You can also see the Majestic (and, in various shots during the same ascent sequence, the Tower, and the United Artists) in Lloyd’s 1930 talkie ‘Feet First’. You can also see that Tally’s has made way for the Hamburger Dept Store extension.
Also worth watching is the Lloyd short ‘Never Weaken’, which is based around the construction of what would appear to be the State Theatre. You can see the Pantages Hill Street down 7th Street in a couple of exteriors.
nickb
commented about
Mayanon
Sep 1, 2008 at 9:01 am
July 31 1914: ‘Quinn’s Superba, the latest pretentious motion picture of Los Angeles, had its formal opening last night. The Superba was constructed at much expense, the management saying that almost $100,00 was spent before the theater could open. There are 6000 electric bulbs. In the theater proper they are obscured. The ceiling presents something unique in frescoing. The exits are ample, and the entrance presents electric bulbs shining behind onyx and marble.’
Aug 2 1914: ‘Indications are that Quinn’s Superba, which had its formal opening Thursday evening, will take its place as one of the popular motion picture palaces of Los Angeles… The Superba has one of the most beautiful theater interiors in the city, and the exterior is a blaze of light.’
Nov 8 1914: Quinn announces he has secured the rights to show Paramount Pictures hereafter.
Nov 29 1915: THEATER RUNS ALL NIGHT
‘What the management of Quinn’s Superba Theater declare to be a world’s record in the moving-picture business was set yesterday morning when, at 9 o’clock, the picture house completed a twenty-four-hour continuous run of its show. In that time thirteen performances were given each lasting a little less than two hours, and approximately 12,000 persons were admitted. At 3 o’clock in the morning, according to the management, all the seats were sold. The 5 o’clock attendance was lighter.’
May 31 1919: Carl Laemmle takes personal charge of the Superba to celebrate Universal’s seventh birthday.
Aug 16 1921: SHORT SKIRT HOOPLA AT SUPERBA
‘Here girls, here’s your chance at a prize. Manager James W Anderson of the Superba Theater, announces offering a prize for the “shortest skirt†worn at his theater Wednesday. There is but one stipulation, and that is that the women seeking to qualify for the prize must be between 19 and 55 years of age. Measurements will be taken in the lobby of the theater, and all entrants to the contest need but to signify the fact at the box office.
‘Gladys Walton in Short Skirts, this week’s attraction at the Superba is the incentive for the contest.’
The 1922 obituary notice in the house says that Laemmle’s Universal had purchased it six years previously. The Universal people refused to answer rumors that they had sold it to the coffee shop man.
The Garrick seems to have been run for at least part of its time by J. A. Quinn, also of Broadway’s Superba and later the Rialto theatres. The LA Times' Nov 15 1914 edition notes that the Garrick was about to celebrate the third anniversary of Quinn’s ownership.
A Times obituary for HL Gumbiner (March 11 1952) credits his Tower with introducing ‘the first talking picture’, ‘The Jazz Singer’. I wonder if the Tower’s history has become mired in the confusion caused by the use of ‘The Jazz Singer’ as shorthand for ‘first talkie’? Contemporary reports do suggest the Tower held the first Downtown screenings of the Vitascope…
Here’s a photo from the Public Library of Broadway at Fifth. You can see the Roxie with what looks like a rectangular marquee. The Library’s holding page says the theatre features Mickey Mouse (and dates the photo as circa 1920s, but hey).
An updated link for the photo Ken posted in October 2006. The caption dates it as circa 1920-29, but the Tower Theatre clearly puts it as 1927 or later, and I believe you can see the neon vertical of the Los Angeles Theatre (1931) over on the left. Does anyone know their ‘30s cars? (Or Conrad Nagel features?)
nickb
commented about
Mayanon
Mar 5, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Nice, though “It Could Have Happened…But It Did” (1963)
should actually read “It Couldn’t Have Happened… But it Did” (1936).
