NEW YORK-“Sleep My Love”, Triangle production for UA release, was screened for guests following a dinner given by Gus Eyssell, managing director of the Radio City Music Hall, in the private dining room of the theater. Guests included Mary Pickford, Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Ralph Cohn, partners in Triangle; Gradwell Sears and Mrs. Sears; Jack Cohn and Mrs. Cohn; Sam Dembow, Jr. and Jack Dailey.
James Conklin, manager of the Lincoln Theater, Trenton, N.J., attracted plenty of attention to his date on “Mother Wore Tights” by capitalizing on the current long v. short skirt controversy. Conklin had a number of young women picket the Lincoln with signs reading: “Unfair-If Mother Wore Tights-Why Can’t We Wear Short Skirts?” The stunt resulted in local newspaper breaks and provoked word-of-mouth comment from passersby.
Here is part of an LA Times article dated 3/13/94:
For Les Roberson, the closing last month of the Baldwin Theater-the only black-owned movie house in the inner city-marks the end of an era. “As a kid, my friends and I walked down the street and saw movies there all the time,” said Roberson, a 30-year-old Baldwin Hills resident and sales representative for PacTel Corp. “I was waiting for `Sugar Hill' to come out so I could go see it there. And then one day last week, I was out jogging and saw it was closed. I was stunned.”
The owners are not saying when, or if, the Baldwin will reopen. The theater, along with a six-screen multiplex in Hawthorne, was part of Inner City Cinemas, a joint venture formed in November, 1992, by the national theater chain American Multi Cinema Inc. and Economic Resources Corp., a nonprofit real estate agency based in Lynwood. It was envisioned as the start of the nation’s first black-owned cinema chain. But a year and a half after reopening, the three-screen Baldwin quietly closed shortly after Inner City Cinemas filed for bankruptcy.
Ted Fortier, president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce and an area resident since 1959, said that whatever the theater’s fiscal problems, the community is the real loser. “Now, when we want to go to the movies, we’ll be forced to go outside the area,” he said. “It’s really a shame. The Baldwin offered first-run movies, had good security, made honest attempts at providing good service."
Many politicians and business people in the Crenshaw community had high hopes for Inner City Cinemas, particularly for its plans to develop an eight-screen multiplex in the nearby Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. But problems within the partnership snowballed.
Last August AMC sued the Economic Resources Corp., charging the black-operated agency with mismanagement and misrepresenting its financial state. The suit also alleged that ERC owed more than $100,000 in film rentals, and that an ERC executive used joint venture funds to pay off nearly $80,000 in internal debts. Economic Resources officials could not be reached for comment.
In a statement, AMC Vice President Gregory Rutkowski, a former Inner City Cinemas director, said ICC’s financial troubles left American Multi Cinema no choice but to dissolve the partnership. After an extensive review of our options, we feel this (bankruptcy) filing is in the best interests of all concerned,“ he said. "We regret that this is necessary, but we go forward with the knowledge that this is the only alternative possible at this time.”
The Baldwin, a spacious movie house built in 1949, featured a regular lineup of black-themed films. It also frequently held premieres and special screenings; last fall it screened “The Nation,” an independent film about the Nation of Islam, and recently showed the celebrated short film “Sweet Potato Ride,” shot in and around Crenshaw and Leimert Park.
This is from the LA Library in 1986, before the demolition of the Fox. If the link doesn’t work, let me know, as it shows up fine for me. http://tinyurl.com/cerkml
This reader’s complaint to the LA Times in May 1948 sounds like what I’ve complained about in the last ten years or so:
I notice that during the past several weeks in the Pasadena area, the Fox West Coast Theatres chain has been running a plug movie for cigarettes. The movie stresses how the manufacturer uses only the very best of everything in making their product and, generally summed up, is a good waste of close to 15 minutes.
I believe that this is asking a little too much of the public. Supposedly the movie theater is a place of recreation. I don’t mind wading through a small commissary to get to the aisles, but to have to sit through 15 minutes of absolutely nothing is too much.
How many thousands of dollars Fox West Coast is getting I don’t know, but I believe that if the indulgence of the audience is expected, then Fox West Coast should lower their admission prices accordingly.
