he fell to his death upon the seats below.
Theatres have many fascinating areas not found in other buildings, but often dangerous ones! The FOX was blessed to have two ways to get to the booth (actually a large Projection Room suite of rooms); most theatres had but one way, and if it were blocked by fire, there was often only the window to crawl through and one hoped for a sturdy fire escape nearby.
According to a June 1, 2006, two page article in the local “Shepherd Express” free tabloid, Jim Searles' new 37-seat cinema cum performance space in his pharmacy is going strong to the delight of local film students and amateur filmmakers. He has dubbed it “The Astor Street Theater” which is a little bit of nostalgia since it is in the building that was once the ASTOR Theatre. Any visitor to the Brady Street Pharmacy’s lunch counter will find himself in the right atmosphere, since Jim has strung stage lights there and together with movie posters and a camera crane from Hollywood, you can almost expect an agent from a film company to jump out and offer you a film contract any moment! The drug store definitely has two faces and it all is a lot of fun.
Thank you, Brian; it is nice to know this. Maybe research on Chicago area theatres will now go even faster than before. It’s a pity more cities' papers are not fully on-line, but so much scanning and server space is no doubt expensive.
Joe DuciBella of the Theatre Historical Society, located in Elmhurst, is a recognized authority on the CHICAGO, so he may already have compiled such data. He is at:
You can of course do the research yourself by viewing the listings for it in microfilmed copies of the Chicago papers, either at libraries there or by having films sent to your local library. It is a tedious process, but probably the only way to it today.
The theme of the CHINESE was not chosen to ‘honor’ China any more than the many Spanish-themed movie palaces were so decorated to honor Spain. And so for all the other themed theatres, aside from truly ethnic theaters such as the Germanic PABST in Milwaukee.
College Student would do well to read such as the landmark book at libraries: THE BEST REMAINING SEATS, THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE PALACE by the late Ben M. Hall in 1961. It is available at amazon.com as used copies. This book will show the genesis of these theatres, and while great attention to authentic detail was expended, it was to create a theatre type that had no precedent in China at the time, hence the auditorium is necessarily much larger in scale than the original throne room in the Imperial Palace in (then) Peiking. I can’t imagine that any of the theatre is an insult to the Chinese, but also we must not be so naive to think that it was designed as a ‘monument’ to the Chinese. It was designed to strike the fancy of the Los Angeles public as a theatre for maximum profit.
Theatrerat says: “What did moviegoers do in the 20s and early 30s in those pre air conditioning days?” Well, in the pre-movie palace days, most of the theatres closed down in the warm summer months. This is what gave rise to the ‘Theatre Season’ since unlike other businesses, the theatres operated only during the heating season precisely because of there being no way to continuously cool the buildings. There were a few exceptions such as the PABST THEATER in Milwaukee which used the downdraft of fan forced air blowing over tons of ice in the attic to cool only during performances in 1895, but such situations were too rare to continue the usual English-language theatre season.
With the advent of the first large scale cooling systems just about the time the movie palaces came upon the scene circa 1920, many of these buildings could be cooled (but NOT air conditioned) and were thus useable when the legit theatres were closed. This advent of the larger cooled movie houses spelled the demise of most of the smaller non-cooled houses that could not compete. People quickly took their business to the coolest places —hence the many summertime photos of marquees bedecked with mock icecicles lettered: “COOL INSIDE!”
Any large structure will quickly become unbearable to the majority of people when it is filled with bodies on a hot, humid day, hence the popularity of air conditioning. Even the pre-1950s air cooling, which did NOT dehumidify, was preferable to sweating in the seats for hours. If the JERSEY is only partially filled after a night of cool temperatures it may have enough volume of cool air to circulate to a smaller audience for two hours, but as the sun bakes it and more warm bodies fill it, the temperature and humidiy will rise and all but the die hards will go elsewhere. Let us hope that they can find the funds to restore the AC, —and then the money to be able to run it!
It is indeed a pleasure to read that Complete landmark status has been given the very deserving PARADISE in the Bronx. So very few movie palaces nationwide have received this honor in their municipalities, and perhaps no others with such protection of their interiors, which especially impresses this non-New Yorker. May her years be a great many and may new generations here discover therein the ‘magic’ that such temples of the movies brought to so many of previous generations! I’m sure that John Eberson would be so proud, just as New Yorkers have a right to be!
