Get Reel (Hour 2)

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Hey, this is John Legend and you're listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Waba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who considers a silver medal, a participation award, Peach Waba.

Welcome back.

Intermission is over, folks.

Welcome to Act 2.

of Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

I am Pete Schwabba.

Conrad is here working the board and producing the show.

Our question of the night is, what is in your pocket?

It is not National Pocket Day.

This question is tied to nothing, except I want to know what's in your pocket.

So we've had some great, a lot of people walking around with knives.

I see a few more texts here.

We'll read those in a bit, but yeah, a lot of people carrying weapons, which is a little unsettling.

Tony the trucker says, hankerchief thing is gross enough.

I have seen people shake it out before using it.

Yeah, that's worse.

Mike Schmidt is here, ladies and gentlemen.

He is on the stream and we are talking about a wide array of topics as always.

Mike, I have to go back.

When you were telling the story about your gym teacher, calling everybody by their last name, I went through a phase where, and I think it was inspired by Chief Wiggum of The Simpsons.

would always see Homer and go, oh, Simpson.

Like, it was just, I don't know if it's like from the 50s or whatever, but when you call somebody by their last name, it's so old school.

And I started doing that in my neighborhood.

And I would be like, oh, Bayer, how's it going?

And they just, they didn't get it.

And then I had to explain.

And then it got weird.

So I'm a fan though.

I love the old school guys with their handkerchiefs.

Yeah, you gotta be like that.

It's funny.

I, you know, I get Schmini all the time.

But you know, this one, and again, here's how.

My brain works.

People will write Schmitty in a text or in an email and they smell they spell it like my name with a Y at the end of it.

And I'm like, what is what is wrong with you?

Who are you as a person that you don't know?

You put two T's.

It's Schmitty.

There's nothing wrong with that.

And to this day, our friends are mutual friends that you know, do it.

And I'll I'll even correct them.

I'll go, dude, what are you doing?

God, I love that you correct them, even though you know exactly what they mean.

Yeah.

Oh, no, there's no doubt.

But again, because, you know what?

It looks ugly.

If you put them, write them out.

Right.

My last name with just a Y looks ugly, but you have two T's and a Y. There you go.

It's Cory.

Makes total sense.

It's harmonic.

Exactly.

So we had so much to talk about, Mike.

As usual, you know, it's funny.

You kind of remind me of, you're such a great storyteller.

We had Mike Starr on the show recently and

I got him going and it's like the only way we can have Mike Starback is if we just give him like an hour and then cut it up.

And I think that's what we should do with you next time because I feel bad jumping in and saying we have to do a break because your stories are so great.

But we're getting through it as usual and it's great to have you here.

Let's talk about.

I agree with you.

We'll save our bouncer stories for next time.

But I think we should talk about movies.

And you mentioned some movies earlier in our text exchange, which also are some of my favorites.

But I would like to ask you to tell me what three or tell the listeners what three movies those are and why they affected you the way they did.

Well, all right, there are three movies.

One of them is called Thief.

It's from 1981.

It was Michael Mann's first movie ever.

The second movie is

to live in dine la Which came out in four years later and it's william fregan and william defoe and and another william william l peterson Who by the way is also in thief?

For five seconds,

right?

and then the third movie is Well, guess who's in it william l peterson and it's a movie called manhunter and it's a michael man's third movie and I

Thief is the one that that means the most to me because I was 13 and I you know, I didn't have a dad I mean, I clearly I had one of it.

I had to come from somewhere My dad was a drunk and he bailed and he was just a bad guy.

So I I didn't have Masculine role models in my life.

I was raised by my mom and it's fine.

It's a five-boy house

Wow, you know and and my mom would work and so Lenny was my surrogate dad kind of which is unfair to him because it was only three years older than me So he's in charge of disciplining the kids.

It was a it was a mess.

It was a terrible thing, but also my mom was dating, you know, my mom our My mom would date these dudes who would show up and none of them had any interest in being a dad Which was great because we would have absolutely they would have died by iron.

I mean it would have been ridiculous

My mom dated some, there was this dude named Mike Carnett and he was like a prison barber.

My mom ran with a wild crowd.

And there's nothing worse than that.

Again, these dudes would, they'd come over and they'd help themselves to my mom and the food and the fridge.

You know what I mean?

So Mike Carnett comes walking out in white underwear and he's like, you know, going in my fridge.

And I'm like, I'm 12 and I go, I want to kill this guy.

I want this guy to die.

I don't know who he is.

Um, but my mom ran with a bunch of, you know, drug dudes and all that kind of stuff.

So I had no real male role models.

So in Bolingbroke, there was a plit theater.

