Encyclopedia Of Detroit
Kunsky, John H.
John Henry Kunsky was a Detroit movie theater mogul who at one time owned more than 20 theaters in the city and suburbs. He was the first to bring the motion picture to Detroit, and also owned radio stations. Later in life he changed his name to John King.
Kunsky was born on March 22, 1874 in Detroit to Czechoslovakian immigrant parents, but little is known about Kunsky’s early life. His entertainment career beganwith nickelodeons(small storefront theaters) in 1906, partnering with Arthur Caille to open the Casino Theater. They established a company, Casino Amusement Enterprises that by 1907 ran nine nickelodeons in Detroit. George W. Trendle joined the partnership in 1910, and Kunsky bought out Caille in 1913.
Kunsky installed Detroit’s first “movie machine” in the 200-seat Royale Theater at Monroe and Farmer streets in 1908. Othermovie palaces built by Kunsky were the Columbia (1911), designed by C. Howard Crane, followed by other Crane creations: the Garden (1912), the Liberty (1913), the Washington (1914), the Alhambra (1915), and the Strand (1915). The Madison and the Adams Theaters,both opened in 1917 on Grand Circus Park, were part of his theater empire and creations of Crane. The Capitol Theater, seating around 3,500 people, opened in 1922 and today the renovated building is the home of the Detroit Opera House.
In the suburbs, the Birmingham Theateropened in 1927, as did the Royal Oak Theater, originally namedKunsky Royal Oak, and both are still in business, though the Royal Oak Theater presents concerts, and the Birmingham Theater expanded from one screen to eight.The Redford Theater opened in 1928,and still operates today showing classic movies, its original organ still functional. Detroit’s Fisher Theater, opened in 1928, was his last.
Kunsky and Trendle sold their movie chain to Paramount in 1929, that same year organizing the Kunsky-Trendle Broadcasting Company, buying WGHP, a Detroit radio station whose call letters became WXYZ. They later bought two Grand Rapids stations WOOD and WASH in 1931.
In 1936 Kunsky changed his name to King, prompting a change in the company name to King-Trendle Broadcasting Company. The company was purchased by the American Broadcasting Company in 1946.
Kunsky/King was also the owner of a resort in Land O’ Lakes, Wisconsin called King’s Gateway Resort Complex, on the border of Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The resort began modestly with an inn in 1937 then grew to encompass a hotel, a ski chalet and an airport. Hailed as the playground of the north, the resort drew celebrities such as Bob Hope and President Eisenhower. Today the resort, much changed, is known as the Gateway Lodge.
Kunsky/King was married to Mary Depher who died in 1946 and with whom he had one child, and Sarah DeMers. He died in Encino, California on January 2, 1952 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
