Carthay Circle Theatre

The Carthay Circle has been demolished since around 1970. The last film to play the Carthay Circle was "The Shoes of the Fisherman". The Carthay Circle's style was mission revival, it seated around 1500 people. This theatre and the Chinese held more premieres than any theatre around. Gone With the Wind held it's big west coast premiere here. If you cross the street going north, you will see some California Gold Rush miners in a small grassy traffic island, those were in the theatre's forecourt. Carthay Circle was located in a strange area. It was about 3 blocks south of Wilshire Blvd. near Crescent Heights. All around this theatre are homes and a school on its south side. Carthay Circle was one of a few theatres that had large roof top signs:(Fox Ritz, Fox Belmont[LA], Fox Mesa, Fox Uptown, Fox Figueroa,)(ALL RAZED), But you can still see the signs at the Fox Fullerton,Fox Highland and the old Fox Westlake theatre. Note: they still light up the Westlake's sign every night. The Carthay Circle was a first run, road show house. In the mid 50's Los Angeles had 3 TODD-AO house. (#1 Egyptian with the opening of "Oklahoma", #2 Carthay Circle with the opening of "Around the World in 80 Days", #3 United Artists Downtown). Other theatres would do the installations soon after. The Todd-AO (DP70) projectors were installed in the Bruin theatre in Westwood in 1978. In 1994 the number 2 machine was changed out.

The Carthay Circle was a legit theater for several years in the 50's, operated by Henry Duffy who had a legit theater chain on the West Coast in the 20's & 30's.

When I was a young lad in the early 1950s, my family lived in Culver City and my dad worked at Helm's Bakery Factory. The Carthay Circle was the most spectacular movie palace in the entire area and rivalled the Grauman's Chinese Theater for cinema history and movie premieres, even in the 1950s.

I recall going there one evening in 1952 to see "Singin' In The Rain", the first Technicolor MGM musical I had ever seen, at age 5.

It was located near Loyola University, and I was impressed by its Spanish Mission-style tower which matched the similar architecture at Loyola nearby.

My family often went there to see first-run blockbuster movies, even after we had moved away to Inglewood, and the last movie I saw there was MGM's "RAINTREE COUNTY" in 1957. The Carthay Circle Theater was part of the Hollywood experience in the Fifties and it was near the MGM Studios lot on Washington Blvd.

We would often drive by the MGM front gates to look at the movie billboards before going to the Carthay Circle Theater. It's a sad tragedy that now both are gone, but not forgotten.

Location was at 6316 San Vicente near Carillo Avenue, Los Angeles CA.

According to "Los Angeles: Lost and found", the Carthy Circle Theater opened in 1926 with the premiere of Cecil B. Demille's "Volga Boatman". If you look into the book, you will find the picture of exterior of the Carthy Circle Theater.

When the Carthay Circle Theatre opened it had a Wurlitzer Theatre organ (opus#1308) style 235, it was installed 4/1/1926.

The Carthay Circle can be seen in the 1967 movie "Caprice" with Doris Day when she is spying on Michael J. Pollard and Irene Tsu in the balcony of the theatre. After a ruckus ensues, Doris is shown dangling from the balcony and falling into the lap of an orchestrra patron. The theatre's exterior and marquee are also shown and the movie playing is "Caprice", after all, it was a spoof. There were drapes hiding the original balcony walls and a quick shot shows some of the ceiling. The scenes are noticeable in the letterbox version shown on Fox Movie Channel and not so much in the pan and scan version.

I went to the Carthay Circle a few times for both films and for stage productions. I saw the L.A. Premier of "The Alamo," the John Wayne version here. It might have been the world premier. I also saw the "It's Magic" stage show here which was put on by Magic Castle owner, Milt Larson and some of his associates. It was a fine theatre, and a great disappointment to me when I discovered it had been torn down during a two year sojourn I had with the company I worked for in Washington, D.C. during the late 60's. RickyofL

Dwight Gibbs was the architect of the Carthay Circle, according to "American Theatres of Today, Volume II." The land site measured approximately 115 feet by 145 feet. The auditorium was built in the center and formed nearly a complete circle, broken by the stage opening. The original seating capacity was 1510, with 990 of those seats on the orchestra floor and 520 upstairs (the balcony had a loge section at the front).

Saw John Wayne's THE ALAMO here in its original Todd-AO format when I was 8 or 9 years old (uncertain because it depends on what time of the year I saw the film). I agree that whoever tore it down either HAS a hole in the head or SHOULD have one added.

