The 1950s photo of the Coronet, by Danny Rouzer, is from the Tim Lanza Collection.

Photo Info

Uploaded on: July 9, 2020

Software: Google

Size: 1.3 MB

Views: 889

Full EXIF: View all

License:

Opened: August 16, 1947 by Frieda Berkoff, a member of a famous Russian dancing family. The location is two blocks north of Beverly Blvd. In addition to the main theatre space, the building housed other rehearsal halls as well as acting and dance studios.

The Coronet has been mostly famous as a legit venue, hosting over 300 productions. It opened with the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht’s “Galileo” directed by Joseph Losey and starring Charles Laughton. This was followed by the west coast premiere of Thornton Wilder’s “The Skin of Our Teeth.” In February 1948 the theatre opened a production of “The Stone Jungle” directed by Lloyd Bridges and featuring a very young Russ Tamblyn.

The theatre had a long history as a home for experimental film. Paul Ballard’s Hollywood Film Society found a new home at the Coronet in the late 40s. Kenneth Anger showed some of his early works there. In 1950 Raymond Rohauer took over the operation with his “Society of Cinema Arts” and “Coronet Louvre” programming with daily screenings of classics, experimental and foreign films. Programs at this “one man cinematheque” changed three times a week. After nearly a decade at the Coronet, Rohauer moved on the what is now the New Beverly. Manohla Dargis, in a November 6, 2011 New York Times article “Laboring in the Shadow of Hollywood” calls the theatre’s years under Rohauer “legendary.”

In 1961 the world premiere of Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Conversations at Midnight” was at the Coronet. The theatre was home to Ray Bradbury’s Pandemonium Theatre Co. in the 60s.