Hollywood Theater

http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/location.asp?ID=633&type=5
This link willl take you to a couple pics of the Hollywood Theatre in Detroit. Notice the canvas wind break around the front of the theatre at street level to protect the patron for the weather. This was done in a lot of the major cities with the larger movie theatres,
especiall the theatres that had bad weather during the winters. Loew's State and the Fox Theatre in St. Louis did this every winter.

The Hollywood was a fantastic theatre built in the wrong part of town. The developers (Ben & Lou Cohen) obviously were trying to escape high land costs in the central downtown area (where all the people and theatres are!) and instead built west of downtown in a highly industrial area. The business there never was what they had hoped, and the Hollwood limped along until the late 50's. I'ts Barton organ was thought by the 20's organists to be the second best theatre organ in Detroit, behind the Wurlitzer in the Broadway-Capitol. It is one of three of the largest "stock model" Bartons. Detroit theatre organ enthusast Roger Mumbrue played the Hollywood Barton many times over a 4 year period, and attests to it's quality. The Late Henry Przybylski purchased the organ in a sealed bid auction (for $3551.51--a stratigic sum) before the theatre was demolished. It sat in storage in his basement, attic and garage for decades before being purchased from his widow. It is now owned by a private individual who wants to restore it and install it into a public venue. Henry took an amazing set of slides of the demolition of the Hollywood. I have seen his narrated show twice, and almost feel as though I have been there. The demolition was so problem ridden that it drove the first two contractors broke.

So they never adapted for Cinemascope? Does this mean they only ran flat films?

Apparently--I trust Bryan Krefft, his information is usually solid. This would have limited the Hollwood to B-grade fare during the crucial post-television era where innovations like Widescreen (cinemascope) and 4 channel mag sound were in all the big houses--that showed all the big features. I still think that the Hollywood's location was unfortunate, and that if they had built along Woodward, or perhaps Bagley they would have had so much more traffic. Given Detroit's average, it might still be there if that were the case. There must have been a point reached sometime where the smaller audiences due to location affected the quality of product they could afford, which caused less attendance--a downward spiral.

This link will take you to pictures of the Hollywood and some information too.

I was wrong in the figure I quoted for what Henry Przybylski paid for the Hollywood Barton--It was $3,151.51, still a stragetic sum. Hank's son Michael corrected me.

Liz Goldwyn's new book about burlesque mentions the Hollywood Theatre as the place where burlesque costume designer Rex Huntington got his start in the business as a chorus boy. The book includes backstage photos and ephemera of many of the theatres on the burlesque circuit. Great book! Amazing to see this fantastic theatre, and think about how it became a major burlesque house, and then vanished.

GWaterman--there is no evidence that the DETROIT Hollywood theatre ever became a burlesque house. It was a movie palace, its days in the sun were very brief due to the misfortune of its location, and it settled into life as a movie house quicker than its downtown rivals. We had Burley-Q theaters in Detroit, the Gayety being the most notable, but not the Hollywood.

A 1947 view of the Hollywood Theater in Detroit.