Milwaukee's beloved East Side movie palace, The Oriental, turned 75 on July 2 and the city's last functioning movie palace is celebrating with a monthly look back at the past.
In September, the Landmark Theatres-owned cinema launched "Silents Please," which attempts to recreate the glorious early days of moviegoing by matching a vintage silent film with a newsreel, a cartoon and live entertainment. The first event featured Rudolph Valentino in "Son of the Sheik," a film which pre-dates even the vintage theatre. For the 1926 film -- a sequel to 1921's "The Sheik" --- also screened "Koko the Clown," a newsreel and an installment of the "Perils of Pauline" serial.
"In the 20's, young people went to the movies for the entire day," says "Silents Please" program director Paul Grant, who is also active in the Kimball Theatre Organ Society, based at the Oriental. "You would go on a Saturday morning and stay for the entire day. Since we have a beautiful 1927 theater, we decided to revive the matinees from the '20s."
Milwaukee magician David Seebach also performed at the debut event and a pair of belly dancers saluted the Oriental's eastern theme, which was also marked by an Arabian-themed costume contest. Turn-out was impressive (see photos).
"We would love to have adults -- and children -- come dressed in costumes," says Grant. "We encourage as much audience participation as possible."
"Silents Please" is scheduled to run once a month through next spring, but Debbie Donaldson, "Silents Please" publicty contact, says that organizers hope to make it a permanent feature at the Oriental. Donaldson believes that the variety will keep patrons coming back.
"Our show is unique," says Donaldson, no other show has as many elements."
The next "Silents Please" event is slated for Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. and features "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," from 1920, with John Barrymore. The Sat., Nov. 9 show has 1924's "Peter Pan," with Betty Bronson and the year closes, Sat., Dec. 14 with "Twas the Night Before Christmas," also from 1924.
The Oriental also will host a number of other events in honor of its 75th anniversary. On Thurs., Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m. F. W. Murnau's landmark "Nosferatu," released in 1922 will be screened with music provided by the Alloy Orchestra.
A one-week anniversary celebration will have interesting double-features all week long and a restored version of Fritz Lang's classic "Metropolis."
For complete details on these and other events, visit The Oriental Theatre, 2230 N. Farwell Ave. or call (414) 276-8711.
Molly Snyder-Edler also contributed to this story.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
