Avon Theatre
212 W. Main Street,
Waukesha,
WI
53186
212 W. Main Street,
Waukesha,
WI
53186
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Fox Midwest Amusement Corp., Standard Theaters Management Corp.
Firms: Monarch Theater Construction & Supply Co.
Previous Names: New Auditorium Theatre, Auditorium Theatre, Fox Avon Theatre
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The New Auditorium Theatre was opened on August 24, 1914 with the play “Seven Keys to Baldplate”. It began screening movies in 1917. It was taken over by Fox Midwest Co. in 1928 and dropped movies which were replaced by live events. It was refrbished and reopened as the Fox Avon Theatre on December 30, 1929 screening Richard Dix in “Shooting Straight” & Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in “The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case”. Standard Theatres later took over and they operated it until Spring 1953. They reopened it as an arthouse theatre in Fall of 1954 and it closed in 1954. The Carroll Players took over in 1954 presenting live plays and they closed the theatre in 1956.
It was gutted with a salvage sale and was demolished in 1957.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
This web page about Waukesha’s movie theaters says that “…the Auditorium was remodeled and christened ‘The Avon’ after the installation of Sound….”
The page also says that the Auditorium was opened in 1914. This is confirmed by the August 1, 1914, issue of The Moving Picture World: “The new Auditorium theater on East Main street in Waukesha, now in course of construction, is expected to be opened early in September.”
The opening of the Auditorium was a bit earlier than planned. The August 27, 1914, issue of the Waukesha Daily Freeman reported that the theater had been formally dedicated and opened on Monday, which would have been August 24. The opening production was the stage play Seven Keys to Baldpate. Another item in the same issue said that the Auditorium was to be equipped with a Wurlitzer organ to accompany silent movies.
The Auditorium Theatre can be seen at the lower right of this page of Motion Picture News from March 27, 1920.
The Auditorium Theatre was owned by George and Gustave Frellson. Mutiple items in construction journals from 1914 say that the $50,000 theater being built at Waukesha for the Frellsons was designed and built by a St. Paul firm that went by the name Monarch Theater Construction & Supply Co.
I’ve found two other theaters erected by the same design/build/outfitting firm, both 1914 projects; one at Willmar, Michigan, and the other at Creston, Iowa.
August 24, 1914 was the opening date for the Auditorium Theatre with the live play, “Seven Keys to Baldplate.” Waukesha repositioned it as a movie house in 1917 and closed the Unique Theatre. Fox Midwesco took over the Auditorium and Park in 1928 adding sound to the Park and letting the Auditorium drift with live events.
In 1930, Fox Theatres converted the Audi to sound becoming the Avon Theatre after a major refresh. It opened with Richard Dix in “Shooting Straight” on August 30, 1930. Standard Theatres of Milwaukee circuit took on the venue operating with films until dropping it in the Spring of 1953. They came back in the Fall of 1953 showing art films into 1954.
After Standard moved on, the Carroll Players staged live plays beginning in 1954 at the Avon until 1956. The theatre was gutted complete with a salvage sale as it was demolished in 1957.