Ironic that they will open the “Downstairs” when originally there was the “Little Chicago” upstairs. On page 207 of Ben Hall’s landmark book of 1961 THE BEST REMAINING SEATS …, there is an illustration and caption revealing the 250-seat “try-out theatre” on the top floor of the building. Completely equiped and decorated, it was only for the B&K officials and never open to the public. I wonder what it is today.
Hal is probably right that “not too many gave a hoot” since, as with the situation with the Warner/Centre/Grand, there were and are too few people still around who recall these theatres in their pre-splitting prime. That is 1963 for the WISCONSIN and ten years later for the Warner/Grand. While there are some excellent photos of the Warner at opening, the only good ones are of the Wisconsin’s Lobby; no good photos of the auditorium have been found.
Most of the better visual (‘display’) ads were actually created by the releasing studio’s Publicity Departments and often merely sent to the local film distributor, the theatre, or as part of a Press Kit to local newspaper reviewers. The papers would simply add their start times under the theatre name and that would be the ad. I seem to recall that there was a book some years back on just this subject, and perhaps someone at www.oscars.com or the MPAA might remember. You could also ask Rich Sklenar at www.historictheatres.org
If too few submit ads, and your interest is serious, you can always go to your nearest large library and request them to order microfilm of most any newspaper in the nation from those early years to be sent to them for you on Inter-Library Loan. You could view the ads and set the machine to print-out those of interest. Then using a scanner and computer, you could scan them and clean them up if you are thinking ahead to writing your own book.
There may also have been a professional association of ad artists and you might want to track them down, probably in Hollywood or greater L.A. area.
There is the Milw. County Hist. Soc., but they are a documentarian only and rarely speak pro or con any initiative (tax-supported groups like this are usually as complacent as any bureaucrat and very wary of stepping on the toes of any politician who may have an opinion on the matter, so rarely speak up lest they find themselves or their funding cut).
Several local independent groups have noted the vacancy since 1995 of the Warner/Grand, but all realize that there does not seem to be any local group big enough to restore and operate the 2000+-seat theatre — and possibly also the attached 12-story office building, now mostly vacant. The Symphony wanted to build a virtual concrete ‘sarcophagus’ over the entire theatre to keep out the sound of 2000-watt sirens on emergency vehicles going down Wis. Ave., and this, of course, added many millions to the former plan. So, we cannot take the Symphony’s 50 million dollar estimate as ‘gospel’ since another owner my not be so finicky.
So, no, there is no one advocating for the theatre — least of all its owmer, Marcus Entertainment, who will abandon it in about ten years when the lease runs out. Outsiders must remember that Milwaukee is traditionally a very conservative city, even frugal, and it is now 60% non-White, with most of the movers and shakers living in the suburbs and coming downtown only for entertainment before quickly fleeing back to the burbs. There is, however, a rising population of generation ‘Xers’, or whatever you call them, (as well as some Empty-Nesters) renting and buying condos downtown, but so far no critical mass has formed for the theatre. My health is too poor now that I am 60 years old to lead a movement, and back in ‘95 I did make and hand deliver to Steve Marcus himself an entire illustrated Proposal on how to convert the theatre and office building to a luxury theme hotel WHILE PRESERVING the decor and stage. Marcus’ Bruce Olson responded with a pat-on-the-head letter that they had a “less expensive use client” in the works (the Symphony conversion which is now a dead issue to them.) Marcus company is simply too cheap for the hotel conversion (which would also require building a parking tower next to the theatre), and simply doesn’t care since they now just write-off the approx. $40,000 in yearly expenses against their taxes as operating loss (every corporation wants some losses to make their tax filings look more legitimate).
Don’t look to any government; all are now deeply in debt as industry and wealthy people leave for balmy shores with tax havens galore, leaving mostly the poor and near-poor behind who are unable to pay increasing taxes. Take your photos now, for there is no forseeable money for the GRAND. I weep for this jewel along with you.
(1) The Description/History at the top reads in part: “Architect: Maurivce D. Sornick”. On checking the City of West Allis (which is where the cinema legally was) records, I find listed as Architect: “Lefebvre, Wiggans and Associates, in 1966.” [Sornick was the defacto architect of the Cinema Westlane directly across 108th St. It was renamed the Southtown 5&6 many years later.]
(2) The Description goes on to state:
“The theatre was razed in 2001 for a strip mall shopping center, notable as the home to the Milwaukee area’s first Krispy Kreme store."
