Pages about the Pantages Theatre: Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | booth | support areas |
For a comparison, the page of recent auditorium views has several photos of the curtain including a proscenium view taken by Amy Higgins during the 2000 restoration project.
"There are 1,800 square feet in the makeup of the great curtain designed to depict the evolution of man, architecture and art from the most primitive time to the present. It is hand woven in different shades of green, which alternate with fine silver strands. The technique is heavy applique and stands out in bold relief. The two side panel areas show this subject of evolution in its development, and the central section its culmination. On the left side of the curtain individual panels portray jungle and primitive life, with its cavemen, animals and jungle. There are signs of progress blending into the more cultured elements of life. Hindu, Chinese, Egyptian and other civilizations emerge. Against a silver background the center panel depicts today and tomorrow." - "Hollywood's Newest Temple of its own art - the Pantages" - Exhibitors Herald-World - August 30, 1930
"Two miniature stages on either side of the main stage are used in presentations, or for poster display in announcing coming attractions." - Exhibitors Herald-World - August 30, 1930
The house right side stage. It's a Mott Studios photo, one of 18 views in the California State Library's set # 001387230.
A Mott Studios photo looking back into the house from onstage. Note the chevron patterns in the seating fabric. It's in the California State Library set # 001407754.
"The seats are of three colors, red, blue and green and are of the latest design. They have velour backs and mohair seats and are placed in various designs to show off the color effect. They are also placed wide enough apart that people coming and going will not cause those seated to rise. The floors are covered with aspecial carpet which deadens the sound. - "A House Built For Wide Films" - Motion Picture News - June 7, 1930. Thanks to Mike Hume for finding the article.
"It seats 3,000 with 2,000 of the green, red and blue velour chairs on the main floor. These are large and well cushioned, but, to obtain roominess between the seats, the house has, for floor area, almost 300 less seats than any other theatre in the world....Seating is by American Seating Company." - Exhibitors Herald-World - August 30, 1930
Peeking in from a front side aisle entrance to look at the rear of the auditorium. It's a c.1930 photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection. It also appears in the Tom B'hend and Preston Kaufmann Collection.
The shallow slope of the balcony was noted in the June 7, 1930 article about the theatre in Motion Picture News. Their comment: "The architectural trend of the future in preparation for the wide-screen-large-picture development is demonstrated in the new Pantages. ...This new wrinkle in theatre construction is evidenced by the low rear balcony, height of which permits full vision of the screen at any point. The downstairs rear seats also have full view of the Grandeur screen..."
A shot looking toward the back of the balcony. The Mott Studios photo is in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
Another view to the rear with a focus on that house right organ grille. The Mott Studios photo is in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
A main floor seating detail. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set # 001387214, where's also another similar shot
The ceiling and the front of the booth during construction. Note the ladders and unfinished back wall decoration. The Mott photo is in the State Library's set # 001387230. The Los Angeles Public Library has a similar shot but cropped a bit closer.
"Blinker star lights have been placed in the ceiling and cloud effect machines also help to give an open sky effect as seen through the openings of the suspended ceiling." - Motion Picture News - June 7, 1930. Howard Nugent, the Pantages electrician from 2000 to 2015 comments: "Yes, some of the star fixtures are still up there. They really just amounted to something like a black coffee can with small holes and a bulb inside."
A peek down into the chandelier. It's a Mott Studios photo in the California State Library set # 001416972. Look down in the lower left of the image.
Clouds! A detail extracted from the lower left of the Mott photo by Mike Hume that shows one of the ceiling's cloud projectors. Mike comments: "It seems the cloud projector is pointing at the wall as it looks like it’s on the horizontal. Maybe there’s a mirror out of frame? Or perhaps we’re high enough in the chandelier that it’s actually firing right over to the gently sloped 'sky' ceiling, in which case the projected clouds would be highly skewed. In the full photo there's also the corner of a second cloud projector lamp housing about one third of the way around the chandelier in a clockwise direction from this closeup."
Currently the ceiling is lit all in blue. The assumption is that the ceiling was originally lit with three different color circuits. You know, you have to have blue during the feature and warmer colors for a sunrise as the show is ending, right? Mike comments: "From close inspection of other areas of the chandelier photo we can see the sticks of lamps, some colored, within the chandelier, and uplighting lamps running in a line around the hole the chandelier descends through - again clearly with colored lamps. So yes, a ceiling of many colors I'd think!"
