Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1920-08-05

providers in Chicago, Mr.. Alexande-
/ has made tentative arrangements fo1
wonderful night of entertainment
for the opening night. Mr.. Rupp is {
close personal friend and assures Mr.
Alexander that he will provide Or
/ pheum talent vaudeville at Chicagt
prices. Local people who heard ant
saw Mr.. Rupp in action at the time Of
his recent visit, are enthusiastic over
the prospect of the project that the
Port Edwards people will provide Mr.
Rupp promises 8-piece symphony or
chestra including himself at the piano
and his partner, Mr. Linden, also par
ticipating. Rupp and Linden provide
the music and entertainment for a
large number of the conventions that
meet in Chicago. They are on the sec
ond year of furnishing the music for
the LaSalle Hotel, which indicates
their calibre At the time Mr.. Rupp
visited here, he was most enthusiastic
over the Community Auditorium at
Port Edwards. He was frankly amaz-
ed over the scenery and the appoint
ments of the stage.
Work Of Stage Architects
The stage problem was placed in
the hands of Kirchhoff & Rose, Mil
waukee architects who specialize in
theatre construction. This prominent
firm designed the Majestic and the
Palace Theatres in Milwaukee, the Ma
jestic in Chicago and the new Knick-
erbocker in New York City No detail
was omitted to make this stage a pro-
fessional stage.
The scenery, at their suggestion,
was selected by the Port Edwards
School Board of the Sosman & Landis
Co, Chicago. This firm provides the
scenery and stage equipment of the
large theatres, and has been
the leaG in that business for forty
years. Lands spent considerable
time in y at the auditorium to see
that the was properly selected
and CORE led.
The sta Z was done under
the direction 0g Electric Co.
and was insts Staub Elec-
trio Co. of Grs Is. --g..,I..
The stage az sSssspAds. wide, has
an opening at the oohghts of 50 #.
and is "a it, deep. Gus. Knickelbein,
stage manager of the Majestic theatre
who was secured thru Kirchhoff &
Rose to assist in the selection and in
stallation of the stage effects, say the
stage is larger than the Majestic, in
and the Palace theatre in
Chicago Mr. Knickelbein stated when
here that the Port Edwards Commun-
ity Auditorium has the very best of
equipment, provided by the best manu-
facturers, and that he could suggest
no better. He stated that the stage
would accommodate any road show
and certainly any vaudeville that is
shown at the Majestic theatre in Mil
waukee. He wanted to emphasize the
professional character of the equip
ment, and that most places are design
ed for small amateur affairs and are
totally inadequate to show the pro-
fessional entertainers to advantage
but that Port Edwards had the seen
cry, the lighting effects, the ventila-
ion and comfortable seating capacity
TO properly accommodate anything in
The professional line.
Intricate Stage Wiring
The Stage Tightening is one of the
most interesting of the many features.
Over 400 lights are to be used for the
Stage alone. There are sixty 60-watt
lamps, blue, red, green, amber and
white, for the footlights. The foot
lights are set in a concret trough
which is in white and makes an at
tractive showing. There are 3 border
lights, and these border lights have 6
lights each. These lights are also var
ious colors. All of the lights for the
the auditorium and the
stage are controlled from one central
switchboard, containing 48 switches
with master and sub-master switches