Follies Theater, Famed Maker of Stars, Closes
Main St. Burlesque House, Los Angeles Landmark,
Loses Fight to Hold City License
The whistling and shouting stopped last night at 337 S. Main St. The funny men took one last wallop at each other with their rubber bladders and stretched their ridiculous baggy pants in a final futile gesture. The girls wriggled from left to writhe across the runway and dropped their undermost veil with a farewell air. When the curtain dropped, the bald heads in the front row filed solemnly out, and the place was empty once more.
Backstage the dressing rooms were full of 80 burlesque people-80. The cheeks of scant-clad chorus girls were tear-streaked with mascara. “Well, it’s been 17 years”, said T.V. Dalton, the operator. On these same boards-when it was the Belasco-trod many a star-to-be. Lewis Stone, Marjorie Rambeau, W.C. Fields, Hobart Bosworth, Henry B. Walthall, Edmunde Breese, Paderewski, even, and Schumann-Heink.
And then burlesque and slapstick comedy and strip-tease. But last Friday in Superior Court, Dalton was denied an appeal from an order of the Police Commission suspending his license, and was given until last night to end his show. So last night they closed the Follies Theater, for good.
Nazi Film Show Barred
Downtown Theater Closed While Crowd Grows at Box Office
While a crowd milled around the box office, officials of the Pacific Electric Co. yesterday afternoon closed the Pacific Electric Theater, 627 S. Los Angeles St., where exhibition of a German-made motion picture was about to begin.
For Frank K. Ferenz, theater man who was presenting the picture “Dr. Koch”, it was the second German film closing in six months. Last October 13, managers of the Mason Theater, 127 S. Broadway, halted a performance of a German-made picture Ferenz was exhibiting. Ferenz suibsequently lost an $18,000 damage suit against the holders of the theater’s master lease. Superior Court Judge Clement L. Shinn ruled that German-made motion pictures fomented hatred, criticism and emnity.
As the throng awaiting entrance to the Pacific Electric Theater grew, police were called, but no disturbances were reported. Neal B. Vickrey, manager of the Pacific Electric club, who had entered into an agreement to rent the theater to Ferenz every week-end, said it is probable that no more such films by Ferenz will be presented at the theater.
Here is part of an April 1940 article from the LA Times:
Theater Case Vote Deferred
Police Board Postpones Action on Follies Pending
Resurrection of Ordinance
Deferring action on the application of the Follies Theater, 337 S. Main St., for transfer of its permit to Marvin Lee Harrison from Charles A. King, the Police Commission yesterday directed that an investigation be made to find out what the Council has done with the proposed ordinance giving it more power to regulate such shows.
King took over the theater after it had been closed as the result of arrests more than six months ago. “I’d like to know what became of that ordinance, which was going to give us the right to regulate such shows”, said President Harry Bodkin. “I recall that there was a great outcry against it, that it would give the Board power to set up a ‘censorship’ of all shows, including motion pictures.”
“It seems to me that Councilman Nelson was going to help put the measure through the Council. Its only purpose was to allow us to stop lewd performances and use of bootleg and indecent film without requiring convictions before we could do anything.”
Funny how there can be so many theaters in one town and then they all just disappear. I suppose it had to do with the decline of Atlantic City’s population in the sixties and seventies.
The Burbank was long gone when I moved to LA in 1984. I think the Art and Optic were still around, though. I lived downtown the first two weeks I was here, but I never made it over to Main Street, so I don’t recall seeing any of those theaters.
This was in Boxoffice magazine in November 1947:
NEW YORK-“Sleep My Love”, Triangle production for UA release, was screened for guests following a dinner given by Gus Eyssell, managing director of the Radio City Music Hall, in the private dining room of the theater. Guests included Mary Pickford, Charles “Buddy” Rogers and Ralph Cohn, partners in Triangle; Gradwell Sears and Mrs. Sears; Jack Cohn and Mrs. Cohn; Sam Dembow, Jr. and Jack Dailey.
From Boxoffice magazine, November 1947:
James Conklin, manager of the Lincoln Theater, Trenton, N.J., attracted plenty of attention to his date on “Mother Wore Tights” by capitalizing on the current long v. short skirt controversy. Conklin had a number of young women picket the Lincoln with signs reading: “Unfair-If Mother Wore Tights-Why Can’t We Wear Short Skirts?” The stunt resulted in local newspaper breaks and provoked word-of-mouth comment from passersby.
