The
LaCrosse Opera House - In the late evening on a Monday night
in 1909, flames engulfed nearly an entire city block in LaCrosse. Among
the buildings destroyed was the Andrews Opera House. All that was
salvaged from the opera house were a couple of reels of film and an Edison
Picture Machine.
In the spring of 1910, a new facility was completed. It was located on the northeast corner of Eighth and Elm Streets, one block west of the Main Street business district. The building was a two-level brick structure fifty feet in width and seventy-five feet in length. It featured an auditorium with a proscenium stage, ground and upper-level seating, dressing rooms, storage areas and a lobby. A loft above the stage provided ample clearance for large props and backdrops. The opera house was lighted throughout with electricity and could seat up to 1,000 patrons. The total cost of the structure was $12,500.
The LaCrosse Republican called it "no doubt the best playhouse on the Missouri Pacific road between Salina and Pueblo." People of the day could hardly believe that this magnificent facility had arisen out of a tragedy that had happened less than one year before. The first performance, "St. Elmo", was held on April 25 of that year, nearly one year to the day from the date of the catastrophic fire. Live performances were regular at first, but with the growing popularity and advancement of the movie industry, motion pictures soon became the primary form of entertainment. On December 5, 1929, "Jerry of Jericho Road", presented by the LaCrosse High School Glee Clubs, was one of the last live performances held in the theatre.
The
Paramount Theatre - In the late 1920s, Ralph and Jewell Larned came
to LaCrosse and assumed operation of the opera house which by then had been
renamed the LaCrosse Theatre. Under operation of the Larned's, the theatre
was renamed the Paramount Theatre. Equipment was installed for the exhibition
of sound movies. The first major renovation of the building
involved bricking over many of the windows. On the front, four large upstairs
windows were replaced with smaller windows while
the lower windows remained unchanged. A triangular marquee bearing
the Paramount name with space for listing current attractions was suspended
over the entrance. The interior of the building was redesigned in a Spanish
decor.
Following the war, advancements in the motion picture industry made it apparent that the theatre was due for another extensive face-lift. In January of 1946, the Paramount began temporary operations in the LaCrosse City Auditorium so that remodeling could begin in the theatre. The remodeling, touted as "the most extensive building project to be completed in LaCrosse since the close of the war," was completed in May 1946. The $25,000 remodeling entailed a complete remake of the building. The facility was designed by Robert O. Boller, nationally renowned theatre architect. Charles and O.L. Jones of LaCrosse were the contractors.
The entrance of the building was lowered to street
level with a box-office built of glass block. A novel feature of
the theatre was a "cry-room" with piped-in sound to allow parents with
babies to enjoy the show without disturbing other patrons. A refreshment
bar served from both the lobby and foyer. Sound and projection equipment
were some of the finest available.
The front exterior was covered in buff stucco with chocolate-brown trim. The art deco style main room was finished in dusty pink accented with burgundy wainscoting. Burgundy, blue, and gold draperies framed a screen thirty feet wide. The main room seated 350 patrons in red velvet orchestra seats. The balcony seated an additional 174 patrons. To add to patrons' comfort, the entire building was heated and air-conditioned. The first show in the newly- remodeled theatre was "The Harvey Girls" starring Judy Garland, John Hodiak, and Ray Bolger.
The Larneds operated the Paramount until the late 1960s when the popularity of television began to force many community theatres out of business. In 1971, the theatre was reopened on weekends by Sterling and Steve Bagby who had recently reopened the local drive-in theatre. The Paramount was open again for only a brief time, before being permanently closed. In 1973, the seats were removed and placed in the new livestock sale barn north of LaCrosse. In 1974, the theatre was used in the filming of the television series, "Paper Moon."
Through the years, time and neglect had begun to take their toll on the once beautiful facility. For safety reasons, the marquee was removed and the box office was covered. The theatre building continued to be used as a warehouse until 1981. In April of that year, the building was razed to make room for a parking lot.
The LaCrosse Theatre - Early in 1950, Ralph Larned decided that the community could support a second theatre. Unable to secure a suitable lot or building to house the theatre, Larned chose to use the building at 707 Main Street where his wife Jewell had been operating Larned's Dress Shop. The Larneds liquidated the store and began renovations on the building. A partial second story was added and the building was extended in length to nearly double its original size.
