Showstopper: Hollywood comes for small town theaters

Continued from previous week
Following in the footsteps of Paramount Studio, Fox-Midwesco, aka 20th Century Fox, had already acquired theaters in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Janesville, Beloit and Fond du Lac, before entering the northern portion of the state.
By withholding first-run movies, Fox had backed Adler and his associates into a corner. If Adler would not turn over the Majestic, Adler’s finest running theater at the time, he would be restricted from Fox’s first-run movies. After negotiations, the three theaters were turned over in a block deal similar to the way Adler rented films.
Sadly, the beautifully renovated New Antigo Theater was immediately closed down.
The New Antigo would not be Adler’s final holdings with the Associate Theaters group, as Adler entered multiple co-op businesses with the Milwaukee group, including: the Roosevelt (1402 W. North Street), the Colonial (1514 W. Vliet Street) and the Avalon (2473 S. Kinnickinnic Avenue) — all in Milwaukee.

As Adler held the lease on the Stevens Point Majestic and Lyric properties, he was able to make a median income while subletting to the Fox production giant.
Returning his focus to his existing properties, Adler worked on adding sound to his small-town businesses.
Now the owner of Marshfield’s Trio Theater, following the death of the previous owner, Adler entered into an extensive remodeling project.
The renovations included a state-of-the art Western Electric sound system at a cost of $15,000. The system was the first of its kind in a small town and joined the ranks of cities like New York, Detroit, and Chicago in its offerings.
To add to the excitement of the process, Adler made plans to rename the theater. Involving the public, he created a naming contest in which three contest winners came up with the same name and were awarded the grand prize.
As was Adler’s style, the Grand Opening of the “Relda Theater” (Adler spelled backwards) was held on Nov. 27-28, 1929, to coincide with the Thanksgiving season.
While work was being completed on the Relda, Adler was adding a sound system to his Waupaca theater. As many towns that size did not have sound systems, Waupaca residents gushed as the Adler family presented their first talkie “Alias Jimmie Walker,” during an Easter Sunday celebration.
With the Stevens Point theaters sublet, Adler looked for another pair of theaters to exhibit his block-booked set of feature films. He found them in nearby Neillsville — first purchasing the more modern Trags Theater at 150 S. Hewett (now 608 Hewett) and later leasing the Armory/Opera House at the corner of Fourth & Hewett.
At the Trag — now renamed the Adler Theater — he presented his first run shows while he exhibited the secondary showings at the nearby Armory.
As always, J.P.’s girls were on hand for the opening, looking cute as ever, handing out carnations to welcome their customers to the new acquisition. As was typical, the thrilled women opened their purses, eager to pay the girls for the kind gesture.
Anne and Elizabeth had been admonished time and time again not to take the money. However, on one occasion, the temptation had become too great to resist, and Anne came home with a fistful of money.
The girls were now students at St. John’s Catholic School; a move that was quite likely more in J.P.’s favor, having been brought up in a German Catholic household. Anne and Elizabeth had come to idolize their father and did nothing without his approval.
Along with his daughters, Adler worked hard to win the public’s favor. By bringing sound to small-town Wisconsin, Adler would achieve both. Talkies did much to boost ticket sales. The end of the decade looked to be a successful one for the businessman. With sales at their peak, what could go wrong?
To be continued