Visit us in 2024!
The Kooky Cooky House is open during the 2024 holiday season at Shady Lane Greenhouse in Menomonee Falls, WI.
You can visit us on Facebook, too, to see the history of the House.
The House is born
The Kooky Cooky House still lives in the memories of those who grew up in Milwaukee during the Sixties and Seventies.
The Kooky Cooky House was designed in 1960 by Walter E. Kroening, the general manager of Capitol Court.
A story in the Milwaukee Journal from late November 1963 titled “Automated Gingerbread Factory Helps Capitol Court Children, Mothers” said:
A shiny, metal, red nosed, green eyed robot named the Boss was baking gingerbread boys here Friday night.
His headquarters, the Kooky Cooky house, is at the Capitol Court shopping center. His equipment consists of everything from cast-off water meters to a beer sign.
He is the brain child of Walter E. Kroening, 60, Capitol Court manager and a civil engineer who likes to dabble with such things.
Every year Kroening has had candy canes, toys and Santa Claus in the cable reserved for Santa. This year Kroening decided on the gingerbread boy theme to attract youngsters and their parents to the shopping center during the Christmas season.
The Boss and his automated equipment are fun to watch. He sits behind panels of multicolored, flickering lights and directs operations by moving a lever back and forth.
The operation is divided into five parts. Toy trucks bring eggs, molasses, milk, nutmeg and the other ingredients needed for cookies into the “factory”. This filters through pipes into the rolling department.
Here the dough is kneaded with two boxing gloves, then rolled flat with rolling pins and an old fashioned flat iron. A water wheel drives this operation.
A toy steam engine operates the cutting department, where a crank shaft pushes five cooky cutters against the dough as it passes on a belt line.
An airplane engine gives power to the decorating department. A piano key stamps on the eyes, nose and buttons of the gingerbread boys, which finally travel into an old fashioned, black stove for baking.
Kroening explained that most of the parts that went into the whole business were cast-offs, contributions and things that Kroening himself developed.
A partial list includes an old radio, a player piano roll, a Jacob’s ladder spark gap, a converted beer sign, an old carburetor, thermostats, steam gauges, valves, light bulbs and sprinkler system parts.
Special records simulate sounds. The sound of a newspaper press plays when the dough is mixed. A steam shovel is used when cutting is going on. Bongo drums also help mix, and an avalanche is used when the trucks unload. The sound of a bubbling brook takes care of milk pouring.
It took four men four months to put the parts together, Kroening said.
By the time Christmas is over, Kroening said, about 100,000 cookies will be baked and given away.
It might be added that the cookies “baked” in the process are really foam rubber. But a “grandma” stationed in the Kooky Cooky house will give away the real things.
The beer sign mentioned is certainly the animated bouncing ball type once used by Miller beer.
Kroening was general manager at Capitol Court for twenty-three years from 1953 to 1976. Before Capitol Court, he was village manager of Greendale, a draftsman for A.O. Smith, and an engineer in the Milwaukee sewerage commission. In 1978, after many years as a volunteer, he became the first executive director of the Zoological Society of Milwaukee County. He created and wrote the Animal Talk newsletter at the Zoo from 1963 through September 1980, when he had a stroke. He passed away in February 1981.
Kooky Cooky History in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
You might remember Jim Stingl’s columns about the Kooky Cooky House in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, reprinted here with permission:
- Memories outlast glory of ‘the Court’ – His February 2001 recollection of sneaking around at Capitol Court.
- Putting Kooky back together requires elves – His June 2003 column on WKTI’s Gino Salomone’s effort to rebuilt it. Sadly, there’s no chance to recover the original Kooky Cooky House.
Although the articles above explain how the remaining pieces of the House were moved to storage at the Kallas Honey Farm in 2001, the pieces were then shuffled to outside storage at the Milwaukee Zoo in September 2003. Exposed to the weather, they deteriorated to the point that they were thrown out without any hope of restoration. A few pieces were saved by subsequent fans – a wall panel, the cupola, a window, and a few signs.
Kooky Cooky Advertisements
Ray Chramega sent the first four advertisements below, as rescued from microfilm copies of the Milwaukee Journal and Sentinel. Click on each thumbnail for a larger version.
The color ad below and the coloring book below were sent by Randy Hilger.
This advertisement was saved by Gino Salomone.
We’ve found two variations of the four-page coloring book. We believe all the Kooky Cooky House artwork was created by Vera Keller, the PR manager at Capitol Court.
If you’d like this variation in easily printable Acrobat PDF, click here.
