Million Dollar Theatre

307 S. Broadway,
Los Angeles, CA 90013

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Showing 76 - 100 of 227 comments

DonSolosan
DonSolosan on March 28, 2009 at 10:04 am

“The booth of the Million Dollar was apparently an afterthought, as it was located at the front center of the balcony.”

Gordon made this comment back in 2003, but the recent “All About” presentation by LAHTF addressed this issue:

The position of the booth was well considered. For one thing, it meant the projectors were closer to the screen, so the image was brighter. Also, they were square on to the screen, so there was no keystoning to be corrected.

Yes, it’s a small booth in an odd place — but that does give it certain advantages.

monika
monika on February 8, 2009 at 10:59 pm

Here is a photograph I took of the Million Dollar lobby on 1/31/09:
View link

EveC
EveC on January 30, 2009 at 10:04 am

I’m looking for anyone who would like to share memories of the Million Dollar Theatre from the 70s or earlier.
This is for a potential radio piece.
You would have to live in the NY or LA area to make this happen.
My email is eveclax at hotmail dot com
Looking forward to hearing from you.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 31, 2008 at 1:22 pm

There are some interior photos on this site:
http://tinyurl.com/83yuac

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on December 31, 2008 at 11:24 am

And your point would be ??

BhillH20
BhillH20 on December 31, 2008 at 9:20 am

You posted the same photo Dec 29!!

Don Lewis
Don Lewis on December 31, 2008 at 6:40 am

A mid 1970’s postcard image of the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles.

stevebob
stevebob on December 30, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Say what you will about political correctness and conformity, but I’m glad the Los Angeles Times hews to higher writing standards nowadays. One could imagine from this piece that there may have been a journalistic race to the bottom back in the good old days when the Herald was a serious competitor.

“Byzantine-Gothic-East Los Angeles architecture”? Give me a break.

Interesting, too, that the Million Dollar is called “old” at the ripe old age of 36.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 30, 2008 at 3:27 pm

Here is part of an LA Times article dated 10/6/54:

Amid the Byzantine-Gothic-East Los Angeles artchitecture of the Million Dollar Theater, a lusty band of Mexican vaudevillians are doing their stuff these days, with comedians Manolin and Schillinsky the chief twinklers.

Dancing gets a whirl on the bill. Los Colegiales are two men and a girl. One of the boys is a real comic, doing eccentric stepping for tops in laughs. The boys do buck-and-wing and tap, also jitterbug with the girl, and she helps out with a fairly comic sketch.

Tonsil artists are too many and too mal. Even Hermanos Martinez gang up on the mike with thunderous result. Tony Moro’s singing of “I’m in a Mood for Love” puts one pretty much in a mood for murder, what with the mike’s malice. As for Lupita Moran, pretty and graceful, probably the rafters of the old theater never have wrung or been wrung with anything quite so harrowing as her voice.

Ross Melnick
Ross Melnick on December 30, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Thank you all for your comments regarding the issue of Flickr and photo credits. While useful, the discussion is off-topic and was threatening to take the page off the rails.

I am happy to reconsider the removal of these posts if you think the discussion will resolve similar debates.

Thank you.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 22, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Here are excerpts from an LA Times article dated 8/31/50:

Mexico made a proud showing last night when the Million Dollar Theater reopened under the management of Impresario Frank Fouce. Official representatives of nearly every Central and South American country appeared and took bows, including Consuls from Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and other countries as well as Mexico.

It all recalls that first opening on February 18, 1918 when Sid Grauman brought myriads of stars to the theater, including Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, D.W. Griffith, Lillian Gish, Mabel Normand, Roscoe Arbuckle, Alla Nazimova, Douglas Fairbanks and scores of others to see William S. Hart in “The Silent Man”.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on December 22, 2008 at 11:47 am

Here is a January 1953 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/49l7ry

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 19, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Here is a 1940 photo from a new collection of Life Magazine images on Google:
http://tinyurl.com/5ww73s

CINECITO
CINECITO on November 17, 2008 at 2:00 pm

MEXICAN REVOLUTION COMMEMORATION
TOWARDS THE CENTENNIAL 1910 – 2010

milliondollartheater.com/MexicanRevolution.html

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 25, 2008 at 5:19 pm

From the LA Times, dated July 21, 1960:

A masked bandit, speaking in Spanish and armed with an icepick, held up the cashier and manager of the Million Dollar Theater, 307 S. Broadway, last night and escaped with $200, police reported.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 23, 2008 at 5:51 pm

Don, I will be in Seattle that weekend. I hope it goes well.

DonSolosan
DonSolosan on October 23, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Hey, Ken — are you going to attend or volunteer for the LAHTF’s Spooktacular show Halloween weekend? If you do, ask around for Don — it would be nice to meet another theater photographer!

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 10, 2008 at 8:16 am

Here is a 1988 photo from the LAPL. This was a Disney parade of some kind:
http://jpg1.lapl.org/00077/00077794.jpg

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 3, 2008 at 9:19 pm

Here is a January 1947 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/4xdgdb