I don't know if plit even owns theaters anymore.

And they started

doing two to

Tuesday.

Yeah, it was two movies for a dollar on Tuesday.

And so I would just go by myself, like I would go to the theater and see whatever they had.

And so the theater had a double feature.

And the first film, and it's funny, I mentioned that Thief ushers me into adulthood, essentially.

Well, so did the first film.

It's a movie called Backroads.

Backroads stars Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field.

Sally Field is a hooker.

There's no better way to say it.

Not a call girl, she's a hooker.

And somehow she winds up tied up with Tommy Lee Jones.

They got a drive cross country and there's bar It's it was you know along those every which way but loose and and smoking the bad those kind of movies from like the 70s and 80s So it's just it's kind of a rom-com but also a little rougher on the edges But the thing is I I can still see the outfit Sally field war at 13 year old me was I was in love like I fell in love with Sally field in that movie I don't know why because maybe because she was Available sexually as a hooker, but also she was so cute.

She was just

because I'd seen her in Smoky and the Bandit and stuff and she was incredibly beautiful then but in this movie there was something about her because she had you know what she had the real heavy eye shadow and the whole bit and that like uh uh she wasn't fond of bras as hookers often aren't and so I was like all right great and so the 13 year old that was the first movie and I was like I'm in for that that's great and then the second movie plays and it's a movie called Teeth and in the film it's James Kahn and Jim Belushi and Tuesday Well Very important in it.

Bob Prosky's first role ever

in a movie.

And he's 52 at the time, you know what I mean?

He's a guy, and he's a face you got used to seeing.

That was his first

movie?

First, first movie.

Wow,

no kidding.

Yeah.

And so James Cahn, he's a professional jewel thief, but also he has cover in the daytime because he owns car lots.

He owns the Green Mill, which is fun because they film actually in the Green Mill.

And that's another thing, it was in Chicago.

Chicago looks amazing in it.

They're on lower Whacker, you know what I mean that the pavements wet they're driving.

It's just incredible But the thing I gravitated to is James Khan He took nothing from anybody he he was He wasn't I wouldn't even say he was like a badass, but he was he didn't flaunt it like that.

He was just He was like I I often describe him as like a walking

And I don't know if I can say this on your show.

Uh, H-O, can I say that?

It's like a two-word phrase, you know what I'm talking about?

Uh,

he was a walking erection.

I can say that.

He's just, yeah, yeah, he's a walking erection where he's just, he's just full of machismo and, and he took no guff from anybody.

In the beginning of the movie, he makes a deal and he gets kind of messed over and he just goes to the place and

He sits down.

He looks at a guy and he's like, we got this problem.

They try to blow him off.

He just pulls a gun in the office.

And then he, you know, he makes Dennis Reina, he carpet and they all sit down and he just walks his way out of the office.

But also he had a, you know, it turns out he's a convict who's now out.

And it's funny you mentioned Willie Nelson.

Willie Nelson's in the movie and he's his mentor.

He taught him how to survive in prison.

His name is Okla.

Well, at one point James Kahn unfolds this.

It looks like a postcard, but it's a collage.

And on it, there's Willie Nelson and then there's also a bunch of skulls and it's crazy when you're in a baby, like you're wondering what's on this.

And he explains, he shows it to Tuesday World later and he's like, that's my life.

He goes, and this is you and he shows her where she is in it.

And she asks him how he survived in prison.

He goes, you have to get the mentality where you don't care about anything.

You don't care if you live, you don't care if you die, you don't care who's in your way, you don't care at all.

And as a

13 year old kid who had no masculine role model in my life, I was like,

That sounds like a pretty good way to be, you know, to, to, to defend.

Obviously you, you use it as a shield against any bullies or any problems that come along where you just try not to care and you, and it made me want to fight, but the problem is also not having a dad.

Nobody taught me how to fight.

So I just, I was, you know, essentially like a chimp.

You know, I just, I just jump on you and punch you in the back.

You know, I was a terrible fighter.

Yeah.

And it's like, not till later on that I realized, oh, you should probably hit somebody in the face.

You know what I mean?

That kind of thing.

And also, I was younger than everybody in school, because I was double promoter and all that.

It's always felt a little weird.

But yeah, that movie, I just watched it last week.

I always say it's my dad.

Thief is my dad.

No kid.

I have to give that a rewatch because I think I actually rewatched that every like 10 years, but I probably haven't watched it in like 15 years.

My guest is Mike Schmidt.

Check out his podcast.

It's the 40 year old boy and he is also a comedian and he's joining us here at Nightlight.

And

I want to tell people this too.