Actually, the space the cinema occupied at the north end of the 1960 strip shopping mall was reused by expanding the mall with three new stores including a large automobile service garage along the same curb line the cinema had. The Krispy Kreme building was built about 100 feet west of this curb line upon part of the parking lot. They could have built the Krispy Kreme as it is without being anywhere near the cinema and the access drive (from Dakota St, on the north property line) in front of the cinema at the curb would have remained, but the view of the cinema from busy 108th St (State Hwy 100) would have been largely blocked, and a large part of the cinema’s parking area taken up by the Krispy Kreme and its parking and front terrace which extends to the west to the sidewalk on the east side of 108th St. The Krispy Kreme was therefore not the reason for the demise of the Southtown; only its owner, Marcus, can be blamed for that.
Life: I’m glad to hear about your screening at the AVALON, but since this is the ORIENTAL’S page I don’t feel right talking about another theatre here. I would have privately E-mailed you, but when clicking on your moniker in blue at the bottom of your comment, I am taken to to your Profile page where I should find your E-mail address under CONTACT INFO, but there is nothing there. That can be rectified if you will click on the link PROFILE in the upper right corner of any page and, if your cookies are turned on, you will be taken to your own page where you can correct the oversight.
Otherwise, you can click on my name below and thus find the E-mail to contact me.
The blueprints are on microfilm at the City Records Center, basement of the Municipal Bldg.,; about 40 pages which can be printed out there for around a dollar a page. Photos are available for a fee given on the ARCHIVE page of www.historictheatres.org
A U. of Wis. at Milw. thesis has already been done on this subject under the May 2004 title: “Adaptation and Reuse of the 1930 Warner Theater” by graduate Charles Matthew Jenkins; approx. 100 pages and the only copy is in the School of Architecture’s Resources Center and does NOT circulate, though it can be photocopied in that room only on their dismal copying machine. By the way, the theatre opened on May 4, 1931, in contrast to what his title says.
Buy the 1992 ANNUAL by the Theatre Historical Soc. titled “The Toledo PARAMOUNT.” It is on their page of BACK ISSUES at www.historictheatres.org Not only is it crammed with photos, but there are wonderful drawings by artist Mark Hylton of Columbus Ohio.
“gincleary”: This is a bionote about ALEXANDER HAMILTON BAUER: Bauer formed an architectural practice parternership with Gustav A. Dick (AIA) in 1921 as “Dick & Bauer”. They designed six movie palaces in Milwaukee, as well as many regular commercial buildings, churches, and homes. In 1931 the parternership was incorporated with Dick as president and Bauer (a native Milwaukeean who was graduated from the U. of Wis. at Madison) as treasurer and his wife as vice-president. Dick was born in Milw. in 1872, and died there in 1935 and Bauer continued the firm through 1937. Bauer served as president of the Wis. chapter of the AIA, and belonged to the Wis. State Assn. of architects, as did Dick. He was one of the founders of the First Church of Christ Scientist in the suburb of White Fish Bay, as well as being a member of the Milwaukee Real Estate Board, The City [social] Club, the Milwaukee Art Inst., and various Masonic lodges. He later collaborated with noted Milw. architect Alexander Eschweiller. Bauer died of a cerebral hemmorage in 1946 at the County Emergency Hospital (defunct) which he had helped design. Source: Historic Milw. Inc. booklet of 1992.
“Life’s too short”: I live too far from the ORIENTAL to be able to watch its marquee, but there always seems to be an ad in the paper for movies seven days a week. This is under Landmark management, but the periodic pipe organ concerts have been silenced for over a year now after some major electrical damage to the relay, I’m told.
Tracking down an individual is akin to background chack-up, as well as geneology. If he would still be of working years, try the Springfield area libraries for city directories and phone books that might list him. You might also try such national directories as www.peoplepages.com If he is not in any Springfield area listing, he may have moved elsewhere in the nation, and in that case you might ask the Internal Revenue to forward a message from you giving your address and asking him to contact you. A similar service is said to be done by the Social Security Administration. If you are serious about this, there are ‘People Tracers’ around the country who will charge a fee to locate him, though if you can find some of his old friends or relatives where he lived, they may be the best source. If you don’t remember his last name, no one but these can help you. Only tax authorities and insurance companies kept records of employees of a company, though occasionally you will some of them listed in a city directory. Best Wishes.
