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FEBRUARY 2020
3
The facade at the Bad Axe Theatre. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune)
No Business like show business Mark Rolfe has been involved with Bad Axe Theatre since 1989 Robert Creenan
robert.creenan@hearst.com
BAD AXE — Huron County may center around farming, but when the days come to a close, some people just want to put their thoughts of a long day aside and have a night out. One such place to go is the Bad Axe Theatre, one of the few places in the county that shows the latest movie releases. No matter what time of year you go to that theater, there is always once person you can count on to stand behind the counter to sell tickets. Mark Rolfe has owned the Bad Axe Theatre since 2004, and he takes pride in how he owns one of the only theaters in Huron County. Rolfe first started working at the theater when he moved to Bad Axe from Flint back in 1989, but his love of movies goes back a decade before that, when he saw "Star Wars" for the first time after hearing about it from so many kids on the playground in first grade. “Once I saw it I was absolutely hooked,” Rolfe said, calling it and out-ofbody experience. “Seeing the "Star Wars" logo, the opening crawl, and the star destroyers, was un-
f’ing real.” The first movie he ever saw in the theaters, according to Rolfe’s parents, was "Bambi," during which he never moved and was transfixed by the screen. After watching "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" when those movies were released, Rolfe wanted to show movies, be in movies, direct movies, anything to do with the movies, but he eventually settled on just showing them. Rolfe wanted to be a projectionist when he was living in Flint, but at the time, they had to be members of a union. He did have friends who worked at the theater back then and eventually got a job as a projectionist, along with working at the former Four Seasons Health Care. He eventually moved to a management role in 1994, but he had never seriously considered buying the theater until he talked it over with his family, who encouraged him on the idea. “If you go bankrupt, whatever,” Rolfe said about his family’s advice. “At least you tried.” After seriously thinking about it, he told the owner at the time, Rick Ferris,
that if he ever wanted to sell the theater to let him know. On April 16, 2004, Rolfe became the official owner of the Bad Axe Theatre, with the first movie shown after that being "The Passion of the Christ." As the owner, Rolfe is in charge of scheduling all the movies the theater shows, whether it’s the latest releases or special themed months over the summer and during holidays where free movies are shown. Rolfe does not let personal preferences get involved in what movies are shown, as people have asked him for many different kinds. Among the movies shown in the past include "Fifty Shades of Grey," "Fahrenheit 11/9," "I Can Only Imagine," and "Unplanned." The building the theater resides in was opened as a Knights of Columbus hall in 1916, where the group held meetings, dinners, other events, and even showed stage productions and movies. After a building fire in the 1940s, it became a regular movie theater, with the Knights of Columbus using the basement as their regular meeting space. The theater was also featured in a 1983 nation-
Mark Rolfe with Bad Axe Theatre employee Hailey Arntz. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune) wide Buick advertisement, where a Buick was parked in front of it and featured in magazines. The theater became one with two screens in 1990 after formerly having a single-screen with a balcony. The second screen was added after a five-week engagement with the movie "Ghost," and was opened after a month-long renovation.
In the nearly 16 years since he purchased the theater, people would come out no matter what it was showing. Even though there are more online options for seeing films now, the desire to watch films in a movie theater is still there. Rolfe says having a theater in town brings culture, and he loves it when people ask him about
when the latest movies are going to come here. “I don’t think movie theaters will ever go away,” Rolfe said, “Because if that’s the case, why do people go to sporting events when they can watch it on TV? It’s a good night out, a good first date. It’s a staple of America.”
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1513 Bad Axe Rd. • Bad Axe, Michigan 48413 800-322-1125 • 989-269-2121 • Fax 989-269-8631 Mark Rolfe sells a ticket to a customer. (Robert Creenan/Huron Daily Tribune)
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