Wildey Theatre
(Photo courtesy of Wildey Theatre)

“I don’t want to say anything that would upset the other venues but …. “ former Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre told an enthusiastic Wildey Theatre crowd, “This one is my favorite!”

He is not alone.

Over the past eight years, the former neighborhood movie theatre in the heart of Downtown Edwardsville has emerged as one of the St. Louis area’s more popular concert venues —acclaimed by both the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and weekly Riverfront Times as the region’s best — and a classic movie revival house for Madison County residents.

With the Wildey now widely seen as an important element in the rebirth of Edwardsville’s central business district, several Metro East communities are hoping revamped neighborhood movie theatres can help spur resurgence in their aging downtown areas.

Across the nation, small neighborhood theatres are springing back to life; variously offering first-run features, cinemas classics, concerts or event space, according to the website Cinema Treasure (http://cinematreasures.org).

Keeping them open may be challenging in a world of suburban multiplexes, growing online movie viewership, and a changing performance venue market nationwide, industry watchers say.  Over recent years, the closing of numerous entertainment venue across St. Louis has become the stuff of headlines.

Once Southern Illinois’ premier theatre, the Lincoln in Belleville was built in 1921.

The secret, local proprietors say, will lie in personalizing venues to meet the specific taste and demands of their markets.

Built in 1909 by the Independent Order of Oddfellows as an opera house with second floor meeting hall, the Wildey, 250-254 W. Main, remained open as a neighborhood, current release movie theatre until  March 8, 1984.  The Edwardsville Historic Preservation Commission designated it a “Local Landmark” in 1986.

In 1999, the City of Edwardsville purchased the building, with the help of a $300,000 state grant. A $1 million-plus renovation began in 2009. The theater reopened on April 12, 2011 on its 102nd anniversary. It has operated as a profit for the past three years.

In 2018, the Wildey Theatre and upstairs two-room Wildey Event Center attracted more 43,000 to the facility, according to the general manager Al Canal.

The 326-seat theatre hosted 175 events, of 91 were ticketed, featured attractions such as concerts, comedy shows, plays, special movies showings and, in one case, a fashion show, according to manager Al Canal.

Concerts general showcase classic rock acts like Jessi Colin Young and Firefall, but last year also included the Irish music band Gaelic Storm and county music legend Bobby Bare.

Weekly “$2 Tuesday” movies proved so popular they were expanded to second days on a couple of occasions.

The theater also hosted 30 municipal, community or private events, such as “Coffee and a Movie” programs, League of Women’s Voters meetings, seminars, private movie screening, and business meetings.

The Wildey Event Center was used for 135 functions, including 32 weddings or receptions, baby showers, wedding showers, birthday parties, and meetings.  The City of Edwardsville often uses the space.

More than half of Wildey patron come from outside Madison County. Last year, 22 percent of ticketed event attendees were from Edwardsville, with another 26 percent coming from other parts of Madison County and 17 percent from Missouri.

Patrons from 34 other states including New York, Texas, Wyoming, California, Florida and 29 other states — as well as the U.K. and Germany.

“The Wildey has become a beacon for Edwardsville,” Canal said.

Lincoln Theatre pipe organ
(Photo courtesy of Lincoln Theatre)

This year, Canal plans to expand the range of attractions to include lectures and speakers, additional genres of music, family and children’s programs, independent films and plays

Based on the success of the Wildey, the City of Alton is looking to make reopening of its Grande Theatre, 230 Market, the cornerstone of a Downtown Alton revival strategy.

Spearheading renovation of the Grande is nationally prominent personal injury attorney John Simmons (of Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC) who also hopes to renovate and reopen Alton’s landmark Millers Mutual building.

A grand reopening for the Grande Theatre is tentatively set for Dec. 4, 2020 — the theatre’s 100^th anniversary, Simmons told the Chronicle through a spokesperson.

Presently, plans for the building involve a mix of liver performances and movies; however, Simmons and associates are still mulling over several suggestions for the building that have been submitted over recent weeks.

Opened Dec. 4, 1920, as the largest movie theatre in Alton (seating initially 1,400; later reduced to 1,000), the Grande, a block from the Argosy Casino Alton, remained in operation as a cinema until 1977.  It has since occasional served as a “haunted theatre” attraction.

The Grande briefly reopened Dec. 31 with a benefit New Year’s Eve party for the Riverbender Community Center and Crisis Food Pantry.  About 350 attended; although renovations at that time were only about half completed, construction equipment had to temporarily removed to accommodate the festivities, and attendees were advised to dress warmly as the heat had yet not been turned on.

Simmons has been actively soliciting suggestions for use of the reopened theater since November. Suggestions can be submitted at RLewis@simmonsfirm.com.

The reopened Grande would become at least the fourth live performance venue in Alton, where city officials are hoping to develop a tourism industry; not unlike that upriver in Grafton. Alton’s Riverfront Amphitheatre lies less than a mile away.

The Alton Little Theatre, one of the oldest in Illinois, is in its 85^th season at its Showplace, 2450 N. Henry. The Jacoby Arts Center, 627 East Broadway, offers a variety of musical and theatrical performances.

Belleville’s Lincoln Theatre, 103 E Main St, is a rarity — a neighborhood theatre that has remained open and popular as a recent-release movie venue; despite the emergence of suburban multiplexes and online competition.

Once Southern Illinois’ premier theatre, the Lincoln was built in 1921 to present a mix of silent films and vaudeville acts. Among them over the years: a young Ginger Rogers and an innovative comedy act called the Three Nightingales, later known as the Marx Brothers. Amateur nights were once held on Thursdays.

Installation of a $30,000 Wurlitzer pipe organ in 1927, would effectively pave the Lincoln’s way for market distinction and diversification decades later. Since 1962, the Lincoln has been one of the few remaining theatres in region to offer organ music as part of the weekend movie program, provided by the St. Louis Theatre Organ Society.

The society’s 2019 Mid-America Theatre Organ Festival (themed “Party on the Pipes”) is set for April 5-8. Three CDs of silent film music recorded at the Lincoln by St. Louis entertainment icon turned “Tonight-Show” repeat guest Stan Kann and rock music sounds system pioneer Bob Heil are available through the theatre.

Also unique to the Lincoln, Abe’s Gourmet Popcorn, which for 30 years has helped attract movie-goers from the movieplexes and is now so popular that it is available in some 50 flavors through an adjacent retail store.

Current owners Dave and Sandy Schoenborn tested the 550-seat theatre as a venue for modern-day touring acts in May 2017 with a performance by the Nashville-based Americana band Old Crowe Medicine Show.

A planned series of classic rock concerts was launched last Halloween with Edgar Winter. Scheduled in April are Neil Diamond and Crosby, Stills & Nash tribute bands.

However, the Schoenborns say recent release movies at below-multiplexes prices will likely remain the theatre’s mainstay.

As in Alton and Edwardsville, the Belleville theatre is envisioned by local business and civic leaders as a key component in an overall downtown revitalization program.

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