Howard Nugent adds: "Any old blue or colored ceiling lighting was long gone when I got there. We lit the ceiling when we put in 'Lion King' in the summer of 2000. I added more light from the walls a few years later and then went to LEDs with the blue lights."
The straight-up shot. The Mott Studios photo is one of seventeen in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
Looking across toward house left. The Mott Studios photo is in the California State Library set # 001416972. It's also in the AMPAS Tom B'hend - Preston Kaufmann Collection.
The balcony from house left. The Mott Studios photo is in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
Another view giving us the organ grille this time. The Mott Studios photo is in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
Another lower balcony vista off toward house left from Mott Studios, in the State Library's set # 001387245.
A Mott Studios house right balcony sidewall detail from the California State Library set # 001387214. The photo also appears in the Tom B'hend - Preston Kaufmann Collection and a version is in the Los Angeles Public Library collection as well.
Note how the wall decor suddenly becomes less ornate back in the cheap seats at the rear of the balcony. The Mott Studios photo is one of seventeen views in the California State Library's set # 001407754.
"The luxury within matches the beauty without!...a monument to Pantages achievement...a revelation in ornate, resplendent luxury..." It's an ad for the "Roomy chairs -- deep chairs that relax tired bodies" by American Seating at the new Pantages in the August 30, 1930 issue of Exhibitors Herald-World. The issue is available on Internet Archive.
When the Pantages got open in 1930, Alexander Pantages had already sold some of his theatres (under duress) to Joe Kennedy at RKO and several to Warner Bros. But the Hollywood project had not been part of the sale. The theatre opened with Pantages' son, Rodney, as manager but it was a Fox West Coast operation. Like many other Fox houses, the live portion of the show was produced by Fanchon & Marco. The brother & sister team produced vaudeville shows (or sometimes tab versions of musicals) they called "Ideas," that would play around the circuit.
Scrapbooks containing hundreds of photos of the Fanchon & Marco productions are at the Huntington Library Fanchon & Marco Collection. Here on page 55 of Scrapbook 12 we get a proscenium view set for the "Whoopee" Idea, evidently a tab version of the Broadway show.
The cast of "Whoopee" on another set for the show in 1932. It's on page 56 of Scrapbook 12 in the Fanchon & Marco collection at the Huntington Library. Also see a another view of the same set.
The theatre had closed earlier in 1932. Fox West Coast reopened it October 20 with MGM's "Dinner at Eight" and the F&M "Whoopee" idea. The United Artists downtown also reopened at the same time with the same film but a different Fanchon & Marco stage show. Fox advertised both theatres as under the direction of Sid Grauman, by this time working for them.
For more on Fanchon & Marco head to the site curated by the family, www.fanchonandmarco.com. Also see their terrific Fanchon & Marco set on Flickr.
A view across the auditorium from the Los Angeles Public Library collection showing the draping of proscenium and some auditorium areas for the roadshow engagement of "Spartacus" in 1960. Look back under the balcony for a view of one of the draped-off areas. And check out the curtained-off back of the balcony.
The front of the house had been draped in late 1959 and thus entered
its yardgoods era. The remodel was discussed in "Indoor Luxury From Sidewalk To Screen," an article in the May 9, 1960 issue
of Boxoffice. At that time, they had installed a new 27' x 55' screen
and, with the new shimmering gold drapes, the article noted that "the
proscenium arch was eliminated." article page 1 | article page 2 | It's also reproduced at the bottom of the Pantages: overview page.
A very fuzzy look at what was done at the rear of the main floor to reduce the seating capacity to 1,500 for "Spartacus." It was part of a Boxoffice article in their January 30, 1961 issue titled "RKO Pantages in Los Angeles Faces New Era After $100,00 Remodeling." Note the nice flowers perched on the new stub wall. article part 1 | part 2 | It's also reproduced at the bottom of the Pantages: overview page.
The photo's caption: "In order to reduce seating for greater comfort and picture appreciation, rust-colored draperies were used to curtain off the unused seating areas. As shown in the picture, seating areas in the upper two-thirds of the auditorium [i.e. upper sections of the balcony] were also set-off by new wainscot-high walls which were decorated by pieces in keeping with the picture being shown."
The proscenium in 1960 as it appeared for the run of Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus." It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo. The reserved seat 70mm engagement opened with a benefit premiere on October 19.
Another view of the auditorium during "Spartacus" comes from a Norelco ad that ran in the March 14, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Herald. The ad appeared adjacent to an article about the modern makeover of the Warner up the street, where the proscenium looked very similar to the view above after its own drape treatment. Thanks to Cinerama historian Roland Lataille who found the article for the Warner page of his In Cinerama website. [ article page 1 | article page 2 ]
The proscenium in 1960 as it appeared for the run of Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus." It's a Los Angeles Public Library photo. The reserved seat 70mm engagement opened with a benefit premiere on October 19.
Another view of the auditorium during "Spartacus" comes from a Norelco ad that ran in the March 14, 1962 issue of Motion Picture Herald. The ad appeared adjacent to an article about the modern makeover of the Warner up the street, where the proscenium looked very similar to the view above after its own drape treatment. Thanks to Cinerama historian Roland Lataille who found the article for the Warner page of his In Cinerama website. [ article page 1 | article page 2 ]
More California State Library views: The Library has over 200 1930 vintage photos of the Pantages but they're arranged rather haphazardly, with many duplications.
| set # 001387214 - 17 photos including 7 auditorium views and 5 lounge shots |
| set # 001387215 - 18 photos including 6 auditorium views, 10 daytime exterior views |
| set # 001387230 - 18 photos including 16 auditorium views, a nite searchlight shot |
| set # 001387245 - 14 photos including 7 auditorium views, one facade detail |
| set # 001387246 - 17 photos of lounges and inner and balcony lobbies |
| set # 001387247 - 11 lounge photos, mostly men's |
| set # 001387248 - 10 ladies lounge photos |
| set # 001387249 - 17 photos of main and balcony lobby areas |
| set # 001387250 - 18 photos - a chandelier view, the rest lobbies & lounges |
| set # 001407732 - 17 photos including lobby and lounge areas |
| set # 001407754 - 17 photos including 9 auditorium shots, 4 exterior views |
| set # 001416972 - 5 photos including a sidewall view, chandelier view, a night exterior |
| set # 001416979 - 2 auditorium views and 3 booth views |
| set # 001453624 - 11 photos - 2 office building plus 8 exteriors & a lounge shot |
| set # 001453758 - a drawing plus 2 exterior photos |
| set # 001454659 - 2 balcony sidewall views |
| set # 001454712 - 5 photos including 4 proscenium views |
The Los Angeles Public Library also has many more Pantages photos than are shown here. Many of them are early Mott Studios images also found in the California State Library collection.
| set # 001387214 - 17 photos including 7 auditorium views and 5 lounge shots |
| set # 001387215 - 18 photos including 6 auditorium views, 10 daytime exterior views |
| set # 001387230 - 18 photos including 16 auditorium views, a nite searchlight shot |
| set # 001387245 - 14 photos including 7 auditorium views, one facade detail |
| set # 001387246 - 17 photos of lounges and inner and balcony lobbies |
| set # 001387247 - 11 lounge photos, mostly men's |
| set # 001387248 - 10 ladies lounge photos |
| set # 001387249 - 17 photos of main and balcony lobby areas |
| set # 001387250 - 18 photos - a chandelier view, the rest lobbies & lounges |
| set # 001407732 - 17 photos including lobby and lounge areas |
| set # 001407754 - 17 photos including 9 auditorium shots, 4 exterior views |
| set # 001416972 - 5 photos including a sidewall view, chandelier view, a night exterior |
| set # 001416979 - 2 auditorium views and 3 booth views |
| set # 001453624 - 11 photos - 2 office building plus 8 exteriors & a lounge shot |
| set # 001453758 - a drawing plus 2 exterior photos |
| set # 001454659 - 2 balcony sidewall views |
| set # 001454712 - 5 photos including 4 proscenium views |
The Los Angeles Public Library also has many more Pantages photos than are shown here. Many of them are early Mott Studios images also found in the California State Library collection.
Pages about the Pantages Theatre:
| Pantages overview | street views 1929 to 1954 | street views 1955 to present | ticket lobby | entrance vestibule | main lobby | main lounges | main floor inner lobby | balcony lobby and lounge areas | back to top - vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | backstage | booth | support areas |
| Hollywood Theatres: overview and alphabetical lists | Hollywood Theatres: list by address | Downtown theatres | Westside | Westwood and Brentwood | Along the Coast | [more] Los Angeles movie palaces | L.A. Theatres: main alphabetical list | L.A. Theatres: list by address | theatre history resources | film and theatre tech resources | theatres in movies | LA Theatres on facebook | contact info | welcome and site navigation guide |
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