The Golden Rondelle Theater is a theater at the Johnson Wax Headquarters complex of S. C. Johnson & Son in Racine, Wisconsin, United States. Designed by Lippincott & Margulies, the theater was originally the Johnson's Wax Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. Construction of the theater began in October 1962, and the attraction opened on April 22, 1964, along with the rest of the World's Fair. The theater included 500 seats under a gold-colored, disk-shaped dome raised above ground. Originally, the theater screened Francis Thompson's short film To Be Alive!, and the rest of the Johnson's Wax Pavilion contained shoeshine machines, a home-information center, and a playground.
After the fair, the theater was relocated to Racine, and two brick pavilions designed by Taliesin Associated Architects were built. The Golden Rondelle was mostly rebuilt from scratch, except for the steelwork. It reopened in July 1967 and was renovated in 1976. Since being relocated to Racine, the Golden Rondelle has hosted numerous films, including several produced by Thompson. The theater has also been used for seminars, lectures, meetings, and events, and it has functioned as a visitor center.
History
World's Fair
Development Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York, United States, hosted the 1964 New York World's Fair. New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses was president of the New York World's Fair Corporation, which leased the park from the government of New York City. The household-goods company S. C. Johnson & Son of Racine, Wisconsin, had signaled its intention to build a pavilion at the fair by early 1962, leasing space from the World's Fair Corporation. Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., the company's president, wanted to build an exhibit at the 1964 World's Fair because he had enjoyed the 1939 New York World's Fair. Other S. C. Johnson executives did not want the pavilion to be built, worrying that it would be unprofitable. In spite of these concerns, Johnson had the pavilion built anyway.
A groundbreaking ceremony for S. C. Johnson's pavilion took place on October 16, 1962. Lippincott & Margulies, which had helped S. C. Johnson devise a brand identity, was hired to design the structure. The pavilion was to occupy a site in the fair's industrial section, making it the first company from Wisconsin with an exhibit at the fair.; The structure itself, consisting of a steel canopy above a disc-shaped auditorium, was to be dismantled and relocated after the fair. Johnson Wax president Howard M. Packard believed that Frank Lloyd Wright, who had designed the Johnson Wax Headquarters in Racine, would have approved of the design if he were still alive. Francis Thompson and Alexander Hammid were commissioned to produce the short film To Be Alive! for the pavilion; the film demonstrated children in various parts of the world maturing into adulthood. The film was originally 40 minutes long, but was reduced to 18 minutes to increase visitor throughput.
The pavilion topped out on October 29, 1963, with a ceremony attended by Wisconsin lieutenant governor Jack B. Olson, Johnson Wax executive Robert P. Gardiner, and Miss Wisconsin 1963 titleholder Barbara Bonville. A Norway pine tree from Boscobel, Wisconsin, was shipped to Flushing Meadows in 1963 to be displayed outside the Johnson Wax pavilion. By the end of that year, the theater had been labeled the Golden Rondelle, a reference to the theater's faceted-diamond shape. Due to inclement weather, there were delays in painting the pavilion's exterior and landscaping the site. A short film about the pavilion was broadcast on the television series Challenge in late March 1964, and S. C. Johnson soft-opened the pavilion for journalists on April 8. One-third of S. C. Johnson's annual advertising budget, $5 million, had been spent on the pavilion.
Operation The World's Fair formally opened on April 22, 1964,; ; and the Golden Rondelle Theater was dedicated that day. S. C. Johnson selected ten multilingual college graduates from different countries to serve as the pavilion's hosts; it also hired ten hosts from the U.S. The pavilion originally screened To Be Alive! 24 times a day, for which no admission fees were charged.; Within a month, 308,615 people had visited the Johnson Wax Pavilion, making it one of the fair's most popular attractions. Visitors included former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower,; as well as various other politicians, actors, and entertainers. On some days, the theater accommodated 13,000 daily visitors, and more than 5,000 people each used the pavilion's shoeshine machines and information center. Guests sometimes had to wait up to 40 minutes to see the film. As such, S. C. Johnson increased the number of daily screenings of To Be Alive!. Moses designated June 23, 1964, as "Johnson's Wax Day", during which special events were hosted at the Johnson's Wax Pavilion.