The sign that you inquire about, is properly called the VERTICAL SIGN (the MARQUEE below it consists of a Canopy surrounded by some sort of Attraction Boards with the changeable letters for the current attraction, with the theatre’s Name Sign and often ornaments atop it). The Vertical Signs were often the first to go for a variety of reasons:
1) Change of name of theatre or ownership
2) Damage to expensive sign as by lightning
3) Changes to building necessitating removal
4) The “modernization” programs in many cities, especially in the 1950s when owners were persuaded by firms offering such as sheet alluminum and plexiglas that a theatre must look new and ‘with it’ to compete with new cinemas then being built.
5) Maintenance costs that involved often replacing hundreds of light bulbs, scraping rust and repainting by specialists well paid for hanging in a bosun’s seat at that height!
9) Feared physical damage as during the Second World War when the nation was in a mass fear over possible bombings and consequent falling signs, along with that perennial fear in earthquake-prone areas — and the resultant repair expenses and liability litigation.
10) The restrictions upon repair materials during the War years, and the elimination of certain neon colors in the 50s which made authentic repairs impossible in some cases.
11) The progressive change of politics which encouraged demolition of such signs by taxing them.
The Theatre Historical Society has many photos of the removal of the Vertical Signs but it is often difficult to know the actual combination of reasons in any one case. In many cities it is now illegal to re-construct such Vertical Signs, so exciting though they were, there is little hope of returning them in most cases.
Does the Green Mill building’s owner agree to such floodlights, and who pays the hundreds or thousands for them, the electricians (at almost $100 the hour) to put in the wiring to them and then the daily electric power for them? How helpful would such be if the lights illuminate only one side of the building and thus the miscreants simply move their attentions to other sides then more deeply in darkness? If only some high powered flood lights could do it all. It seems that there are a few questions to be answered first, sad to say.
It is excellent news about the DVD coming out through Compass Rose! Let us hope that selling these at a reasonable price will promote their circulation and thus raise awareness of the UPTOWN as the landmark it really is.
It does not surprise me, Brucec. Politicians exist for the purpose of gathering money and power to themselves, so when others with money approach them with secret offers of LOTS of money for their ‘campaigns for reelection’ to gain more power, the politicos do what is to be expected and promise the money bags in return any property their corrupt hands can turn over — landmark or not. Since politics is defined as the secret transfer of public funds to private hands, we can expect nothiung else. A politician sees the past —as in buildings— only as something to be plundered. Greedy businessmen, and increasingly women, are as much to blame for viewing a city as nothing more than their financial ‘playground.’ While they usually have their mansions in far removed suburbs. I moan for the once lavish MIDLAND too, and treasure my copy of the Theatre Historical Society’s ANNUAL about it, which I believe can still be purchased from them at: www.historictheatres.org
Savor the many vintage photos in that ANNUAL, but don’t ask the politicos or the money bags to have concern for a landmark: they will laugh at you — unless you have millions of dirty dollars with which to further caress their filthy hands. After all, everything is for sale to them, especially the public trust.
At least that is good news about the ORPHEUM, Lou. I will keep hopeing as regards the RHODE.
Bway: That’s a very interesting image and one of the few exterior images to convey the massiveness of the KINGS. How would you like to pay to re-do that multi-acre roof? $50,000?
As to theatres that did not sit square on their lots, there were many, with New York’s own long-lost ROXY being perhaps the most notorious for this. Ben Hall explains in his landmark book “The Best Remaining Seats” that it was very difficult to install symetrical stage sets there due to this.
All of the big movie palaces —and most of the smaller ones— had “walkways” like the one described above called “Catwalks” They were indeed used to access the indirect lighting and chandelier winches and were often spooky journeys in the ill-lit vastness of the multi-story heights between the auditorium ceiling and the roof where there were no windows. In the larger theatres, some architects specified concrete catwalks with steel strap railings, but in many lower budgeted houses it was a few boards just set upon the trusses with nary a railing in sight! Not every workman was as surefooted as the rest, as a scar in the repaired ceiling of the SOUTHTOWN in Chicago testified to the puncture of it by the body of a man who stepped off the catwalk, showed as he fell to his death upon the seats below.
Theatres have many fascinating areas not found in other buildings, but often dangerous ones! The FOX was blessed to have two ways to get to the booth (actually a large Projection Room suite of rooms); most theatres had but one way, and if it were blocked by fire, there was often only the window to crawl through and one hoped for a sturdy fire escape nearby.
