Silver Screens: A Pictorial History of Milwaukee's Movie Theaters Review

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(More customer reviews)If you are at all interested in old movie theaters, especially those in Milwaukee, then you will no doubt love this book. It is informative and very well written. It's actually sort of an update to a similar book the authors wrote back in 1986. However, I do have a gripe with the lack of photograghs for some of the more important theaters. For example, there are no auditorium views of two of the largest and most noteworthy downtown theaters, the Warner/Grand and the Wisconsin. There is also no auditorium photo of Milwaukee's most popular and still thriving neighborhood theater, the Oriental, though other parts of the theater are shown, and it is discussed at length. I was also surprised there were no photos of the Avalon, which is currently undergoing restoration.
I realize that not every photo of every theater could be included, but it seems that the more significant theaters should have had at least one auditorium view. After all, this book is represented as a "pictorial history." In spite of that criticism, I still consider this book well worth purchasing. Most of the photos that are included are excellent, and the text, as noted above, is very well written. And unlike their 1986 release, this book comes with a much-appreciated index.

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Silver Screens traces the rich history of Milwaukee's movie theaters, from 1890s nickelodeons to the grand palaces of the Roaring Twenties to the shopping mall outlets of today. And the story doesn't end there: in the past two decades, the revival of interest in preservation and restoration of theaters has confirmed that there's still life in these beloved old structures. With the publication of Silver Screens, authors Larry Widen and Judi Anderson help ensure that our old theaters, those being restored and those long since vanished, will remain forever embedded in our collective memory.

In this revised edition of their book Milwaukee Movie Palaces, the authors present new findings on film innovations, drive-in theaters, projection booths, movie promotions, noted theater personalities, recent restoration efforts, and much more. Illuminated with more than a hundred photographs, including many never before published, Silver Screens is a stunning tribute to the legacy of the movie theater.