Grizzly Theatre #2

There were three Grizzly Theatres in the village’s history. The first was built in 1919 and 1920 by Frank Johnson (it has its own entry on Cinema Treasures). Contemporary issues of the local paper say the venue burned down within four years of its opening and that a new operation was opened just two blocks away. That report is circumspect, at best.

Following the known timeline of the late-1920’s Grizzly Theatre “#2” shows a theatre that struggled to maintain the business of the early-1920’s location that was buoyed by a moonshine operation next door in the Grizzly Inn. That operation was raided by Federal officers in the peak of the Summer 1923 season. By 1928, the Grizzly Theatre “#2” and the Inn are auctioned off as the theatre was unable to convert to sound film. In 1930, Vic Koping was able to make that transition to make the theatre viable.

Final operators Charley and Anne Stillwell saw the venue burn to the ground on June 21, 1941. Long-time projectionist Carl Teschan and a repair person from RCA, Roy Cronkhite, were unable to contain a projection booth fire on the rewind table and the entire venue was gone in 20 minutes without injury. A lawsuit pitted Stillwell and RCA over the cause of the fire. Kronkhite had placed a soldering iron too close to a reel of nitrate film that basically combusted. The jury found in favor of the Stillwells.

Just ten days later, the Stillwells found a new, temporary location and opened a Grizzly Theatre “#3” in a temporary location opening on July 18, 1941 saving their busy film going season. The new theatre would be started but paused due to World War II shortages. The new, permanent location opened April 28, 1946 ending the Grizzly Theatre moniker in use for some 25 years in the village.

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