According to a June 1, 2006, two page article in the local “Shepherd Express” free tabloid, Jim Searles' new 37-seat cinema cum performance space in his pharmacy is going strong to the delight of local film students and amateur filmmakers. He has dubbed it “The Astor Street Theater” which is a little bit of nostalgia since it is in the building that was once the ASTOR Theatre. Any visitor to the Brady Street Pharmacy’s lunch counter will find himself in the right atmosphere, since Jim has strung stage lights there and together with movie posters and a camera crane from Hollywood, you can almost expect an agent from a film company to jump out and offer you a film contract any moment! The drug store definitely has two faces and it all is a lot of fun.
Thank you, Brian; it is nice to know this. Maybe research on Chicago area theatres will now go even faster than before. It’s a pity more cities' papers are not fully on-line, but so much scanning and server space is no doubt expensive.
Joe DuciBella of the Theatre Historical Society, located in Elmhurst, is a recognized authority on the CHICAGO, so he may already have compiled such data. He is at:
You can of course do the research yourself by viewing the listings for it in microfilmed copies of the Chicago papers, either at libraries there or by having films sent to your local library. It is a tedious process, but probably the only way to it today.
The theme of the CHINESE was not chosen to ‘honor’ China any more than the many Spanish-themed movie palaces were so decorated to honor Spain. And so for all the other themed theatres, aside from truly ethnic theaters such as the Germanic PABST in Milwaukee.
College Student would do well to read such as the landmark book at libraries: THE BEST REMAINING SEATS, THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE MOVIE PALACE by the late Ben M. Hall in 1961. It is available at amazon.com as used copies. This book will show the genesis of these theatres, and while great attention to authentic detail was expended, it was to create a theatre type that had no precedent in China at the time, hence the auditorium is necessarily much larger in scale than the original throne room in the Imperial Palace in (then) Peiking. I can’t imagine that any of the theatre is an insult to the Chinese, but also we must not be so naive to think that it was designed as a ‘monument’ to the Chinese. It was designed to strike the fancy of the Los Angeles public as a theatre for maximum profit.
Buffalo had a number of fine theatres according to the article mentioned above. Let us hope they all continue in good health!
Theatrerat says: “What did moviegoers do in the 20s and early 30s in those pre air conditioning days?” Well, in the pre-movie palace days, most of the theatres closed down in the warm summer months. This is what gave rise to the ‘Theatre Season’ since unlike other businesses, the theatres operated only during the heating season precisely because of there being no way to continuously cool the buildings. There were a few exceptions such as the PABST THEATER in Milwaukee which used the downdraft of fan forced air blowing over tons of ice in the attic to cool only during performances in 1895, but such situations were too rare to continue the usual English-language theatre season.
With the advent of the first large scale cooling systems just about the time the movie palaces came upon the scene circa 1920, many of these buildings could be cooled (but NOT air conditioned) and were thus useable when the legit theatres were closed. This advent of the larger cooled movie houses spelled the demise of most of the smaller non-cooled houses that could not compete. People quickly took their business to the coolest places —hence the many summertime photos of marquees bedecked with mock icecicles lettered: “COOL INSIDE!”
Any large structure will quickly become unbearable to the majority of people when it is filled with bodies on a hot, humid day, hence the popularity of air conditioning. Even the pre-1950s air cooling, which did NOT dehumidify, was preferable to sweating in the seats for hours. If the JERSEY is only partially filled after a night of cool temperatures it may have enough volume of cool air to circulate to a smaller audience for two hours, but as the sun bakes it and more warm bodies fill it, the temperature and humidiy will rise and all but the die hards will go elsewhere. Let us hope that they can find the funds to restore the AC, —and then the money to be able to run it!
It is indeed a pleasure to read that Complete landmark status has been given the very deserving PARADISE in the Bronx. So very few movie palaces nationwide have received this honor in their municipalities, and perhaps no others with such protection of their interiors, which especially impresses this non-New Yorker. May her years be a great many and may new generations here discover therein the ‘magic’ that such temples of the movies brought to so many of previous generations! I’m sure that John Eberson would be so proud, just as New Yorkers have a right to be!
Ironic that they will open the “Downstairs” when originally there was the “Little Chicago” upstairs. On page 207 of Ben Hall’s landmark book of 1961 THE BEST REMAINING SEATS …, there is an illustration and caption revealing the 250-seat “try-out theatre” on the top floor of the building. Completely equiped and decorated, it was only for the B&K officials and never open to the public. I wonder what it is today.