If you watch, I would, as a double feature, watch Thief and then watch Heat.

They're both Michael Manley.

Oh,

interesting.

Yeah.

Heat is 14 years after thief and you can see him cribbing from thief and using some things in heat Because those guys are also a crew of thieves and it's beautiful.

I mean, it's I just it's so great and what's great is the every watch the bear Did you watch the bear television show

first season?

Okay, the second season is amazing.

You should see it It's the best season of television right up there was I remember you

posting about that and I couldn't wait to get to it But I don't I just got sidetracked or something, but

I never felt more homesick than I did watching that

And there was an episode where a cousin is he has to go stage at a at a real stodge at a real restaurant like a five-star Michelin whatever and He's terrible at it But then he keeps getting better and better the more he goes in and at one point they start playing the music from thief because tangerine dream to the score for thief and Michael

loves tangerine dream

loves them absolutely loves them and

And cousin, when he's starting to become like this superhero at this restaurant, they start playing the thief from when James Kahn makes the big score.

And I went out of my mind.

I was like, you just forget it.

It was so incredible.

I have goosebumps not talking about.

It was fantastic.

So, all right, here's what we'll do, Mike.

We've got about...

a minute and a half left before a break.

I'd like to keep you for a couple more minutes after the break.

You also, I know you're a fan, as am I, William Peterson to me had a profound effect on me and my love of movies.

And also, you know what he did?

He started this thing with me where I loved when someone not famous was in a lead role.

Because when I saw to live in Diane LA, I couldn't believe.

To me, it's like better than the French connection, which is Freakin's other masterpiece.

I think you won an Oscar for that I loved William Peterson in that role and I do these classic movie picks here at Civic Media every week and I did to live in Diane LA about two months ago And I just did manhunter like last week those two films and and I think I told you this before Dennis Farina was my little league coach in Chicago So yeah, yeah, manhunter.

I was like what on earth So the fact that you mentioned those two films today as well.

I was like those had such

an effect on me as well at that time in my life so maybe we could just dip our toe in those films for a couple minutes after this break and then I'll let you go we'll have to have you come back soon because I know you're watching you're really into film noir's like I am these days and we have and we both have bouncer stories although you probably have a lot more than me

But

I'd love it, man.

Let's come back and talk.

All right.

We'll do this very quick break.

And then Mike Radu will join me here in the studio.

And Mike brought really cool stuff that he found in his old theater.

Check this out, Conrad.

If you're watching on the stream, I'll have Mike.

It just looks like a popcorn box.

And it is.

But Mike will explain the significance when he's here.

It's very cool.

We're coming right back on Nightlight with Mike Schmidt.

It's Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're

listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

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Our question of the night, you can still get in on the font is what is in your pocket?

We're a little behind on text, but we'll get there.

So share what's in your pocket and I will read it on the radio.

Great to have you with me tonight.

Mike Radu is coming up in just a few minutes.

We're going to talk about his really cool old school theaters.

This is not the megaplex folks.

These are the real deal.

Old school movie theaters, the way movie theaters are meant to be.

Right now, I've got a few more minutes with my pal, Mike Schmidt, who is joining us via the stream.

We're talking about movies, thief, and I wanted to ask you, Mike, like, to live in Diane L.A.

and Manhunter, what is your connection?

Because they're different directors, same actor.

I just found it fascinating that you put those in the text you sent me today, because those are two of my favorites of all time.

Well, I consider them like I said the the movies where because like we all in the 80s, you know growing up you see back in the future You go see Ghostbusters see gremlins you see aliens you see all these whiz bang blockbusters,

right?

But the thief I just purely stumbled into because I was paying to see movies on a Tuesday night And it grabbed me so then even the 13 I was like alright, so now Michael Mann is on my radar I know that name now I knew who he was and that was started made me get interested in

Movies that had stories and more, you know, I I can't say that I saw the godfather and it changed my life when I was a kid I mean, I saw it later and was like, oh, okay, you know that that sort of thing like

I

I So then later on what to live and die in LA I took I took a date like it was one of those things where it was it was in because it opened and I think it's 85 and I was it was the one of the first dates I ever went on this girl Chris I worked with a jewel.

She was a checker and I was a bagger and we were destined

Um, oh and I and I will sorry so here's this I will tie this in so we go to see to live and die in LA and again She picked it.

I didn't and I was I said they're transfixed by it I couldn't I couldn't and again William L. Peterson in that movie is every bit the walking erection that James Conn isn't and and I love

I love tough guy stuff.

There's

not

enough that movies now.

We got a lot of smirky guys in movies now, and I'm not saying they're not tough or whatever, but there's the scene where the guy goes to search William L. Peterson, he goes, you don't touch me.

