Orpheum Theatre
842 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
842 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles,
CA
90014
66 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 179 comments
Here’s an August 1939 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/3chl9b
I was checking out the birth date feature on the IMDB. There’s a bunch of people born on my day and year that I never heard of. If you want a good laugh, type in Busty Dusty in the IMDB search engine and check out her filmography. It’s a crime that she never got that Oscar. The snub of “Ben Dover Does the Boob Cruise” is unconscionable.
Joe, you forgot Evelyn and her magic violin. Worth another two bits at least.
I know you are all waiting for this:
http://tinyurl.com/2lzysb
I think it’s the bargain price before a certain time. Because the it looks like a number and PM if you blow the picture up.
Does that “50c” next to the theatre’s name denote the price of admission or the price for parking? 50 cents seems a bit low to get into the Orpheum in 1950, especially to see “The Gay Lady” and Phil Spitalny’s All-Girl Orchestra and Choir.
Don’t diss the Philmeister. A legend in his own time.
Phil Spitalny was sent to net heaven by mistake, but he lives again:
http://tinyurl.com/2lh8yw
The LA Conservancy theatre tour is a nice little tour. I took it ages ago when Metropolitan Theatre had the open and running to the public regular film schedules. They do the walking tour of Broadway and you get to go into only a few of the houses now. When I took it Metropolitan ran all of the houses and we got to go into 80% of them. The LA Conservancy runs their “Last Remaining Seats” program every year, which is a Great night at the movies.
Every year the Theatre Historical Soc. of America has concaves at a city around the country and they give more detailed tours of the select theatres.
William, I’ve seen notice of LA Conservancy theatre tours on Cinema Treasures. I’m curious, but I’m also in Michigan. Are the tours worth the effort to try to get to Los Angeles? Do they have one annually that’s more “behind the scenes” and detailed than other times? I’d consider a trip to LA for a chance to see these.
Thanks,
Don
DonF, Those theatres along Broadway are gems. It great that many of them are still standing. The Orpheum was the last one that operated as a movie theatre. Metropolitan favored the Orpheum over the other large houses that they operated along Broadway in the last 25 years. They kept the Orpheum running. The United Artists and State are in good hands and being maintained. The Los Angeles and Palace Theatre are also in good hands and presenting shows from time to time. The Million Dollar is slow to return, but being the oldest of the large houses give it time. It’s still good news that most of the large Broadway houses are still standing. We only lost the Paramount, Hill Street Theatres and we still have the Warner Bros. Downtown Theatre doing the diamond retail thing. It was fun running those houses in their last years in the booth.
Oops. Just looked again and saw the extremely clear part about the $4 million dollar renovation. Obviously this gem has been well cared for. Too bad more of these treasures aren’t as well served.
Thanks, William, I missed that post. The building looks a bit on the “seedy” side, but the posts say the interior is in beautiful condition. Is the exterior in good shape? Posts here seem to say that the interior is in good condition.
DonF, if you look back at a post from neeb on July 8th. 2007. It looks like he confirms that the Orpheum Theatre had a cameo in the film. And imdb has a location listing for 8th. and Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles too.
In the recent movie “Transformers”, there was a climactic street scene, including a theatre front. I believe that it is the Los Angeles Orpheum….can anyone confirm? The marquee definitely said Orpheum.
They also used the Michigan Central train depot here in my home town of Detroit. A sad state for a beautiful building.
The legendary Phil Spitalny was rocking the Orpheum in 1950, according to this LA Times ad:
http://tinyurl.com/37dn7c
The Marciano-Walcott fight was shown at the Orpheum in September 1952. The man on the left is former welterweight champion Barney Ross:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics38/00053997.jpg
Here is a 1937 photo from the USC archive:
http://tinyurl.com/yv33o8
Here are some July 2007 photos:
http://tinyurl.com/ypwxcw
http://tinyurl.com/2da3km
http://tinyurl.com/2zk5ts
Yes, thanx! I’m glad I found it in LA, because I also wrote down location shots from the credits in Detroit, DC and New Mexico.
They showed the marquee in the battle scene at least 5 times and there were two movies on the marquee. “A Place in the Sun” (1951) and “Rose Tattoo” (1955).
Just for your information, this film has a small cameo in the new Transformers movie
hollywood90038: Those are great photos especially the rooftop marquee ones! It’s amazing that rooftop Orpheum sign is still there! ken mc: Yes, the auditions were for the reality show, So You Think You Can Dance.
Looks like auditions for a reality show.
What was going on when those photos were taken?
A masterpiece of cinema…