As of today, the petition to save the theatre had more than 13,000 signatures. Recent news that the addition of a second Costco in Naperville would shutter the Ogden 6 Theatres has brought out an influx of protest from fans of the theatre. To further the efforts, a former employee has started a petition to help save the theatre.
The former employee, who has worked at Ogden 6 since 2016 wrote, on the Change.org petition,
“This place is very different than any other movie theater. The experience is personal and you start to remember the faces that come in. I have bonded immensely with the regular guests that come in and I’m forever grateful for them and the kindness they have shown me. To see this place go would be devastating, as it would be destroying 44 years of history.”
The petition, which was started Monday, had more than 13,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
Owners of the Ogden 6 Theatres announced Monday on Facebook that the theatre would likely have to close or relocate to make way for a Costco that is preparing to build at the Ogden Mall in the space that was formerly home to KMart. The news brought a flood of comments from longtime fans of Ogden 6 who shared their memories and lamented the impeding closure.
The petition, which aims to “bring attention to Costco, the Ogden mall management, and Classic Cinemas,” also encouraged signers to share their own personal memories about the theatre and “how the demolition impacts you.”
One signer wrote, “We all (me, friends&neighbors) reacted viscerally to the news of Ogden 6’s closure. It’s a landmark to us…”
Another added, “This theater is such an important part of Naperville culture. Such memories of this place.”
Kenosha’s short-lived and forgotten first Crystal Theater was established by the Crystal Theater Company by Jones and Miller. The Kenosha Evening News reported on January 23, 1907 that the fireproof Bullamore Building at 260 Park Street (today’s 710 57th Streetand still there at this writing) had been leased for a new electric 5-cent theatre, and that it was to be ready over the next two weeks. On Saturday, February 23 of that year, the Kenosha Evening News published an announcement that the Crystal Theatre would have a complete change of program the next day with Baby Gladys to sing and dance and illustrated songs by Miss Lillie Jones and Mr. Jones. And on May 31, 1907, the newspaper published an advertisement for the Crystal Theatre inviting the public to its evening performances, adding “we are and intend to continue giving a clean up-to-date show, one that women and children may attend without fear.” But weeks later, in June, property owner H. L. Bullamore listed the building for rent. (Thanks to Al Westerman for his research on the 57th Street Crystal Theatre.)
LouRugani
commented about
Vixenon
Jan 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm
Downtown McHenry movie house gets a gut rehab
By Dan Moran
Not every old movie theater is worth saving. Those of us who pinched pennies by watching the finest G-rated films of the 1990s on postage-stamp screens at The Dunes in Zion or the Belvidere Mall Cinema in Waukegan were a little sad to see them go, if not in a way that would require chaining oneself to the door to stop progress.
But in an economic marketplace dominated by multiplexes that charge whatever it takes to cover the salary of a Mark Wahlberg — your highest-paid actor in 2017 at $68 million, according to Forbes, and that was for “Transformers: The Last Night” and “Daddy’s Home 2,” if you want to be really angry about it — it’s easy to root for a grassroots effort to restore a 20th century neighborhood movie house for use in the 21st century.
That is the case just a short hop across the border of Lake and McHenry counties, where Scott Dehn of Golden Age Cinemas opened the doors last month on a renovated McHenry Downtown Theater.
As area movie-going fans might already know, the Golden Age stable already included the Liberty 1 and 2 Theaters in Libertyville and the McHenry Outdoor Theatre (which is set to re-open on May 4 with “Avengers: Infinity War,” for those of you already sick of February).
The indoor version when it comes to the McHenry nameplate sits on the west side of the Fox River on Green Street, and it has witnessed an on-again, off-again existence in the last generation or so. According to the invaluable website CinemaTreasures.org, the storefront location’s history as a movie theater dates back to 1919, and it operated as The Empire and The Colony before becoming the McHenry Theatre during the Boomer years.
After joining and departing the umbrella of the Rhyan Management Co. — which ran everything from the Grayslake Outdoor to the aforementioned Dunes once upon a time — the McHenry gave it a go in the early 2000s as discount first-run venue. I remember taking the kids to see one of the many “X-Men” movies there in 2006 or so, and then trying to take them back to McHenry to see one of the many “Toy Story” movies, only to find it closed.
Cinema Treasures reports that the last iteration of the McHenry Downtown closed shop in 2014, and a lot of smaller theaters simply don’t make it back from a slow death like that. But published reports last year revealed that Golden Age was tackling a $1.5 million rehab that would not only reopen the theater, but also expand it from two screens to three.
The result was unveiled in mid-January, and I headed out early on a snowy Super Bowl Sunday to check it out with my youngest offspring in tow, since he had not seen “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and had heard mostly good things about it from the cynical middle-school crowd. The first surprise came upon walking inside: This had not been a wallpaper-and-paint makeover. This had been an extreme rehab.
Brick and tile lined the walls of what had been a musty old building, if my memory from 2006 can be trusted. Entrances to three screening rooms — one with 175 seats, another with 155 and a smaller one set to debut with “Fifty Shades Freed” this weekend — were adorned with the names of local businesses that had backed the rebuild.
Along the walls, posters for classic films like “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Dark Knight” hinted at the past, while inside the theaters, wide recliners with immense legroom were lined up in tidy rows, as demanded by the current consumer. The stage was set to take in this updated version of “Jumanji,” which turned out to be an acceptable pregame diversion, and one that will no doubt demand another extension of the franchise, if $825 million in domestic box office still means anything.
Speaking of box office dollars, this new-age McHenry Downtown Theater charges $9 for adults before 5:30 p.m. and $7 for matinees, children and seniors (aged 60 and older). Hot tip: That’s about $3 less than you’ll pay at the big-boxes, and two tickets at the discount rate almost covers a large, refillable popcorn.
The rebirth of the McHenry Downtown follows the 2015 rehab-and-reopening of the Antioch Theatre, and if this is a trend, it’s a welcome one. For whatever reason, the aforementioned Waukegan and Zion are still waiting for the return of a first-run movie theater, and this should not stand. When it comes to experiencing a movie more than just seeing one, not everyone has surrendered to the Netflix culture.
The Catlow Theatre reopens Friday, January 10 though efforts continue to seek financial assistance to keep afloat. “Little Women” will be screened at at 5:10 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. “Future movies here will be a week-to-week thing until we get back on our feet, so, of course, we will need heavy, heavy, heavy support during this feature’s run to keep things moving along at the Catlow,” said manager Tim O'Connor to patrons today, adding “We still need your help to get us to the next level — a live stage venue,”
The Catlow Theatre closed because owner Tim O'Connor didn’t have the cash to pay bills. He sent an email over the weekend to say “Unless we meet our crowd fundraiser goal, we may not be able to book any movies until we come up with enough money to pay more bills.” The Catlow was to open for special events such as scheduled screenings of Oscar-nominated short films on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9. (Tickets for those are available through the village government: www.barrington-il.gov/oscars ) The Catlow nearly closed over unpaid taxes last October but struggled through. Still, Catlow Theater LP filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. District Court in Chicago that month with the majority of its creditors listed being film studios. O'Connor says the Catlow is in disrepair and cited a lack of interest in its offerings there.
In 2012, supporters raised $175,395 online to buy a digital projector. Crowdfunding paid for some repairs to the heating system and marquee. The latest online fundraising drive seeks $30,000. As of last week, almost $15,000 had been raised.
The orchestra floor will have two aisles that divide the seating in thirds to avoid long distances to the aisles. Marcus Corporation, which owned the theatre until 2017, is being lauded for caring for the historic fixtures and maintaining and heating the theatre over the 20-plus years that it stood empty. While scrupulously restoring the Warner Grand Theatre, catering kitchens, party rooms, HVAC equipment, loading docks, and new lavatories are being added. On the balcony level, the original lavatories will be restored with their green, black and lavender tile … actually mandatory to earn historic-preservation tax credits to support the $90 million project. (The symphony doesn’t pay taxes but it can sell the tax credits to other developers.) Conrad Schmitt artisans are redoing the original paint, plaster, metal and other decorative surfaces and an acoustical firm comes in at least once a month to check progress. The auditorium’s very rear space below the balcony will become a bar and a control booth, because acoustic engineers discovered it to be a “bass trap” with the worst sound in the house.