And he goes, well, then you don't go upstairs.

And he goes, and then they have a shoving man in a tiny hallway.

That is a real confrontation.

It is, I've been in those, you've been in that where it escalates out of nowhere.

It's like, and they shove each other back and forth.

And the best part is the bounce or dude just looks at him and goes,

Oh, go ahead.

Tough

go ahead.

Tough guy.

Yeah, just makes it just completely dismisses him at four words.

It's so great.

You're right.

It's so real.

Like, and

that's what I love about Peterson in both of those films, manhunter and to live in Diana.

He's just a real guy with.

The director saw that.

They saw that.

I mean, he's in thief.

Again, he's in it for five minutes.

He's the bartender at the bar and he brings a stick out to kind of take James Kahn out because James Kahn's harassing Tuesday well.

And again, it's another great guy moment because he comes in, he goes, hey, I'm talking to you.

And James Kahn just pulls up his waistband.

He's got a gun tucked in his pants.

He goes, take a walk, flash.

And then he just gives him a two-hand shove into a crowd.

It's so, it's so guy, so tough guy macho.

It's great.

I love it so much.

Chris, who I went to see to live in L.A.

with, we went to the Improv, to the second city, to watch Improv one night, and Jim Belushi joined the people on stage.

So we get to see Jim Belushi in late night, Improv, they played freeze tag and all that stuff.

And as we left, we walked, we were in, you know, downtown, where Second City was, we walked, because we parked on the side street, we're looking, and there's Jim Belushi sitting on a stoop, like with two other people.

And I got to walk up to him and go, hey,

I loved you in thief.

I mean, because you were so good and I'm so happy to show you in second city.

But my goodness, like I just absolutely loved you so much in thief.

And I said, I want to do this someday.

I would like to be a, you know, comedian or an improv guy.

And he goes, well, keep at it because maybe I'll be joining you on stage one night.

That is so fun, Mike.

And all right, here's how we'll wrap this up.

I have a similar story.

I was on my way to a bar when I was at the Paul called JP Murphs.

And I hear this voice.

I had already seen Manhunter and to live and die in LA.

And I hear this guy talking about British Columbia and how effing beautiful it was.

And I'm like, God, I know that voice.

And I look over and it's William Peterson.

Oh, my God.

So I walk over and I said, hey, I'm a huge fan.

And he goes, oh, hey, that's great, man.

He goes, what's your name?

And like an idiot, he knows my aunt Jeanette because she was at Second City and a Chicago theater actress.

And I go, Pete.

Like if

I'd said Schwabba, we probably could

have had more of a conversation.

But he was the coolest guy ever.

And then my buddy Dennis at the bar, Peterson used to go into J.P.

Merse once in a while.

And the song to live and die in LA by Wang Chung is on the jukebox.

And Dennis had this messy hair and he's drinking a martini.

He's like 20 years old, not even old enough to be in the bar.

Walks over to William Peterson, who is sitting with Amy Morton at the time.

And Dennis says, you hear this song?

Peterson just gives him a look that was so priceless.

And he goes, yeah.

And Dennis goes, Dennis goes, are you the man?

And Peterson goes, yeah.

He's just a cool, I don't know if he still is or what, but a great

guy.

And Mike, we got to have a lot more of these conversations.

This is so fun.

And it's

That's awesome, man.

We'll do this again soon.

I hope you will talk some noir.

We'll talk some more great movies.

You're a blast, buddy.

Thank you

so much.

I'm so always happy to be asked, man.

Thank you so much.

I'm so happy the show has been going so long and you're so good at it and you're just the best dude.

Thank you.

I appreciate it.

Go run a comb through your hair after that nice shower.

Okay, buddy.

Thanks, Mike.

That is Mike Schmidt.

Check out the 40-year-old boy podcast.

It's great stuff.

And if you think Mike

can tell a story on this show.

He does it on his podcast as well.

He's just absolutely hilarious.

So we've got Mike Radu coming up in just a couple of minutes.

Let's catch up.

Conrad, how are we doing on text?

Where are we at?

Because I see we got a we got a good one.

You can get in a steady eddie text.

Well, should we do steady eddie?

Let's do let's get steady eddies.

Yeah.

All right.

So wow, he's covering every topic we covered.

Steady Eddie from the 608 says Pete.

Here's my contribution for a possible new nightlight intro.

Peachwaba, a man who prefers to take his fart walks down the aisle of a crowded Greyhound bus.

That's a great one.

I've probably done that.

I'm sorry.

And we are never talking about this topic again after tonight.

So enjoy it, folks.