Early word has reached me that the cinemas will soon be gutted from the building when the lease runs out at the end of June.
Hal is probably right that “not too many gave a hoot” since, as with the situation with the Warner/Centre/Grand, there were and are too few people still around who recall these theatres in their pre-splitting prime. That is 1963 for the WISCONSIN and ten years later for the Warner/Grand. While there are some excellent photos of the Warner at opening, the only good ones are of the Wisconsin’s Lobby; no good photos of the auditorium have been found.
Most of the better visual (‘display’) ads were actually created by the releasing studio’s Publicity Departments and often merely sent to the local film distributor, the theatre, or as part of a Press Kit to local newspaper reviewers. The papers would simply add their start times under the theatre name and that would be the ad. I seem to recall that there was a book some years back on just this subject, and perhaps someone at www.oscars.com or the MPAA might remember. You could also ask Rich Sklenar at www.historictheatres.org
If too few submit ads, and your interest is serious, you can always go to your nearest large library and request them to order microfilm of most any newspaper in the nation from those early years to be sent to them for you on Inter-Library Loan. You could view the ads and set the machine to print-out those of interest. Then using a scanner and computer, you could scan them and clean them up if you are thinking ahead to writing your own book.
There may also have been a professional association of ad artists and you might want to track them down, probably in Hollywood or greater L.A. area.
There is the Milw. County Hist. Soc., but they are a documentarian only and rarely speak pro or con any initiative (tax-supported groups like this are usually as complacent as any bureaucrat and very wary of stepping on the toes of any politician who may have an opinion on the matter, so rarely speak up lest they find themselves or their funding cut).
Several local independent groups have noted the vacancy since 1995 of the Warner/Grand, but all realize that there does not seem to be any local group big enough to restore and operate the 2000+-seat theatre — and possibly also the attached 12-story office building, now mostly vacant. The Symphony wanted to build a virtual concrete ‘sarcophagus’ over the entire theatre to keep out the sound of 2000-watt sirens on emergency vehicles going down Wis. Ave., and this, of course, added many millions to the former plan. So, we cannot take the Symphony’s 50 million dollar estimate as ‘gospel’ since another owner my not be so finicky.
So, no, there is no one advocating for the theatre — least of all its owmer, Marcus Entertainment, who will abandon it in about ten years when the lease runs out. Outsiders must remember that Milwaukee is traditionally a very conservative city, even frugal, and it is now 60% non-White, with most of the movers and shakers living in the suburbs and coming downtown only for entertainment before quickly fleeing back to the burbs. There is, however, a rising population of generation ‘Xers’, or whatever you call them, (as well as some Empty-Nesters) renting and buying condos downtown, but so far no critical mass has formed for the theatre. My health is too poor now that I am 60 years old to lead a movement, and back in ‘95 I did make and hand deliver to Steve Marcus himself an entire illustrated Proposal on how to convert the theatre and office building to a luxury theme hotel WHILE PRESERVING the decor and stage. Marcus’ Bruce Olson responded with a pat-on-the-head letter that they had a “less expensive use client” in the works (the Symphony conversion which is now a dead issue to them.) Marcus company is simply too cheap for the hotel conversion (which would also require building a parking tower next to the theatre), and simply doesn’t care since they now just write-off the approx. $40,000 in yearly expenses against their taxes as operating loss (every corporation wants some losses to make their tax filings look more legitimate).
Don’t look to any government; all are now deeply in debt as industry and wealthy people leave for balmy shores with tax havens galore, leaving mostly the poor and near-poor behind who are unable to pay increasing taxes. Take your photos now, for there is no forseeable money for the GRAND. I weep for this jewel along with you.
(1) The Description/History at the top reads in part: “Architect: Maurivce D. Sornick”. On checking the City of West Allis (which is where the cinema legally was) records, I find listed as Architect: “Lefebvre, Wiggans and Associates, in 1966.” [Sornick was the defacto architect of the Cinema Westlane directly across 108th St. It was renamed the Southtown 5&6 many years later.]
(2) The Description goes on to state:
“The theatre was razed in 2001 for a strip mall shopping center, notable as the home to the Milwaukee area’s first Krispy Kreme store."
