Waukesha Civic Theatre
264 West Main Street,
Waukesha,
WI
53186
264 West Main Street,
Waukesha,
WI
53186
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 6 comments
The new-build Pix Theater was announced nameless in 1939. It stirred a bit of controversy for displacing an 1844 building associated with early Waukesha furniture and cabinetry. (The stuff above about the Empire Theatre doesn’t belong in this entry.)
The Pix launched on May 17, 1940 with “Edison, The Man.” Bathed in era-appropriate green and cream porcelain, the theater’s exterior and lobby were in line with deco / streamline moderne movie houses - this one complete with stainless steel box office. The auditorium was also porcelain though in cream and brown color scheme. Its neighbors were attached jewelry store and drug store.
The long-running Pix completed motion picture service 56 years later as a discount, sub-run dollar house with Brad Pitt in “Seven” on January 21, 1996.
This web page about Waukesha’s movie theaters says that this house opened as the Empire Theatre in 1906 and the building was remodeled and became the Pix Theatre in 1940.
I can’t find any references to an Empire Theatre, or a Pix Theatre, in Waukesha during the 1920s or 1930s in any of the trade publications or in the local newspaper. I suspect that the Empire was converted to other uses for at least two decades, and then reconverted into a theater again.
does anyone have any pictures of the inside of this theater (before it became the Waukesha Civic theatre) that they could post?
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine, November 1947:
WAUKESHA-“Forever Amber” has folded at the Pix Theater because of a lack of attendance at the $1.20 admission figure. The film had also been target of an attack by a Waukesha Catholic priest.
I remember this theatre was a porn house in the mid 70’s, but I later saw ‘Pete’s Dragon’ here in ‘77/'78. I remember the first two Friday the 13ths playing in quick succession – maybe they re-released the first right before the second came out?
The ceiling of this theatre was stained and falling apart in the early-mid 80’s. It was pretty scary for kids to go there.
State Register listing:
View link