Electric Theatre

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Darkened theater lit by memories (Eileen Schoville, La Crosse Tribune, December 5, 1975) SOLDIERS GROVE – The lights are out at the Electric Theater now, but for nearly 35 years they were a bright spot in this village. And more than one old-timer will tell you about the days when movies were a nickel and a dime — and before “talkies” came in. Not so many years ago, when going to town on Saturday night was almost as important as going to church on Sunday, the Electric Theater was the gathering place for kids, while their folks bought up supplies and caught up with the latest news as they visited curbside with friends. The Electric Theater and its equipment is still owned by Bertha Larson, who operated it for 20 years with her husband, Art, and before that for her brother, Mike Young. The theater is now idle. Movie fare in the old days consisted of a newsreel, cartoon, a rundown of coming attractions, a serial, and then the feature. The first show started at 7 p.m. and the last show finished about 1 a.m. Bertha remembers that “running a movie theater meant a lot of hard work, and still does, if you want to make a go of it.” A typical week’s fare in the 1940s is shown in an old clipping from the Kickapoo Scout, the village weekly newspaper: Showing Friday. Saturday and Sunday — “Salty O’Rourke” featuring Alan Ladd, Bruce Cabot, Gail Russell, Stanley Clements and Spring Byington. Tuesday and Wednesday — William Bendix and Joan Blondell in “Don Juan Quilligan.” Coming attractions: “Song of Bernadette” — “Diamond Horseshoe’’ — “Nob Hill” “Coulee Chanticleer”. A column by Ray Peacock which appeared in the Tribune pages back in 1939 had this to say: “Mike’s theater, the Electric, is following the practice of many theaters in going in for bank nights.” The jackpot, when we were in town, was $85, having climbed $10 each bank night from a modest $15 start. They have to arrange the theatergoers in layers …” Another Tribune writer got this laugh out of Mike and his Electric Theater: “Speaking of lazy people, take Mike Young of Soldiers Grove, for instance. Mike, who is in his early 30s, is manager of the Soldiers Grove theater, promotes various night sports, operates the Grove team in the Kickapoo-Wisconsin baseball league, and owns and operates Dancehaven. “Puzzled to find a theater manager who also promotes conflicting night spots, we were told that Mike removes the conflict by darkening the lights of the theater the night he turns on the lights of the arena. We didn’t ask but wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that Dancehaven doesn’t open until the theater lets out.” And there’s another story about a picture salesman who called on Mike. Mike was asking for the kind of films his clientele liked and said, “We want some good westerns with a lot of shooting.” “But how about “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”? the salesman suggested. “Aw, hell no, they don’t go for football pictures here.” said the theater boss. “We want westerns.” Emil Asperheim, who grew up in Soldiers Grove, remembers the silent movie days when he used to go to the “flickers” at the first movie house in town, opened by Otto Bell in 1914. That was the beginning of movies in Soldiers Grove, but it was Clarence Erickson who opened the first Electric Theater after coming home from service in World War I. The Electric Theater has been opened twice since 1966, when the Larsons closed it. A youth group tried running it for a year or so. but heating costs, mechanical problems and competition from TV discouraged the group. Later it was opened on a part-time basis, but going to the movies just wasn’t like it used to be and so the lights are out again.

Soldiers Grove Theater Reopened By Retired GI - The doors will be open, the popcorn popping and the projectors whirring again at the Electric Theater in Soldiers Grove. A Bell Center couple, Helen and Ben Henderson, have announced that they will open the theater starting Friday, Oct. 4. The first movie will be the James Bond thriller “Live and Let Die.” Henderson, 44, is a retired Army sergeant first class. He spent 25 years in the service, including one year as a theater manager for the Army in Korea. Helen’s uncle managed a movie house in Kansas. The couple moved to Bell Center a year ago, making their home only a couple of miles from Petersburg, where Ben was born. The Hendersons plan to keep the theater open year-round if enough people attend the shows to keep the operation going. They plan showings at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, and matinees for younger audiences on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. One of their first goals, Henderson said, is to attract enough moviegoers so the theater can be open during the week. Admission to the movies will be 50 cents for children under 12 and $1.25 for adults. Ben is the son of Mrs. Jerusha Henderson of Bell Center. (Boscobel Dial - Sept. 26, 1974)