Opened: February 5, 1921. The Ambassador Theatre, in the Ambassador Hotel, was originally operated by the Gore Brothers and Sol Lesser. It wasn't just a film house. There was a small stage for vaudeville acts and prologues.
Architect: Myron Hunt did the main building as well as the wing the Ambassador Theatre was in. Hunt also designed what is now the Ricardo Montalban Theatre (1927) in Hollywood.
Seating: 542
An announcement of the Ambassador Theatre's opening that appeared in the program for the week of January 8, 1921 at the Criterion Theatre.
With the film "Scrambled Wives" you also got the Ambassador Players onstage for the one-act play "The Claw." It's a March 30, 1921 ad that appeared in the Los Angeles Herald. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Ethereal Reality for including it in his Noirish post # 54137.
The March 30 L.A. Times ad. Thanks to Paul R. Spitzzeri for locating this for "Treading the Boards With a Program from the Harlequin Theatre, Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles, the Week of 16 January 1922." Paul notes that the Players were directed by Frank Egan, an acting
teacher once associated with Oliver Morosco and later the proprietor of
the Little/Musart Theatre on Figueroa St. That group soon fell apart.
A new company was formed that rebranded the venue as the Harlequin Theatre and had the goal of offering a full season in 1921 and 1922. Paul shared this from a story in the August 8, 1921 issue of the Times:
"The little-theater movement is to acquire renewed vigor through the undertaking of a number of society people. This amounts to nothing less than the establishing of the intellectual drama at the Ambassador Theater, which is to be rechristened the Little Harlequin Theater. The playhouse will be devoted exclusively to the presentation of one-act dramas, such as are offered at the little theaters abroad and in New York."
The Times noted that the house was being redecorated and the stage facilities improved. A November 7 opening date was set. The new company was headed by Elizabeth Lee Shephard as "director general" and Caroline E. Smith as managing director. Paul's article includes background information on these principals and notes that Caroline had been an assistant to famed L.A. promoter L.E. Beyhmer.
The opening shows were the one-acts "Roses," "Barbara," and "A Night in the Rain." It's an October 29, 1921 ad that Paul Spitzzeri located in the L.A. Evening Express.
The cover of the program for the week of January 15, 1922 that's in the collection of the Homestead Museum. The company had intended to do a twenty-six week season. Amid financial difficulties, they pulled the plug after eighteen. See Paul's "Treading the Boards..." article for more about the season and the individuals involved.
By the end of March 1922 Paul notes that the theatre was back to running movies.
In September 1922 the Ambassador Theatre was the location for a screening of the first known 3-D feature, "The Power of Love." Lawrence Kaufman reports:
"On September 27, 1922, the first 3D feature 'The Power of Love' was previewed at the Hotel Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles. The movie was screened a second time for exhibitors and press in New York City, with a confirmed stereoscopic booking in Newark, NJ. Plus there is a print ad from a release in the Flushing Daily Times on January 11, 1923 which stated 'The screen will disappear from view: there will seem to appear a window in front of the auditorium through which each object will stand out in bold relief. A pair of spectacles will be handed to you as you enter the theatre, through which you will find the new stereoscopic pictures.' There are no other known screenings of this 3D feature..."
"The
3D movie was to be part of a series from Perfect Pictures, with the
stereoscopic projection being accomplished by the Fairall Trust, which
H. K. Fairall was the inventor. 'The Power of Love' is the only feature
made in the two strip, two-projector Fairall-Elder stereoscopic format
developed by Harry K. Fairall and Robert F. Elder. Fairall developed a
camera with two lenses, which could photograph on two film strips
simultaneously.."
Thanks to Lawrence for locating this review. See his Facebook post for additional clippings and more about this lost film. He notes that Selzinick acquired it and it went out in a flat version in July 1923 as "The Forbidden Lover." Lawrence suggests also checking out the "The First 3-D Feature" page on the 3D Film Archive site.
A May 1950 ad. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.
A December 25, 1950 Times ad for the theatre. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it.
The theatre was still occasionally running movies in the 1950s. For a while in the 60s a local church used it for services on Sunday mornings. It also saw various rentals and trade screenings after its life as a regular film house ended. The location buried in the hotel complex was problematic for a regular theatre operation.
Status: The hotel was demolished in 2006. A small portion of the original building was saved and became part of a new high school for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
An undated view of the lobby area of the Ambassador Theatre from the Los Angeles Public Library collection.
A wonderful c.1921 view of the auditorium by Frederick Martin in the California State Library collection. Note the great high backed leather seats!
A view of the auditorium from the Los Angeles Public Library.
A 1987 photo of the hotel by Javier Mendoza that's in the Herald Examiner collection of the Los Angeles Public Library.
A photo of the closed Ambassador Hotel by Martin that appeared on his now-vanished site You-Are-Here.com.
Another Ambassador photo from Martin on You-Are-Here.
A view of the what was left of the Ambassador Hotel in 2010. Photo: Bill Counter
More Information: Don't miss Mary Mallory's 2016 Daily Mirror article on the theatre, "Ambassador Theatre Entertains Hotel's Guests." Also see the Cinema Treasures page on the Ambassador.
The website TheAmbassadorHotel.com has information on the building and links to many other sources.
The new theatre was the subject of an article in the August 13, 1921 issue of Motion Picture News. Also see the continuation of the article. There was also a story in the August 13, 1921 issue of Moving Picture World. Both issues are on Internet Archive.
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