Stadietti says, in my pants pocket, besides my grocery store coupons and somebody's excess belly button lint, I carry a second set of house and car keys.

Good thinking, right?

Since the pandemic began in 2020, I rarely carry any money in my pockets to avoid spreading the virus.

Now I continue that habit.

More and more we're becoming a cashless society Pete.

Is that good bad or indifferent with the government Will the government be able to to control and surveil us more and more in the future?

I'm not sure but all I know is that when I was a kid my pocket change was made of real silver You are the man steady Eddie.

He says steady times.

They are changing Eddie cha-ching cha

Ching, ladies and gentlemen, we are coming right back.

I'll read more of your texts and we will meet theater owner Mike Radu.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba asking you what is in your pocket tonight.

Bridget from the 818 says a post-it note, a paper clip, and a penny.

Well, it's not going to get you very far, Bridget.

But I appreciate your honesty.

Thank you for the text.

Who else we got here, Conrad?

Did I miss your mom's text?

No, she has to go to the mile mile

to the mailbox.

That's

right.

That's right.

All right Tony the trucker says a hanker.

Oh, I already read that but he also says oops wrong question Pete in my shirt pocket I have a pen I swiped from the bank drive-through pants pockets I have a ring of work related keys and an old-school plastic coin purse plastic coin purse that people stare at with awe Apparently, they've never seen one

All right, that's interesting.

He also says Pete has to be a homemade Reuben remember we were talking about sandwiches earlier He says made with quality corned beef piled high with a great dill pickle and a cold beer I'm actually fasting today and now my mouth is watering.

That's a lot.

Oh, I

make it

right right one stop away I

had that last night.

All right.

We got a few more of your texts We'll get to in a bit right now.

It is my pleasure to welcome tonight light for the first time a Frank Herman's connection

Right, Mike?

Yes, correct.

Theater owner, Mike Radu.

He owns theaters in Chilton and Depeer, and he joins us here in the studio.

Mike, I want to thank you right off the bat for these cool things.

Tell us the story.

If you're watching on the stream, this is what Mike found in his theater.

It's a popcorn box, but give us a little history.

So let me apologize for my throat.

Like I said, I don't have my normal sexy voice.

The

raspiness is working.

I got this.

I got this sexy voice.

Yeah.

But yeah.

So our theater in Chilton, um, as in a lot of the theaters that I visited and I filmed, we try to get in the basements and up in the addicts.

And behind the screen, I found a case of these popcorn boxes unopened 1946.

Manly

boxes.

So manly.

I actually, if you go back into the thirties, um, popcorn wasn't made in the theater was made in the streets.

Right.

Manly invented the first kettle electric popcorn popper.

Really?

So

they got huge because at one point they had like 85 or 90% of all popcorn makers in the world were Manly popcorn makers.

And then they merged with creators who still has the same popcorn kettle makers that they patented back then.

But yeah, so I found that crawling around.

I'm like, what does this open up?

And I've got like 200 of them.

And it looks new, but it's actually, it's not a remake.

It's actually original 1945.

And I don't want to, like, thank you for this, for bringing these, but I don't want to use them, obviously.

No.

You got to frame them or something.

Yeah.

1940s.

Nice shelf sitter,

right?

You mentioned that you filmed, theaters you filmed.

Correct.

What does that mean?

So, Frank Herman's and I, we call them movie time guys.

Yeah.

We do comedy

videos.

Right.

So we went out and started filming.

We started with my theaters first.

And then, yeah, we traveled around Wisconsin.

We haven't done it for a year.

We want to get back at it.

Kind of picking what I own, which is single screen vaudeville stage theaters that have been around.

Like Chilton Theater, where these were, was built in 1938.

I

love it.

And it's original inside.

And you got a marquee.

I love the marquee.

I think it appeared theater has one too, right?

What is your business?

It's called Get Real.

Well, it's actually reduced cinemas.

Get Real cinemas is our website.

Get

Real.

It's spelled R-E-E-L.

Got where I went.

Real.

Love it.

Which we don't use movie reels anymore.

Everything's digital.

Which we could talk hours about what we used to be like.

But yeah, everything's digital now.

So what happens up in that little room now where the projectionists used to sit?

Because you still have, I know the theater is telling you about Marinette still has that area up there.

Yeah, we do too.

How does that work?

So the

one in Marinette, did it have a toilet?

Up in the theater?

You know what?

Maybe because, yeah, that's interesting.

So I'll tell you the story.

So years ago, I go back into the 30s, 40s, even in the 50s, they had two projectors, not just one.

So you had a projectionist up there.

I said, next time I come, I'll bring you a reel.

I just left some reels.

