An Organ Grinder Documentary Project Special Feature
As part of our return to the Midwest in September, 2025, one of our stops was in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for a visit with Jeff Baas, owner of the Kenosha Theatre.
Jeff and his brother purchased the derelict theatre in the 1980s, with plans to restore it and reopen it as a performance venue. After many trials and tribulations, Jeff continues to work on the building, with every incremental step being a monumental undertaking.
Jeff is also the caretaker of movie palace restoration expert Ray Shepardson’s archives – a trove of photos and documents about many history theaters, and Ray’s amazing advocacy and restoration projects throughout the country.
(Some of Jeff’s interview will be in the main documentary in a chapter about the history of movie palaces, but Jeff’s stories were so compelling that it warranted producing this stand-alone special feature.)
Special thanks to Jeff Baas for spending the day with us and for providing a wealth of material.
Venetian Theatre footage provided by Douglas Wick. Special thanks to Logan Poelman.
Producer’s note:
This video is not just a stand-alone piece, but also a testbed for developing a workflow for the main documentary. Various techniques were tried for footage organization, transcription, building a script, as well as different styles for presenting images and vintage video. This project was timed and logged, in order to create a ballpark estimate for how much work is required to edit the main film.
Your feedback as a viewer is appreciated – did you see anything that didn’t work for you? How was the presentation of photos/vintage film? How was the pacing, audio, the balance of the music? If you have any comments please let us know.
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