Rogers Cinema: The Partnership
By Kris Leonhardt
Continued from previous week
After purchasing the Marshfield theater from the Adler family, Paul Rogers made it a two-screen facility and named it Rogers Cinema 1 & 2.
In 1976, he built Rogers Cinema Park on Marshfield’s south side.
The following year became a busy one for Rogers, when he and Airway Bar and Lounge owner, John Koran, forged a partnership. He sold half of his stock to his new partner and the company entered into a lease on three drive-in theaters owned by Badger Outdoor Theatres.
“When I would close the drive in…I’d stop stopped in at 11 o’clock at night on the way home. We became the best of friends,” Rogers recalled.
The collaboration helped Rogers out with both capital and management.
“I mean, we were running drive-ins at Marshfield, Stevens Point, Green Bay, and Janesville. And then we bought the single theater in Wisconsin Rapids, which we twinned that that same summer, and then the fall of 1977, we built the Rogers in Stevens Point,” he added.
The pair also built a restaurant space next to the theater and leased it to the Severt family; it became the home of Severt’s Fine Foods. The Severts later purchased the space.
“And then in 1978, we approach United Artists theatres out of New York; they were running the Fox Theater in Stevens Point. We bought their leases, and we took over the Fox in Stevens Point and the lease in Wausau,” Rogers recalled
They later entered into a land contract with Dan Estreen to purchase the Wausau property. They twinned that theater as well, naming it Rogers Cinema 1 & 2.
“The 1970s were really growing for us,” Rogers stated.
In 1982, the company ceased operation of the drive-ins in Stevens Point and Marshfield, and the Green Bay location was torn down. The following year, they started Rogers Video Exchange, operating three video rental locations.
In 1984, the company triplexed the original theater in Marshfield and the Wausau theater. That same year, the Rogers Cinema took on their first venture out of state, leasing and later purchasing the Chief Theatre in Red Wing, MN.
Over the next two years, Rogers added two more screens in Wausau and three more in Stevens Point.
In 1985, all theater properties were leased to Essaness Theatres, of Chicago. Rogers temporarily left the theater business, but he didn’t stay away long. He had much more to do.
Continued next week