A correction to William’s 2001 note, in case anyone’s counting on it… the Tower appears in the Governator’s ‘End of Days’, not ‘The 6th Day’. Apparently one of the side exits takes you down through the New York subway, along corridors lined with flaming torches and into a cavernous machine room where people still assemble for public entertainment (in this case a live performance involving the Devil, a virgin and a casting couch).
Actually, the spelling confusion runs much wider than just this page. (I’d argue it runs throughout the country: I can’t make out any consistent application of the alternative spellings.) Look, for instance, at the ‘coming soon’ announcement on the Million Dollar’s marquee, in hollywood90038’s third picture on Feb 18. I’ve also observed both spellings on the lightpost notes outside the theatre: I think it must be the headline, which just wraps around out of sight in hollywood90038’s fifth link above, that slips into the ‘theater’ spelling.
As memory serves, Grauman specifically called the Million Dollar a ‘theatre’ to bestow a supposed European sophistication upon it…
I made some screen caps of Sennett’s ‘A Movie Star’, on the off chance someone might be able to identify the theatre in it. Admittedly the film doesn’t show very much of the outside…
I guess it’s too much to hope anyone knows of any other Los Angeles nickelodeons featured in movies?
I have been told that the Tower screened a sneak preview of ‘The Jazz Singer’. It’s interesting that the Times ran a brief story about the Tower being equipped for Vitaphone just two days before ‘The Jazz Singer’s’ release.
But the October 14 report on the Tower’s opening night states that the Vitaphone subjects that accompanied the screening of ‘The Gingham Girl’ were the first downtown showing of Vitaphone.
A tidbit: Metzger seems to have had a brief spell in the news in 1928 as the head of a syndicate which procured the Broadway Palace Theater. He became the Palace’s supervising manager and instituted a policy of double feature attractions: a musical comedy plus a photoplay. (A month later the Times reported the policy a success: ‘every attendance record has been shattered.’)
Why is there so little about the opening of the Roxie in the Los Angeles Times? The owners don’t seem to have had much of a sense of PR. Who were G.A. Metzger and Harry Srere? I have found that they also opened the Fairfax Theater in 1929; and Metzger headed the Independent Theater Owners of Southern California in 1933. But why is there so little coverage of the Roxie?
Re. Ben’s question last August about the screening of ‘Sally’ and the theater’s opening date:
The Los Angeles Times carried a news story on June 2 1929 about the groundbreaking for a Beverly Boulevard Playhouse; Theater and Store Buildings Will Be Erected Within 90 Days… There’s a nice artist’s sketch, too.
The Fairfax Theater Company Inc was run by Gus A Metzger, Harry Srere and Charles A Nichthauser, the first two of whom also built the Roxie on Broadway in 1931. The designer was Vermont avenue architect WC Pennell.
I’m told the owners are called the Helen family, and own the full row – the Cameo and Arcade too. Not sure if they’re on board this new revitalization scheme announced today, but there’s a slightly odd mockup of the Roxie included in their pictorial.
GREAT BUILDING FOR BROADWAY
Chicago Capitalist Leases the Eighth-Street Corner
Plans to Put Twelve-Story Structure on the Site
Over Two Millions Involved in Transfer of Ground
…'While Mr Gumbiner has resided in Los Angeles for only a few weeks, he is confident of the growth and expansion of the city as a commercial and industrial center. As soon as his affairs in Chicago can be satisfactorily arranged, he will come to Los Angeles to make his permanent home.'
Wonder what held him up for six years? The eventual building is four stories high, and the tower itself another six on top – in total, two short of the original plans.
Gumbiner also seems to have run the Cameo, up the street, at some point after 1924.
You can also see the Majestic (and, in various shots during the same ascent sequence, the Tower, and the United Artists) in Lloyd’s 1930 talkie ‘Feet First’. You can also see that Tally’s has made way for the Hamburger Dept Store extension.
Also worth watching is the Lloyd short ‘Never Weaken’, which is based around the construction of what would appear to be the State Theatre. You can see the Pantages Hill Street down 7th Street in a couple of exteriors.
also see jericl cat’s – a dozen or so starting with this one:
http://flickr.com/photos/79761301@N00/2810783839
Buffalo International Film Festival –
Could you direct us to this new research? I’d be interested to see it… Have any pictures surfaced?