The term "movie palace" must have been coined by someone who had just attended the Carthay Circle Theatre. When I was a boy, growing up in the 1950's, my family went to see the exclusive engagement of "Fantasia" at the Carthay Circle. My Dad was a sound engineer for a company called Westrex in Hollywood, which built sound equipment for the movie industry. That morning he told the family "today we're going to the finest movie theatre in America". When we arrived at the Carthay Circle, set back from the street on San Vincente, and got out of the car, I just stood there in amazement--I was six years old, and I didn't know this style of architecture was called Spanish Baroque--what I did know was it was the most beautiful building I had ever seen. We returned to the Carthay Circle within a year or two to see "Around the World in Eighty Days", and this time I got to see the "palace" all lit up at night. It was breathtaking. While we were lucky enough to go see other great films at Grauman's Chinese, the Pantages, the Fox Wilshire (a few blocks away), and the Warner Hollywood (the original Cinerama), none of these could compare with the Carthay Circle.

Today an office complex built by National General (who took over Fox West Coast Theatre) sits on the property. And the entire neighborhood, built in the 1920's, is known as Carthay Circle.

I was only at the Carthay one time and watched Around The World in Eighty days. We drove down one afternoon from Santa Barbara. Being about ten years old it was a fantastic never to be forgotten experience. Let me tell you, I had never enjoyed a film as much as that one in Todd AO. It was a mid-week matinee and there were only a hand full of people in the house. As mentioned in a previous comment the building was striking in the way that it was set back from the street. Analogous to standing back from a painting to admire it.

If you watch the famous "Our Gang / Little Rascals" episode "The Big Premiere," you will notice that the first five minutes of this film was shot on location at the Carthay Circle Theatre. According to this episode, which was released by MGM in 1940, the style of the theater much resembled that of the Graumann's Chinese Theatre, evenso because by it's entrance it also had a display of celebrity's hands and feetprints. As part of the Our Gang episode, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Darla Hood, Spanky, and Mickey "Robert Blake" Gubitosi, gathered at Carthay Circle to crash a local west coast film premiere and cementing. They get busted when they discover their friend Waldo is also there with his picture camera, as they cross the barricade and accidentally ruin fictitious actress Imra Acacia's dress to meet him for a pose. That was a great episode, and it offers many great views of what Carthay Circle looked like in it's hey-day.

My aunt Mitze Hughes played the piano/organ at the Carthay Circle, in the silent era. She later married John Hughes, an art director for Harry"Include me out" Cohn at Columbia Pictures. They eventually moved to Vegas and were large point holders in the Sahara Hotel/Casino for many years. She said she also worked at the El Capitan(now the Hollywood Palace).

Joey C

The Carthay Circle Theater demolition is one of the greatest of needless losses of Los Angeles history. It rivals the demolition of the Fox in San Francisco and Roxy in New York. Senseless and unimaginably stupid. I remember this great theater and seeing "Around the World in 80 Days". It was still grand the last time I saw it in 1965. The neighborhood association keeps the memory of this architectural masterpiece alive with their name and an image of the theater tower in their logo.

The following are some truly great photos of the Carthay Circle Theater in the 1920s, when it was first built.... these are in the archives of the Los Angeles Public Library....

http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014954.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028672.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014957.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014953.jpg
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028671.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014947.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015269.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014956.jpg

These photos are from the 1930s and 1940s .....

http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics18/00028674.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014958.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014960.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014942.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015270.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater1/00014944.jpg

In "Disney's California Adventure Theme Park" in Anaheim, they have built a smaller replica of the Carthay Circle Theater that sells gift items...Here is a photo of it...


Hope these are enjoyable to those who loved this late, great theater......

In several books about Walt Disney and the history of animation, there are descriptions of the night in 1937 when "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater. Until that evening, the movie industry had been very negative toward a full-length animated fairy-tale. But the audience's response and Walt's emotional curtain speech surely place that event high on the list of reasons for the historic significance of the Carthay Circle.

PaulNoble

Reading these comments almost brought tears of nostalgia. This was the most beautiful movie palace I've experienced in five decades of moviegoing in America and Europe. It became a kind of shrine when I was growing up in Hollywood in the 50s. My first film there was "Around the World in 80 Days" (which ran for two years), after the theatre was adapted for Todd-AO/70mm projection. What was especially striking was its interior design - perfect dimensions that made you feel enveloped by the giant screen and superb sound, wherever you sat. Even Cinerama and IMAX didn't equal the impression. I also saw "The Alamo" and "Porgy and Bess" there in 70mm (both undoubtedly were made to seem better by the venue than they actually were) as well as "Mary Poppins" in 35mm (moveover run from Grauman's Chinese, Hollywood's second most beautiful cinema until the chintzy renovation that destroyed the breathtaking original color scheme and the magnificent screen curtain with a gold dragon embroidered into it). I once heard that Fox West Coast Theatres demolished its flagship Carthay Circle because it was supposedly too susceptible to earthquake damage. Never swallowed that. The company (then renamed National General) put up an office building on the site, if memory serves. What a tragedy.

