GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – With “Wicked: For Good” already drawing big crowds in theaters nationwide, local historians say it’s the perfect moment to revisit Wisconsin’s surprising place in Oz history — and clear up a long-standing misconception.
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While Oconomowoc has long claimed it hosted the first Wisconsin screening of the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz”, archived advertising and historical records show the film actually premiered in Green Bay two days earlier.
Green Bay newspaper: Aug 10, 1939
According to the Brown County Historical Society’s Dennis Jacobs, the movie made its Wisconsin debut at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Green Bay on August 10, 1939. It opened in Appleton and Kenosha the following day, and didn’t reach Oconomowoc until August 12.
“Green Bay is the first screening of the official film,” Jacobs said. “Oconomowoc calls themselves the first because they had an overzealous editor who claimed it, even though they were the third in the state to see it.”
Ocontomowoc newspaper: Aug. 11, 1939
The Orpheum Theatre — now a vacant building on Walnut Street — was one of the city’s largest movie houses at the time. Jacobs says Green Bay’s early connection to Oz stretches back decades, with traveling theater productions and silent-film versions of the story making stops in the city as early as the 1900s.
“The play came here in 1904,” Jacobs said. “In 1910, one of the first silent films came to Green Bay, and in 1926, the second silent film came to Green Bay.”
Why Green Bay was chosen ahead of other Wisconsin cities for the 1939 premiere remains a mystery. Jacobs believes it may have been tied to the Orpheum’s ownership or booking relationships.
“No one knows,” Jacobs said. “It might’ve been something with the theater owners or the Orpheum chain. We’re not sure why they chose Green Bay.”
Despite the significance, the film’s debut barely received coverage in local newspapers — but interest in Oz was already strong.
L. Frank Baum’s books were some of the most popular of their era, and Wisconsin even had a direct connection to the film: Meinhardt Raabe, the actor who played the Munchkin coroner, was a Watertown, Wisconsin native.
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Jacobs hopes the renewed popularity of Wicked — including the major nationwide release of “Wicked: For Good” — helps bring attention back to Green Bay’s overlooked role in cinema history.
“A lot of people just don’t realize it premiered here,” Jacobs said. “And we should. We should be proud of it.”
