If you ever hear mysterious creaking or a soft wail in the walls when you’re moseying about the historic Oriental and Downer theaters, it’s not a ghost. Well, it’s probably not a ghost. It’s most likely just Ryan Putskey.
The facilities manager and resident gremlin at both theaters, you’ll typically see Putskey armed with a toolbelt as he makes his rounds. I managed to coax him into setting it aside for this edition of 4-1-4 Questions. The setup is relatively simple: Find someone whose role in the city keeps its cogs turning and ask them four questions about their background, one question about music, and four questions about “their” Milwaukee.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
4 questions about your background
What is your name and what do you do?
My name is Ryan Putskey, and I am the facilities manager for Milwaukee Film at both the Oriental and Downer theaters. I’ve been working at Milwaukee Film since 2006, so 18 years now, and have basically worked every possible position that one can.
I ended up being the facilities manager by doing maintenance work around the theater periodically to get extra hours. Come the pandemic, on top of the restorations and repairs, they would call me in to make sure everything stayed historically accurate and didn’t skew too far from the original vision of the theater. My bosses noticed I had a knack for it and changed my title to facilities manager, and now I get to keep doing all these weird things.
What is one part of your job that would surprise people?
Most people who have known me for any length of time would be surprised that I do what I do. For the longest time, I was a 140-pound skinny dude with glasses — so really nerdy, not the person that you would expect to be swinging a hammer.
In terms of stuff we’ve done recently, one of the biggest projects we’ve done in the past two years is installing the new Wurlitzer organ, and truthfully it's really hard to impress on people how big and complicated a pipe organ is, especially in terms of the hundreds or thousands of bits and pieces and also factoring in the console, which is around 900 pounds, the pipes 200 are pounds, and some of the electrical components are 400 pounds. Just imagining moving that stuff all around the theater, even though I did it, is totally insane.
Our second big project was, of course, taking over the Downer Theatre, which … I think anybody who has gone to the Downer Theatre probably doesn't notice anything all that different besides moving around the concessions stand. But you would not believe the amount of hours that I and especially the projection and technology teams spent making repairs.
What is the strangest thing you’ve seen/witnessed/found inside of a theater?
You can imagine that, over 18 years, I’ve seen some very very weird things. The short answer is that the weirdest thing I’ve found in a theater was a corset — not a sexy one and, most surprisingly, not during the Rocky Horror Picture Show, which of course is itself a huge ol’ bucket of weird. It seemed like a really odd thing for somebody to wear to a theater, take off during a show and then forget.
I’ve had colleagues who have found strange things. For instance, my friends at the Downer had 50 Shades of Grey, so … I won’t elaborate because I don’t think we can talk about that.
Otherwise, the most unique thing that would be surprising to a lot of people is that in a film that’s hard to watch for whatever reason — like 127 Hours, where a guy cuts off his own arm — men are much more likely to faint during films. Which, y’know, there’s nothing wrong with that, but the media has led me in the wrong direction apparently. In other movies, like Black Swan, people have had adverse reactions where we’ve had to call ambulances.
What is the most rewarding part about what you do?
One of the greatest things is working at these iconic pieces of cinema history for the city of Milwaukee is a reward in itself. Just today we had a trio of people who had never seen the theater before, and it’s just fun to have people who gasp when they walk in. The community that keeps coming here and is still awestruck is a really nice thing to feel.
I also have to brag a little bit because I’m so lucky to have the most amazing co-workers, bosses and employees. If you walk into these theaters, you know that the people who are selling you tickets are really cool and intelligent, and I’ve developed some really fantastic relationships with so many of those people.
1 question about music
What album is the soundtrack to your life?
As a person who spent time in various music scenes, it’s so hard to narrow it down to just one album, but I think the simplest answer is the Clash’s London Calling.