The entire block of Jackson Street on the 2023 side is a parking lot. No buildings remain.
Here is part of an LA Times article dated 3/13/94:
For Les Roberson, the closing last month of the Baldwin Theater-the only black-owned movie house in the inner city-marks the end of an era. “As a kid, my friends and I walked down the street and saw movies there all the time,” said Roberson, a 30-year-old Baldwin Hills resident and sales representative for PacTel Corp. “I was waiting for `Sugar Hill' to come out so I could go see it there. And then one day last week, I was out jogging and saw it was closed. I was stunned.”
The owners are not saying when, or if, the Baldwin will reopen. The theater, along with a six-screen multiplex in Hawthorne, was part of Inner City Cinemas, a joint venture formed in November, 1992, by the national theater chain American Multi Cinema Inc. and Economic Resources Corp., a nonprofit real estate agency based in Lynwood. It was envisioned as the start of the nation’s first black-owned cinema chain. But a year and a half after reopening, the three-screen Baldwin quietly closed shortly after Inner City Cinemas filed for bankruptcy.
Ted Fortier, president of the Crenshaw Chamber of Commerce and an area resident since 1959, said that whatever the theater’s fiscal problems, the community is the real loser. “Now, when we want to go to the movies, we’ll be forced to go outside the area,” he said. “It’s really a shame. The Baldwin offered first-run movies, had good security, made honest attempts at providing good service."
Many politicians and business people in the Crenshaw community had high hopes for Inner City Cinemas, particularly for its plans to develop an eight-screen multiplex in the nearby Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. But problems within the partnership snowballed.
Last August AMC sued the Economic Resources Corp., charging the black-operated agency with mismanagement and misrepresenting its financial state. The suit also alleged that ERC owed more than $100,000 in film rentals, and that an ERC executive used joint venture funds to pay off nearly $80,000 in internal debts. Economic Resources officials could not be reached for comment.
In a statement, AMC Vice President Gregory Rutkowski, a former Inner City Cinemas director, said ICC’s financial troubles left American Multi Cinema no choice but to dissolve the partnership. After an extensive review of our options, we feel this (bankruptcy) filing is in the best interests of all concerned,“ he said. "We regret that this is necessary, but we go forward with the knowledge that this is the only alternative possible at this time.”
The Baldwin, a spacious movie house built in 1949, featured a regular lineup of black-themed films. It also frequently held premieres and special screenings; last fall it screened “The Nation,” an independent film about the Nation of Islam, and recently showed the celebrated short film “Sweet Potato Ride,” shot in and around Crenshaw and Leimert Park.
This is from the News-Advertiser, 7/18/65:
http://tinyurl.com/c3uf4k
This is from the LA Library in 1986, before the demolition of the Fox. If the link doesn’t work, let me know, as it shows up fine for me.
http://tinyurl.com/cerkml
This reader’s complaint to the LA Times in May 1948 sounds like what I’ve complained about in the last ten years or so:
I notice that during the past several weeks in the Pasadena area, the Fox West Coast Theatres chain has been running a plug movie for cigarettes. The movie stresses how the manufacturer uses only the very best of everything in making their product and, generally summed up, is a good waste of close to 15 minutes.
I believe that this is asking a little too much of the public. Supposedly the movie theater is a place of recreation. I don’t mind wading through a small commissary to get to the aisles, but to have to sit through 15 minutes of absolutely nothing is too much.
How many thousands of dollars Fox West Coast is getting I don’t know, but I believe that if the indulgence of the audience is expected, then Fox West Coast should lower their admission prices accordingly.
Ed Parr
Altadena
And later on, in June 1942:
Follies Theater, Famed Maker of Stars, Closes
Main St. Burlesque House, Los Angeles Landmark,
Loses Fight to Hold City License
The whistling and shouting stopped last night at 337 S. Main St. The funny men took one last wallop at each other with their rubber bladders and stretched their ridiculous baggy pants in a final futile gesture. The girls wriggled from left to writhe across the runway and dropped their undermost veil with a farewell air. When the curtain dropped, the bald heads in the front row filed solemnly out, and the place was empty once more.