Closed amid controversy on April 25, 1986, several individuals and groups have tried, since then to revive the historic Fox theatre. At a special city council meeting last Monday night, Urban Evolutions Inc. of Appleton was selected to demolish two-thirds of the building, fix the roof and seal off the front one-third to make it “weather tight,” said Mayor Mike Wiza to mark the end of the Fox’s 125-year history in downtown Stevens Point. G.F. Andrae purchased the land for an opera house in 1893 and The Grand Opera House opened Sept. 19, 1894, transforming to the Majestic Theater in 1920 and the Fox Theater in 1929 amid challenges including protests over student ticket prices, disputes over wages, television, and even a projectionist strike. The city also began looking at the Fox for potential developments. By April 1973, the city’s Redevelopment Authority eyed several downtown buildings for demolition, including the Fox, not a popular proposal. The Common Council rejected that, but talks of a mall resurfaced in 1980 calling for demolishing the Fox and retaining only the facade as an entrance to the mall. By 1981, the plans changed to raze only the dressing rooms and other theater spaces. In response, owner Jeanette Sanders — G.F. Andrae’s granddaughter — sought historical protection. In 1982, the Fox was added to the National Register of Historic Places. City leaders argued the dressing rooms weren’t historically significant and in February 1984, the city received the approval it needed. Forty feet of the Fox Theatre were demolished on March 11, 1985. About a year later, the operators closed for the last time, blaming post-demolition heating issues. Over 100 people gathered Jan. 25, 2011, to hear Ada Andrae Sanders, her sister Jeanette Sanders and brother Donald Sanders announcing plans to reopen the Fox Theatre. Others expressed interest in using the theatre for venues such as a teen night club, church and roller rink. The Sanders family denied them because they wanted it to reopen as a theatre and restore the elegance of their great-grandfather’s opera house for performances and films, with a restaurant on the second floor. They started to work with the Arts Alliance of Portage County (now CREATE Portage County) to develop a nonprofit and raise money to make their dream a reality. The Arts Alliance formed a nonprofit called Fox on Main in 2013, and the Sanders family donated the title for the theatre to the group. “Fox on Main” began working on designs, a business plan and feasibility studies … but those studies claimed that operating the Fox Theatre as a theater would not be possible without a partner but could be successful if it “filled a need in the community”. CREATE had a 2016 “IDEA Center” program to support entrepreneurship and innovation and in April 2019 announced plans to preserve the Fox’s facade, demolish the auditorium, relocate that IDEA Center there and began a $3.5 million fundraising campaign. Then the city’s building inspector said if Fox on Main didn’t have the roof “water-tight” soon, he would issue a raze order. As of June, no work had been done on the roof, and the inspector issued a 90-day raze order in July, saying the Fox was now so badly damaged and dilapidated that it was a threat to health and public safety. Fox on Main had until mid-October to make sure the roof was water tight, shoring up trusses and repair loose bricks by October to delay the raze order until May 1, 2020. Fox on Main said they wanted to demolish the auditorium and raise money to start as soon as possible. The city agreed to allocate $250,000 toward that … after the demolition contractor was paid. Suddenly an architect firm that Fox on Main had earlier worked with submitted new plans to save the whole theatre … but since this didn’t match the agreement just signed with the city, a new, hard deadline for demolition was set for Dec. 15 … and any changes would need re-approval by the city. Then on Oct. 23, Fox on Main gave up. It would no longer fight the raze order and now wasn’t even interested in the Fox Theatre site for its IDEA Center. (And couldn’t pay for any demolition anyway.) So the city said it’d initially pay for the work but bill Fox on Main’s property taxes for the next three years anyway. If Fox on Main didn’t pay, the property would go to Portage County and eventually the city, but that’d leave a vacant hole in the downtown where no development could take place for at least three and a half years. So Fox on Main’s board voted Nov. 5 to dissolve its donation agreement with the Sanders family and to sell the Fox Theatre to the city for $1. The city agreed, but the actual sale hinged on the Sanders family also dissolving their original Oct. 2013 agreement with Fox on Main with its permissible and forbidden uses for the Fox, allowed only “civic, governmental, cultural or educational purposes including but not limited to: movie theater, stage for theatrical performances, art gallery, music studio, music hall, dance studio, school, restaurant, specialty food store, culinary arts and general or related activities supporting arts, entertainment and culture” (and incidentally prohibiting use for sexual-oriented business, gambling, pawnshop, body piercing business or tattoo parlor.) On Nov. 25, the Sanders family announced it didn’t support the city’s plans to demolish the Fox and were considering dissolving the agreement with Fox on Main.
During the special council meeting Monday, Wiza said the family made it clear they did not intend to dissolve the agreement, that the entire Fox building could be saved, blamed the city for wanting to demolish it, and compared it to the 1970s and 1980s when the city wanted to demolish the Fox to build a mall. “The city has tried to destroy the Fox three times,” D.K. Sanders told a reporter. “The mall failed. We knew it was going to fail. Nobody would listen to us then, and they’re not listening now.”
The mayor, Tony Wiza, said nobody did the work to save it and would ask the city council to consider taking ownership of the Fox even with the restrictions from the original agreement for the next 13 years which would make development “pretty challenging,” but at least would let the city maintain the facade.
In November, 2018 the Community Development Commission was told that construction was expected to begin in summer, 2019. No work has begun. The delay, according to Jam Productions' Jerry Mickelsen, involves financing. Public funding included $14 million through the state’s Property Assessed Clean Energy Act; $13 million in tax-increment financing; $10 million in Build Illinois bond funding; $8.7 million in federal tax credits; and $3.7 million in the City of Chicago’s Adopt-a-Landmark funds. That money’s committed, but $26 million is still needed that was supposed to come from loans and investments. Mickelson said he expects that financing to come in early 2020. The reopening is now projected to be in 2022.
A newly-founded Uptown Theatre Foundation is intended to act as a steward of the theatre and potentially receive donations to help restore it. Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner in the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, told Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Jones that his department is continuing to work with the developer on a restoration plan that will also revitalize the Uptown entertainment district, to hopefully start before summer.
The ELKADER Theatre is seen in a color photo and small article (“Main Street, USA”) on Page 8 in the December/January 2020 issue of Reminisce Magazine.
The Sanders family announced Monday they do not support the city’s plans to demolish the Fox Theater and they have not yet decided if they will dissolve an agreement with a local nonprofit that could potentially save the downtown theater’s facade.
In a letter sent to the Stevens Point Journal, D.K. Sanders, Ada Andrae Sanders and Jeanette Sanders said the city is choosing to demolish the building instead of saving it. They are the great-grandchildren of G.F. Andrae, who built the theater in 1894.
The Sanders family said neither Fox on Main nor the city made any effort to correct the problems with the building that sparked a raze order in July, and the focus from everyone involved has been to demolish the building.
“It’s not that they didn’t do anything,” D.K. Sanders told a Stevens Point Journal reporter Monday. “It’s just that they didn’t do enough.”
The family said they worked to give alternative options that corrected the deficiencies and eliminated the raze order.
The city’s main concern is safety, said Mayor Mike Wiza. Work could have been done to preserve the whole building, but since the raze order was issued in July, no improvements have been made. At this point, time is running out, Wiza said. Inspectors have said the building will not survive another winter, and DJ Schneider, the city’s building inspector, said the building needs to be razed and secured by Dec. 15.
The family claims that in 2013, Meyer Borgman Johnson, a structural engineering firm, investigated the Fox building and said the building was well taken care of and identified 12 items that needed attention. The same group visited the building in May 2018 and said the building was in similar condition to what it was in 2013, the family said.
According to the Sanders family, the total cost to fix the major issues with the building in order to remove the raze order is $164,000. The family claims the entire building could be fixed and saved for $254,400. They said the figures were also given to the mayor.
In contrast, the cost of demolition is estimated to be $250,000.
“And so the Fox comes down by the city’s choice, not by supported necessity,” the Sanders family wrote.
Wiza said the company that supplied those estimates didn’t go into the building. He said the city asked the company if it would hold true to the number, and the company said it was an estimate, and they would need to be inside the building to have a better idea on costs. The Sanders family refutes that claim and said they were inside the building with the company a year ago.
Wiza said none of the companies the city has talked to would be able to do any work to preserve the entire building before winter.
The theater building has remained in the Sanders family almost its entire existence, and it was passed down from generation to generation. Ada Andrae Sanders and D.K. Sanders say the city’s current plans are consistent with the history of the building, and the multiple attempts from the city to tear it down.
The city’s Redevelopment Authority eyed the Fox Theater and other downtown properties in 1973, then again in 1980 to build a mall. Jeanette Sanders then sought historical protection, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. City leaders at the time argued they needed the back portion of the theater for the mall. The back 40 feet of the Fox Theater was demolished on March 11, 1985. “The city has tried to destroy the Fox three times,” D.K. Sanders said. “The mall failed. We knew it was going to fail. Nobody would listen to us then, and they’re not listening now.” D.K. Sanders and Ada Andrae Sanders said they put $50,000 worth of theater equipment into the historic theater before they donated the title in 2013 to the Portage County Arts Alliance, known today as CREATE Portage County. The group created a nonprofit organization called Fox on Main to handle everything from studies to development at the site. “We were convinced if we gave it over, it would be a theater,” the Sanders siblings said. “We have no heirs to leave it to.” The family wanted the Fox Theater to remain as a movie theater because it would be too difficult to keep it as a live theater stage. They said they wanted it to be used for a restaurant on the second floor and to be able to rent the facility for weddings and events.
