Jon R. "Rob" Labby |
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Filmmaker, musician, theater owner |
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1951 - 2001 |
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Former Marquette resident Jon R. "Rob"
Labby, 50, passed away peacefully at his home in Gresham,
Wisconsin, on September 12, 2001, following a brief illness. He
is survived by his loving wife, Betsie, and his four
stepchildren, Matthew (b.1983), twins Sara and Heidi (b.1985), and
Mitchell (b.1986), all of Gresham. In addition to his family, he
left behind a devoted dog Bernie, a cat named Stretch and many
friends and admirers worldwide.
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The son of Dr. Jack and Gayle Labby (neé Roberts of Negaunee), both deceased, Rob was born in Lansing, MI, on March 31, 1951, and spent his early childhood in Chicago, IL. Following the untimely death of his father, a prominent Chicago veterinarian and Marquette native, in the late 1950s, Rob and his mother Gayle Roberts Labby moved to Marquette. There the family owned and operated the Orchard Rest Home on Grove Street for many years. His maternal grandparents owned and operated Marquette's Merchants Hotel on the current site of the Marquette Regional History Center on Spring and Third Streets. |
Rob attended St. John's Catholic School, Marquette
Senior High School and Bay de Noc Community College. He
eventually earned a degree in filmmaking from Northern Michigan
University. |
Rob supported his filmmaking habit by working at local movie theaters for many years. Starting as an usher in his early teens, Rob advanced himself to head projectionist/chief technician at the Delft and Nordic Theaters in Marquette. He later worked as a consultant to theaters throughout the Midwest, designing and installing state-of-the-art sound and projection systems. With his wife Betsie, whom he wed in 1995, he owned and operated a movie theater in Upper Michigan. The couple later moved to Wisconsin, where they continued to operate movie theaters until the time of Rob's death. Rob was a longtime member of the National Association of Theater Owners. (Not that NATO!)
He later moved his film enterprise to his garage, which he upgraded over the years from an 8mm and 16mm silent projection system to a full-blown 35mm Cinemascope, Dolby quadraphonic theater with an attached editing studio and film vault. Known simply as "The Garage," the facility also housed a recording studio that Rob grew from a simple two-track recording facility into a 24-track professional studio used by musicians and production companies from throughout the Upper Peninsula.
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In addition to his work as an exhibitor, Rob made films throughout his adult life. His 16mm work in the 1970s included such slapstick classics as "Alfie Likes to Eat," "The Wall," "One Fine Day Walking the Pug Dog," "Our Peninsula" and "Neap." In the 1980s, he wrote, directed and produced an original 35mm film about the real life of Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin killer whose crimes inspired Alfred Hitchcock's fictional film classic "Psycho." In the 1990s he worked as director of cinematography on a feature film, a crime drama set in Detroit, produced by a German concern. |
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Rob's musical career was equally diverse. A drummer for
numerous local rock bands in the 1960s and 1970s, Rob picked up the
guitar in the early 1970s and played screaming lead guitar for the
notorious proto-punk band known as The Ski-Doos. 
A promoter as well as a musician, Rob was a main instigator behind Beerstock, a series of underground music festivals held each summer in the Upper Peninsula throughout the 1970s.The final Beerstock, held in 1980 at the fairgrounds in Champion, Mich., featured numerous bands and raised more than ten thousand dollars for charitable causes.
At his Grove Street garage/studio Rob produced recordings for numerous local acts. In 1985, he co-wrote and co-produced "We Go Green Bay," a rollicking polka novelty tune about an Upper Peninsula couple's trip to the big city. Recorded by Bill Etten and the Heritage Band, the song received airplay throughout Upper Michigan and Wisconsin and was even played several times by radio stations in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sony Music eventually licensed "We Go Green Bay" for use as the opening song on a Green Bay Packers commemorative CD.
Rob was known and loved for his immense creativity, his absurd sense of humor, his unfailing generosity and his encyclopedic knowledge of history, film and music. Whether he was plowing snow in his pickup truck (complete with oral sound effects) or discussing the camera techniques of his favorite Hollywood directors, Rob lived life with gusto. He will be sorely missed by those who knew him and those who wish they had.
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Rob Stories |
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| Several - Mike Stadler | Oop Ladies - Tim Simandl | |
| Roller skates - Randy Tessier | Water Skiing - Joan Ternus | |
| Undelivered letter - Mike Maki | ||
 Please email us any Rob stories you'd like to share on
this site. And let us know whether you'd like to show your
address in this space in the future.Email links:
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Invitation |
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Real Audio Ski-doos
song: The Motor City King |