Backstage the dressing rooms were full of 80 burlesque people-80. The cheeks of scant-clad chorus girls were tear-streaked with mascara. “Well, it’s been 17 years”, said T.V. Dalton, the operator. On these same boards-when it was the Belasco-trod many a star-to-be. Lewis Stone, Marjorie Rambeau, W.C. Fields, Hobart Bosworth, Henry B. Walthall, Edmunde Breese, Paderewski, even, and Schumann-Heink.
And then burlesque and slapstick comedy and strip-tease. But last Friday in Superior Court, Dalton was denied an appeal from an order of the Police Commission suspending his license, and was given until last night to end his show. So last night they closed the Follies Theater, for good.
This is excerpted from the LA Times, 4/28/41:
Nazi Film Show Barred
Downtown Theater Closed While Crowd Grows at Box Office
While a crowd milled around the box office, officials of the Pacific Electric Co. yesterday afternoon closed the Pacific Electric Theater, 627 S. Los Angeles St., where exhibition of a German-made motion picture was about to begin.
For Frank K. Ferenz, theater man who was presenting the picture “Dr. Koch”, it was the second German film closing in six months. Last October 13, managers of the Mason Theater, 127 S. Broadway, halted a performance of a German-made picture Ferenz was exhibiting. Ferenz suibsequently lost an $18,000 damage suit against the holders of the theater’s master lease. Superior Court Judge Clement L. Shinn ruled that German-made motion pictures fomented hatred, criticism and emnity.
As the throng awaiting entrance to the Pacific Electric Theater grew, police were called, but no disturbances were reported. Neal B. Vickrey, manager of the Pacific Electric club, who had entered into an agreement to rent the theater to Ferenz every week-end, said it is probable that no more such films by Ferenz will be presented at the theater.
Here is part of an April 1940 article from the LA Times:
Theater Case Vote Deferred
Police Board Postpones Action on Follies Pending
Resurrection of Ordinance
Deferring action on the application of the Follies Theater, 337 S. Main St., for transfer of its permit to Marvin Lee Harrison from Charles A. King, the Police Commission yesterday directed that an investigation be made to find out what the Council has done with the proposed ordinance giving it more power to regulate such shows.
King took over the theater after it had been closed as the result of arrests more than six months ago. “I’d like to know what became of that ordinance, which was going to give us the right to regulate such shows”, said President Harry Bodkin. “I recall that there was a great outcry against it, that it would give the Board power to set up a ‘censorship’ of all shows, including motion pictures.”
“It seems to me that Councilman Nelson was going to help put the measure through the Council. Its only purpose was to allow us to stop lewd performances and use of bootleg and indecent film without requiring convictions before we could do anything.”
Here are some photos from the LA Library, circa 1925:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080361.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080362.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080363.jpg
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00080/00080364.jpg
That is funny.
It still looks vacant. I guess Quentin Tarantino let us down.
Function should be first run movies, since Coraline is showing as of today.
Here is a November 2008 article and photo:
http://tinyurl.com/6ejhkh
This church meets at the Blair on Sundays:
http://www.mylandmarkchurch.com/
Here is a photo circa 1941:
http://tinyurl.com/ao6gm6
Here is a myspace page dedicated to the Cine El Rey:
http://tinyurl.com/bkvwly
Here is a July 2008 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/b8xzvg
This clip from youtube shows more of the interior, plus there’s an interesting discussion of the renovation:
http://tinyurl.com/c6443n
Here is a video clip of a band playing at the Park last March. I would turn the sound down or off before playing the clip:
http://tinyurl.com/d9sk95
Besides performing arts, the Park is also rented out for wedding receptions.
http://tinyurl.com/anz8m3
Funny how there can be so many theaters in one town and then they all just disappear. I suppose it had to do with the decline of Atlantic City’s population in the sixties and seventies.
The Burbank was long gone when I moved to LA in 1984. I think the Art and Optic were still around, though. I lived downtown the first two weeks I was here, but I never made it over to Main Street, so I don’t recall seeing any of those theaters.
Did you see the theater in the Cosby/Poitier film? It looked to be already closed by the time the film was shot.