Workers had completed work on the new theatre by December of 1950. The main level of the twenty-four-feet-wide building contained two restrooms, a foyer, lobby, concession area, and a main room with a seating capacity of 300 patrons. Although a projection booth and storage area were located on the second floor, there was no balcony. The foyer area was painted in chartreuse and had red and chartreuse carpeting. The first feature to be shown in the new theatre was "Three Came Home," a first-run war story starring Claudette Colbert.
The theatre never seemed to gain the popularity of its sister theatre, the Paramount. After only a few weeks of operation, newspaper advertisements for the theatre no longer appeared. In February 1957, Ralph Larned sold the building so that it could be converted into a dry-cleaning shop operated by Carl Juvenal. For many years, the red and white marquee hung above the entrance of the cleaning shop. The U-Needa Cleaners, as it was called, was the last business to operate in the building and it was permanently closed in the mid to late 1970s. Sometime around 1980, following a heavy snow, the roof collapsed rendering the building unusable. A few years later, the building was dismantled.
The
Hil'Top Drive-In - In late 1952, Ralph Larned decided it was time for
Rush County to have a drive-in theatre. In January 1953, he leased
a ten-acre plot of ground at the south edge of LaCrosse from Loris Erbes.
On June 15 of that year, the Hil'Top Drive-In, a 285-car outdoor theatre,
opened to the public. The concession building was twenty-two feet by fifty
feet and included a projection booth, storeroom, and restroom facilities.
A glass wall on the front of the building allowed patrons to view the movie
while waiting in the concession line. A playground was situated behind
the building. Movies were projected onto a Cinema-Scope-sized Boyer
pre-fab screen that stood fifty-six feet into the air with a picture area
sixty-four feet wide and thirty-four feet high. The screen was constructed
of laminated lumber with white glatex shingles on the picture area. Two
Brenkert BX-80 35mm Projectors illuminated by Brenkert Carbon Arc lamphouses beamed
movies onto the giant screen. Patrons could hear the movie through individual
Ballantyne in-car speakers mounted at each parking stall.
The opening feature at the theatre was Jubilee Trail, starring Forrest Tucker and Joan Leslie. The theatre was managed by Gordon Holiday and opening night staff included: concession operators, Lillyann Suppes, Valta Ochs, Velma Kanage, and Kathryn Wilhelm; ticket cashier, Della Parker; and projectionist, Robert Peterson.
In spring of 1966, a windstorm destroyed the original pre-fab screen forcing the theatre to close for the remainder of the season. The following year, a new steel screen tower was constructed. The Larneds reopened the theatre for a short period of time before closing it and moving to Texas in the late 1960s.
In 1971, Sterling Bagby of Stockton and Steve Bagby of Hays took over operation of the theatre. The theatre struggled to remain open for three more seasons until permanently closing in the fall of 1973.
After a fire destroyed the LaCrosse Country Club a short while later, the golfers
utilized the concession building as a clubhouse until the mid-1980s. Until 1985, the drive-in
still contained all of the original concession and projection equipment. In 1986, the box
office, fences, and parking ramps were removed.
Over the next decade, time and the elements began to take their toll. The building suffered
considerable damage from water and rodents. In the summer of 2001, the concession building was
dismantled leaving only the towering screen to serve as a monument to a once
thriving business.
One of the original Brenkert BX-80 projectors from the Hil-Top Drive-In has been restored and was recently on display at the
Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays, Kansas. The mock projection booth and balcony included equipment from all three of
LaCrosse's theatres along with memorabilia from area theatres and drive-ins.
Pictured to the right is the Brenkert Projector mounted on a Brenkert Enarc Carbon Arc lamphouse and an RCA optical soundhead.
Also on exhibit as part of the exhibition entitled, “Scaly Movie: Unnatural History in Movie Posters” was a collection of drive-in and theatre memorabilia from LaCrosse and area theatres.
Through a collection of 70 vintage posters and a mock-up drive-in theatre, “Scaly Movie” looks at Hollywood's often unrealistic characterization of reptiles and amphibians.
The exhibition closed February 3, 2008. The projector is now on temporary display at the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum. The Historical Society is planning to place the equipment on permanent display in the future. Watch for the announcment.