The Johnson's Wax Pavilion had recorded one million visitors by mid-July 1964; the pavilion was especially popular for its free shoeshine service and its film. By September, two million people had visited the pavilion. Toward the end of the fair's first season, screenings of To Be Alive! were shortened slightly so the theater could accommodate more visitors. The pavilion temporarily closed when the first season ended on October 18, 1964.; Around 2.5 million people had seen To Be Alive! during the 1964 season, making the Johnson's Wax Pavilion one of the most popular attractions at the fair. The pavilion's shoeshine machines had given more than 1 million shoe shines, and its information center had answered over 450,000 questions. S. C. Johnson renovated the pavilion between the 1964 and 1965 seasons. The pavilion's information center was expanded, additional objects were installed in the pavilion's play area, crowd control was improved, and the shoeshine machines were refurbished. Privet bushes were planted around the auditorium, though the auditorium itself was unchanged.The pavilion reopened at the beginning of the fair's second season on April 21, 1965,; following a soft opening the previous week. To Be Alive! had continued to garner critical acclaim during the off-season, so S. C. Johnson decided to screen the film 30 times a day for the 1965 season. During the first two months of the season, visitation to the pavilion increased compared with 1964, even as overall fairground attendance decreased. The pavilion reached 3 million total visitors in mid-June 1965 and 5 million visitors by mid-October. The second season ended on October 17, 1965,; with the pavilion recording wait times of up to three hours on that date. The Johnson's Wax Pavilion had recorded 5 million visitors over two seasons, making it the 12th-most-popular attraction at the fair, and it had shined 1.98 million pairs of shoes. A New York Times reporter wrote that To Be Alive! had made the Johnson's Wax Pavilion a successful low-budget attraction. Lippincott & Margulies itself said, "The entire Johnson exhibit has won so much acclaim that our company is pleasantly embarrassed by its success."
Subsequent use
Relocation and reopening After the fair, the theater was dismantled so it could be relocated. S. C. Johnson considered moving the Golden Rondelle Theater to Racine,; but no decision had been made on this by late 1965. The company announced in January 1966 that the theater would be relocated to Racine, being rebuilt next to the Johnson Wax Headquarters. Taliesin Associated Architects, a firm formed by apprentices of Frank Lloyd Wright, was to design a pair of pavilions flanking the theater. The theater would screen To Be Alive! and would also be used for corporate meetings. S. C. Johnson donated the pavilion's playground to the Wisconsin State Welfare Board, which reinstalled it at the Southern Colony and Training School, a special education school in Union Grove, Wisconsin.
Excavations for the relocated theater began in late June 1966. S. C. Johnson awarded a general contract for the theater's relocation to local firm Johnson & Henrickson, while another local company, Nielsen Iron Works, was hired as the steel contractor. More than a dozen buildings to the north of the headquarters, including property on both sides of 14th Street between Franklin and Howe streets, was acquired and demolished to create a park-like setting for the theater. The structure itself was rebuilt on the south side of 14th Street, and a parking lot was built south of the theater. When the structure itself was rebuilt, the steel shell was the only part of the original pavilion that was retained. The project cost $350,000 in total. The theater was rededicated on July 27, 1967, with a screening of To Be Alive!. The Golden Rondelle was the last building added to the Johnson Wax Administration complex until the completion of Fortaleza Hall in 2010. Initially, the Golden Rondelle Theater screened To Be Alive! 32 times a week. The theater also initially hosted S. C. Johnson meetings. This consisted of six shows per weekday (with two additional shows on Thursdays) and three shows per day on the weekend. The theater accommodated 140,000 visitors in the year after its relocation, at which point it was one of Racine's most popular attractions. The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, wrote that visitors hardly had to wait to enter the theater in Racine, unlike at the World's Fair. S. C. Johnson hired Llewelyn Davies Associates in 1969 to create plans for redeveloping the area around the Johnson Wax Headquarters. The plan was released in 1970 and called for a public park around the Golden Rondelle Theater and housing north of the theater, which never occurred.
1970s to present After interest in To Be Alive! declined, the Golden Rondelle began to host other free events in 1972, when Marge Davis was hired as the theater's event organizer. The events there included as workshops,See, for example: ; pantomime performances, and the Ecology Film Festival. By 1976, the relocated theater had hosted 700,000 visitors. The same year, to celebrate the American bicentennial, a larger screen and a surround sound system were installed so the theater could display the film American Years.; After the bicentennial, visitors had to make reservations to see American Years. In addition, the theater hosted annual events such as Christmas gift-making programs, environmental seminars, and St. Patrick's Day folk concerts. The Golden Rondelle Theater was hosting 100,000 annual visitors by the late 1970s, hosting 4,000 events annually. The theater was frequently filled to two-thirds capacity, though more visitors tended to come during the summer. Nearly two-thirds of the theater's events were open to the general public, although S. C. Johnson (which had priority over events at the theater) was responsible for around 35% of the theater's programming.
The Francis Thompson film To Fly was screened at the Golden Rondelle starting in 1978, and Johnson Wax began hosting the Kaleidoscope Educational Series at the Golden Rondelle the next year. The Golden Rondelle began screening Thompson's film Living Planet in 1980,; and it continued to screen American Years, To Be Alive!, and To Fly as well. It also showed IMAX films on its wide screen. To attract visitors, the theater became part of the Greater Milwaukee Visitors and Convention Bureau in the early 1980s. By that decade, the Golden Rondelle Theater had become a visitor center for the headquarters, with guided tours originating out of the theater. The Golden Rondelle also hosted community events such as recitals, lectures, and seminars. Religiously and politically neutral nonprofit organizations held meetings at the Golden Rondelle, and the theater produced some of its own comedy and films. In 1986, the theater started displaying another Thompson film, On the Wing, which replaced To Fly.