Richard J.E.

i went to carthey elementary in the early 90s.and in the main office they had a picture of a group of kids satnding in the lobby of the theatre in the 1950s.thats one of the things in la that shouldnt of been torn down,much like the pacific electric red line that ran in front of the palace.also this is the first time that ive see up close pictures of the tower.on the corner of cresent hieghts and olympic there is a church that has a very similar tower,who ever designed the carthey neigbrohood was smart.

charlie

When I was 10 or 12, my grandparents took me to "Around the World in 80 Days" at the Carthay Circle. This was an era that will not be seen again. I was a goggle-eyed kid, amazed at everything. Everyone wore wore suits and hats. The women's hats had netting that extended in front of their eyes. Bright red beads were stuck randomly in the netting. I tried to imagine what it was like to look through that.

They wore furs with snarling animal heads still attached. The carpeting seemed a foot thick. Massive chandeliers adorned the ceilings. An usher in a sharp uniform led us to our seats.

That was my only visit. In a few years, I left LA. In the mid-80s I returned to LA and asked around about the Carthay Circle. Most people had never heard of it. I worked in an undistinguished office building near Wilshire and San Vicente. There was something familiar about the area. I noticed the name Carthay here and there. An elderly lady took regular walks by my office building. One day, I stopped her. "Was the Carthay Circle Theatre around here?" I asked. "This is where it was," she replied. "They knocked it down to put up this building." "That's a shame," I said. "It was losing money," she said, "so they tore it down."

I bought a photo of the theatre and posted it at my desk. "What's that?" co-workers would ask. "That's the Carthay Circle Theatre. It used to be on this site. They replaced it with the building we're in now." There were shrugs, blank looks, never an expression of dismay or disappointment. A great landmark is as easily discarded as a pair of worn-out shoes.

70mm engagements at the Carthay Circle:

Source: http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/70mm_in_los_angeles_main_page.htm

Title (Premiere Date)
RSE = Reserved Seat Engagement

Around The World In Eighty Days (Dec. 22, 1956; RSE)
Porgy And Bess (July 15, 1959; RSE)
Can-Can (Mar. 10, 1960; RSE)
The Alamo (Oct. 26, 1960; RSE)
El Cid (Dec. 18, 1961; RSE)
The Agony And The Ecstasy (Oct. 20, 1965; RSE)
The Shoes Of The Fisherman (Nov. 15, 1968; RSE)

Re-Issue/Second Run/Move-Over/Return Engagements include:
The Sound Of Music (1966; RSE)
Gone With The Wind (1967; RSE)

"Movie Premiere" print for sale at this link:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Movie-Premiere-Hollywood-California_i884428_.htm

Here is a list of features that played the theatre during the first 5 years of operation.

1926
"The Volga Boatman" DeMille Pictures (Opened the theatre)
"Bardelys the Magnificent" MGM
"What Price Glory" Fox

1927
"Seventh Heaven" Fox
"Loves of Carmen" Fox

1928
"Sunrise" Fox
"Four Sons" Fox
"Street Angel" Fox
"Fazil" Fox
"Lilac Time" First National
"Interference" Paramount (1st All Talking Film)

1929
"The Barker" First National
"The Divine Lady" First National
"The Iron Mask" UA
"The Black Watch" Fox
"Four Devils" Fox
"Dynamite" MGM
"They Had to See Paris" Fox
"Rio Rita" RKO

1930
"Devil May Care" MGM
"Happy Days" Fox (First Grandeur Film)
"All Quiet on the Western Front" Universal

A GOOD SHOT......

http://community.webshots.com/user/arpichat

Here the seating breakdown for the Carthay Circle Theatre for the first three decades. According to original box office seating charts.

Main Floor:
Loges 364
General 632
Total: 996

Mezzanine Loge: 242
Mezzanine Balcony: 280
Total: 522

Grand Total for Theatre 1518 seats.

I grew up in Carthay Circle on Moore Drive. My father bought several of the bricks from the wreckage of the theatre (at a dime each) and used them to redo our courtyard. I wasn't around when the theatre existed.

I lived just down the street from the Carthay Circle on Robertson and Pico from 1979 - 1987. While I attended many movies in beautiful old Los Angeles theatres (like Grauman's Chinese, the El Ray, El Capitan, etc..)I always regretted that I could not view a movie at this famous landmark. I often drove past this location while commuting to work and wondered what it would have been like.

And now the Los Feliz Brown Derby and the Ambassador Hotel will be demolished. LA still has little regards for its architectural history.

By the way, the best book I have ever read about Hollywood/ Entertainment buildings and locations is Richard Alleman's HOLLYWOOD: THE MOVIE LOVER'S GUIDE (recently updated this year). Highly recommended (even though I don't beleive that it mentions the Carthay Circle).

By the way: Thanks to CHRISTIAN & TC (above) for those great Carthay Circle photos and the Hollywood posters web site.

One more from the LA Library:

http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics22/00030953.jpg

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058292.jpg

The first picture was a mistake. Here is the correct picture, from the LA Library:

http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058306.jpg

Turner Classic Movies recently aired "Hollywood Hotel". Film starred Dick Powell as a member of Benny Goodman's band who gets a Hollywood contract. One of the scenes has a big Hollywood premiere which was filmed at the Carthay Circle.

