Coronet Theatre: film programming

366 N. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90048 | map | 

Also see: the main Coronet Theatre page.  

Paul Ballard's Hollywood Film Society: Although renowned as a legit venue, the Coronet's opening was actually with a film series curated by Paul Ballard beginning May 5, 1947. Previously the Hollywood Film Society used a residence in Hollywood. Early film events in the complex were frequently in spaces other than the main theatre and had to work around the main space's use as a legit venue. 

A Hollywood Film Society flyer for their initial series at the Coronet, running from May 5 until August 8, 1947.  

 

 The inside of the flyer. You can download it for a closer look. 

 

 

The back of the initial flyer.  

Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for his research, including locating this flyer. See the PDF of his "Paul Ballard at the Coronet" scrapbook. His coverage of film at the Coronet is intertwined with his extensively researched article on Buster Keaton's "The General." See his Coronet Theatre chapter. 

 

Raymond Rohauer arrives: He had been booking concerts at various venues around town including the Philharmonic Auditorium and the Wilshire Ebell and in 1949 was operating the Avalon Theatre in L.A 's historic South Park neighborhood. 

Soon this "enterprising youngster" began showing film in a big way at the Coronet, starting with a lease for two weeks in January 1950. That deal for his Society of Cinema Arts was announced in a December 24 column in the Los Angeles Mirror:

Thanks to Ranjit Singh for locating the story.  

He offered daily screenings of classics, experimental and foreign films. Screenings could be in the main theatre when it wasn't in use for a legit show. In the first couple years of Rohauer's tenure those legit bookings were sparse, typically three or four runs a year. From 1953 to 1960 there was evidently only one legit show, in 1958. Programs at this "one man cinematheque" sometimes changed daily, some films ran longer. Initially there was a series just for members as well as other programs open to the general public. 

In 2011 Manohla Dargis, in her November 6 New York Times article "Laboring in the Shadow of Hollywood," called the Coronet Theatre's years under Rohauer "legendary." See Ranjit's chapters on Raymond Rohauer and Back to Rohauer. 

Tim Lanza discusses the Rohauer era at the Coronet at length in "Raymond Rohauer and the Society of Cinema Arts (1948-1962): Giving the Devil His Due," chapter 17 of the book. Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for locating it. Some excerpts from Lanza's discussion: 

"... Rohauer's involvement in film exhibition and distribution in Los Angeles beginning in the late 1940s, in particular his involvement in the access to and exhibition of experimental film, is not well known. But it is undeniable that the activities of his Society of Cinema Arts, particularly through the exhibition of film at the Coronet Theatre (where [Stan] Brakhage would briefly work and later refer to as the best public theatre for the regular presentation of film in the country), had a profound impact on a generation of filmmakers and scholars living in the Los Angeles area during the 1950s....

"In 1950, the twenty-five year old Rohauer began presenting occasional programs at the Coronet Theatre at 366 North La Cienega, which became for the next twelve years the Society of Cinema Arts's primary venue. The earliest announcement found for one of these programs was for a six day series co-sponsored by Kenneth Anger and Curtis Harrington's Creative Film Associates, entitled 'Illuminations." The program was billed as the West Coast premiere of ten new avant-guarde films, though the veracity of that claim is in doubt. The films screened nightly from 20-26 January 1950, and included Anger's 'Escape Episode' (1944), 'Fireworks' (1947), and 'Puce Moment' (1949; Harrington's 'Fragment of Seeking (1946) and 'Picnic' (1948); James Broughton's 'Mother's Day' (1948); and Sidney Peterson's 'The Lead Shoes' (1949).

"On 8 August 1950, the Society premiered what it called the 1st Annual International Film Festival, which offered over the course of the month nightly screenings organized into seven separate programs. While featuring important silent and sound films, such as Paul Leni's silent horror film 'Waxworks' (1924) and Sergei Eisenstein's 'Ten Days That Shook The World' (1928) and 'Thunder Over Mexico' (1932/34), half of the festival's programming days were devoted to experimental film. It included a four-day program of selections from the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Art such as Frank Stauffacher's 'Zigzag' (1948) and 'Sausalito' (1948). It also included a five-day program of American and French works, such as Gregory Markopoulos's 'Xmas-USA' (1949) and three films by Man Ray. 

"There was also a five-day program entitled 'The Abstract Film As Entertainment," which included eight films by Norman McLaren. A preview of upcoming Society screenings at the Coronet, printed on the back of the festival announcement, lists a variety of American and European silent and sound studio pictures, short films about artists, and dance films. When taken with the experimental films from the festival, these other films provide a clear view of the programming direction that the society would take...