Oh,

yeah.

And they'd be threading up one side and that reel would run for about 20 minutes.

And then they'd be while that was running, it thread the other project and they go back and forth and back and forth.

Now, originally, it was carbon arc, which is basically a fire, like a carbon welding rod.

That's what created the light.

And the film was celluloid.

So

you took

fire next to flammable material.

They couldn't leave, they had to have a toilet, they couldn't leave the room because fires were so common.

And that's why a lot of old theaters, we would get to a town, Frank and I, theater burned down in 1950 or whatever, because they had so many fires, because it was so hot.

I had no idea.

That's fascinating.

And

so if you visit old theaters and you get up in a project, but most of them are Chilton and or Depeer, both have toilets.

Wow, that is really cool.

Could you still play a reel at one of your theaters?

Do you have the equipment or a projector?

We owned a theater.

We used to have five theaters.

I'm slowly retiring now.

So we just have Chilton and Depeer left.

The projector in the Mantua Theater, the old Mikado,

that

whole setup I left there when we went to digital.

So they could still play film.

If it's available, but film is sold.

It's not very readily available anywhere since 2014.

I told you about that film I made in Marinette years ago, The Godfather of Green Bay.

I had, and we played in theaters, we played in, I think, 12 theaters, so we had 12 prints made.

And I had, I still kept one in the big tin, and it's very heavy, because

the

reels are in there.

And I kept

one, and I don't know if I'll ever use it on an actual reel again, but it's just kind of a keepsake, but it's so easy now, and you just have to hand someone a flash drive, basically, right?

Well, they come in, the movie itself comes about the size of a...

not even a DVD, I would say more VHS tape size.

And that's what you plug in.

So to explain how it works now, you've got really three parts to your projector.

You've got the computer, you've got the marriage board, which marries the light source to the computer.

So

it's like a three phase thing.

So you take this, basically this hard drive, you plug it into the computer, it downloads, which we call up.

Injust because they don't like downloads because that sounds illegal and then you get a thumb drive that you plug into the projector side that unlocks it Otherwise you could play it forever and ever so this thumb drive which comes on a separate computer Okay, that's all very very high-tech and then it you know if you're playing it for a week or ten days two weeks Whatever it is at the end of that dry at the end that time it locks back up.

You can't play it anymore.

You have to get

a new jump drive.

Yeah

Wow.

All right, so Mike Radu is my guest.

He owns theaters in Chilton and in Depeer.

You are not the Megaplex.

You are independent theaters.

What kind of stuff do you show there?

And tell us a little bit about the actual spaces, the venues, if you would.

Sure.

So we are a first-run theater.

We play brand new movies.

We just finished Minecraft and we're starting...

Oh, my God.

Did you have any of the issues with Minecraft with

that?

So that's another story.

Yeah, so...

Frank turned me on to this, actually, his son Harrison.

So we're a member of the National Theatres Organization.

So they put out a thing that we put up saying, like, during this part of the movie, we're watching.

If

you do, you're out.

Right.

If Andrew Butts.

We did have one kid jump because we have a table and chair setting.

So I'm getting ahead of myself here.

We serve pizza, beer and burgers and all our theaters.

So some kid jumped off one of the tables, broke the end off.

So I'm like, well, what's going on?

And then Frank, I was talking to Frank and he said, well, do you know this?

I did not.

So yeah, we didn't.

That's the one and only time.

For those of you listening, the trend during the Minecraft movie is when the zombie chicken scene happens, teenage boys lose their minds and start throwing popcorn and sodas.

It's horrible.

Yeah.

But they're teenage boys or jerks.

That's what they do, right?

Like

Rocky Horror Pictures.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So we're

talking about your your space is you're talking about the venues and you serve all this great food, too

Yeah, we have homemade pizzas and burgers and in Depeer and we serve beer and wine and stuff like that children We just do the pizza and burgers a regular concession We have table and chair setting so it's auditorium with the high back seats But every front there's a counter in front of every row

so you can

you can have pizza if you want you can just use it

Yeah.

So we don't seat as many.

I think Jilton seats 110 to pure seats like 150.

Really?

So sellouts are common.

But

yeah, it's

fine.

But yeah, we saw Thorn.

What is it?

It's a new movie,

Thorn.

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbolts Thunderbol

And

it was built

there in 1938.

There's another story.

It's actually, I don't know if I could talk all night, but so, and the Chilton Theater was operating as a theater, so was Depeer.

The one in Manitowoc, which is the Makato, was a church.

Now, I went to Lutheran High in Manitowoc, so I actually went on dates in this theater, ended up owning it,

and but it

was a church, and we converted it back to a theater.

