Staying in the holiday spirit, today’s picture is of a 1941 Fox West Coast Theatres’ “Christmas Theatre Ticket”. Due to the gift certificate like appearance, I would normally assume these were purchased from F.W.C. theatres as gifts. However, given the very limited seasonal window for use (December 14 – 27), they may have been distributed by the company as a promotion or corporate gift.
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After an unexpectedly long break, I wanted to pop in and wish all of you a happy holiday season. Pictured above is a 1939 photo of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre during Hollywood Boulevard’s month long “Santa Claus Lane” transformation.
The “Santa Claus Lane” promotion was created by businessman Harry Blaine in 1928, as a way to lure shoppers away from Downtown Los Angeles. Initially, the festivities involved an official renaming of the street for the season and 100 live fir Christmas trees lining the blvd (leading me to now believe the Sid Grauman posing with a Christmas tree picture from this earlier post was from that period). Tying in the Hollywood connection, Santa Claus made a nightly trip down the boulevard in a reindeer powered sleigh, accompanied by a different movie star each evening; the first celebrity sleigh passenger being Jeanette Loff (pictured below).
In 1931, the live trees and nightly sleigh rides were abandoned, in favor of lamppost decorations and a large scale annual parade (held shortly after Thanksgiving). The Hollywood Christmas Parade would go on to inspire Gene Autry’s classic holiday song “Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Clause Lane)” and continues to the present day; although, at some point, the “Santa Claus Lane” renaming seems to have been dropped from the festivities. Pictured below is a 1976 shot from the parade, in front of the Chinese’s former neon dragon marquee.
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So, happy holidays and a prosperous new year to each of you. I look forward to resuming work on the site (not to mention conducting some extensive updates on OC Cinema) and hope you will stop back in to check out the new material.
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Today’s photos depict the ushers of Santa Ana’s West Coast Theatre, circa 1934. Originating from a photo album sold at an Altadena estate sale, the pictures were alleged to have been taken by the theatre’s owner. By 1934, the West Coast was under the ownership of Fox West Coast Theatres, so the ownership reference may have referred to the venue’s earlier operator Charles E. Walker; despite having sold the theatre to Fox West Coast in 1925, Mr. Walker was retained as director for a number of years. He would have been around sixty-one and a decade removed from the sale, at the time the picture was taken, so there is some doubt, as to whether Mr. Walker was the source. The gentleman in the black suit, who appears in the second picture, was likely a theatre manager (but not C.E. Walker).
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I stopped by the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood the other day and received a mini tour. Here are a few pictures from my visit, including a shot of the former stage (now a storage area behind the screen), the door to the original office (now part of a first floor restroom), and, yes, the men’s’ restroom (complete with “old school” urinals).
Click on pictures for larger view
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Development is underway for a 450,000+ square foot “multi experiential retail destination” (aka a shopping center) in Buena Park. Dubbed, “The Source”, the center will be located at the intersection of Orangethorpe Avenue and Beach Boulevard, adjacent to both the 5 and 91 freeways. Of particular interest, this high end retail and entertainment complex is also promoting the inclusion of a 1,200 seat movie theatre.
While no operator has been named for the theatre, thus far, the pending center will present direct competition for the city’s last attempt at revitalization; the decade old and mostly vacant, Buena Park Downtown, and, its’ lone draw, the Krikorian Metroplex 18 movie theatre. Whether the new center/theatre will be a hit or merely another struggling “retail destination” remains to be seen, but any further dilution of the area’s movie going audience has to be bad news for the, already under performing, Metroplex 18.
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Anyone who has visited Grauman’s Chinese has surely taken notice of the wax figures which stand watch at the theatre. If you’ve taken the official tour, you may have even been told of the many celebrities who have rubbed the figures’ sleeves for “good luck” and been afforded the opportunity to partake of the tradition yourself. However, few people realize the true historic nature of these figures (currently figure).
The origins of the figures date back to 1925, when Sid Grauman commissioned a series of works from the Stubergh Manufacturing Company. The Stuberghs, who were personal friends of Grauman’s from his years in San Francisco, were a family of renowned wax artists who had made their name as one of the first manufacturers of retail store mannequins. Their initial work for Grauman entailed creating figures of movie stars, to be displayed at the Egyptian Theatre, and a few pieces utilized in some of Sid’s infamous pranks. Then, in 1926, a series of Chinese figures (described at the time as “common Orientals”) were commissioned, as promotional pieces, for Grauman’s soon to open masterpiece.
Originally consisting of both genders, the 5’3” figures were dressed in ornate ethnic costuming and situated throughout the lobby, as if they were theatre attendants. According to an account by the late theatre historian, Terry Helgesen, some of the figures were even partially animated, with motorized arms that moved “as if smoking opium or fanning”. The lifelike nature of this early display was such that stories abounded of theatre patrons attempting to strike up conversations with the wax figures, only to skulk away embarrassed, as they realized their error.
In time, an ever shrinking number of figures were relegated to less realistic, roped off, display positions and the purported animated versions vanished all together (as did the male figures). After deteriorating, due to age and public handling, the original costuming was replaced by far less grand Chinese themed clothing. By 2000, only two of the figures remained on display, with a third, damaged figure, housed in the basement. The damaged figure and one of the displayed figures were auctioned off in December of 2013, leaving only a single Stubergh figure in place; now, among the last original floor pieces still in use at the theatre.
As for the figure’s creators, Madam Katherine Stubergh and her daughter, Katherine Marie, went on to great fame throughout the twentieth century. Due, in part, to their Grauman Hollywood connection, the Struberghs’ work was featured in numerous motion pictures (the wax figures in 1953’s “House of Wax” being the most famous example) and having one’s likeness reproduced as a “Stubergh” became a status marker among the celebrity elite (Douglas Fairbanks Sr.’s bronze memorial plaque was modeled by the Stuberghs). Later works included the famous “Last Supper” scene, on display in Santa Cruz, California, and a great many of the original figures in the Hollywood Wax Museum.
So, the next time you find yourself at the Chinese Theatre, be sure to take a moment to appreciate that worn figure standing watch in the corner.
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Anaheim’s Brookhurst and Brookhurst Loge Theatres were razed on 2/27/14 .
Given the numerous struggles the site had experienced in recent decades, this news was seemingly long overdue. Yet, there remains a sense of shock and sadness in seeing the inevitable come to pass. From the glory days, as one of Orange County’s premiere single screens, to declining fortunes, as a poorly subdivided quad, the Brookhurst stood as a tangible marker of shared memories for over half a century. And now, only the memories remain.
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The Academy Awards when they were held at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (host of the ceremony from 1944 to 1946).
Some seven decades later, the 86th Academy Awards go about the far less glamorous routine of post ceremony cleanup outside the Dolby Theatre (directly behind the Chinese).
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In recognition of this evening’s 86th Academy Awards ceremony, here is a picture of Sid Grauman being awarded his honorary Oscar for “raising the standard for film exhibition of motion pictures” at the 21st Academy Awards, held on March 24, 1949 (roughly a year before his death on March 5, 1950).
In addition to being an Oscar recipient, Mr. Grauman was also one of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; having been one of the 36 industry figures invited to a founding banquet, held at the Ambassador Hotel, on January 11, 1927. Initially named the International Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the “international” was dropped when the organization officially filed for incorporation, on May 4, 1927.
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