The "host" of the premiere was one Ronald W Reagan.

Was the premiere that was staged in BOY MEETS GIRL (with James Cagney & Pat O'Brien) also shot at the Carthay Circle (Ronald Reagan also hosted)?

Also, was the theater/store on Disney World's MGM/DISNEY STUDIOS Sunset Blvd. based on the Carthay Circle?

By the way, can those great photos be accessed directly from the internet (as well as other Hollywood and LA landmarks)? If so, can someone please provide the site?

Go on the LA Library website, www.lapl.org, and click on photo collections. Put in your keyword such as Egyptian or Carthay.

Here is a 1944 photo:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058293.jpg

Hey, Ken McC: that first, accidental picture-- where was it taken, and when?

I am a fifth generation Angeleno who's lived in New York for 26 years. When I return home on business or leisure, I take my kids to all the historical sites dad remembers. Carthay Circle, near where I grew up, was last on our journey. But please tell me whewre that areal photo was taken, thank you in advance.

Tim- I recognize that picture as being an aerial view of the north end of Burbank, with the San Val Drive-In in the foreground. The wide, busy surface street across the lower part of the picture is San Fernando Road, and the empty highway just beyond that is the Golden State Freeway, which looks as though it is just about complete. That stretch of freeway opened sometime in the mid-1960's as I recall, so that's probably when the picture was taken.

For the opportunity to purchase vintage and reprint photographs of the beautiful theater - both interior and exterior views. Check the eBay store of HEMETSPHERE. www.ebay.com

Considering I lived five minutes from the Carthay Circle, I was only there twice - once for El Cid and once for the reissue of Gone With The Wind. But those two times left an indelible impression on my - it was a spectacular theater, and El Cid looked amazing there.

I was the assistant mgr at the Fine Arts Theatre under Jim Peters
I was offered the same position in 1969 at the Carthay Circle for the Shoes of the Fishererman starring Anthony Quinn. Knowing that the fire dept deemed the upper level a hazard due to the steep incline,I declined the promotiom. Later the upper level of the Fox Wilshire was also closed for the same problem.

Also, the theatre was torn down to make way for the Corp headquarters of the National General Corp., the owner of the NGC theatre chain that included Graumans Chinese, The Village, Bruin
El Rey, Culver, Fairfax, Fine Arts The Wilshire etc. The chairman of NGC was Eugene V. Klein, the late owner of the San Diego Chargers of the NFL and a well known racing horse owner.

I grew up on Commodore Sloat Drive one of the streets on which the theatre was situated. I rode my bike in the parking lot. The theatre was described as mission style but the theme of the theatre had to do with the old west. There were glass display cases in the lobby of old saddles and western memorobilia. Above the lobby water fountain was a bas relief in concrete of a tribute to pioneer women, showing a woman standing next to a wagon wheel. I know this because I own it, having bought it from Cleveland wrecking when they tore down the theatre. It is in my garden.

Next to the theatre on a grassy way, officially dedicated as a park, were historic monuments of the west, chosen and maintained by the Native Sons of the Golden West organization. This grassy way continued north of the theatre in a median on Crescent Heights Blvd., to Wilshire Boulevard. and south onto the next block. The median and the monuments are still there.

These things are significant in that when Natioanl General tore down the theatre, it was their intention to destroy the parkway and construct a huge building in the center of a residential neighborhood, effectively destroying the community. Years later I attended a party with some lawyers who were laughing that they had almost destroyed a community and made a lot of money.

Unfortunately for National General, the community was an activist community who stopped the plan and forced NG to build, respecting the grassy park. For this reason, NG constructed two smaller buildings with a park between them, denying them the huge profit they anticipated from a huge building.

This helped the neighborhood survive but didn't save the theatre.

I believe that the mettle of a companiy's leadership shows when times are difficult and creative thinking is required. The same minds who sold the Carthay Circle Theatre to National General are the ones who sold the 20th Century Fox backlot to Alcoa outright, without any royalty, to create Century City, so they could finance the movie Cleopatra which lost money.

I wonder if Rupert Murdock, who now owns Fox, would have made the same decisions. I think not.


voxpop@aol.com

"The same minds who sold the Carthay Circle Theatre to National General".
The Carthay Circle Theatre was never sold to National General, it has always been a part of the original chain. It opened as part of West Coast Theatres chain which later merged with Fox to become Fox West Coast Theatres. Which was the operating company for California division. During the 50's the studios had to give up their theatre holdings. Which is when National Theatres & Television, Inc. was born which was one of the operating subsidiaries of Fox. Then it became National General Theatres till Mann Theatres bought the chain in the early 70's.

In the background of some those Carthay Circle photos can be seen a school building. Is that the same school used in the movie "Grease!"?

The school that was used to film Grease is in Venice, quite a long distance from the theater.

