RKO Mainstreet Theatre

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Uploaded on: January 18, 2025

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Main Street Theater

Joan Crawford and James Stewart were starring in the main feature at the Main Street Theater on the northwest corner of State and Main streets in this 1939 photo. Theater employees wore special hats to welcome Veterans of Foreign Wars convention visitors.

The photo was submitted by Myrtle Schultz Klein of Racine, second from right, who was the box office cashier.

Campbell, an usher, Katy, the popcorn girl whose last name eludes Schultz: Harry Snyder, doorman; and Warren, the other usher, whose surname Schultz also has forgotten.

Klein, who worked at the theater for 22 years, said it was open seven nights a week and holidays, even Christmas Eve.

The owner when the photo was taken was Leonard Brown, whose promotions included Dish Night, when patrons received dishes, Pay Day, when theater goers drew envelopes - each contained a penny, but some also held $2, $5 or $10 bills. One envelope included $1,000 but no patron ever drew it, Klein said, and Encyclopedia Night, when patrons received a volume each week until the entire set was distributed.

The theater, originally built for stage performances and known as the Orpheum, was razed in 1958.