After it ran feasibility studies, Fox on Main learned a theater would not be successful on its own, but that the space could be successful if it filled a need in the community. In 2016, CREATE started its IDEA Center to address a lack of support for entrepreneurship and innovation in the area. The program is currently running at 1039 Ellis St. in Stevens Point. CREATE announced in April its plans to preserve the Fox Theater’s facade, demolish most of the back of the building and relocate its IDEA Center there. Plans hit a roadblock in July, however, when the city issued a 90-day raze order for the building, saying it was so badly damaged that it was a threat to health and public safety. The order referenced failing trusses, a sagging ceiling and roof, and water leaking into the building. Fox on Main was given until mid-October to show it had made significant progress to address those concerns. At the end of October, Fox on Main announced it would stop fighting the raze order. Earlier this month, Fox on Main agreed to sell the Fox Theater property to the city for $1. The sale would give the city authority to demolish the building and work with developers to redevelop the site. At committee meetings in November, city leaders said they wanted to save the facade of the building if it was safe to do so. In order for the sale to go through, however, the Sanders family needs to dissolve its agreement with Fox on Main. Wiza said the Sanders family had verbally agreed to do so, but the city has not received the paperwork. Until the city receives those papers, the raze order is still in effect, Wiza said. If the raze order remains, the entire building — including the facade — will be demolished. If the Sanders family does not dissolve its agreement, Fox on Main will also remain the owner of the property and will be responsible for the cost of demolition. D.K. Sanders and Ada Andrae Sanders said they haven’t decided yet if they want to dissolve the agreement with Fox on Main. They’re still debating what they want to do, they said. D.K. Sanders said the Fox Theater is a cultural and economic resource that is vital to the downtown. It’s a unique building that makes the area a central point for the city and the county. He said he doesn’t understand how the city is willing to throw away a whole building for fixable problems. “If you have a leaky bathroom, you don’t tear your whole house down,” D.K. Sanders said.
Wiza said he hopes the situation can be resolved to help the city preserve history in the downtown. Crews have been performing asbestos abatement work at the building, and that work is scheduled to be completed Tuesday. Demolition on the Fox Theater could start as early as Dec. 3, Wiza said.
A $23 million plan to redevelop the city-owned RAMOVA Theatre into a 1,600-capacity concert and performance space was announced at a community meeting Tuesday night by 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson. Developer Tyler Nevius plans to buy a privately-owned parking lot across the street and privately-owned vacant commercial spaces adjacent to the theatre that would be transformed into a brewery and a revived Ramova Grill Restaurant, with the help of nearby native and chef Kevin Hickey.
Maureen Sullivan, a neighborhood native and past aldermanic candidate, had been campaigning to revive the RAMOVA for fourteen years. Her pro-restoration petition got 5,000 signatures in a few months, but without funding, her efforts stalled.
Sullivan said her first memory of the RAMOVA was seeing “Bambi” there at age four and described it as ”like walking into another world. You smelled the popcorn as soon as you walked in, and it was like you were entering into a playground.”
The RAMOVA was intended as a larger version of the MUSIC BOX Theatre some miles to the northeast, and was owned by a Lithuanian family who named it using a word for “peaceful place.” The city of Chicago acquired the RAMOVA in 2001 and advertised for a developer while spending $364,000 in masonry, roof and drainage repairs. Ald. Thompson said many were nervous over the signs of deterioration over three decades, but Nevius approached him in 2017 with enthusiasm. Nevius started a development company, One Revival Chicago, specifically for the RAMOVA, which seeks to get the theatre and a neighboring vacant lot from the city for $1 and $6.6 million in tax-incremental financing (TIF) assistance for the redevelopment. Nevius says he’s been negotiating with the city on staying on the project for at least ten years, or else the TIF funds would be repaid to the city. The plan goes before the Community Development Commission as early as December 10, then needs to be approved by the Plan Commission for zoning changes and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the terra cotta exterior of the theater could be considered a landmark), before it goes before the City Council for final approval.
In July of 1970, Urban Renewal purchased the Marlow Theatre from Paul Holenstein’s Diversified Realty, Inc. of Butte for $97,900. Diversified Realty was formed in 1963 as a consequence of the bankruptcy and reorganization of Holenstein’s Prudential Diversified Services. Holenstein had numerous interests in Montana, and operated the Placer Hotel in Helena 1961-1965. He died in 1974.
Feb 21, 2006:
Less than a year into its reincarnation, the Rocket Theater in downtown Rock Island will fall dark again, a victim of growing competition in the independent film market.
However, Rocket owner and operator Devin Hansen said a couple of as-yet-unnamed parties are interested in reopening the venue once again as a dinner-beverage-and-movie theater.
“I believe we were instrumental in ushering in the commercial independent film market, along with the help of the hundreds of independent film lovers in the area,” Hansen said in a news release Monday. “With the increased competition from the new cinemas in Moline, independent films have become a hot commodity.”
The type of films shown at the Rocket — and Hansen’s former theater business venture, Brew & View, which closed in August — began to be shown at Showcase Cinemas 53 in Davenport and Great Escape Theatre, Moline, taking away much-needed business from the theater that operates on narrow margins.
“ ‘March of the Penguins’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ became big hits in multiplexes across the country,” he said. “Had we landed one of these films, our future may have been different.”
While the Rocket owners tried to diversify by showing some mainstream movies and booking local, regional and even some national music acts, it was too little, too late.
“We might have been able to survive as a music-only club had we not had so much debt from both movie theaters,” Hansen said. “Movies were always our main focus, our bread-and-butter, and that simply died.”
Hansen said moving from the smaller Brew & View on 2nd Avenue to the larger Rocket on 19th Street was not a contributing cause to going out of business.
“True, we carried over some debt from the small venue, but it was imperative to our survival to have this larger facility,” he said. “We needed a larger venue to carry us through the dry periods. Unfortunately, we ran out of money and credit before we could see how successful this new venue could be.”
Hansen did not give specifics on the potential new theater operators. He did say that they are not purchasing the business from him, but rather starting from scratch. He said one of the possible operators is a national dinner/movie chain with greater resources.
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.
There’s a meeting on the RAMOVA Theatre set for Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 at 6pm CST in the Nativity of Our Lord Church basement, as per 11th Ward Ald. Patrick D. Thompson. A developer has expressed interest in the property for entertainment purposes. Anyone wishing to comment and/or who cannot attend may email Ald. Thompson at and/or call him at 773-254-6677.
Doug Peterson: “I operated the old Simplex projectors at the Electric Theater in the Grove for almost four years. At one point Art Larson tried running movies four nights a week, but because of TV it was a losing proposition, so we went back to Sat and Sun only.”
Robert Shedd: “I was one of the last to run them. Joe Leary taught me.”
Doug Peterson: “They lasted longer than the processed film that ran through them. I have many stories about how Art and I kept them running with baling wire and paper clips.”
Robert Shedd: “At the last when the theater was being run by a CAP youth group, the leader found a guy who worked as a mechanic for a theater supply place in Milwaukee. He had a pair of them in his collection, since he didn’t care if they worked or not he would swap us parts (for a price). According to him they were the oldest working projectors in the U.S. and maybe in North America, he wasn’t sure about Mexico.”
Betty Mindham: “I remember so many full houses there.”
The 15-day 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival Oct. 17-31 drew a record 87,618, up 12% over 2018. This year, the festival also expanded to the Rivoli Theatre and the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee … eight screens across six venues, the largest footprint in its history. The Oriental Theatre remains the anchor venue. Audiences voted at each screening to determine the three awards. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature; “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award; and “Tree #3” received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.
The 15-day 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival Oct. 17-31 drew a record 87,618, up 12% over 2018. This year, the festival also expanded to the Rivoli Theatre in Cedarburg and the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee … eight screens across six venues, the largest footprint in its history. The Oriental Theatre remains the anchor venue. Audiences voted at each screening to determine the three awards. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature; “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award; and “Tree #3” received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.
Plans to try to save the historic facade of the Fox Theater died this week. The group “CREATE Portage County” announced in a joint statement from Greg Wright, executive director, and Bill Schierl, board president and founder, that the entire Fox Theater will come down, abandoning plans to save and remodel portions of the historic building for its IDEA Center. “The razing of the building appears inevitable at this point,” the statement reads. Wright said in a interview with the Stevens Point Journal that the theater could come down in the coming months as a part of a July raze order. How the razing will play out is up in the air because the group needs to discuss who will pay for it, who will retain control of the property and what happens to the $250,000 in funding the city agreed to, Wright said. The group secured $250,000 from the city through tax increment funding in early September. Thursday’s announcement might end the $250,000 agreement, he said. Stevens Point Building Inspection Superintendent DJ Schneider said in an interview that Thursday’s announcement came as a surprise and creates confusion on who will take charge in leveling the theater.