But that one was built in 26.

That was a speaking theater before it was a movie theater.

and then it burned down in 1956.

Charlton Heston was, his wife was from two rivers.

So

he frequented the Makata, but when the Makata rebuilt in 1956, the theater in Manitoba, people came from all over the world, because it was really a state of the art.

The acoustics are amazing.

And that

one, I sold it to a young couple that's still a theater.

They're doing, they're doing fine.

Oh,

that's good.

I had one on the western part of the state.

That two was a speaking theater with Vaudeville stage theater.

The bank bought it.

That one was the first one I sold maybe five, six years ago, and they wanted it for the parking lot.

So that one came down.

Oh, that's

terrible.

Yeah.

And then we had a drive-in that closed last year.

I didn't own the real estate there.

We took a Walmart parking lot, turned it into a drive-in for 10 years.

Oh, wow.

That was a lot

of fun.

They sold you the parking lot?

No, no, I just rested.

Okay.

A

couple of business guys from Chilton said, hey, we love your theater, would you want to do a drive-in?

I said, no.

I thought about that.

Well, why not?

Yeah.

It was a lot of fun.

I love all movie theaters.

I love when people go to the movies.

There seems to be a movement where at least artists and studios are trying to, for obvious reasons, trying to get people back in the theater.

But I have a soft spot in my heart for history and for a building with a story like yours have.

Do people where you live, do they tend to gravitate towards your...

your theaters because they're small business they're part of the community or is it talk about a little bit about that and what it's like competing with these mega plexus

well so every community that we're in if we got tremendous support let's just use to appear as an example that was my first theater that were 25 years there so in 2014 we were told this when we started in the business that film is going to go away it's going to be digital they kept telling us this so 2014 they said at the

end of the season, there's gonna be no more film.

Either you make the switch to digital or you're out of business.

So, and a projector, a digital projector is $50,000,

not

a little piece of equipment.

Right.

So, we did a fundraiser in Pierre, and the community got behind us through a Kickstarter and raised enough money to buy the projector for

us.

Whoa.

So, yeah, do we get support?

Absolutely.

Amazing support in every community that we're in.

So, it keeps us there.

It's what's kept us going.

That is fantastic.

So, like, let's say tomorrow night when Thunderbolts open, you expect a full house and typical Friday night, Saturday night movie crowds?

Yeah, it just depends.

You know, we book our own movies.

We don't have an agent that we use.

I have a contact in every studio.

I call Disney.

If I'm booking a Disney movie, I call Warner Brothers, wherever the movie's coming from.

And so we get the pick, you know.

We know what our audience is.

Our audience and to peer is animations, family, you know.

So if Thunderbirds do real great, they'll probably do well.

Okay.

Minecraft sold out like the first 10 shows.

Wow.

So you just never know for sure.

But if it's geared towards families with little kids or it's a sellout.

It's a winner.

That's pretty cool.

So, Mike Radu is here.

He owns the Depeer Theater and the Theater in Chilton.

We're gonna ask, you've seen your share of movies, I assume, Mike, so.

Couple.

All right, well, so we'll find out what Mike's favorites are when we come back.

I'll finish reading your texts and I'm gonna ask you about your voice and how your workout was, because that's important stuff, too.

We gotta get to that.

Mike Radu is here.

It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight.

We're coming right back on the Civic Media Radio Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

Welcome back.

Hi, I'm Pete Schwabber.

This is Nightlight.

It is great to have you.

Along for the ride tonight, folks.

PJ on the stream says, people that feel the need to fart walk in grocery stores are gross.

No argument there, PJ.

Our question tonight was, what's in your pocket?

And Brian, we got Brian from Milwaukee.

He's got another one.

Glad I'm not the only one with blue pocket fuzz, aka lint in my pocket.

Thank you for not judging.

We don't do that here, Brian.

We don't judge at all on nightlight.

Christine from Slinger says, dog treats.

All right.

Pet owner that makes sense and then Madison from plumber or is that?

Madison and there they are a plumber.

I don't know but Madison says six drill bits air pods pocket knife pencil and a tin of Copenhagen Do you carry a knife on your mic?

Not tonight

This is like everybody that's listening today's like they're getting ready for a gang fight or something.

It's like old school is gonna be a rumble

Great text, everybody.

Thank you so much for being part of the show tonight.

Thank you to Mike Schmidt for joining me.

We've got a few minutes here with my second guest tonight, Mike Radu, who owns the Chilton Theater and the Depeer Theater.

And you were telling me about the New London.

That's really cool.

My wife's family is from New London.

The Grand.

Yeah.

The Grand.

Is that still there?

