page_title: Majestic Theatre (Madison, Wisconsin)
section_title: Fischer's Majestic (1916–1920s)
hierarchical_section_title: Majestic Theatre (Madison, Wisconsin) / History / Fischer's Majestic (1916–1920s)
caption_attribution_description: English: 1924 Majestic ad promoting the Majestic Players featuring Melvyn Hesselberg (Melvyn Douglas) and Ralph Bellamy.
context_page_description: The Majestic Theatre is a 600-capacity live music venue in downtown Madison, Wisconsin. Opened in 1906, it is Madison's oldest theater, changing ownership many times and adapting to the many changes in the entertainment business throughout its history. Beginning as a vaudeville theater, it became a movie house by 1912 with occasional live acts, and converted to talking motion pictures by 1930. Today the theater is owned and operated by Matt Gerding and Scott Leslie who acquired the theater in 2007 and made it into a successful music club hosting DJs and live shows several nights a week.
context_section_description: In 1916, owner R. M. Power sold the Majestic to Frank W. Fischer of Chicago. Facing competition from Madison's newer movie houses, Fischer renovated the theater by switching from coal to oil heating, installing a new ventilation system and moving the projectionist booth to the top of the balcony. He also added new lighting effects and an electric Bartolo organ for $7000, later replacing it a year later with a much larger model for a reported $46,000. He also employed "mulatto girls in neat costumes" as ushers. He remodeled the theater yet again in 1923. On April 29, 1916 Fischer pioneered Madison's first kiddie matinees.
  Incorporating as Fischer Paramount Theaters, he left operation of the Majestic to various managers (such as T. H. Luneman, Louis St. Pierre, Richard Siebert, Walter Nealand, and Tom Norman) while building a circuit of show palaces, including Madison's Parkway and Madison theaters in addition to ten other houses in Wisconsin and Illinois.
  In April 1921, Fischer was applauded for presenting the Cosmopolitan picture The Inside of the Cup after it was lambasted in a Chicago Tribune editorial and had been refused as "undesirable" by A. P. Desormeaux, manager of Madison's Strand Theater. The film was criticized for portraying business men and the clergy preying upon the poor. Fischer was praised after screening the film for a select group of state lawmakers and society women. In 1924, a Madison policewoman sought to halt the Majestic from presenting Bell's Hawaiian Revue, declaring the act "detrimental to public morals" due to the brevity of the hula costumes. The police chief declined to issue an injunction, while the theater was filled with capacity crowds.
  In 1924, the Majestic staged several months of successful comic plays performed by the Majestic Players, a stock company of local actors that included future Hollywood film stars Ralph Bellamy, Edmond O'Brien and Melvyn Hesselberg, who later changed his name to Melvyn Douglas.
  In 1927, the Majestic dropped its weekday shows, restoring them with added amateur nights the next year. In the late 1920s the theater building was bought by S. M. Kernan, a commercial fisherman who held the city contract to clear the lakes of carp. The Majestic was managed by Edmund H. Michalson, who with his father Torger S. Michalson owned the Orton and Palace Theaters on Madison's east side. After the advent of talkies, Edmund defended the continued showing of silent films by pointing out that many people are hard of hearing.
  Following the stock market crash of 1929, F. J. McWilliams was appointed trustee for the creditors of the Fischer theaters in Madison and oversaw the dissolution of the chain.
  In April 1930, Michalson was threatened with revocation of the theater's license by Mayor Albert G. Schmedeman for showing a movie without first getting approval from Madison's film censorship committee. The feature in question was No More Children, a film that advocated birth control. Michalson's attorney (and future Wisconsin congressman) Harry Sauthoff criticized the body for lax supervision and for allowing "hotter" films be shown in other theaters. After screening No More Children for the committee, Michalson was given a letter of reprimand.
caption: A 1924 newspaper ad promoting the Majestic Players featuring Melvyn Hesselberg (Melvyn Douglas) and Ralph Bellamy.
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