Stevens Point issued a 90-day raze order for the Fox in July because of “health and safety concerns”. The order gave CREATE until late-October to address those issues and raise funds for the project. Issues with the building’s safety included failing trusses, a sagging roof and ceiling, and water leaking into the building. Schneider requested in a memo sent to CREATE on Thursday that the group provide the name of the contractor, a contract and a timeline for the teardown. Winter is approaching fast and determining who will take charge of the teardown needs to happen soon, he said. “I need to know if they aren’t going to do anything because the city has to step in and make it safe for the winter,” Schneider said in an interview. “I need time to get contractors and engineers lined up too if they’re just going to walk away from this thing.”
G.F. Andrae opened the theater on Sept. 19, 1894, as the Grand Opera House, which once featured a 23-year-old Harry Houdini in 1897 before he was a household name. The theater went through several openings and closing throughout its life. It reopened in 1929 as the Fox Theater. City officials battled with the theater’s owners from the 1970s until 1985 over where to build its now-demolished mall, which included part of the theater. The city won the right to tear off 40 feet from back of the theater, which closed permanently April 25, 1986.
Efforts to revive the Fox in the ensuing years failed. CREATE’s final plan to save the theater began April 1 when it launched a $3.5 million campaign to move its IDEA Center inside the salvaged Fox. The center started in 2016 to increase support for local entrepreneurship and innovation.
If the city demolishes the Fox, the city will assess the cost on the property’s tax bill.
“There wasn’t time to consider this strategy. It became clear that the raze order was forcing decisions that would affect the long-term success of the project and asking us to rush a process that requires informed decision-making. We couldn’t move forward in that way,” CREATE’s statement reads. Interviews with Wright and Schneider indicated a breakdown in communication and confusion on the expectations of deadlines and progress updates between CREATE and the city. Wright said they came back to the city with a change in plans for preserving parts of the Fox last week after working with the group’s architect and structural firms. The plans differed from what the city council based its approval of the $250,000 in funding. CREATE’s architect and structural engineer came back and said to gut the theater and keep the back half of the building up, including the roof. The city agreed to provide the funds on the condition CREATE tore down the back two-thirds of the Fox Theater. Wright said he was frustrated when the architect came back with those plans but tried to work with the city. The city informed CREATE it would need to appear before the city council again, Wright said, because of the change in plans. He said the also the city then gave him until Dec. 15 to secure the building ahead of winter. Schneider said the Dec. 15 deadline was set prior to CREATE coming back to the city. Wright said contractors the group spoke with said the Dec. 15 deadline wasn’t feasible. He said the earliest they could do was the first quarter of 2020.
“That Dec. 15 deadline is something our contractors cannot meet,” he said.
Wright said CREATE is circling back to consult with donors about the plans to abandon the Fox Theater. He said they would provide donors refunds if they no longer wish to support the project for the IDEA Center’s move.
“We are hearing from donors that, with rare exception, they are not investing in an iconic facade,” Wright and Schierl said in a statement. Mayor Mike Wiza said in a Thursday statement after CREATE’s announcement that the city could only wait so long on plans to fix the historic theater. “Deteriorating buildings can only wait for so long while various plans are developed and discussed.” The city remains open to discussing any 11th hour plans to save the building, Wiza said.
The theatre will be renamed the Milwaukee Symphony Center. The orchestra raised another $4 million over the past two months toward the $139 million campaign goal for its Warner Grand Theatre restoration project. The MSO today announced the campaign has brought in over $120 million to fund the project. Now, the MSO is beginning the final phase as it seeks to raise the last $19 million. Lead donations have come from Donna and Donald Baumgartner, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Murph and John Burke, Bobbi and Jim Caraway, Franklyn and Barbara Esenberg, Herzfeld Foundation, George and Donna Kaiser, The Estate of Jane Kaiser, Donald and JoAnne Krause, Billie Kubly, Arthur and Nancy Laskin, Sheldon and Marianne Lubar, The Marcus Corp., The Marcus Corp. Foundation, Mary Vandenberg and Keith Mardak, Rite-Hite Foundation, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz, Bud and Sue Selig, The Estate of Barbara Abert Tooman, David and Julia Uihlein and We Energies Foundation. Work is on schedule, with completion expected for September 2020. The initial $120 million fundraising goal was later raised to $139 million to include the cost of renovating the office tower. The campaign funds will also build up the organization’s endowment. Donors can sponsor a seat for gifts of $2,500 to $10,000 for 15-year naming rights.
Tonight marks the grand reopening of Eau Claire’s historic STATE Theatre, and while the doors are opening again, the shows won’t look quite the same as they did nearly 100 years ago. The STATE Theatre has stood in downtown Eau Claire since 1926, but last year it appeared to have its last curtain call. The property was purchased earlier this year, and since then renovations have been underway. “When we re-opened the building, I knew that I wanted it to be called the State Theatre and Community Center,” said Joe Luginbill, the CEO of the State Theatre and Community Center. “This isn’t just serving as a venue space for events; that’s one part of it, but it will also be a hub for non-profit activity.”
Luginbill said there’s a lot in store for the STATE. “All sorts of different kinds of fundraisers, whether different kinds of film screening with panels, or perhaps musical acts and concerts, or maybe even just having a reception and having some events here in the foyer in the lobby,” Luginbill said. “There are so many different things you can do with a space like this.”
Luginbill said they’ve already spent five figures working to update the nearly century-old historic site. He said they plan to continue to put time and money in it because he said the site is worth it.
“A place as special as this that has memories like that for so many of us really needs to be kept alive in some way,” Luginbill said. “It’s not only a really special part of childhood but now it’s a special part of my adulthood too, and I’m really excited for the rest of the community to feel that too.”
On this Grand Reopening night there’s an open house from 5 to 8:30 with pop-up shops, local music, and a film.
Tom McEvilly, the new CEO at the Al. Ringling Theatre, wants to involve the Baraboo community with new programs and shows. “These theaters don’t exist anymore, they’re made into parking lots, they’re made into multiplexes or they’re like antique malls,” said McEvilly. “I’m really glad that this community was wise enough and dedicated enough and passionate enough to save it.”
He plans to introduce youth theater classes including orientation and acting courses taught by theater professionals, and students will perform two shows a year. McEvilly says he plans to teach a couple of classes as well.
“You need to create that beginning base where they appreciate what we have, and they want to have the same passion to keep this place alive,” said McEvilly. “In our theater here, we have the high school and our parochial schools and our dance studios from the area that come and perform here. And when they come and have that opportunity here, they carry that love for this place throughout their entire lives.”
McEvilly looks forward to bringing many shows to the theater in the coming year, including live music performances, dance companies and comedic events that all generations can enjoy.
Al. Ringling Theater Board President Aural Umhoefer said McEvilly’s theater experience will help secure the future of the historic playhouse. “He’s very experienced, so he’s very good to work with, he knows how to manage all aspects of a theater, which will benefit the Al. in the future.”
Throughout October, the theater will host a variety of live events, with Pink Droyd, a Pink Floyd cover band performing Saturday, and Charlie Berenes from Manitowoc Minute on Oct. 26. At the end of October and beginning of November, a theater guild that has performed in the theater for almost 60 years will be perform the musical “Pippin.” The theater also will host comedic acts such as VODville, a group of Hollywood actors to recreate original slapstick comedy similar to the Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin. The theater also will present an original version of “Saturday Night Live” with local actors in the comedic sketches.
McEvilly said theater has directed theater productions in Madison, Chicago and Germany, and written three musicals. Until recently he was a theater and communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County. He also served as the youth theater director at Portage Center for the Arts from 2015 to 2017 and holds six degrees from UW-Madison, including a doctorate in education administration with a focus in fine arts administration and fundraising. He also worked as a teacher of theater with gifted and special needs students.
A group of about 40 Libertyville residents attended a Historic Preservation Commission meeting Monday to voice their dismay over a proposal to demolish the Liberty Theatre. Three spoke in favor of keeping the building, either as a theatre or a different type of entertainment venue.
The commission decided to table a vote on whether to approve a demolition request made by the owners of the theatre, the Libertyville Review reports. The public hearing came a month after the Rhyan family announced its plans to demolish the theatre. The Rhyan family has owned the downtown Libertyville building for more than 50 years. In recent years the theater has been operated by Scott Dehn, who hasn’t been able to earn enough revenue to pay for rent — even after rent had been reduced three times — and ongoing repairs are needed on the building.
The demolition request is the first being considered by the village since a moratorium on the razing of downtown buildings was lifted in April 2018.
The owners of the theatre said they are looking for interested buyers while pursuing its demolition request. Village officials have said they would like to see the building preserved — even if the building is used for something other than a theatre.
The Historic Preservation Commission plans to meet again on Oct. 28 to discuss the demolition request. The village board will have the final say on whether to demolish the theatre.
As of today, the petition to save the theatre had more than 13,000 signatures. Recent news that the addition of a second Costco in Naperville would shutter the Ogden 6 Theatres has brought out an influx of protest from fans of the theatre. To further the efforts, a former employee has started a petition to help save the theatre.