"What is most impressive is the sheer volume of work presented during each calendar period, and Rohauer's ability to sustain consistent screenings every day of the year for more than a decade. He ran multiple films each evening, as well as matinees on the weekends... Sometime between 1950 and the beginning of 1951, daily programming began in earnest at the Coronet, which Rohauer specifically stated was not a theatre; he instead dubbed it 'The Coronet-Louvre Museum of Arts and Sciences,' bringing 'genuine art and experimental film to the discriminating film devotee.'... The Coronet became one of the most important film venues in L.A...." 

Lanza goes on to cite tributes from a number of filmmakers and scholars who attest to the amazing variety of Rohauer's programming and the influence it had on their film education. For more about Raymond Rohauer's dealings with Buster Keaton see Ranjit Sandhu's article on "The General" and his 200+ page "Coronet in the Newspapers" clipping scrapbook. 

 

Weegee paid a visit to Los Angeles in 1950. Rohauer booked him at the Coronet for some May 1950 showings that used his "elastic lens."

 

 

 

Coverage for the Weegee event included that top item in Reed Porter's L.A. Daily Mirror column on May 24. The pictorial showed up in the Hollywood Citizen-News on May 25 and the bottom item was in the Citizen-News on the 26th. Thanks to Ranjit Singh for locating these. 

 

 

A one night "by donations" screening of Greta Garbo's "The Kiss" along with "Tartuffe the Hypocrite." Thanks to Ranjit for spotting this in the May 26, 1950 Citizen-News.

 

 

  

Rohauer was back in June 1950 for a program of "Unusual Dance Films" that were discussed in a June 24, 1950 Citizen-News story spotted by Ranjit. Note "The Kiss" in the mix again as well. The dance program showed up again at the Coronet the last week of July.  

 

 

 

 

A one-week Chaplin festival was noted in a July 20, 1950 Citizen-News item spotted by Ranjit. The ad appeared on July 21 and the "Wind Up" announcement on the 27th.  

 

 

 

  

 

The dance film program Rohauer ran in June was back again for a run from July 28 through August 3, 1950. Thanks to Ranjit for locating these four items. The top ad and the photo of Katherin Dunham appeared in the Hollywood Citizen-News on July 28. The big article ran in the July 29 issue. The lower ad appeared on August 2; the run ended August 3.   

 

 

Garbo's "The Kiss" was back for a return booking in August, playing this time for four days with Paul Czinner's "NJU." This ad and news item were located by Ranjit in the August 4, 1950 issue of the Citizen-News. 

 

 

Rohauer's 1st Annual International Film Festival:   

 

Rohauer's first "International Film Festival" of classics and experimental films opened August 8 and ran until September 17. Thanks to Ranjit Singh for locating this article in the August 7 issue of the Citizen News.  

 

 

The first program in the festival included eleven experimental films from the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Art. Ranjit found this ad in the August 11 issue of the Citizen-News. 

 

 

The second program in the festival was "Waxworks," billed as a sequel to "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari." It played with Emil Jennings and Conrad Veidt in "The Blue Light." This Citizen-News ad appeared August 11.  

 

 

 

The third festival program was a collection of avant-garde works by Man Ray, Jean Cocteau, Slavko Vorkapich, A. Hammid and André Michel. The top story was located by Ranjit in the August 14, 1950 issue of the Citizen-News. Man Ray made a personal appearance on the 17th. That second story as well as the ad appeared on the 17th. 

 

 

 

 

The festival's fourth program was Sergei Eisenstein's "Thunder Over Mexico." The announcement had run on August 15, 1950 in the Citizen-News. Thanks to Ranjit for locating it. Well, there was no festival program on August 18. Rohauer got preempted by a TV preview. Both that ad as well as the bottom one for "The Supreme Masterpiece of all Time!" appeared in the August 18 issue.  

 

 

The festival's program of avant-garde films by Man Ray and others was back again for a five day run beginning August 21. The story appeared in the August 22, 1950 issue of the Citizen-News. The ad appeared on the 24th. Despite saying "5 Days Only," the 25th was to be the last day of the run. Thanks to Ranjit Singh for spotting these. 

  

 

 

Up next on the festival's schedule for August 26 and 27 was King Vidor's "Street Scene," playing with "Our Daily Bread" and Vidor's documentary "Power and the Land." Ranjit found this story in the August 24, 1950 issue of the Citizen-News. The ad appeared on the 26th.  

 

 

 

  

The Festival continued with a five day run of Sergei Eisenstein's "Ten Days That Shook the World." