Pages about the Warner Hollywood: an overview | street views 1926 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | main lobby | basement lounge | upper lobby areas | recent auditorium views | vintage auditorium views | stage | stage basement | other basement areas | booth and attic |
The Warner stage is backed into the northeast corner of the building. This main floor plan of the building has Hollywood Blvd. at the bottom, Wilcox Ave. at the left -- and the angled stage in the upper right corner. Note the long corridors heading off from stage right -- one for patron exits, one for stage loading access to Wilcox Ave. It's from the December 1928 issue of Architect and Engineer, available on Internet Archive. See the stage basement page for a plan of that level and many, many photos.
A detail of the stage area from the Architect and Engineer plan. The organ lift, not indicated here, was on the house left end of the pit.
There are no vintage photos of the Warner's backstage areas that have surfaced yet. On the vintage auditorium views page you'll find one 1928 pre-opening look across the auditorium with a glimpse of the counterweight system T-wall off stage right, one view of the house right wall looking across the pit, and two shots across the foots into the auditorium.
Proscenium width: 50'
Stage width: It tapers seriously although you can go upstage 31' from the proscenium and still have 50' of clear width.
Centerline (at proscenium) to SL wall: 50'
Centerline (at proscenium) to SR wall: 54'
Stage depth: From the asbestos to the back wall at the centerline it's 50'
Smoke pocket SL to the back (side?) wall: 33' (to the lockrail)
Smoke pocket SR to back (side?) wall: 31'
Apron depth: formerly 3'
Orchestra pit: The pit width at centerline is 10'. It was covered over during the second Cinerama installation.
Pit lifts: There were screwjack lifts for the main portion of the pit as well as the organ console at the stage right end. The mechanism is still mostly in place for the pit lift. The organ lift has been removed in its entirety. The equipment was by Automatic Stage Appliance Co., 224 Fremont St. in San Francisco. The firm was headed by Jack Partington, famous for his "flying stages" first installed at the Granada/Paramount Theatre in San Francisco.
Organ: It was a 4 manual 28 rank Marr and Colton, long ago removed. Stephen Adams, who managed the theatre in the early 70s, notes: "When
I was there, the original Marr & Colton was still there. You'll
recall this organ was removed from the Piccadilly Theatre NYC after
Warner bought the house and premiered 'The Jazz Singer.' Once
all-talkie, the organ was moved to the new Warner Hollywood. Cable
harnesses still bore the M&C tags 'Piccadilly, NYC.'"
Stage floor: Wood upstage. Downstage is now concrete with a stepdown at the front where the Cinerama screen was installed. The curvature of the second Cinerama screen installation is visible behind the current screen installation.
Loading door: The main access is down a long passage on the north end of the building to Wilcox Ave. There are also smaller double doors both DSL and DSR.
Access to the stage from auditorium: Either stage left or stage right.
Backstage crossover: Yes. Basement stairs are both DSL and DSR.
Current main floor screen installation: It's a 60' wide screen with only a shallow curve. It's in front of a THX style infinite baffle -- a steel stud and drywall construction fitted into the proscenium arch.
Magnascope: There's still an old screen frame (possibly original equipment) hanging in the flies. It has motorized masking for sudden picture size enlargement for films utilizing the Magnascope process.
Current film capability: The equipment has been removed from both the main floor and upstairs booths.
Grid: Goes all the way upstage into the NE corner of the building. Linesets were not installed upstage where the stage tapers to less than 50' or so in width. Spotlines could, of course, have been used in that area. There was a counterweight installation on the plans for upstage but it was never installed.
Grid access: Ladder DSR from the flyfloor. Ladder also DSL.
Rigging: Lockrail is stage left at stage level. It's an Armstrong-Power Studios installation. It's all still intact. The lockrail only extends about half way upstage with 45 linesets total - 20 downstage of a
column, 25 sets upstage of the column. There are 4 lift lines per set.The lockrail also has brackets in front to handle belaying pins.
Due to the angle of the stage, the lockrail is at about a 45 degree angle to the battens. 2 additional wireguide sets near the dimmerboard were evidently for the screen frame (now hanging farther upstage) and possibly a second traveler.
Loading Bridge: Yes. Ladder down from the grid to reach it.
Flyfloor: Stage right -- with a pinrail still in place.
Dimmer board: Major 10 scene pre-selective type, manufactured by Frank Adam Electric Co., St. Louis. Located downstage left.
Dimmer type: Both resistance and saturable reactor. The latter, used for some of the big auditorium lighting loads, require DC power to dim.
Motor Generator sets: Originally 2 for stage and booth use, a 70Kw unit and a 30Kw. Many of the stage pockets could be switched between AC and DC using transfer switches on the clapper board in the basement. There's also a separate small MG set still in the clapper room to provide DC for the saturable reactor dimmers.
Stage lifts: Nothing originally. There's one constructed of wood center stage -- added used to get items to the basement for storage. There's no evidence that a horn lift was installed -- evidently the speakers were rolled upstage for storage. Or on a trolley. The sound junction box is on the wall stage left, on the column that separates the two sections of the lockrail.
Traps: A small one upstage right.
Dressing rooms: Some on several levels above stage on stage right. Many more in the basement along a corridor stage right.
Main building electrical service: In the basement stage left, just downstage of the proscenium wall. It's had lots of changes over the years including a new 3 phase 240V delta switchboard installed on the north end of the original board. See some photos on the other basement areas page.
Looking toward upstage left and (at left) the meeting of the two stage walls upstage center. Upstage center is at the northeast corner of the building. Linesets aren't installed all the way upstage due to the taper, but the grid continues all the way into the corner. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Offstage right peeking into what probably was the house carpenter's or stage manager's office. Down a couple of steps at center and through the sliding fire door gets you into the auditorium. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Toward stage left from behind the steel stud framed screen assembly. Note the curved Cinerama screen line on the floor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking downstage left toward the dimmerboard (at the center of the photo) and the screen assembly at right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking downstage along the lockrail toward the dimmerboard. No, there's no information as to what the gingerbread girl cutout was used for. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
An illustration of the Warner's dimmerboard from the Frank Adam Electric Co. publication "Electrical Data on Three Major Theatres." Their terminology is to call this a "pilot board" as it controls the contactors on a board in the basement. They term that basement clapper board a "remote controlled switchboard." About the board on the stage:
"Rehearsal Switch Control - The rehearsal switch control feature is a separate and distinct feature of control which can be used in conjunction with the All Master show control or independent of it. Through it, control of illumination during rehearsals is obtained without in any way affecting the ten pre-selected illumination effects. It also provides additional illumination effects by control through the color master and grand master controls.
"Cross Connecting Panel - There are 102 incandescent pockets and twenty-six arc pockets in the theatre. The incandescent pockets do not terminate at the switchboard as is customary, but are run to the cross-connecting panel where they terminate on sets of pins that dit the female end of a stage connector. Each pocket control unit from the pilot and contactor board also terminate on this panel on receptacles that fit the male end of a stage connector. By using jacks it is possible to put any pocket on any control unit which is a great help in working out a show, Also, it is not necessary to tie up expensive control units on pockets in out of the way places that are seldom used. This makes it possible to have the 102 pocket receptacles on 49 pocket control units. The installation is so arranged that it is impossible to place more than the rated load on any dimmer. This panel cross connects a load of 188 KW, all of which is controlled through dimmers.
The Frank Adam publication also dealt with the Mosque in Richmond and the Stanley Theatre in Jersey City. It was in the collection of Lyman Brenneman and reprinted by the Theatre Historical Society in 1973. Thanks to Bob Foreman for making it available on his Vintage Theatre Catalogs site. Head to the site's index page for listings of a number of interesting items including a post of a Frank Adam/Major catalog from 1922 and a post of a 1952 Frank Adam catalog along with photos of earlier installations.
Stylishly dressed April Clemmer operating the board c.2012. She included the photo as part of a 2023 post about the theatre on her April's Hollywood Facebook page.
A detail of the top of the board. It's always nice to go backstage and see who the architect was right on the dimmerboard. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The offstage end of the dimmerboard -- and the stairs to the basement. There's also a doorway to the front of the auditorium off to the right. The exit doors straight ahead get you outside along the east side of the building for an exit to Hollywood Blvd. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The onstage side of the proscenium arch stage left (black) -- with all decorative plaster removed. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A gloomy vista up toward the grid. We're upstage left beyond the end of the counterweight battery. Looking up you can make out the loading bridge. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Another offstage right look toward the loading doors on Wilcox. At right is the north wall of the building. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Deeper out into the corridor off right toward Wilcox. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A small storage loft downstage right. The flyfloor is up above us. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The pinrail up on the flyfloor stage right. We're looking upstage -- the stage is out to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking upstage center from the stage right flyfloor. On the right side we see an old screen frame. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The masking motor on the screen frame. The frame (probably 1928 original equipment) has masking controls for Magnascope presentations in the box in the center of the photo. The frame is currently hanging mid stage. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Another view looking down from the flyfloor. We're looking upstage. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The stairway from the stage right flyfloor and organ chamber back down to stage level. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
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