Actually, a friend was the stunt coordinator on Grease 2 and we filmed at Norwalk High...I think they mentioned the first one was filmed there too. Carthay Center School (my old school, like voxpop, I grew up on Commodore Sloat Drive) can be seen in a few scenes of Paul Mazursky's "Alex in Wonderland". In the background of one scenes you can see the awful insurance building being constructed on the site of the freshly demolished theatre. However, if you run the film slowly, you can see Donald Sutherland drive by our old gas station when he drops off his daughter at the school...there was a gas station attached to the property along with Figart's electronic store. In front of the Theatre was the Green's grocery store/deli.

Here is a 1937 premiere from the UCLA collection:
http://tinyurl.com/2h4k4d

This blurb was in the LA Times, 12/15/44. I couldn't figure out if the jailbird was Ginger Rogers or Shirley Temple:

Unusual Film Announced for Three Theaters

"I'll Be Seeing You" will begin extended engagements at Carthay Circle, United Artists and Fox Wilshire Theaters. Starring Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple, the picture is a romantic drama of a soldier who is given a Christmas furlough after being released from a long hospitalization. He meets a girl who has been given a similar holiday leave from a woman's penitentiary for good behavior. Assisting the stars are Spring Byington, Chill Wills and others.

If you buy or rent the recently restored and released Norma Shearer version (the only version!) of Marie Antoinette, there is an extra on the dvd called Hollywood Goes To Town which has about 10 minutes of the premiere of Marie Antoinette at the Carthay Circle. They dress up the grounds with statues and things to look like Versailles.

Here is something interesting from an LA Times article from Nov. 6, 1983:

"Shoes of the Fisherman" was the last film to be shown before the wrecking crews moved in to dismantle the white and blue concrete structure with its multi-colored tiled high tower. The theater was something of a repository of early Californiana. In the lobby hung a painting, "California's First Theatre," by Frank Tenney Johnson, depicting the Eagle Theatre built in Sacramento in 1849, and painted on the drop curtain was "An Emigrant Train at Donner Lake," also by Johnson, a tribute to the ill-fated Donner party.
A fascinating story unearthed in The Times' archives relates to the peculiarity of an early Carthay Circle Theater lease agreement. In complicated legal phraseology, the lease drawn in the 1930s stipulated that it would remain effective day to day just as long as a ticket of admission was sold regularly at the box office. In order to retain that lease through five lean years, when no entertainment was booked for the house, A.E. Weatherbee, "a tall thin man of serious mien and tremendous determination," appeared at the theater each morning to comply with the law. Letting himself into the box office, Weatherbee removed his hat and opened the ticket window for business. That done, he strode around to the front announcing into the empty cubicle that he wished one ticket. At times, in a facetious mood, he would put down a $1 bill, return to the box office and make change, as he thrust the ticket through the window. Weatherbee would then proceed into the theater, chop his ticket at the door and drop the torn stub into the receptacle, retaining the other for his legal protection. Settling himself into a loge seat in the dimly lit auditorium, he would listen for 10 or 15 minutes while an organist "stroked the console." The solemn duty performed, Weatherbee would lock up the theater. Another incident remembered by those who frequented the theater in the 1950s was the day the final curtain fell on the Carthay Theater for Isabel Bonner, a New York stage and television actress, who collapsed and died as she played a hospital bed scene with actor Dane Clark in "The Shrike." The playgoers were then refunded their ticket money.

(July 2, 1955)
ACTRESS DROPS DEAD ON CARTHAY CIRLCE STAGE
The final curtain fell on the Carthay Circle Theater stage last night for Isabel Bonner, New York stage and television actress, who collapsed and died as she played a hospital bed scene with Actor Dane Clarck in "The Shrike." Miss Bonner, 47, who in private life is the wife of Joseph Kramm, author of "The Shrike," was seated by the bedside of Clark when she suddenly fell forward with her head down on the spread.

I bought Caprice after reading Orlando's comment above. Here's a cropped screenshot I took of Doris' stunt double going over the edge of the balcony which shows the ceiling of the Carthay Circle:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1282153904&size=o

From the LAPL:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058295.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058296.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058301.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058300.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058307.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058308.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics47/00058289.jpg

Here is the 1937 photo again:
http://tinyurl.com/2gonxd

Here is a 1927 Sanborn map overlayed on a 2007 satellite map showing the exact location of the theater (in yellow).

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1286029073&size=o

I knew that Olympic was Country Club Blvd. at that time but I didn't realize that this stretch of San Vicente was called Eulalia Blvd. then.

I meant Country Club Drive, not blvd above....

I don't think Olympic was Copuntry Club. Country Club still exhists and branches off Olympic near Crenshaw. It was named for the Los Angeles Country club which used to be there before it moved to Rossmore and Beverly Boulevard. Olympic was formerly know as 10th Street and was renamed when the Olympics came to Los Angeles.
voxopop

Where Country Club Drive still exists is where Olympic was called 10th street. They combined Country Club Drive and 10th and changed the course of the street a little to make Olympic. I have the Sanborn maps that show Olympic as Country Club Drive. I live at Olympic and La Jolla, and I always have to search for Country Club Drive when researching anything about my neighborhood before the mid-30's.