Yeah, it's still operating.

They added on, you know, made more smaller theaters.

But the original auditorium was there.

We filmed that a couple of years ago.

And Frank Cremens and I were there.

And the trapdoor, we went down below where the green rooms were.

And it was amazing.

There was drawings on the walls of people that had performed there in the 1900s.

It was truly, truly amazing.

Of all the theater that we filmed, I shouldn't say there's been so many cool ones.

But then there was a catwalk was still up above.

I love

those.

So it was just basically between the two by fours.

They had slats, you know.

So we had our cameraman there.

I said, I'm gonna go up there.

I said, it looks like there's drawings up there.

Frank thought I was kidding.

And obviously he goes, holy, he's really going up there.

So I, you know, I scurried up there and jumped over and then he goes, see how he says if you talk for, Mike's a good climber.

But the old wooden crank was still there for raising

and lowering the

screen.

And again, there was these drawings.

So apparently when the, you know, person was up there, he was drawing on the walls, just that history, every, every old theater.

has a flavor, has a history.

So when we're in these towns and we're filming, you love to go to the cafes or whatever, hey, you know, you're here when the theater was open.

Oh yeah, yeah, it was a place to go on a Friday or whatever.

But everyone has a story.

They're all haunted.

Everyone's

haunted.

That's what the word is.

But you know, it's haunted.

Yeah, yeah, of course I

know.

But everyone has a flavor to it.

Everyone has a different story.

And obviously I've dedicated 25 years of my life, you know, and I'm not I didn't drive up and you know in a Porsche I mean I'm not getting rich,

you

know I'm a carpenter by trade my wife was a hospice nurse But we love it and I always tell everybody you see these little kids come into the theater You know like little bitty five six seven and their eyes are like golf balls man.

That's as close to Hollywood as they're ever

gonna That's fantastic, you know,

and that's what it's about, you know That's why we gear toward all our theaters are geared towards.

Do you ever have moments where you go?

I'm sure you do like where you go in and you're the only one

in the whole building.

And you're in the theater where people have been laughing for decades or awestruck for decades at what they are seeing on the silver screen.

That to me, I think that's in part why people sometimes think they're haunted, because you have all these great memories and all these things of people coming together to enjoy something together.

It's magical.

Yeah, it really is.

There's no other way to describe it.

Is that magical?

So what are some of your favorite films?

You got the Tombstone sweatshirt on.

I love that.

People ask me that all the time.

I would say Tombstone is probably my all time favorite movie, period.

Certainly Western.

Now we lost Val Kilmer.

Yeah,

tremendous

guy.

And I can tell you a story that I read about him when he was filming there.

Musical, I would say the remake of A Star is Born

with

Lady Gaga.

She was unbelievable.

And so was Bradley Cooper.

It's the second time you bought up Lady Gaga tonight.

So I think there's a little chemistry between the two of you or something.

Yeah.

Never met her.

Your wife's not listening.

No, she's not

listening.

I met Elizabeth.

I met a lot of actually met a lot of people when I've been in Hollywood a few times.

I met Elizabeth Shoe and I

met a couple of

people out there.

Let's see.

Horror, of course.

I mean, it's the exorcist.

And as you can tell, I woke up at two o'clock this morning with.

food poisoning and I did my

best Linda

Blair impression of the exorcist, Wham, so that's what my voice

is.

But you still went to the gym, because you asked me to call you and I called you and you're coming out of the gym.

Yeah, two hours.

With food poisoning.

Yeah, with food poisoning, yeah, yeah.

See, and the Godfather.

Yeah.

I

love

the

Godfather.

I

do a really great Godfather impression.

I can't do it tonight because I don't have a voice.

Next time I come, I'll do the Godfather.

Next time you come, we'll have to do that and you'll do the Godfather and...

Yeah, we'll dig deeper into this if you have folks if you haven't been to the theater in a while and you're listening Go to the movies because there is nothing like that experience regardless of where you go see a movie but if you have a choice and you can go to an old theater with Tons of history like Mike's two theaters or the one you're talking about and did you say that was still there in the London

the Grand

One of these little cool theaters with history in it.

You just there's nothing like that experience.

So I I recommend it and

I don't know.

So what do you get this weekend?

Thunderbirds.

Oh yeah.

Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolts.

Thunderbolts.

Yeah.

I should know that.

I'm a movie guy.

Yeah, that opens up Nationwide Friday and we'll have it this weekend.

Okay.

And both theaters?

Both theaters.

Wow.

That should be a cash cow.

Should do well.

Marvel.

What's the favorite snack?

What do you sell most snacks to people?

You know, our

pizza.

Pizza.

Yeah.