Obit: Adler, John P. (? - 1959)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Adler, North, Bille, Daul

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) July 9, 1959

Adler, John P. (? - 2 July 1959)

A solemn mass of requiem was held in Marshfield Monday morning for John P. Adler, 71, prominent in the entertainment business of central Wisconsin for more than a half century, and partner in the Neillsville Theater Company, which operates the Adler theater here.

Mr. Adler suffered a heart attack on the No. 5 tee at the Marshfield Country Club last Thursday afternoon, and died before he reached the hospital.  He had suffered a heart attack last winter in Florida which kept him hospitalized there for about three weeks.

Committal rites in the Gate of Heaven Cemetery were conducted by the Rev. Philip Daul of Ellsworth, a nephew, Herman North, local banker and business associate of Mr. Adler was a pallbearer.

For more than 30 years Mr. Adler had been a partner in, and active head of, the Neillsville Theater Company.  At one time the company operated two motion picture houses here; The Adler Theater, which remains in operation, and the Armory.  The latter ceased operations as a motion picture house about 20 years ago.

Last year, Mr. Adler observed a half-century in show business, a business to which he had devoted his life.  His earliest connection with it was that of carrying bricks for his father during the construction of the Adler Opera House in Marshfield.  That was when he was a lad of 9.

Mr. Adler launched his career in motion pictures in 1909, and for many years his house provided stage entertainment by some of the outstanding personalities of the day.

At the peak of the theatrical business, Mr. Adler was interested in two theaters in Merrill, two in Waupaca, two in Neillsville, in addition to three show houses in Marshfield.  In 1952 he established a drive-in theater at the junction of Highways 10 and 13.

Mr. Adler had other business interests outside his theatrical enterprises; was a director of the Citizens National Bank in Marshfield for 20 years and its vice president at the time of his death.  During World War II he organized the selective service office in Marshfield, and became its appeal agent.  He was a member of the Elks and of the Fourth Degree Assembly, Knights of Columbus, and of the Catholic Order of Foresters.

He served several terms as president of the Independent Theater Owners of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan; was a former member of the Marshfield Volunteer Fire Department; and served 4 ½  years as an alderman in his home city.

He was married to Rosamond V. Bille, a native of Marshfield, September 28, 1915.

Surviving in addition to Mrs. Adler are two daughters, Miss Anne V. Adler of Milwaukee, and Miss Elizabeth B. Adler of Marshfield; and four sisters.