(Nov. 16, 1929)
An erroneous impression that the through highway which is being planned from the east side of the city to Santa Monica via Tenth street, Country Club Drive and Louisiana avenue will be forced to detour around the new Fox studio in Westwood was corrected by the City Engineer's office yesterday. This highway which, upon completion, will be known as Olympic Boulevard, will cut right through the land used by the Fox studio, it is stated.

(July 31, 1934)
....At Lucerne Boulevard it will connect with Country Club Drive, which is to become Olympic Boulevard, and will extend sixteen miles farther to the west city limit of Beverly Hills. So, in fact, the project is to provide a great traffic artery clear through the city and down to the sea, twenty-two miles in all. The entire project is to cost $4,500,000.

Here is a July 1948 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yr3bh3

According to imdb.com today, the Disney company will be building a 'replica' of the Carthay Circle Theatre as part of an expansion to Disneyland's California Adventure park in Anaheim. It does not say anything about detils like how exact a replica and so forth, but does imply that they are building it to hold premieres.

World Premieres at the Carthay Circle included the Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" on December 21, 1937.

Tu further clarify, the official press release says:

"WALT'S CALIFORNIA -- A new visual icon in the tradition of California’s great entertainment palaces will draw guests into the heart of Disney’s California Adventure. Inspired by the Carthay Circle Theatre where Walt Disney premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, this new facility will house a next-generation “Walt Disney Story” featuring an interactive tribute to Walt’s California experiences, and his entertainment legacy that continues worldwide today. "

So it would appear that this is an homage, not a relica per se, and will host an attraction.

There is an image at: http://www.disneylandnews.com/renderings.htm

The way it's worded on imdb is "The theater was built in 1926 and featured a vast courtyard, making it ideal for crowded premieres."

It does not imply they are building it to hold premieres, but that it implies that the original Carthay Circle Theatre had a large courtyard which made it a great place to hold premieres. They have a replica of Carthay Circle in one of their other parks and it's a store.

Below is from the Oct 17, 2007 press release. Notice is says "inspired by" NOT a replica movie palace, and that it will house an "interactive tribute."

" This new facility, which was inspired by Los Angeles’ historic Carthay Circle Theatre that premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, will house a next generation Walt Disney Story featuring an interactive tribute to Walt’s California experiences, and his entertainment legacy that continues world-wide today."

on a separate note, here'a link to the retail store that's a replica already, that William mentions
http://www.studioscentral.com/column/why8.html

Approx. site of 6316 San Vincente Blvd. today, tho the numbers of the current building is different:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/laCarthayCirclesiteOct222007001.jpg

Sorry...typed the wrong link:
http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff204/hollywood90038/laCarthayCirclesiteOct182007001.jpg

Actually, the first link you posted is where the actual theater stood. The second link is where there was a row of stores and the large garden for the theater behind.

I posted this above but here it is again...it shows the exact location of the theater.

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1286029073&size=o

Thats what I thought too but when I looked at the current ariel view with the old overlay that indicated the address, I assumed it was the other side of that grassy area or Carthay Park.

I guess when they rip down that many buildings to build those two monstrosities the addresses get all jumbled up.

When you walk west on San Vincente, all the homes are very well maintained and all appear to be from the period the Carthay Circle theater was operating. To just knock the theater down and build whats there now should never have been allowed. A lot of the once iconic Los Angeles landscape has been destroyed and replaced with monstrosities that have absolutely no visual appeal or style.

I live in South Carthay on the south side of Olympic in a historical preservation overlay zone(HPOZ) but Carthay Circle is still not protected. It's amazing that the neighborhood looks as original as it does.

It seems once you go south of Wilshire and west of Fairfax the entire neighbornood is pretty much as it's always been. A very pristine area. I used to shop at Orbachs and the May Co. and go to movies at the Picfair.

which corner was the Picfair on? NW, SW, SE, or NE of Pico & Fairfax? I can't find a page for it on here and every corner at that intersection has been demolished. I know that Fairax used to run right into Pico and then you had to jog over to get back onto Fairfax. Now they have made it a large curve.

Here is the Picfair page:
http://cinematreasures.org/theater/1168/

There is a Picfair Theater listed on Cinema Treasures.

Thanks vokoban for the air view. the reason Carthay seemes the same as it was is that like, South Carthay it is in a historic overlay. This was voted through a number of years ago. I own a house on Commodore Sloat and was involved in the vote.