I listened to this album for the first time when I was 19, and I had spent a lot of time in punk scenes, so that seems remarkably late to find that album, but every song hits the right mark. It’s got a great sound, and The Clash definitely polished up, and they get playful and experimental. It’s a great album that I could put on for anyone. I’d have a great time, and I feel like a person who doesn’t like punk music is going to have a great time as well. It’s got those poppy undertones that made punk punk in the ’70s and ’80s.
4 questions about ‘your’ Milwaukee
Favorite architectural fact about the Oriental or Downer theater?
One of the first regular maintenance tasks that I had to do at the Oriental Theatre was changing the light bulbs. Since then, people have spent a lot of time making fun of me, calling me the “lightbulb guy.” People often say, “We can never fire you because you’re the only person who knows how to change all the lightbulbs.” So, in that sense, I really love the lighting system.
Apparently, when it was first made, the lighting board was the second-largest in the world. I don’t know for a fact that it is a fact, but it's such a remarkable feat of electrical engineering and lighting design. I really do miss that board. It was this obnoxious thing that would shoot sparks.
There’s something like 3,000 light bulbs throughout the entire Oriental Theatre, and I think I’ve touched almost all of them. The lighting around the rim of the ceiling of the balcony had not been fully lit since World War II, so I am particularly happy with that — even though I took a 30-foot ladder up there, which would have really hurt if I had fallen.
At the Downer, my workspace is on the stage of the original single screen, so it’s kind of fun to be there and work under this beautiful arch. It’s embarrassing to walk people, though, because it's such a narrow space full of tools and ladders and all kinds of weird stuff.
A freshly landed director whose movie is in the film festival tells you they want the “Milwaukee experience.” Where are you taking them?
For better or for worse, they’re probably going bar hopping. At the Oriental, we are between Von Trier and Landmark Lanes — two disparate experiences, with Von Trier being an iconic German Bar and Landmark Lanes being an iconic Milwaukee dive bar.
Near the Downer, Henry’s Bar is a fantastic place, and I highly recommend going there while they’re watching Jeopardy. They turn off all the music, and everybody gets quiet, and they just watch and participate, so it’s a great time. I’ll also toss out some favorites like Paddy’s Pub, Foundation Tiki Bar and the holy trinity: At Random, Bryant’s and Jazz Estate all do amazing cocktails.
Of all the urban legends of the theaters, which one is your favorite/the most outlandish one that you’ve heard?
I think the best ones come from when the Oriental was used as a music venue in addition to showing films. Since it has a full-size stage, it did a lot of weird stuff and concerts with iconic artists from the ’60s to the ’80s. The one show I didn’t believe until I actually found people telling the story was Bob Dylan's 1964 performance at the Oriental.
The story goes that it was early in his career, so it didn’t sell very well. And on top of that the promoter for the concert didn’t secure a very good PA system, so it ended up breaking a couple of songs into the performance. Bob then invited the entire audience onto the stage to just enjoy him playing the songs, but he got so frustrated with it that he left after a couple more songs. I also think it’s fun to point out that you can actually find authentic and unused tickets for that performance for $400 on eBay when they cost around $2 at the time.
Another story was that a patron once walked up to me and told me his uncle claimed that he stuck into one of the dressing rooms and stole Iggy Pop’s eyeliner.
Picture this: You’ve been redoing the marquee for hours and you want to grab a bite. Which Milwaukee spot are you hitting up?
Traditionally, we would have changed the marquee Thursday evening, so the right thing to do as a theater employee would be to go to Beans & Barley, especially if you go after 8 p.m. and get half-priced deli. Many a bean burrito has kept this theater in operation. If you’re talking about a late-night bite, you’re probably going to Ma Fischer’s.
Part-time writer and environmental studies student Dara Carneol dabbles in everything from radio to filmmaking to crocheting with plastic bags to wondering how she killed the tomato plants in her garden. She is a full-time enjoyer of puns, hypothetical questions and narrating the life of her dog, Chase.