Owen Theatre lives on in memories

Clark County, Wisconsin

The Owen Theatre closed its doors for the final time in 1986 but the business continues on as an integral part of the community, retaining a presence in the Owen-Withee area due to the memories created throughout the years. Although the theatre no longer opens its doors, the personal relationships and emotional attachments built within its walls has kept the business alive.

The theatre began as a movie house called the “Idle Hour Theatre.” The business was operated by the Collins family, who played many silent films accompanied by young female pianists.

Fire later destroyed the Griebenow-Weirich Hardware Store causing damage to the theatre. The hardware store and theatre were rebuilt the summer of 1919, with a shared “party wall.” Theatre owner H.E. Spaulding and the Griebenow-Weirich Company committed to an agreement that would continue almost 70 years.

In 1926, H.E. Spaulding’s family sold the business to J. J. Schultz, who operated the business for three years, before selling it to Ben Krom. In 1931, Krom completed work on a redecoration of the interior of the theater.

Throughout these years the theatre brought a line of now classic movies to town, including: Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor in “Camille”, Lionel Barrymore in “A Family Affair”, and Shirley Temple in “Wee Willie Winkie.”

One of the most heavily attended shows occurred in April 1937, when the Educational Road Show Pictures brought “Shame” to Owen during a “midnight show.” A 35 cent admission allowed those over 16 years of age in to this show about the disappearance of 75,000 young girls yearly, highlighting San Francisco’s Barbary Coast as a “breeding place of vice and sin.”

That same year, the theater underwent a complete renovation of the front and lobby of the business. The front of the theater was built up during this time and a large neon canopy was added to advertise the daily shows. A large neon sign that spelled out “Owen” was also added to reflect the theater’s new name – the “Owen Theatre.”

In 1938, the business was purchased by George Krom, who sold the business eight years later to Paul Stasek and Leonard Hamm. In 1949, the business changed hands again when it was purchased by Virgil and Clarence Callahan.

One year later, the business was taken over by Robert and Pauline Habighorst. The Habighorst family would spend thirty years in the theatre, seeing it through the theatre’s heyday.

“The best years were in the 50’s and 60’s. There were a lot of businesses in town,” says Katie Frederickson, daughter of Robert and Pauline Habighorst. “Dad would get a children’s show together for kids under 12 that was sponsored by the business association. Farmers would do their business in town and drop the family off for the show.”

The Habighorst family worked as a unit to run the business. As with the others, Katie had her share of the duties. “(I remember) all of the duties us kids had. I had to leave school at noon break to start up the boiler. The cleaning, the painting…we also ran a machine that would blow all of the candy wrappers to the front.”

The theatre also became a meeting place for Katie and her friends. “My friends loved to go with me. We had a club down in the basement,” says Frederickson.

One of Katie’s friends that frequented the theatre was Judy Vollrath. “(Katie’s) parents owned the theatre and how proud and impressed I was to have this new friend whose parents not only lived in town, but also owned a business and such a glamorous business as that,” explains Vollrath.

“I became very familiar with the theatre. My favorite part of it was a very scary thing for a 12 year old. Down in the basement there was a back stairway leading to the stage. The dressing rooms that were used for dancing girls were downstairs and that stairway was where the dancers entered the stage,” says Vollrath, referring to the days when the building was used as a burlesque hall.

In 1981, Judy and her husband Phil would take over the business through a land contract with Katie and her siblings. “Nobody loved our business more than Phil and I. It was work, but more fun than work. We made it fun. Making little changes then eventually making big changes, such as painting the entire auditorium by ourselves and installing a new Dolby Stereo sound system.”

The Vollraths operated the business for five years, until the movie industry was confronted with cable TV and home video that would bring about the fading away of the small town movie theatre.

We closed the doors just before Christmas in 1986. The free Santa Claus show was the last movie seen there. That was a terribly sad day,” says Vollrath. “We took time cleaning that day and we were so sad. The time finally came to leave and we stood at the door after we locked it. I, of course, was in tears and Phil was unbelievably sad.”

The Fredericksons sold the building to Carl & Judy Salo that same year and the building was converted to use for a warehouse and shipping. “The popcorn machine was donated to the school,” explains Frederickson. “They sold some of the seats to the Abbotsford Theatre and some went to a church.”

Today the building remains as a warehouse, but has since been purchased by Mark Meyer.

“We made so many friends and were very involved with the community,” says Vollrath. “The romantic in me wants to think of the old theatre with its beautiful lighted marquee hanging over the sidewalk. Think of a booming lumber town with trains coming and going and the beautiful hotel down the street. The hustle and bustle of the city of Owen – it’s almost like an old movie scene itself.”

Story and photos by Kris Leonhardt.