The former employee, who has worked at Ogden 6 since 2016 wrote, on the Change.org petition,
“This place is very different than any other movie theater. The experience is personal and you start to remember the faces that come in. I have bonded immensely with the regular guests that come in and I’m forever grateful for them and the kindness they have shown me. To see this place go would be devastating, as it would be destroying 44 years of history.” The petition, which was started Monday, had more than 13,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon.
Owners of the Ogden 6 Theatres announced Monday on Facebook that the theatre would likely have to close or relocate to make way for a Costco that is preparing to build at the Ogden Mall in the space that was formerly home to KMart. The news brought a flood of comments from longtime fans of Ogden 6 who shared their memories and lamented the impeding closure.
The petition, which aims to “bring attention to Costco, the Ogden mall management, and Classic Cinemas,” also encouraged signers to share their own personal memories about the theatre and “how the demolition impacts you.”
One signer wrote, “We all (me, friends&neighbors) reacted viscerally to the news of Ogden 6’s closure. It’s a landmark to us…”
Another added, “This theater is such an important part of Naperville culture. Such memories of this place.”
Kenosha’s short-lived and forgotten first Crystal Theater was established by the Crystal Theater Company by Jones and Miller. The Kenosha Evening News reported on January 23, 1907 that the fireproof Bullamore Building at 260 Park Street (today’s 710 57th Streetand still there at this writing) had been leased for a new electric 5-cent theatre, and that it was to be ready over the next two weeks. On Saturday, February 23 of that year, the Kenosha Evening News published an announcement that the Crystal Theatre would have a complete change of program the next day with Baby Gladys to sing and dance and illustrated songs by Miss Lillie Jones and Mr. Jones. And on May 31, 1907, the newspaper published an advertisement for the Crystal Theatre inviting the public to its evening performances, adding “we are and intend to continue giving a clean up-to-date show, one that women and children may attend without fear.” But weeks later, in June, property owner H. L. Bullamore listed the building for rent. (Thanks to Al Westerman for his research on the 57th Street Crystal Theatre.)
Downtown McHenry movie house gets a gut rehab By Dan Moran Not every old movie theater is worth saving. Those of us who pinched pennies by watching the finest G-rated films of the 1990s on postage-stamp screens at The Dunes in Zion or the Belvidere Mall Cinema in Waukegan were a little sad to see them go, if not in a way that would require chaining oneself to the door to stop progress. But in an economic marketplace dominated by multiplexes that charge whatever it takes to cover the salary of a Mark Wahlberg — your highest-paid actor in 2017 at $68 million, according to Forbes, and that was for “Transformers: The Last Night” and “Daddy’s Home 2,” if you want to be really angry about it — it’s easy to root for a grassroots effort to restore a 20th century neighborhood movie house for use in the 21st century. That is the case just a short hop across the border of Lake and McHenry counties, where Scott Dehn of Golden Age Cinemas opened the doors last month on a renovated McHenry Downtown Theater. As area movie-going fans might already know, the Golden Age stable already included the Liberty 1 and 2 Theaters in Libertyville and the McHenry Outdoor Theatre (which is set to re-open on May 4 with “Avengers: Infinity War,” for those of you already sick of February). The indoor version when it comes to the McHenry nameplate sits on the west side of the Fox River on Green Street, and it has witnessed an on-again, off-again existence in the last generation or so. According to the invaluable website CinemaTreasures.org, the storefront location’s history as a movie theater dates back to 1919, and it operated as The Empire and The Colony before becoming the McHenry Theatre during the Boomer years. After joining and departing the umbrella of the Rhyan Management Co. — which ran everything from the Grayslake Outdoor to the aforementioned Dunes once upon a time — the McHenry gave it a go in the early 2000s as discount first-run venue. I remember taking the kids to see one of the many “X-Men” movies there in 2006 or so, and then trying to take them back to McHenry to see one of the many “Toy Story” movies, only to find it closed. Cinema Treasures reports that the last iteration of the McHenry Downtown closed shop in 2014, and a lot of smaller theaters simply don’t make it back from a slow death like that. But published reports last year revealed that Golden Age was tackling a $1.5 million rehab that would not only reopen the theater, but also expand it from two screens to three. The result was unveiled in mid-January, and I headed out early on a snowy Super Bowl Sunday to check it out with my youngest offspring in tow, since he had not seen “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and had heard mostly good things about it from the cynical middle-school crowd. The first surprise came upon walking inside: This had not been a wallpaper-and-paint makeover. This had been an extreme rehab. Brick and tile lined the walls of what had been a musty old building, if my memory from 2006 can be trusted. Entrances to three screening rooms — one with 175 seats, another with 155 and a smaller one set to debut with “Fifty Shades Freed” this weekend — were adorned with the names of local businesses that had backed the rebuild. Along the walls, posters for classic films like “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Dark Knight” hinted at the past, while inside the theaters, wide recliners with immense legroom were lined up in tidy rows, as demanded by the current consumer. The stage was set to take in this updated version of “Jumanji,” which turned out to be an acceptable pregame diversion, and one that will no doubt demand another extension of the franchise, if $825 million in domestic box office still means anything. Speaking of box office dollars, this new-age McHenry Downtown Theater charges $9 for adults before 5:30 p.m. and $7 for matinees, children and seniors (aged 60 and older). Hot tip: That’s about $3 less than you’ll pay at the big-boxes, and two tickets at the discount rate almost covers a large, refillable popcorn. The rebirth of the McHenry Downtown follows the 2015 rehab-and-reopening of the Antioch Theatre, and if this is a trend, it’s a welcome one. For whatever reason, the aforementioned Waukegan and Zion are still waiting for the return of a first-run movie theater, and this should not stand. When it comes to experiencing a movie more than just seeing one, not everyone has surrendered to the Netflix culture.
The Catlow Theatre reopens Friday, January 10 though efforts continue to seek financial assistance to keep afloat. “Little Women” will be screened at at 5:10 and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday. “Future movies here will be a week-to-week thing until we get back on our feet, so, of course, we will need heavy, heavy, heavy support during this feature’s run to keep things moving along at the Catlow,” said manager Tim O'Connor to patrons today, adding “We still need your help to get us to the next level — a live stage venue,”
The Catlow Theatre closed because owner Tim O'Connor didn’t have the cash to pay bills. He sent an email over the weekend to say “Unless we meet our crowd fundraiser goal, we may not be able to book any movies until we come up with enough money to pay more bills.” The Catlow was to open for special events such as scheduled screenings of Oscar-nominated short films on Feb. 8 and Feb. 9. (Tickets for those are available through the village government: www.barrington-il.gov/oscars ) The Catlow nearly closed over unpaid taxes last October but struggled through. Still, Catlow Theater LP filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in U.S. District Court in Chicago that month with the majority of its creditors listed being film studios. O'Connor says the Catlow is in disrepair and cited a lack of interest in its offerings there. In 2012, supporters raised $175,395 online to buy a digital projector. Crowdfunding paid for some repairs to the heating system and marquee. The latest online fundraising drive seeks $30,000. As of last week, almost $15,000 had been raised.
The orchestra floor will have two aisles that divide the seating in thirds to avoid long distances to the aisles. Marcus Corporation, which owned the theatre until 2017, is being lauded for caring for the historic fixtures and maintaining and heating the theatre over the 20-plus years that it stood empty. While scrupulously restoring the Warner Grand Theatre, catering kitchens, party rooms, HVAC equipment, loading docks, and new lavatories are being added. On the balcony level, the original lavatories will be restored with their green, black and lavender tile … actually mandatory to earn historic-preservation tax credits to support the $90 million project. (The symphony doesn’t pay taxes but it can sell the tax credits to other developers.) Conrad Schmitt artisans are redoing the original paint, plaster, metal and other decorative surfaces and an acoustical firm comes in at least once a month to check progress. The auditorium’s very rear space below the balcony will become a bar and a control booth, because acoustic engineers discovered it to be a “bass trap” with the worst sound in the house.
