That's because "Silver Screens" is a long-overdue revised edition of the 1986 edition, published by the Milwaukee County Historical Society. "Since then we have continued our research," Widen and Anderson write in the new book.
"Although it retains much of the history included in the first book, the original narrative has been rewritten to include new findings on drive-ins, projection booths, movie promotions, noted theater personalities and much more. It also includes dozens of rare photos and illustrations that have never before been published."
"Silver Screens" also has a sleeker, breezier design and it is even more valuable for movie theater buffs, architecture fans and local history nuts than "Milwaukee Movie Palaces," which is saying something. A string of sidebars in shaded boxes highlight interesting aspects of Milwaukee's theater history.
My copy of "Milwaukee Movie Palaces" was most dog-eagered at the back, where an appendix listed every known building ever to have operated in town and you'd be amazed at how many of the really old ones still stand, even though they haven't shown a film in decades.
Driving around town, it's often easy to spot a former theater and having a copy of Widen and Anderson's book at home, allows me to check (thankfully, the authors were kind enough to change the old-style addresses to the "new" system). So, I'm most thrilled to see that this closing salvo has also been updated.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
