Iowa City Englert Theatre
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Iowa City Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...
,
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
, is a renovated
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...
-era playhouse now serving as a community arts center and 725-seat performance venue. It is owned and operated year around by Englert Civic Theatre, a non-profit art organization. The building was individually listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 2001. In 2021, it was included as a
contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
in the
Iowa City Downtown Historic District The Iowa City Downtown Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021. At the time of its nomination it consisted of 10 ...
. The theater hosts a variety of events including live music, comedy, dance, plays, lectures, film screenings, civic events, public and private ceremonies such as awards and anniversary celebrations, and more.


History

The original Englert Theatre was opened September 26, 1912, featuring a local eight-piece orchestra whose leader Punch (Albert C.) Dunkel and his brother Charles co-owned another local movie house, Pastime Theatre (later called Capitol Theatre). When opened, the Englert seated 1,079 with side aisles, and without a center aisle. College students and faculty and town residents often attended performances; the theater was the only of its kind in Iowa City. An opening night performance was a Thomas W. Ross & Co. play production of ''The Only Son'', which less than two years later was filmed under the same name, co-directed by
Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cinem ...
.


Construction

The original theater building was constructed at a cost of about $60,000 (equal to $1.5 million in 2012 dollars) by Will (William H., 1874–1920) and Etta Chopek Englert (1883–1952), both already prominent in operating other local businesses—he Englert Ice Co. at 315 Market Street, now a parking lot, and she the ''Bon Ton Cafe'' at 24-26 South Dubuque Street, where they lived upstairs. The cafe building now serves as part of the remodeled western Dubuque Street face of the US Bank building. The new Englert occupied a site that previously served Foster, Graham & Schaffer
livery stable A livery is an identifying design, such as a uniform, ornament, symbol or insignia that designates ownership or affiliation, often found on an individual or vehicle. Livery will often have elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or ...
, and the adjoining Schaffer Hotel. The livery-hotel property had suffered a major fire during the brief period between the two accompanying images, and had been only minimally restored without rebuilding a huge barn-type stable, and providing a smaller hotel structure, although the new one boasted three levels as opposed to two much longer levels of the fire-destroyed "boarding livery" with its second level sleeping rooms. With completion of their new theater building, the Englerts moved around the Dubuque-Washington streets corner from above their Bon Ton Cafe into an apartment overlooking Washington Street from the second and third floors at the front of their new structure. Englert Theatre screened the first
talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...
motion picture displayed in Iowa City on June 9, 1928, of a
first run (film) In cinematic parlance, a film in its first run has been recently released. In North America, new films attract the majority of their theatrical viewers in the first few weeks after their release. In North America, different movie theatres pay diff ...
titled ''
The Jazz Singer ''The Jazz Singer'' is a 1927 American musical drama film directed by Alan Crosland. It is the first feature-length motion picture with both synchronized recorded music score as well as lip-synchronous singing and speech (in several isolated ...
'' featuring
Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jews, Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-bi ...
, the first
sound film A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...
to be originally presented in that format. It had been premiered in New York City in October 1927. Early road show movies presented at the Englert such as ''
The Covered Wagon ''The Covered Wagon'' is a 1923 American silent Western film released by Paramount Pictures. The film was directed by James Cruze based on a 1922 novel of the same name by Emerson Hough about a group of pioneers traveling through the old West ...
'' (1923) and ''
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) ''All Quiet on the Western Front'' is a 1930 American pre-Code epic anti-war film based on the 1929 novel of the same name by German novelist Erich Maria Remarque. Directed by Lewis Milestone, it stars Louis Wolheim, Lew Ayres, John Wray, Ar ...
'' were accompanied by up to 60-piece orchestras.Weber, volume one, p.54 Former Iowa City Mayor William C. Hubbard (1966–67) and city councilman (1962–67) who is considered "the father of urban renewal in Iowa City," and a 1943 graduate of Iowa City High School, recalled that after City High was moved into a new building during 1939 Englert Theatre donated a considerable supply of its used stage props and set decorations to the school for use in what subsequently was named Iver Opstad Auditorium in the school. The Englert was managed at that time by Louis and Albert Davis.


Performance History

During its commercial operation, vaudeville acts on national tours made regular stops at Englert Theatre. The Englert stage saw notables as
Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...
,
Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...
,
Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and We ...
, and
Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...
perform. Since its re-opening as a non-profit theater in the modern era, efforts to keep the refurbished facility fully utilized included a use through a 2004 agreement with the
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
for up to 40 nights each year. The Englert currently typically has live events about 225 nights annually. The Englert also has hosted groups and performers such as
The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre op ...
,
Paula Poundstone Paula Poundstone (born December 29, 1959) is an American stand-up comedian, author, actor, interviewer, and commentator. Beginning in the late 1980s, she performed a series of one-hour HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary durin ...
, New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, Greg Brown, and many others. The theater also is the primary venue for
Landlocked Film Festival Landlocked Film Festival is an annual film festival hosted in Iowa City, Iowa. The Festival was founded in 2007. Landlocked Film Festival was created to support independent filmmaking by bringing the best of independent world cinema to the America ...
.