Closed amid controversy on April 25, 1986, several individuals and groups have tried, since then to revive the historic Fox theatre. At a special city council meeting last Monday night, Urban Evolutions Inc. of Appleton was selected to demolish two-thirds of the building, fix the roof and seal off the front one-third to make it “weather tight,” said Mayor Mike Wiza to mark the end of the Fox’s 125-year history in downtown Stevens Point. G.F. Andrae purchased the land for an opera house in 1893 and The Grand Opera House opened Sept. 19, 1894, transforming to the Majestic Theater in 1920 and the Fox Theater in 1929 amid challenges including protests over student ticket prices, disputes over wages, television, and even a projectionist strike. The city also began looking at the Fox for potential developments. By April 1973, the city’s Redevelopment Authority eyed several downtown buildings for demolition, including the Fox, not a popular proposal. The Common Council rejected that, but talks of a mall resurfaced in 1980 calling for demolishing the Fox and retaining only the facade as an entrance to the mall. By 1981, the plans changed to raze only the dressing rooms and other theater spaces. In response, owner Jeanette Sanders — G.F. Andrae’s granddaughter — sought historical protection. In 1982, the Fox was added to the National Register of Historic Places. City leaders argued the dressing rooms weren’t historically significant and in February 1984, the city received the approval it needed. Forty feet of the Fox Theatre were demolished on March 11, 1985. About a year later, the operators closed for the last time, blaming post-demolition heating issues. Over 100 people gathered Jan. 25, 2011, to hear Ada Andrae Sanders, her sister Jeanette Sanders and brother Donald Sanders announcing plans to reopen the Fox Theatre. Others expressed interest in using the theatre for venues such as a teen night club, church and roller rink. The Sanders family denied them because they wanted it to reopen as a theatre and restore the elegance of their great-grandfather’s opera house for performances and films, with a restaurant on the second floor. They started to work with the Arts Alliance of Portage County (now CREATE Portage County) to develop a nonprofit and raise money to make their dream a reality. The Arts Alliance formed a nonprofit called Fox on Main in 2013, and the Sanders family donated the title for the theatre to the group. “Fox on Main” began working on designs, a business plan and feasibility studies … but those studies claimed that operating the Fox Theatre as a theater would not be possible without a partner but could be successful if it “filled a need in the community”. CREATE had a 2016 “IDEA Center” program to support entrepreneurship and innovation and in April 2019 announced plans to preserve the Fox’s facade, demolish the auditorium, relocate that IDEA Center there and began a $3.5 million fundraising campaign. Then the city’s building inspector said if Fox on Main didn’t have the roof “water-tight” soon, he would issue a raze order. As of June, no work had been done on the roof, and the inspector issued a 90-day raze order in July, saying the Fox was now so badly damaged and dilapidated that it was a threat to health and public safety. Fox on Main had until mid-October to make sure the roof was water tight, shoring up trusses and repair loose bricks by October to delay the raze order until May 1, 2020. Fox on Main said they wanted to demolish the auditorium and raise money to start as soon as possible. The city agreed to allocate $250,000 toward that … after the demolition contractor was paid. Suddenly an architect firm that Fox on Main had earlier worked with submitted new plans to save the whole theatre … but since this didn’t match the agreement just signed with the city, a new, hard deadline for demolition was set for Dec. 15 … and any changes would need re-approval by the city. Then on Oct. 23, Fox on Main gave up. It would no longer fight the raze order and now wasn’t even interested in the Fox Theatre site for its IDEA Center. (And couldn’t pay for any demolition anyway.) So the city said it’d initially pay for the work but bill Fox on Main’s property taxes for the next three years anyway. If Fox on Main didn’t pay, the property would go to Portage County and eventually the city, but that’d leave a vacant hole in the downtown where no development could take place for at least three and a half years. So Fox on Main’s board voted Nov. 5 to dissolve its donation agreement with the Sanders family and to sell the Fox Theatre to the city for $1. The city agreed, but the actual sale hinged on the Sanders family also dissolving their original Oct. 2013 agreement with Fox on Main with its permissible and forbidden uses for the Fox, allowed only “civic, governmental, cultural or educational purposes including but not limited to: movie theater, stage for theatrical performances, art gallery, music studio, music hall, dance studio, school, restaurant, specialty food store, culinary arts and general or related activities supporting arts, entertainment and culture” (and incidentally prohibiting use for sexual-oriented business, gambling, pawnshop, body piercing business or tattoo parlor.) On Nov. 25, the Sanders family announced it didn’t support the city’s plans to demolish the Fox and were considering dissolving the agreement with Fox on Main.
During the special council meeting Monday, Wiza said the family made it clear they did not intend to dissolve the agreement, that the entire Fox building could be saved, blamed the city for wanting to demolish it, and compared it to the 1970s and 1980s when the city wanted to demolish the Fox to build a mall. “The city has tried to destroy the Fox three times,” D.K. Sanders told a reporter. “The mall failed. We knew it was going to fail. Nobody would listen to us then, and they’re not listening now.” The mayor, Tony Wiza, said nobody did the work to save it and would ask the city council to consider taking ownership of the Fox even with the restrictions from the original agreement for the next 13 years which would make development “pretty challenging,” but at least would let the city maintain the facade.
In November, 2018 the Community Development Commission was told that construction was expected to begin in summer, 2019. No work has begun. The delay, according to Jam Productions' Jerry Mickelsen, involves financing. Public funding included $14 million through the state’s Property Assessed Clean Energy Act; $13 million in tax-increment financing; $10 million in Build Illinois bond funding; $8.7 million in federal tax credits; and $3.7 million in the City of Chicago’s Adopt-a-Landmark funds. That money’s committed, but $26 million is still needed that was supposed to come from loans and investments. Mickelson said he expects that financing to come in early 2020. The reopening is now projected to be in 2022. A newly-founded Uptown Theatre Foundation is intended to act as a steward of the theatre and potentially receive donations to help restore it. Peter Strazzabosco, deputy commissioner in the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, told Chicago Tribune reporter Chris Jones that his department is continuing to work with the developer on a restoration plan that will also revitalize the Uptown entertainment district, to hopefully start before summer.
The ELKADER Theatre is seen in a color photo and small article (“Main Street, USA”) on Page 8 in the December/January 2020 issue of Reminisce Magazine.
The Sanders family announced Monday they do not support the city’s plans to demolish the Fox Theater and they have not yet decided if they will dissolve an agreement with a local nonprofit that could potentially save the downtown theater’s facade. In a letter sent to the Stevens Point Journal, D.K. Sanders, Ada Andrae Sanders and Jeanette Sanders said the city is choosing to demolish the building instead of saving it. They are the great-grandchildren of G.F. Andrae, who built the theater in 1894. The Sanders family said neither Fox on Main nor the city made any effort to correct the problems with the building that sparked a raze order in July, and the focus from everyone involved has been to demolish the building. “It’s not that they didn’t do anything,” D.K. Sanders told a Stevens Point Journal reporter Monday. “It’s just that they didn’t do enough.” The family said they worked to give alternative options that corrected the deficiencies and eliminated the raze order. The city’s main concern is safety, said Mayor Mike Wiza. Work could have been done to preserve the whole building, but since the raze order was issued in July, no improvements have been made. At this point, time is running out, Wiza said. Inspectors have said the building will not survive another winter, and DJ Schneider, the city’s building inspector, said the building needs to be razed and secured by Dec. 15. The family claims that in 2013, Meyer Borgman Johnson, a structural engineering firm, investigated the Fox building and said the building was well taken care of and identified 12 items that needed attention. The same group visited the building in May 2018 and said the building was in similar condition to what it was in 2013, the family said. According to the Sanders family, the total cost to fix the major issues with the building in order to remove the raze order is $164,000. The family claims the entire building could be fixed and saved for $254,400. They said the figures were also given to the mayor. In contrast, the cost of demolition is estimated to be $250,000. “And so the Fox comes down by the city’s choice, not by supported necessity,” the Sanders family wrote. Wiza said the company that supplied those estimates didn’t go into the building. He said the city asked the company if it would hold true to the number, and the company said it was an estimate, and they would need to be inside the building to have a better idea on costs. The Sanders family refutes that claim and said they were inside the building with the company a year ago. Wiza said none of the companies the city has talked to would be able to do any work to preserve the entire building before winter. The theater building has remained in the Sanders family almost its entire existence, and it was passed down from generation to generation. Ada Andrae Sanders and D.K. Sanders say the city’s current plans are consistent with the history of the building, and the multiple attempts from the city to tear it down. The city’s Redevelopment Authority eyed the Fox Theater and other downtown properties in 1973, then again in 1980 to build a mall. Jeanette Sanders then sought historical protection, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. City leaders at the time argued they needed the back portion of the theater for the mall. The back 40 feet of the Fox Theater was demolished on March 11, 1985. “The city has tried to destroy the Fox three times,” D.K. Sanders said. “The mall failed. We knew it was going to fail. Nobody would listen to us then, and they’re not listening now.” D.K. Sanders and Ada Andrae Sanders said they put $50,000 worth of theater equipment into the historic theater before they donated the title in 2013 to the Portage County Arts Alliance, known today as CREATE Portage County. The group created a nonprofit organization called Fox on Main to handle everything from studies to development at the site. “We were convinced if we gave it over, it would be a theater,” the Sanders siblings said. “We have no heirs to leave it to.” The family wanted the Fox Theater to remain as a movie theater because it would be too difficult to keep it as a live theater stage. They said they wanted it to be used for a restaurant on the second floor and to be able to rent the facility for weddings and events. After it ran feasibility studies, Fox on Main learned a theater would not be successful on its own, but that the space could be successful if it filled a need in the community. In 2016, CREATE started its IDEA Center to address a lack of support for entrepreneurship and innovation in the area. The program is currently running at 1039 Ellis St. in Stevens Point. CREATE announced in April its plans to preserve the Fox Theater’s facade, demolish most of the back of the building and relocate its IDEA Center there. Plans hit a roadblock in July, however, when the city issued a 90-day raze order for the building, saying it was so badly damaged that it was a threat to health and public safety. The order referenced failing trusses, a sagging ceiling and roof, and water leaking into the building. Fox on Main was given until mid-October to show it had made significant progress to address those concerns. At the end of October, Fox on Main announced it would stop fighting the raze order. Earlier this month, Fox on Main agreed to sell the Fox Theater property to the city for $1. The sale would give the city authority to demolish the building and work with developers to redevelop the site. At committee meetings in November, city leaders said they wanted to save the facade of the building if it was safe to do so. In order for the sale to go through, however, the Sanders family needs to dissolve its agreement with Fox on Main. Wiza said the Sanders family had verbally agreed to do so, but the city has not received the paperwork. Until the city receives those papers, the raze order is still in effect, Wiza said. If the raze order remains, the entire building — including the facade — will be demolished. If the Sanders family does not dissolve its agreement, Fox on Main will also remain the owner of the property and will be responsible for the cost of demolition. D.K. Sanders and Ada Andrae Sanders said they haven’t decided yet if they want to dissolve the agreement with Fox on Main. They’re still debating what they want to do, they said. D.K. Sanders said the Fox Theater is a cultural and economic resource that is vital to the downtown. It’s a unique building that makes the area a central point for the city and the county. He said he doesn’t understand how the city is willing to throw away a whole building for fixable problems. “If you have a leaky bathroom, you don’t tear your whole house down,” D.K. Sanders said. Wiza said he hopes the situation can be resolved to help the city preserve history in the downtown. Crews have been performing asbestos abatement work at the building, and that work is scheduled to be completed Tuesday. Demolition on the Fox Theater could start as early as Dec. 3, Wiza said.
