The glossy new book "Silver Screens: A Pictorial History of Milwaukee's Movie Theaters" -- published by the Wisconsin Historical Society -- looks like a real gem and it is. However, devotees of Larry Widen and Judi Anderson's "Milwaukee Movie Palaces" will find this new book by the same authors familiar.

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.

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