Thansk also for your note on Olympic Boulevard and the article of how it would cut through the Fox studio to the sea. I just found out that Fox located the studio there because it was the old Tom Mix ranch.

voxpop

Thanks for the confirmation. I guess I haven't seen the HPOZ sign yet walking through Carthay Circle. I've only seen one example in the neighborhood where they demolished a home and put up some kind of crazy looking 3 story Disney castle that looks like it fell from space and landed there. At least the rest of them are safe now.

They built the castle just under the wire. It's silly looking.

This theatre was demolished? That really sucks!!!!!

Funny, it's written here that the last film to be shown at the Carthay Circle Theatre was Shoes of the Fisherman. I thought it was Gone with the Wind, because I remember the dismantling that began to take place after its re-release. I worked there for a year, remember well the green satin brocade usherette costumes and the "livery" worn by the ushers. A not-insignificant outcry against its slated demise could not stop that venerable gem of a theatre from being reduced to rubble. Pity. The State Theatre in Traverse City, MI, nowhere near as grand and formidable, has been restored to full and functional glory, thanks to the tenacity of folks who create the Traverse City Film Festival, most notably, Michael Moore.

Weil, you wouldn't possibly have any photos from the time that you worked there, would you?

ATTN: Joey c,
(PS sorry everyone else for interrupting your discussion)

Joey Costello?


Hi, my name is Mark, I am from Ireland, I saw your post about your uncle "John Hughes".
Do you know what year he died in?.
I'm related to 3 Ryan brothers and 1 sister who left Ireland in the 1880's. Kate Ryan married a Hughes, and they had a son called John who went onto own or run the Sahara casino at some point. And a daughter who married a guy called Costello.
Make any sense to you?

I agree with those who disparage the demolition of a theater that easily rivaled the glamour and glory of Grauman's Chinese Theater, still standing on Hollywood Blvd. Raised by a single mom in the 1930s, we were taken by her younger college-age sister, our sitter, to first-run premieres of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Fantasia," and "Gone With the Wind." My fondest memory is when we went to see "Snow White" and were greeted by Ms. White (a pretty girl fitting the bill), Doc, Bashful, and the whole gang. The latter were actually fairly large, I suspect smallish people in costumes with cartoonlike (papier-mache?) heads. Long before Disneyland made them commonplace, we looked with awe at the phantasmagorical diorama reproductions of the magical house and forest before entering the theater. You blokes with the wrecking ball, how could you do it?!!

In an answer to Weil's post from Nov. 24th 2007.
"Gone With The Wind" reissue in 70MM opened Oct. 13th. 1967 and played for 56 weeks. And then "The Shoes of the Fisherman" opened on Nov. 16th. 1968 (looks like the last premiere held there was "The Shoes of the Fisherman" on Nov. 15th.) It played for 23 weeks, which would put the finish of the engagement around the end of April 1969.

They found the statue of the miner that used to be in front of the theater, stolen recently. He was in a scrap yard, cut in half and waiting to be melted down. He will be restored to his old spot, it appears.

In the first sentence of the introduction, it should be "Fox Theatres," not "Fox Theatre." Also, there needs to be agreement on the spelling of guess what word? The listing is for Carthay Circle Theatre, but the caption for the photo says Carthay Circle Theater.

ken
do you know how many statues were placed around the theatre? i always knew of the gold panning one,and i was happy to hear about the other one that was bought right before the demo by a local neighbor.

charlie

The statue is valued at $125,000 and the thieves sold it as scrap for $900. We need better educated thieves in this world. This is the LA Times story. Photo included.

Thanks! The name and caption in the introduction now agree on the spelling.

Theater or Theatre? The Web’s many sources are amply divided between the two. In essence, “theater” is the American spelling, and “theatre” is British, but often used in the U.S. as a kind of affectation or quaintness, especially in the early days of Hollywood filmdom. However, one Web site, Historic Neon Signs in Los Angeles, settles the bet. It shows a bold and beautiful archival photograph of the actual neon sign: “Carthay Circle Theatre.” Many sites provide first-hand evidence of "Fox Theatres Corp."

I have tons of ads from the this theater from the late 20's and early 30's and it is always spelled Carthay Circle Theatre. As a general term I use theater when referring to any structure that showed movies but I use 'theatre' when using the actual name if that's how it was advertised.

To vokoban, not sure I'd know how to do it myself, but would it be difficult to post one or two or a few of those classic ads online? How wonderful it would be to see them! And I agree 100% about the spelling - Theatre. Many called Leonard the conductor "Bern-STEEN," while others said "Bern-STINE." Tempest in a teapot, why not ask the owner of the name? Bernstein himself quite simply stated the STINE option, as would be proper in German or Yiddish. So there, be it Bernstein or Carthay Circle, the final decision rests with the one who owns the name!

I have the ads in frames, but I'll try to take a photo without a lot of glare if possible. It's the same thing with Elia Kazan....he pronounced his own name EEL-ya but most people say it differently.

These are the types of advertisements I have for the Carthay Circle:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Lysistrata-Nance-ONeil-Carthay-Circle-Theater-1932-Ad_W0QQitemZ320218446840QQihZ011QQcategoryZ2369QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQ_trksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem

They must be from some type of small format magazine from back then.