Actually, the space the cinema occupied at the north end of the 1960 strip shopping mall was reused by expanding the mall with three new stores including a large automobile service garage along the same curb line the cinema had. The Krispy Kreme building was built about 100 feet west of this curb line upon part of the parking lot. They could have built the Krispy Kreme as it is without being anywhere near the cinema and the access drive (from Dakota St, on the north property line) in front of the cinema at the curb would have remained, but the view of the cinema from busy 108th St (State Hwy 100) would have been largely blocked, and a large part of the cinema’s parking area taken up by the Krispy Kreme and its parking and front terrace which extends to the west to the sidewalk on the east side of 108th St. The Krispy Kreme was therefore not the reason for the demise of the Southtown; only its owner, Marcus, can be blamed for that.
Life: I’m glad to hear about your screening at the AVALON, but since this is the ORIENTAL’S page I don’t feel right talking about another theatre here. I would have privately E-mailed you, but when clicking on your moniker in blue at the bottom of your comment, I am taken to to your Profile page where I should find your E-mail address under CONTACT INFO, but there is nothing there. That can be rectified if you will click on the link PROFILE in the upper right corner of any page and, if your cookies are turned on, you will be taken to your own page where you can correct the oversight.
Otherwise, you can click on my name below and thus find the E-mail to contact me.
The blueprints are on microfilm at the City Records Center, basement of the Municipal Bldg.,; about 40 pages which can be printed out there for around a dollar a page. Photos are available for a fee given on the ARCHIVE page of www.historictheatres.org
A U. of Wis. at Milw. thesis has already been done on this subject under the May 2004 title: “Adaptation and Reuse of the 1930 Warner Theater” by graduate Charles Matthew Jenkins; approx. 100 pages and the only copy is in the School of Architecture’s Resources Center and does NOT circulate, though it can be photocopied in that room only on their dismal copying machine. By the way, the theatre opened on May 4, 1931, in contrast to what his title says.
Buy the 1992 ANNUAL by the Theatre Historical Soc. titled “The Toledo PARAMOUNT.” It is on their page of BACK ISSUES at www.historictheatres.org Not only is it crammed with photos, but there are wonderful drawings by artist Mark Hylton of Columbus Ohio.
re ALEXANDER HAMILTON BAUER, see my comment under Milwaukee’s ORIENTAL at /theaters/443/
“gincleary”: This is a bionote about ALEXANDER HAMILTON BAUER: Bauer formed an architectural practice parternership with Gustav A. Dick (AIA) in 1921 as “Dick & Bauer”. They designed six movie palaces in Milwaukee, as well as many regular commercial buildings, churches, and homes. In 1931 the parternership was incorporated with Dick as president and Bauer (a native Milwaukeean who was graduated from the U. of Wis. at Madison) as treasurer and his wife as vice-president. Dick was born in Milw. in 1872, and died there in 1935 and Bauer continued the firm through 1937. Bauer served as president of the Wis. chapter of the AIA, and belonged to the Wis. State Assn. of architects, as did Dick. He was one of the founders of the First Church of Christ Scientist in the suburb of White Fish Bay, as well as being a member of the Milwaukee Real Estate Board, The City [social] Club, the Milwaukee Art Inst., and various Masonic lodges. He later collaborated with noted Milw. architect Alexander Eschweiller. Bauer died of a cerebral hemmorage in 1946 at the County Emergency Hospital (defunct) which he had helped design. Source: Historic Milw. Inc. booklet of 1992.
“Life’s too short”: I live too far from the ORIENTAL to be able to watch its marquee, but there always seems to be an ad in the paper for movies seven days a week. This is under Landmark management, but the periodic pipe organ concerts have been silenced for over a year now after some major electrical damage to the relay, I’m told.
Tracking down an individual is akin to background chack-up, as well as geneology. If he would still be of working years, try the Springfield area libraries for city directories and phone books that might list him. You might also try such national directories as www.peoplepages.com If he is not in any Springfield area listing, he may have moved elsewhere in the nation, and in that case you might ask the Internal Revenue to forward a message from you giving your address and asking him to contact you. A similar service is said to be done by the Social Security Administration. If you are serious about this, there are ‘People Tracers’ around the country who will charge a fee to locate him, though if you can find some of his old friends or relatives where he lived, they may be the best source. If you don’t remember his last name, no one but these can help you. Only tax authorities and insurance companies kept records of employees of a company, though occasionally you will some of them listed in a city directory. Best Wishes.