A $23 million plan to redevelop the city-owned RAMOVA Theatre into a 1,600-capacity concert and performance space was announced at a community meeting Tuesday night by 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson. Developer Tyler Nevius plans to buy a privately-owned parking lot across the street and privately-owned vacant commercial spaces adjacent to the theatre that would be transformed into a brewery and a revived Ramova Grill Restaurant, with the help of nearby native and chef Kevin Hickey. Maureen Sullivan, a neighborhood native and past aldermanic candidate, had been campaigning to revive the RAMOVA for fourteen years. Her pro-restoration petition got 5,000 signatures in a few months, but without funding, her efforts stalled. Sullivan said her first memory of the RAMOVA was seeing “Bambi” there at age four and described it as ”like walking into another world. You smelled the popcorn as soon as you walked in, and it was like you were entering into a playground.” The RAMOVA was intended as a larger version of the MUSIC BOX Theatre some miles to the northeast, and was owned by a Lithuanian family who named it using a word for “peaceful place.” The city of Chicago acquired the RAMOVA in 2001 and advertised for a developer while spending $364,000 in masonry, roof and drainage repairs. Ald. Thompson said many were nervous over the signs of deterioration over three decades, but Nevius approached him in 2017 with enthusiasm. Nevius started a development company, One Revival Chicago, specifically for the RAMOVA, which seeks to get the theatre and a neighboring vacant lot from the city for $1 and $6.6 million in tax-incremental financing (TIF) assistance for the redevelopment. Nevius says he’s been negotiating with the city on staying on the project for at least ten years, or else the TIF funds would be repaid to the city. The plan goes before the Community Development Commission as early as December 10, then needs to be approved by the Plan Commission for zoning changes and the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the terra cotta exterior of the theater could be considered a landmark), before it goes before the City Council for final approval.
In July of 1970, Urban Renewal purchased the Marlow Theatre from Paul Holenstein’s Diversified Realty, Inc. of Butte for $97,900. Diversified Realty was formed in 1963 as a consequence of the bankruptcy and reorganization of Holenstein’s Prudential Diversified Services. Holenstein had numerous interests in Montana, and operated the Placer Hotel in Helena 1961-1965. He died in 1974.
Feb 21, 2006: Less than a year into its reincarnation, the Rocket Theater in downtown Rock Island will fall dark again, a victim of growing competition in the independent film market.
However, Rocket owner and operator Devin Hansen said a couple of as-yet-unnamed parties are interested in reopening the venue once again as a dinner-beverage-and-movie theater.
“I believe we were instrumental in ushering in the commercial independent film market, along with the help of the hundreds of independent film lovers in the area,” Hansen said in a news release Monday. “With the increased competition from the new cinemas in Moline, independent films have become a hot commodity.”
The type of films shown at the Rocket — and Hansen’s former theater business venture, Brew & View, which closed in August — began to be shown at Showcase Cinemas 53 in Davenport and Great Escape Theatre, Moline, taking away much-needed business from the theater that operates on narrow margins.
“ ‘March of the Penguins’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’ became big hits in multiplexes across the country,” he said. “Had we landed one of these films, our future may have been different.”
While the Rocket owners tried to diversify by showing some mainstream movies and booking local, regional and even some national music acts, it was too little, too late.
“We might have been able to survive as a music-only club had we not had so much debt from both movie theaters,” Hansen said. “Movies were always our main focus, our bread-and-butter, and that simply died.”
Hansen said moving from the smaller Brew & View on 2nd Avenue to the larger Rocket on 19th Street was not a contributing cause to going out of business.
“True, we carried over some debt from the small venue, but it was imperative to our survival to have this larger facility,” he said. “We needed a larger venue to carry us through the dry periods. Unfortunately, we ran out of money and credit before we could see how successful this new venue could be.”
Hansen did not give specifics on the potential new theater operators. He did say that they are not purchasing the business from him, but rather starting from scratch. He said one of the possible operators is a national dinner/movie chain with greater resources.
(Tory Brecht, Quad City Times, Davenport, IA)
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.
The Grant County Historical Society.
There’s a meeting on the RAMOVA Theatre set for Tuesday, November 19th, 2019 at 6pm CST in the Nativity of Our Lord Church basement, as per 11th Ward Ald. Patrick D. Thompson. A developer has expressed interest in the property for entertainment purposes. Anyone wishing to comment and/or who cannot attend may email Ald. Thompson at and/or call him at 773-254-6677.
Doug Peterson: “I operated the old Simplex projectors at the Electric Theater in the Grove for almost four years. At one point Art Larson tried running movies four nights a week, but because of TV it was a losing proposition, so we went back to Sat and Sun only.”
Robert Shedd: “I was one of the last to run them. Joe Leary taught me.”
Doug Peterson: “They lasted longer than the processed film that ran through them. I have many stories about how Art and I kept them running with baling wire and paper clips.”
Robert Shedd: “At the last when the theater was being run by a CAP youth group, the leader found a guy who worked as a mechanic for a theater supply place in Milwaukee. He had a pair of them in his collection, since he didn’t care if they worked or not he would swap us parts (for a price). According to him they were the oldest working projectors in the U.S. and maybe in North America, he wasn’t sure about Mexico.”
Betty Mindham: “I remember so many full houses there.”
The 15-day 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival Oct. 17-31 drew a record 87,618, up 12% over 2018. This year, the festival also expanded to the Rivoli Theatre and the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee … eight screens across six venues, the largest footprint in its history. The Oriental Theatre remains the anchor venue. Audiences voted at each screening to determine the three awards. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature; “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award; and “Tree #3” received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.
The 15-day 2019 Milwaukee Film Festival Oct. 17-31 drew a record 87,618, up 12% over 2018. This year, the festival also expanded to the Rivoli Theatre in Cedarburg and the Broadway Theatre Center in Milwaukee … eight screens across six venues, the largest footprint in its history. The Oriental Theatre remains the anchor venue. Audiences voted at each screening to determine the three awards. “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” received the Allan H. (Bud) and Suzanne L. Selig Audience Award for Best Feature; “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins” won honors and a $2,500 prize for the Women in Film Audience Award; and “Tree #3” received the Selig Audience Award for Best Short.
The original name and spellings: “Keno Family Drive-In Theatre”.
Plans to try to save the historic facade of the Fox Theater died this week. The group “CREATE Portage County” announced in a joint statement from Greg Wright, executive director, and Bill Schierl, board president and founder, that the entire Fox Theater will come down, abandoning plans to save and remodel portions of the historic building for its IDEA Center. “The razing of the building appears inevitable at this point,” the statement reads. Wright said in a interview with the Stevens Point Journal that the theater could come down in the coming months as a part of a July raze order. How the razing will play out is up in the air because the group needs to discuss who will pay for it, who will retain control of the property and what happens to the $250,000 in funding the city agreed to, Wright said. The group secured $250,000 from the city through tax increment funding in early September. Thursday’s announcement might end the $250,000 agreement, he said. Stevens Point Building Inspection Superintendent DJ Schneider said in an interview that Thursday’s announcement came as a surprise and creates confusion on who will take charge in leveling the theater. Stevens Point issued a 90-day raze order for the Fox in July because of “health and safety concerns”. The order gave CREATE until late-October to address those issues and raise funds for the project. Issues with the building’s safety included failing trusses, a sagging roof and ceiling, and water leaking into the building. Schneider requested in a memo sent to CREATE on Thursday that the group provide the name of the contractor, a contract and a timeline for the teardown. Winter is approaching fast and determining who will take charge of the teardown needs to happen soon, he said. “I need to know if they aren’t going to do anything because the city has to step in and make it safe for the winter,” Schneider said in an interview. “I need time to get contractors and engineers lined up too if they’re just going to walk away from this thing.”