That ad is from a period when the Carthay Circle presented stage plays instead of movies. It looks to me like a promotional "flyer" or a page from a programme.

Yeah, maybe its from the 50's when Isabel Bonner dropped dead on the stage in her role of a lifetime. See above...

The EBay sales offering of the image gives a date of 1932, which could be correct. It doesn't look to me like something from a later decade.

I wish I could afford this negative...I'm sure the price will go up fast at the last minute. Beautiful photo of this theater:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250250355288&ssPageName=ADME:B:WNA:US:1123

If one looks closely at the above picture you can tell the image by the marquee is Jennifer Jones in Song Of Bernadette. So this premere and photo are from 1943.

Matt Spero

Here is a 1937 photo from the LAPL:
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072352.jpg

Here is a story dated March 2, 1938 about "Snow White" in Spanish at the Carthay Circle.

Speaking of "Snow White", this is a February 1938 ad for its tenth week at the Carthay Circle.

Does anyone have information on what became of the sculpture in the lounge of the theater? Here's a photo:

http://helios.library.ca.gov/soca/mott-merge/1992-1877.jpg

National General Theatres used the Cleveland Wrecking Company on the demolition. What ever National General's management left after the theatre closed Cleveland Wrecking Company had salvage title to the fixtures.

That's interesting.....I really hope they didn't just demolish without removing things like statues, but who knows. At least the Forty-niner statue is repaired and back where it has been since 1925. And the two thieves are in jail for 16 months each. Here is a scan of the outside and inside of the original program from the dedication ceremony of the Forty-niner statue. A friend gave it to me for a holiday gift.

Inside of program:
http://flickr.com/photos/vokoban/3179179951/sizes/o/in/photostream/

Outside of program:
http://flickr.com/photos/vokoban/3179179867/sizes/o/in/photostream/

No, they have a large werehouse of great fixtures stored away from many of their demolition work from around the country.

No, they have a large werehouse that stores many items from their demolition work from around the country.

Do they allow people to visit?

i own a bas relief over one of the lobby water fountains in the downstairs Carthay Circle lobbyshowing a pioneer woman against a wagon wheel. i bught it from Cleveland wrecking and it proudlystanding in my garden

voxpop

Wow....do you think it would be possible to take a photo of it and post it? I'd love to see it.

i'll do it when i have a chance and post it

thanks voxpop

There are some photos of the Carthay Circle in Edward Kelsey's "Fox West Coast Theatres," which was recently published as the 2008 Annual of Theatre Historical Society of America. Copies are free as part of an annual membership that also includes a susbscription to the quarterly journal, Marquee. Details can be found at www.historictheatres.org

This is from Boxoffice magazine in January 1960:

LOS ANGELES-Carthay Circle Theater here is to get the roadshow run of Fox's "Can-Can". "Porgy and Bess" closes a 26-week engagement at the house next week. National Theaters' chief film buyer, M.A. Lundgren, will go to New York with Gordon Hewitt to conclude arrangements for the booking, following the world premiere at New York's Rivoli in March.

The Carthay Circle also opened THE LONGEST DAY on a reserved seat hard ticket policy in October of 1962. Although the picture was shot in Cinemascope, Mr Zanuck had a special blown up 70MM print made for the Rivoli in New York and the Carthay Circle. As I remember, the picture ran there for about 6 months. Fox had a big premiere the night before the film opened in the courtyard of the Carthay that was televised on a local LA station. What a party.

It was also B&W CinemaScope, and possibly the first movie in that reserved-seat, roadshow period to be shown in monochrome. I believe it was done for budgetary reasons, and also so that actual documentary footage could be intergrated with the staged invasion.

Here is a 1949 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/dkt8x3

This is a circa 1930s photo from the USC archives:
http://tinyurl.com/cepmhh

I thought in the first photo they were comparing the Carthay to a church in Glendale, but as you can see in the second photo, they are geographically challenged:
http://tinyurl.com/cfh2ef

Interesting.

Oh, dear. Whoever wrote the caption for the USC photo probably just read the old street sign in the and searched Google Maps for Eulalia Boulevard in Los Angeles, and it came up with Eulalia Street in Glendale. USC needs to run their photos by some old people with memories.

"in the picture" that should say.

I gave them the benefit of the doubt the first time, but when I saw the second caption I had to put the hammer down.

Funny

Here is a January 1937 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/lkkfsy

Here is an ad for "Snow White" at the Carthay Circle.

i have a couple "Around the world in 80 days" programs from the carthay circle theatre for sale, along with other ephemera, evog49@ aol.com

i have alot of ephemera for sale from the old days ,alot from south california ---evog49 @ aol.com

Check out Wikipedia. There is a new article on this theatre. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthay_Circle_Theatre

Lots of cool shots and info on the site.

Here is a February 1953 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/yjjyt54