Here’s the Superba-as-plain-Superba after it was no longer Quinn’s:
View link
And here’s its final incarnation as Tait’s coffee house:
View link
The Pantages, Clune’s and Superba in their heyday:
View link
And a picture of the Pantages soon after taking the name Arcade (though the caption’s geography seems all in a spin):
View link
Two USC photos of the theatre’s late-Pantages years, including a better scan of the dog movie:
View link
View link
Some more wayposts from the Los Angeles Times:
July 31 1914: ‘Quinn’s Superba, the latest pretentious motion picture of Los Angeles, had its formal opening last night. The Superba was constructed at much expense, the management saying that almost $100,00 was spent before the theater could open. There are 6000 electric bulbs. In the theater proper they are obscured. The ceiling presents something unique in frescoing. The exits are ample, and the entrance presents electric bulbs shining behind onyx and marble.’
Aug 2 1914: ‘Indications are that Quinn’s Superba, which had its formal opening Thursday evening, will take its place as one of the popular motion picture palaces of Los Angeles… The Superba has one of the most beautiful theater interiors in the city, and the exterior is a blaze of light.’
Nov 8 1914: Quinn announces he has secured the rights to show Paramount Pictures hereafter.
Nov 29 1915: THEATER RUNS ALL NIGHT
‘What the management of Quinn’s Superba Theater declare to be a world’s record in the moving-picture business was set yesterday morning when, at 9 o’clock, the picture house completed a twenty-four-hour continuous run of its show. In that time thirteen performances were given each lasting a little less than two hours, and approximately 12,000 persons were admitted. At 3 o’clock in the morning, according to the management, all the seats were sold. The 5 o’clock attendance was lighter.’
May 31 1919: Carl Laemmle takes personal charge of the Superba to celebrate Universal’s seventh birthday.
Aug 16 1921: SHORT SKIRT HOOPLA AT SUPERBA
‘Here girls, here’s your chance at a prize. Manager James W Anderson of the Superba Theater, announces offering a prize for the “shortest skirt†worn at his theater Wednesday. There is but one stipulation, and that is that the women seeking to qualify for the prize must be between 19 and 55 years of age. Measurements will be taken in the lobby of the theater, and all entrants to the contest need but to signify the fact at the box office.
‘Gladys Walton in Short Skirts, this week’s attraction at the Superba is the incentive for the contest.’
The 1922 obituary notice in the house says that Laemmle’s Universal had purchased it six years previously. The Universal people refused to answer rumors that they had sold it to the coffee shop man.
The Garrick seems to have been run for at least part of its time by J. A. Quinn, also of Broadway’s Superba and later the Rialto theatres. The LA Times' Nov 15 1914 edition notes that the Garrick was about to celebrate the third anniversary of Quinn’s ownership.
Here’s a USC picture of the Orpheum under construction (I don’t think this is already linked to above…). File number is CHS-14097.
Here’s what looks like a nickelodeon at left in this photo of 5th and Broadway in 1917. (CHS-9694, should the link change.) Could it be the American?
A Times obituary for HL Gumbiner (March 11 1952) credits his Tower with introducing ‘the first talking picture’, ‘The Jazz Singer’. I wonder if the Tower’s history has become mired in the confusion caused by the use of ‘The Jazz Singer’ as shorthand for ‘first talkie’? Contemporary reports do suggest the Tower held the first Downtown screenings of the Vitascope…
Here’s a photo from the Public Library of Broadway at Fifth. You can see the Roxie with what looks like a rectangular marquee. The Library’s holding page says the theatre features Mickey Mouse (and dates the photo as circa 1920s, but hey).
An updated link for the photo Ken posted in October 2006. The caption dates it as circa 1920-29, but the Tower Theatre clearly puts it as 1927 or later, and I believe you can see the neon vertical of the Los Angeles Theatre (1931) over on the left. Does anyone know their ‘30s cars? (Or Conrad Nagel features?)
