THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

November 21, 1990

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            Adelbert Monroe Penney, the one-time Potato King of Wisconsin, at one time had plans to build a new and modern hotel in Waupaca on the site where the Delavan Hotel was located on the southeast corner of Main and East Union Streets.

            His daughter, Rose was instrumental in changing his mind to building a new theater instead of putting his money into a hotel.  A. M. Penney, as he was better known, started to break ground for the new theater in early spring of 1920.

            C. W. Nelson was the architect, Theodore Anderson was the general contractor, Bernie Wilson was the electrical contractor, and William Auer had the plumbing contract.

            The New Palace Theater opened two weeks later than scheduled because Bernie Wilson had to spend two weeks at the National Guard Camp.

            It was built at an estimated cost of $100,000, and was erected as a monument to the City of Waupaca.  The Palace Theater opened its doors for the first time October 4, 1920, with the stage production, “The Old Homestead,” put on by a road company passing through Waupaca from Milwaukee to Minneapolis.

            J. W. Schienssner, who was the manager, had also booked Barrier’s Waupaca Orchestra for the opening occasion and Ethwell (Eddy) Hanson at the “Golden Voiced” baritone pipe organ, Eddy’s father, Gus Hanson, was playing cornet, Soren Johnson on trombone, Clint Hartman on bass, Art Feregan on clarinet and Ben Peterson on cello.

            Through the early years the Palace Theater served as a hub for civic activities as well as showing stage productions and silent films.  The popular Carroll’s Wauapca City Band of those days and the Lawrence College Men’s Glee Club of Appleton were frequent performers in those days.

            The admission price ranged from 25¢ for adults and 15¢ for children on weekdays to 50¢ for adults on Sundays.

            Easter Sunday, 1921, was a big day for the Palace Theater patrons, as Mary Pickford smiled across the screen in “Pollyana” and the Palace Male Quartet sang. The members of this quartet were:  Henry Nelson, Orlando Anderson, Arnold Christiansen and George Lindahl.  The Palace Theater also had its own orchestra in the pit.  They were E. Lowe, E. Chady, Jesse Loberg, Tom Temple, Henry Nelson, John McCall and Reed Holm.

            Through the early years, the Palace had several managers, including Oh. H. Brown, Schienssner, Joe Winneger, John Lucia and R. C. Wheller.  In the later years there were Arlo Clausen, E. P. Kissinger, E. D. Rodgers and Dorothy Helgerson.

            During the roaring ‘20s, the Palace featured such stars of the silent films as Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Rudolph Valentino, the Gish Sisters, Harold Lloyd and William Boyd.  When the Depression hit in 1929 the theater was forced to make some price changes. On Thursday nights they had what they called a family night, when the whole family was admitted for 25¢.  By now the talkies were coming into existence.  There were problems tying to keep the audio synchronized with the video.  The mouth may have been moving, but there was no sound.

            On February 10, 1929, “The Shopworn Angel,” starring Nancy Carroll and Gary Cooper, gained the distinction of being the first talkie to reach the Palace screen.  Local talent was not forgotten.  On November 3 and 4, 1931, the Girl Scouts of Waupaca sponsored “West of Broadway.”  The cast were:  Allen Scott, Josephine Diekhoff, Howard Jeffers, Carolyn Court, Ray Jensen, Eloise Quimby and Andrew Larson.

            In 1932, John P. Adler of Marshfield leased the Palace Theater from the Penney estate. During these early years of the 1930s, Bank Nights were started on Thursday nights with a double feature and the admission price dropped to 14¢ and children’s matinees on Saturday were 5¢.

            They still had shows on the stage. The local paper stated that the local gay blades got an eyeful when Sally Rand appeared as a fan dancer.  Lula Belle and Scotty of WLS barn dance fame and Gene Autry, before he became a star, all graced the Palace stage.

            In 1934, the pretty Maxine Holman, a Waupaca personality, appeared on the state doing her fan dance routine.  It is something to do a fan dance, and it something to do a toe dance, but it is really something to combine them together!

            In 1937 J. P. Adler bought the Place Theater from the Penney estate, and in 1939 he carried out a full scale remodeling job.  The orchestra pit and the organ, which both had since ceased to be important with the advent of talkies, were taken out.  The organ was sold to a church in Stevens Point, the wooden seats received new cushions, a new ticket booth was built, the projectionist booth was revamped, new fire-proof doors were installed, as was a new generator.  The two ornamental lamps that stood in front of the theater were removed and alter they were installed in front off the Scandinavia Lutheran church at Scandinavia.

            Back in 1936 when the film, “Birth of a Baby,” was shown there were nurses on hand and two men fainted during the show.  On the brighter side, “Sing-Alongs” were popular at the Palace when the audience would all join in and sing together.  After 1939 the Palace Theater became more of a straight movie house, although the Waupaca High School continued to hold their graduation exercises there until the late 1950s.

            Attendance records were set with such movies as, “Gone With the Wind,” “Mutiny On th eBounty” and the “Greatest Show on Earth,” which all ran for a week.  The last senior class play was held there in 1953 when the curtain fell on the final act of “A Change of Heart.”  The cast consisted of:  Carol Barden, Sheilla Harris, Marge Schmahl, Marie Doro, Kathleen Hill, Donna Bartleson, Jim Abrahamson, Mike Fallgatter, Tim Schroeder, Bob Hanson, Roger Wilson, Mary Bradley, Shirley Button, Lois Nikles, Paul Suhs and Dave Hathaway.

            By the mid-1950s the die had been cast.  The attendance was dwindling as the movies were being replaced by TV.

            On January 12, 1957 the Palace closed its doors forever as manager Dorothy Helgerson counted the last receipts and projectionist Orville Ayres rewound the last roll of film.

            The last film to be shown was, “Seven Men From the Nile,” starring Randolph Scott, Gail Russell and Lee Marvin.

            In 1961 seven men staged the biggest production ever played at the Palace, as they demolished the once beautiful theater that was rated as one of the theatrical and cinema showpieces of central Wisconsin.  The Palace Theater was being sold to the Farmers State Bank, of Waupaca to be used as their parking lot. The Farmers State Bank that once stood on the corner of Main and West Fulton Streets now stands on the old Palace Theater site.