For the second variation in PDF, click here.
What’s in a name?
Is it the Cookie Cookie House? The Cooky Cooky House? The Kooky Kooky House? No, it was spelled Kooky Cooky House.
Video and more…
Gino Salomone has a copy of a number of promotional clips once used by Capitol Court, including these peeks into the House.
The bouncing-ball beer sign can be seen in this video at about 1:30, as the sign on the top of the cookie factory.
Milwaukee poet Matt Cook has a video once at ZeroTV about his memories of the Kooky Cooky House.
Pam Stein once wrote about her Kooky Cooky House memories at MyCommunityNow.
A Kooky House
Posted by Pam Stein on Dec. 1, 2008I’m a Jewish woman who is obsessed with a Christmas icon from years gone by. Yes, I know some of you might have a problem with this notion of a Jewish person with a Christmas obsession, and if you are one of these people, either deal with it or stop reading.
Many hours of my childhood were spent at the now defunct Capitol Court shopping center. Kohl’s Food Store, Gimbels, Chapmans, The Hobby Horse, and Mansfields, are just some of the stores that we remember well.
It was around the holiday time that Capitol Court was home to something special. It was home to Candy Cane Lane and the Kooky Cooky House. Every year I walked past the picket fence made from giant gingerbread men and I peered into the windows of this Swiss chalet. The Kooky Cooky House was an oversized gingerbread house made from fake gingerbread panels and decorated with required white icing, of course that was fake too.
There were no life-like Animatronics. Instead, inside the Kooky Cooky House there was the square headed robot that ran the show from his control panel. Red boxing gloves kneaded the dough and an iron pressed out the cookies that were baked in an old-fashioned oven. Who needed Disneyland, Milwaukee had the Kooky Cooky House. It was cheesy but this was our childhood.
Year after year I would see families dressed in their “Sunday best” waiting to enter this pre-fab house of confectionary delight. Boys and Girls were waiting in line to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. After they read their wish list to Santa, kids would get a coloring book and a cookie. A Kooky Cooky House cookie; a perfectly crisp gingerbread man cookie with a smiling face. Everyone seemed to be enjoying these cookies, except for me.
As a kid, I didn’t understand why my parents wouldn’t take me to the Kooky Cooky House. So what that I am Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas. Maybe inside there was a menorah hidden someplace?
One December day in 1970, as my Mom and I were shopping at Capitol Court, she surprised me and took me to the Kooky Cooky House. There I was in line with all the other boys and girls, but there were a couple of differences between them and me. I didn’t care about seeing Santa. I was overweight or slightly chunky, as my Mom likes to say; all I really wanted was the cookie.
When it was my turn, an elf guided me to Santa and I jumped onto his lap. After he bellowed a hardy “HO HO HO”, I told Santa that I’m Jewish and don’t celebrate Christmas. Needless to say, he was a bit perplexed. He looked around to see if any of his elves were listening and then he quietly whispered to me, “shhh . . . don’t tell anyone but I’m Jewish too.” Santa then asked what I wanted for Hanukkah. That wish list I gave him.
Then it was time. . . I jumped off Santa’s lap, grabbed the coloring book, and there it was – the cookie. A Kooky Cooky House cookie; a perfectly crisp gingerbread cookie. A cookie baked by those elves inside that pre-fab house of confectionary delight. The best cookie I’ve ever had; a very special cookie from a very special place.
As an adult I know understand why I went inside the Kooky Cooky House only once. Obviously, I didn’t need to sit on Santa’s lap to read him my wish list. My parents took me go inside once because they wanted me to experience this holiday tradition. Little did they realize that a gingerbread house would make such a lasting impression on me.
Today this iconic structure holds so many memories for me just as it does for many Milwaukeeans; it was a part of our youth. It was something that we looked forward to seeing every holiday season.
96.5 WKLH is bringing back the Kooky Cooky House and all its magical memories on December 13, at the Riverside Theatre. For one special evening, Dave and Carole’s Kooky Cooky Christmas Show will give Milwaukeeans the ability to relive the memories associated with this iconic holiday tradition.
There will be a recreation of this famed “house” as well as actual artifacts from the original structure. An added bonus, everyone will get a gingerbread man cookie.
The morning show crew will be there, including Dave, Carole, John McGivern and Gino Salomone. Singers, dancers, storytellers, and much more will put the audience in the holiday spirit. Yes, even Santa will be there!
Proceeds from this evening go to support the Christmas is for Kids party that is held annually. This party provides a holiday dinner, entertainment, and presents for Milwaukee’s most needy children.
