Theater History

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Travel films at the Union Theater go back to 1940, when the legendary Burton Holmes, one of the founders of the travel film industry, first appeared in Madison. A permanent annual series was established in the late 1950's by then Assistant Director James Wockenfuss, and some of today's subscribers were in the original audience during the 1959-60 season. First introduced on five Monday nights during the year, the series expanded by popular demand to two nights in the mid-1970's, and, in the 1980's, to its present two-program/two night format.

The setting harkens back to a beloved past in which the extended family, neighbors and friends all gathered to watch a home-made film of the family vacation while mom or dad explained the visuals. This tradition lives on in the Travel Adventure Film Series, where the film maker narrates in person while the visuals roll on the screen.

The pleasures of the Travel Adventure Film Series, full color travelogues produced by experienced filmmakers, are many and varied:

• Stunning travel to faraway lands
• Nostalgic visits to familiar places
• Low-cost vacations for "armchair" travelers
• Beautiful, colorful, well-made films
• Lively, informative, amusing narrations
• Sumptuous pre-performance white linen dinners with food from the part of the world featured in the film
• Socializing with audiences and friends

From London to Lima, San Francisco to Shanghai, Mountain skiing to scuba diving, the special ability of talented and outstanding filmmakers to bring exciting and exotic lands to life has been delighting Wisconsin Union Theater audiences for over four decades.