Nice, though “It Could Have Happened…But It Did” (1963)
should actually read “It Couldn’t Have Happened… But it Did” (1936).
A correction to William’s 2001 note, in case anyone’s counting on it… the Tower appears in the Governator’s ‘End of Days’, not ‘The 6th Day’. Apparently one of the side exits takes you down through the New York subway, along corridors lined with flaming torches and into a cavernous machine room where people still assemble for public entertainment (in this case a live performance involving the Devil, a virgin and a casting couch).
Okay, well that proves me slightly wrong. Maybe it was just the ‘theater’ spelling on the marquee right behind the lamp post that I was focussed on…
Some pictures of the interior:
View link
View link
View link
View link
Actually, the spelling confusion runs much wider than just this page. (I’d argue it runs throughout the country: I can’t make out any consistent application of the alternative spellings.) Look, for instance, at the ‘coming soon’ announcement on the Million Dollar’s marquee, in hollywood90038’s third picture on Feb 18. I’ve also observed both spellings on the lightpost notes outside the theatre: I think it must be the headline, which just wraps around out of sight in hollywood90038’s fifth link above, that slips into the ‘theater’ spelling.
As memory serves, Grauman specifically called the Million Dollar a ‘theatre’ to bestow a supposed European sophistication upon it…
I made some screen caps of Sennett’s ‘A Movie Star’, on the off chance someone might be able to identify the theatre in it. Admittedly the film doesn’t show very much of the outside…
I guess it’s too much to hope anyone knows of any other Los Angeles nickelodeons featured in movies?
I have been told that the Tower screened a sneak preview of ‘The Jazz Singer’. It’s interesting that the Times ran a brief story about the Tower being equipped for Vitaphone just two days before ‘The Jazz Singer’s’ release.
But the October 14 report on the Tower’s opening night states that the Vitaphone subjects that accompanied the screening of ‘The Gingham Girl’ were the first downtown showing of Vitaphone.
A tidbit: Metzger seems to have had a brief spell in the news in 1928 as the head of a syndicate which procured the Broadway Palace Theater. He became the Palace’s supervising manager and instituted a policy of double feature attractions: a musical comedy plus a photoplay. (A month later the Times reported the policy a success: ‘every attendance record has been shattered.’)
Why is there so little about the opening of the Roxie in the Los Angeles Times? The owners don’t seem to have had much of a sense of PR. Who were G.A. Metzger and Harry Srere? I have found that they also opened the Fairfax Theater in 1929; and Metzger headed the Independent Theater Owners of Southern California in 1933. But why is there so little coverage of the Roxie?
Re. Ben’s question last August about the screening of ‘Sally’ and the theater’s opening date:
The Los Angeles Times carried a news story on June 2 1929 about the groundbreaking for a Beverly Boulevard Playhouse; Theater and Store Buildings Will Be Erected Within 90 Days… There’s a nice artist’s sketch, too.
The Fairfax Theater Company Inc was run by Gus A Metzger, Harry Srere and Charles A Nichthauser, the first two of whom also built the Roxie on Broadway in 1931. The designer was Vermont avenue architect WC Pennell.
I’m told the owners are called the Helen family, and own the full row – the Cameo and Arcade too. Not sure if they’re on board this new revitalization scheme announced today, but there’s a slightly odd mockup of the Roxie included in their pictorial.
From the Times, March 12 1921:
GREAT BUILDING FOR BROADWAY
Chicago Capitalist Leases the Eighth-Street Corner
Plans to Put Twelve-Story Structure on the Site
Over Two Millions Involved in Transfer of Ground
…'While Mr Gumbiner has resided in Los Angeles for only a few weeks, he is confident of the growth and expansion of the city as a commercial and industrial center. As soon as his affairs in Chicago can be satisfactorily arranged, he will come to Los Angeles to make his permanent home.'
Wonder what held him up for six years? The eventual building is four stories high, and the tower itself another six on top – in total, two short of the original plans.
Gumbiner also seems to have run the Cameo, up the street, at some point after 1924.