Other Movie Houses in Iowa City

The Englerts purchased a lot on Washington Street and built yet another motion picture venue, Garden Theatre. They opened it in June 1915, charging an admission of 5¢, equal to about $1.25 during 2012. Unlike the Englert, Garden Theatre was purely a movie venue, with a minimal stage and without an orchestra pit or tall scenery storage area. A decade later, a fire that started in an upstairs cafe seriously damaged that foodservice and the adjoining rooms housing the State Historical Society of Iowa, although the Garden continued operations on the main level with little damage. It eventually was remodeled into Varsity Theatre (1932–1960), which became Astro Theatre; Astro Theatre closed in 1991 as local movie houses took hold in outlying shopping centers. The Garden, Varsity and Astro Theatre site later became the site for an expansion and renovation of First National Bank, now US Bank. In addition to Pastime Theatre (later Capitol) noted above, other movie houses in downtown Iowa City during the 20th century included Strand Theatre in the old Mendenhall Block along the south face of College Street about where the check-in desk in the Sheraton Hotel now is located. The Strand was razed by fire about 1961. Another was Iowa Theatre along the Dubuque streetscape adjacent to what now is the west face of the Iowa City Public Library building. The Iowa Theatre structure was transformed during 1983 into a two-level fast-food franchised burger joint, and subsequently into other uses. In 1946 there were five operating full-time in downtown Iowa City, including Englert, Iowa, New Pastime, Strand, and Varsity, but none yet had sprouted in outlying malls. The first outlying theater to be built was Iowa City Drive-In Theatre, which actually was located along the then northwest edge of Coralville, now site of the Coralville City Hall, police, fire, and library buildings, plus some privately owned apartment structures along its northern edge. It was opened about 1949. A mall-type three-screen cinema multiplex landed in downtown Iowa City during 1983 with opening of the Campus III theaters adjacent to the university campus in a new Old Capitol Mall, which initially housed a large two-level Younkers department store, as well as an outsized Osco Drug. Now called Old Capitol Town Center, the second-level theater space currently is occupied by
University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...
uses, as is much of the other space in the center.


Englert Family

The locally prominent Englert family was based in nineteenth century patriarch Louis, who in 1853 opened and operated ''City Brewery'' at 315 Market Street, the original of three historic Iowa City breweries which together served the large local German and Bohemian populations with enough capacity for a large portion of eastern Iowa. Louis' son John developed a successful ice (winter cut, summer sales) and wood (summer cut, winter sales) business, which Will and his half brothers Clarence (Bumps) and John (Jack) eventually ran jointly as their father's successors. A 1926 fire destroyed the original interior of the Englert, but a determined remarried Englert widow, Etta Chopek Englert Hanlon rebuilt. The reconstruction cost $125,000, which is equal to $1.6 million in 2012 dollars. Among other design alterations, she eliminated eight box seating areas, each with six seats, hanging from the side walls. They had been considered fire traps even while under construction during 1912. Will Englert had died in 1920 from "a nervous breakdown and cerebral hemorrhage"Hibbs, volume 2, p.39 (stroke) in a bedroom of his home in the Englert Theatre building. Englert management briefly was the province of William M. McKenzie. A year after her first husband's death, Etta Englert was remarried at age 38 to barber James J. Hanlon, whose shop was beside the ticket booth at street level of the Englert building, a spot previously occupied by Englert Candy Nook, which was moved into the theater lobby. Englert management by Etta and her new husband followed. During a portion of the 1930s
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
years, Hanlon also managed the local Falstaff beer distributorship. He earlier had owned and operated Iowa City Fruit Co. Etta Chopek Englert Hanlon died at age 69 in 1952, shortly after the death of her second husband. She bore no children from either marriage. For movie screenings, the Englert succeeded improvised store-front movie houses in Iowa City adapted on flat floors with such names as ''Dreamland,'' ''Nickledom,'' ''American,'' and ''Bijou.'' The first, ''Dreamland,'' had been opened during 1906 at 111 South Dubuque Street, just south of Jefferson Building, by Fred Racine, who became widely known later for what became his four cigar stores with pool tables and ornate soda fountains. The Bijou name now is used by a student activities board screening old titles in the university's Iowa Memorial Union during the academic year. The original film showing in Iowa City, however, was not even in a building, but a tent pitched in Dubuque Street to show the 12-minute-long 1903 flick The Great Train Robbery (film). Admission cost a dime, or about $2.50 in 2012 dollars. The Englert remained a local commercial movie house until 1999, although significantly damaged more than a decade earlier by its division into two auditoriums. The building was offered for sale, and purchased by a widely known local bar owner for possible use as a night club. A public drive to "Save the Englert" project resulted.http://www.press-citizen.com/article/99999999/NEWS01/61124013 As sufficient funding was raised and arranged, reconstruction restored the Englert back its original configuration as a single auditorium and to the condition it operates in today.


See also

*
Coldren Opera House The Coldren Opera House is a former theater that operated in Iowa City, Iowa from 1877 until its closure in 1912. History The original opening of Englert Theatre with its legitimate stage and orchestra pit, plus a huge retractable screen for m ...
, which eventually closed following competition from the Englert Theatre * Movie palaces list


References


External links


Official Englert Website
{{NRHP in Iowa City, Iowa Theatres in Iowa Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Buildings and structures in Iowa City, Iowa Tourist attractions in Iowa City, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Iowa City, Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa