El Capitan Theatre

The 1942 renovation was by well-known architect William Pereira.

The El Capitan is one of the best theatres in the world. Just leave it alone. To redo it in the Art Deco decor would be a crime against World Heritage. We should all be thankful that Disney has spent the time and money on making El Capitan the showplace of Los Angeles!
Nobody does it better than Disney!

The El Capitan is a spectacular, historically accurate, restored building and, any renovation the converts it back to it’s art deco days, would be tasteless and idiotic.

The photo shows the name PARAMOUNT though the marquees are different if you compare the photo you posted to the one on this link.

Patsy and William: I don’t think the reference in Karol’s book could be to the El Capitan on Vine. From the early 1940s until 1949, the El Capitan on Vine Street was the venue of Ken Murray’s Blackouts, an extraordinarily popular stage review which ran for 3,844 performances, so I doubt the theatre would have been available for any other purpose.

Desi Arnaz was the bandleader on Bob Hope’s weekly (Tuesday night) radio show in 1946 and 1947, but I’m pretty sure the show originated from the NBC studios at Sunset and Vine, and the band would probably have been in the studio, as a rule.

It’s possible that the book is correct about the venue, though. Maybe Arnaz and the band did play at the Paramount Theatre at least once during 1947. Paramount’s production and exhibition arms were still united in 1947, and Bob Hope’s movies were released through Paramount. Any or all of his 1947 films (he made three that year) are likely to have had runs at the Hollywood Paramount. If so, then a remote broadcast of the radio show from the theatre (with Arnaz leading the orchestra as usual), to promote a Bob Hope movie, would not have been out of the question.

I’m just speculating about this, of course, but such an event at the Paramount seems more likely than an appearance by the Arnaz orchestra at the El Capitan on Vine in that year.

Patsy, I think they have it wrong about the info on your last post. The theatre they must mean is the old Hollywood Playhouse which was a legitmate theatre on North Vine Street. That theatre opened as the Hollywood Playhouse, but around 1942 it was renamed El Capitan Theatre when the original El Capitan Theatre was renamed the Paramount Theatre. The Hollywood Playhouse (new El Capitan) was used as a radio studio for many years for many major stars radio shows. Later that theatre was used as a TV studio and was knew as the Hollywood Palace. But in 1947 the theatre located on Hollywood Blvd. was known as the Paramount Theatre. I posted alittle history on this thread back on Nov. 12th. 2003 Ziegfeld Theatre:37pm.

This is a long string. So forgive me if this has been posted.

I went looking for a photo taken after the 40’s conversion, and found this:

View link

Photo is about halfway down on right.

Hollywood90038…great pictures, thanks for posting them.

Ironic you should post these photos….I saw 101 Dalmations on the marquee….and that’s the movie I saw in the El Captian, the only time I was ever inside….only difference was it was the “live” version of 101 Dalmations. This has to be almost 10 years ago or so.

I tried that. After a few minutes, it switches to another page with no photos. This is the only way to do it.

Here is a view of a 1956 premiere at the Paramount:
http://tinyurl.com/2oyuft

Lorne Greene played Ava Gardner’s father. I think they were about five years apart. A classic.

Here is a June 1934 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2x7y5q