For further information, please log onto wklh.com.
In this season of giving and being thankful for what you have, spend an evening being thankful that you have such wonderful memories of the Kooky Cooky House. Revive your Kooky Cooky House memories while helping a worthy cause, children in need of a Merry Christmas.
Come out and join the fun. I’ll be the one there telling Santa what I want for Hanukkah!
Ginny Maziarka mentioned us at her WISSUP blog.
Kooky Cookie House – Capitol Court – Way back when…
Tuesday, December 16, 2008I recently read this post from days gone by when Capitol Court was still in existence.
http://www.kookycookyhouse.com/
The pictures that were posted here renewed the childlike excitement I experienced with my siblings (all four of them) as we would take that special car trip from home (39th and Nash) to wait in the long line to get our glimpse of this make-believe candyland. We would brave cold and wind, snow or sleet. Mom would bundle us up with scarves, mittens and hoods tied tight around our faces. I recall getting to the entryway of the little house and seeing all the lights, colorful candy decorations and the sound of a hearty voice ho-ho-hoing from deep within. Once inside, the activity was extreme eye candy…. A mechanical gingerbread boy stirred and stirred his wooden spoon in a bubbling pot. Other animated cookie figures performed their culinary duties as children were mesmerized by the sights and sounds filling the petite confectionary. Santa’s lap was thrilling, which was the grand finale of the experience….. Though the coloring paper and, best of all, the big, crispy, delicious gingerbread man cookie on the way out still remains delectable on my mind…. A wonderful, warm fuzzy from my Milwaukee upbringing…
I wrote about this site at OnMilwaukee.com.
Kooky Cooky House memory web site
Dec. 4, 2006 at 2:57 p.m.A few years ago, spurred by Jim Stingl’s column in the Milwaukee Journal, I created a site about the Kooky Cooky House.
Once a highlight for kids at Capitol Court at Christmas, my web site at www.kookycookyhouse.com now tells about what happened to the pieces of the House.
It also features pictures and advertisements that I’ve collected, as generously preserved by people who visited my site. For example, you can download and print a copy of the Kooky Cooky House coloring book and view old advertisements that appeared in the Journal and Sentinel.
I hope to preserve even more. If you have pictures or memories, please visit and send them to me. Gino Salomone of WKTI, as mentioned in Stingl’s article, said he had movie footage of the House. I’d like to get a copy and place it on the site.
In December 2008, WKLH had a fundraiser called “Dave & Carole’s Kooky Cooky Christmas”.
Gary Nosacek has a pair of stories about the Kooky Cooky House as well as Capitol Court in general.
Someone who would prefer to remain anonymous has a few items from the House:
She said “I used to have the giant stove, but space didn’t permit me keeping it, so I donated it to Pius XI High School’s theater department.” I’ve tried to determine if the stove is still there, but no one seems to know where it went.
Here are several promotional pictures created by Capitol Court, courtesy of Jay Svajdlenka.
Candy Cane Lane. The line for the House can be seen in the background.
Pictures of Capitol Court in late 1978 as it was being enclosed, including the House under the new roof, and candy canes along the corridors.
On December 5, 2006, I was interviewed on Milwaukee’s AM 920 WOKY radio “Mighty 92 Flashback” on the morning program to talk about House memories and this web site.
I can’t help but wonder if there was a connection between “Kooky Cooky House” and Cooky the Cook on WGN Chicago’s “Bozo the Clown”, as played by Roy Brown for more than two decades. He was often referred to as “our kooky cook Cooky”.
The original House had an audio narration by WISN radio personality Charlie Hanson.
Milwaukee Record describes the House in this story in 2011.
Kooky Cooky House memories were featured on page 94 of the November 2012 issue of M magazine.
In 2012, a few pieces of the original House were displayed in Hartford.
The House Reborn
In 2014, the re-created House made its debut at Discovery World.
In 2017, the House was at the Domes and WTMJ was there.
In 2021 the House was in Cedarburg, and WTMJ covered the event:
In 2022, the House was at Bayshore, and FOX6 covered it.
We need your memories!
Send your Kooky Cooky House memories to info@kookycookyhouse.com.
We’ll post them here! If you have pictures, that would be great. I know there must be hundreds of them in family photo albums throughout the Milwaukee area.
This web site was made by John Foust of www.goJefferson.com , a computer consulting company in Jefferson, Wisconsin, and www.threedee.com and the upcoming book about Wisconsin author Sterling North called StarringRascal.com.
1968 and 2006