Comments from DavidHurlbutt

Showing 1 - 25 of 105 comments

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Astor Theater on Oct 7, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Glorioso Brothers will open their grocery and deli in the spring of 2010 in the old Brady Street Drugstore/Cafe which operated in the remodeled Astor Theater Building. At present there are no definite plans for the second floor of the old theater which up to 2008 was used as a performing center for theater, dance and films.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Astor Theater on May 3, 2009 at 1:49 pm

Glorioso’s Deli and Market has bought the building and will be moving their store from across the street on Brady into the old Astor Theater building. The Brady Steet Pharmacy which had occupied most of the building closed last year and last week the lunch counter and cafe and the 37 seat theater closed.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Juneau Theatre on Nov 29, 2008 at 6:27 am

BWChigo: This is a beautiful picture of the interior of the Juneau. I do recall that the organ was still there in the 1940s. It seemed to be covered with a tarp or canvas cover. I don’t recall ever hearing it played. I never got close to the organ. It was considered in bad taste to sit in the first rows for a movie. Everyone said you would have a pain in the neck from looking up at the screen.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Fine Arts Theatre on Mar 22, 2008 at 8:37 am

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS opened at the Fine Arts.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Carnegie Theatre on Dec 25, 2007 at 6:30 am

Didn’t the Carnegie once show a montage of Sonja Heine’s skating numbers from her films? The presentation was late at night, possibly at midnight.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Telenews Theatre on Dec 9, 2007 at 1:58 pm

When the Telenews in Milwaukee, Wisconsin dropped its newsreel policy and switch to showing full-length features, the Telenews changed its name to ESQUIRE

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about 34th Street East Theatre on Nov 6, 2007 at 6:24 am

The Shop on Main Street (aka The Shop on High Street)had a long run at the 34th Street East.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Pabst Theater on Oct 8, 2007 at 6:18 am

In the streetcar era the #10 which took workers to the factories in suburban West Allis and commuters home to Wauwatosa stopped outside of the Pabst. Many streetcar riders were sheltered from the rain and snow while they waited patiently under the Pabst’s canopy for the next car. Thus, these riders who may have never been in the Pabst knew where it was located and who was performing there.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Bradley Symphony Center on Oct 1, 2007 at 6:54 am

The upper theatre was not removed. The wall surrounding and closing off the balcony from the main auditorium making an upstairs theater was removed. A few years ago consideration was given to making the Warner/Grand into the home for the Milwaukee Symphony. But after much discussion that plan was abandoned because the theater was built as a film house and has no depth to the stage or any dressing rooms. The back wall of the shallow stage faces 2nd Street making any enlargement of the stage a problem.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Belasco Theatre on Sep 30, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Patsy,
David Belasco opened the Stuyvesant theater on 44th Street in NYC on October 16, 1907. In September 1907 Belasco changed the name of that Stuyvesant theater to the Belasco.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Modjeska Theatre on Sep 18, 2007 at 11:11 am

Milwaukee’s Common Council’s Development Committee today recommended approval of a 3.1 million dollar proposal for improving some key landmarks, including the Modjeska Theater, on Mitchell Street.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Donate to Cinema Treasures on Sep 17, 2007 at 2:51 pm

Dear Ross:
Are checks acceptable? If so, Please give direction for sending payment by check.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Riviera Theatre on Sep 6, 2007 at 11:05 am

There are 32 different Riviera theaters listed on Cinema Treasures. Why was RIVIERA such a popular name for motion picture theaters bult in the 1920s?

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Park Theatre on Aug 27, 2007 at 9:49 am

Michaetira,
Was Breaking the Sound Barrier as good on television as it was on the screen of the Park?? If I remember Breaking the Sound Barrier was a British picture with Ralp Richardson as the star. Richardson won all kinds of awards for his acting in the film.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Milwaukee Theatre on Aug 26, 2007 at 4:09 pm

In the 1940s and 1950 The Poblocki Sign Company which constructed the marquee for the Milwaukee Theater on Teutonia Avenue was located in a building on Kinnickinnic Avenue which once was a movie theater. Widen and Anderson in their book SILVER SCREENS list this location as having many different names, Airdome, Union Electric, Badger, Rex.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Pix Theatre on Aug 26, 2007 at 3:50 pm

The Pix was originally the Avenue and later was remodeled and called the Aragon. In 1950 the owners of the Aragon who had built a new theater, the Airway, further south on Howell Avenue sold the Aragon to new owners who changed its name to the Pix. When the Pix closed it became a dance club. When the dance club closed the building was demolished.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about National Theatre on Aug 26, 2007 at 3:42 pm

In its day the National was ofter referred to as the Million Dollar Theater. The National was a Warner theater and it often if not aways had the same program as another Warner theater, The Egyptian, which was located across town on the north end of Milwaukee.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Plaza Theatre on Aug 26, 2007 at 3:35 pm

The Plaza was operated by Fox Wisconsin Amusement for many years and for its last years it was an independent. When it closed there was an attempt to remodel the Plaza into a supermarket but halfway through the construction the developer changed its mind and the Plaza was demolished. A new supermarket was built and the Plaza’s site became the parking lot for the supermarket.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about New York Theatre on Aug 21, 2007 at 7:54 am

In early television (late 40s and 50s) The New York theater’s marquee was always prominent in the coverage of New Year Eve’s celebration in Times Square. As a Midwesterner I was always surprised each year to see that the New York with such a great location was always showing a second-run film.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Towne Theatre on Jul 30, 2007 at 2:52 pm

The newly remodeled and renamed Towne opened with the Marx Brothers in A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Park Plaza Theatre on Jul 27, 2007 at 1:40 pm

Re: photo submitted on Jul 27
The marquee in the 1951 picture is similar to that of the WARNER in downtown Milwaukee (a.k.a. Centre, Grand). Was this a common design used in the 1940s and 1950s?

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Orpheum Theatre on Jul 27, 2007 at 9:44 am

The Orpheum was never a part of the Fox West Coast Chain. It was a part of the Fox Wisconsin Circuit which in the 1940s and 1950s operated theaters in major Wisconsin cities. Fox Wisconsin had more than thirty theaters in Milwaukee.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Southgate Theatre on Jul 27, 2007 at 9:31 am

Milwaukee, Wisconsin also had a Southgate Theater which has been replaced by a new Southgate multiplex.

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about THE DIRTY DOZEN: USA re-release date was ???? on Jun 5, 2007 at 5:30 am

Didn’t THE DIRTY DOZEN open on June 15th, 1967 at the Capitol and the 34th Street East?

DavidHurlbutt
DavidHurlbutt commented about Paradise Theatre on Apr 28, 2007 at 1:54 pm

In 1946 during the screening of a double bill of FROM THIS DAY FORWARD and ZIGFIELD FOLLIES at the Paradise the projectionist or manager voiced over the soundtrack that Joe Lewis had just defended his heaveyweight title. The audience cheered and then it again was quiet while Joan Fontaine continued her emoting.