G.F. Andrae opened the theater on Sept. 19, 1894, as the Grand Opera House, which once featured a 23-year-old Harry Houdini in 1897 before he was a household name. The theater went through several openings and closing throughout its life. It reopened in 1929 as the Fox Theater. City officials battled with the theater’s owners from the 1970s until 1985 over where to build its now-demolished mall, which included part of the theater. The city won the right to tear off 40 feet from back of the theater, which closed permanently April 25, 1986.
Efforts to revive the Fox in the ensuing years failed. CREATE’s final plan to save the theater began April 1 when it launched a $3.5 million campaign to move its IDEA Center inside the salvaged Fox. The center started in 2016 to increase support for local entrepreneurship and innovation.
If the city demolishes the Fox, the city will assess the cost on the property’s tax bill. “There wasn’t time to consider this strategy. It became clear that the raze order was forcing decisions that would affect the long-term success of the project and asking us to rush a process that requires informed decision-making. We couldn’t move forward in that way,” CREATE’s statement reads. Interviews with Wright and Schneider indicated a breakdown in communication and confusion on the expectations of deadlines and progress updates between CREATE and the city. Wright said they came back to the city with a change in plans for preserving parts of the Fox last week after working with the group’s architect and structural firms. The plans differed from what the city council based its approval of the $250,000 in funding. CREATE’s architect and structural engineer came back and said to gut the theater and keep the back half of the building up, including the roof. The city agreed to provide the funds on the condition CREATE tore down the back two-thirds of the Fox Theater. Wright said he was frustrated when the architect came back with those plans but tried to work with the city. The city informed CREATE it would need to appear before the city council again, Wright said, because of the change in plans. He said the also the city then gave him until Dec. 15 to secure the building ahead of winter. Schneider said the Dec. 15 deadline was set prior to CREATE coming back to the city. Wright said contractors the group spoke with said the Dec. 15 deadline wasn’t feasible. He said the earliest they could do was the first quarter of 2020. “That Dec. 15 deadline is something our contractors cannot meet,” he said.
Wright said CREATE is circling back to consult with donors about the plans to abandon the Fox Theater. He said they would provide donors refunds if they no longer wish to support the project for the IDEA Center’s move.
“We are hearing from donors that, with rare exception, they are not investing in an iconic facade,” Wright and Schierl said in a statement. Mayor Mike Wiza said in a Thursday statement after CREATE’s announcement that the city could only wait so long on plans to fix the historic theater. “Deteriorating buildings can only wait for so long while various plans are developed and discussed.” The city remains open to discussing any 11th hour plans to save the building, Wiza said.
The theatre will be renamed the Milwaukee Symphony Center. The orchestra raised another $4 million over the past two months toward the $139 million campaign goal for its Warner Grand Theatre restoration project. The MSO today announced the campaign has brought in over $120 million to fund the project. Now, the MSO is beginning the final phase as it seeks to raise the last $19 million. Lead donations have come from Donna and Donald Baumgartner, The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Murph and John Burke, Bobbi and Jim Caraway, Franklyn and Barbara Esenberg, Herzfeld Foundation, George and Donna Kaiser, The Estate of Jane Kaiser, Donald and JoAnne Krause, Billie Kubly, Arthur and Nancy Laskin, Sheldon and Marianne Lubar, The Marcus Corp., The Marcus Corp. Foundation, Mary Vandenberg and Keith Mardak, Rite-Hite Foundation, Michael and Jeanne Schmitz, Bud and Sue Selig, The Estate of Barbara Abert Tooman, David and Julia Uihlein and We Energies Foundation. Work is on schedule, with completion expected for September 2020. The initial $120 million fundraising goal was later raised to $139 million to include the cost of renovating the office tower. The campaign funds will also build up the organization’s endowment. Donors can sponsor a seat for gifts of $2,500 to $10,000 for 15-year naming rights.
Tonight marks the grand reopening of Eau Claire’s historic STATE Theatre, and while the doors are opening again, the shows won’t look quite the same as they did nearly 100 years ago. The STATE Theatre has stood in downtown Eau Claire since 1926, but last year it appeared to have its last curtain call. The property was purchased earlier this year, and since then renovations have been underway. “When we re-opened the building, I knew that I wanted it to be called the State Theatre and Community Center,” said Joe Luginbill, the CEO of the State Theatre and Community Center. “This isn’t just serving as a venue space for events; that’s one part of it, but it will also be a hub for non-profit activity.” Luginbill said there’s a lot in store for the STATE. “All sorts of different kinds of fundraisers, whether different kinds of film screening with panels, or perhaps musical acts and concerts, or maybe even just having a reception and having some events here in the foyer in the lobby,” Luginbill said. “There are so many different things you can do with a space like this.” Luginbill said they’ve already spent five figures working to update the nearly century-old historic site. He said they plan to continue to put time and money in it because he said the site is worth it. “A place as special as this that has memories like that for so many of us really needs to be kept alive in some way,” Luginbill said. “It’s not only a really special part of childhood but now it’s a special part of my adulthood too, and I’m really excited for the rest of the community to feel that too.” On this Grand Reopening night there’s an open house from 5 to 8:30 with pop-up shops, local music, and a film.
Tom McEvilly, the new CEO at the Al. Ringling Theatre, wants to involve the Baraboo community with new programs and shows. “These theaters don’t exist anymore, they’re made into parking lots, they’re made into multiplexes or they’re like antique malls,” said McEvilly. “I’m really glad that this community was wise enough and dedicated enough and passionate enough to save it.” He plans to introduce youth theater classes including orientation and acting courses taught by theater professionals, and students will perform two shows a year. McEvilly says he plans to teach a couple of classes as well.
“You need to create that beginning base where they appreciate what we have, and they want to have the same passion to keep this place alive,” said McEvilly. “In our theater here, we have the high school and our parochial schools and our dance studios from the area that come and perform here. And when they come and have that opportunity here, they carry that love for this place throughout their entire lives.”
McEvilly looks forward to bringing many shows to the theater in the coming year, including live music performances, dance companies and comedic events that all generations can enjoy. Al. Ringling Theater Board President Aural Umhoefer said McEvilly’s theater experience will help secure the future of the historic playhouse. “He’s very experienced, so he’s very good to work with, he knows how to manage all aspects of a theater, which will benefit the Al. in the future.”
Throughout October, the theater will host a variety of live events, with Pink Droyd, a Pink Floyd cover band performing Saturday, and Charlie Berenes from Manitowoc Minute on Oct. 26. At the end of October and beginning of November, a theater guild that has performed in the theater for almost 60 years will be perform the musical “Pippin.” The theater also will host comedic acts such as VODville, a group of Hollywood actors to recreate original slapstick comedy similar to the Three Stooges and Charlie Chaplin. The theater also will present an original version of “Saturday Night Live” with local actors in the comedic sketches.
McEvilly said theater has directed theater productions in Madison, Chicago and Germany, and written three musicals. Until recently he was a theater and communications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County. He also served as the youth theater director at Portage Center for the Arts from 2015 to 2017 and holds six degrees from UW-Madison, including a doctorate in education administration with a focus in fine arts administration and fundraising. He also worked as a teacher of theater with gifted and special needs students.
A group of about 40 Libertyville residents attended a Historic Preservation Commission meeting Monday to voice their dismay over a proposal to demolish the Liberty Theatre. Three spoke in favor of keeping the building, either as a theatre or a different type of entertainment venue. The commission decided to table a vote on whether to approve a demolition request made by the owners of the theatre, the Libertyville Review reports. The public hearing came a month after the Rhyan family announced its plans to demolish the theatre. The Rhyan family has owned the downtown Libertyville building for more than 50 years. In recent years the theater has been operated by Scott Dehn, who hasn’t been able to earn enough revenue to pay for rent — even after rent had been reduced three times — and ongoing repairs are needed on the building. The demolition request is the first being considered by the village since a moratorium on the razing of downtown buildings was lifted in April 2018. The owners of the theatre said they are looking for interested buyers while pursuing its demolition request. Village officials have said they would like to see the building preserved — even if the building is used for something other than a theatre. The Historic Preservation Commission plans to meet again on Oct. 28 to discuss the demolition request. The village board will have the final say on whether to demolish the theatre.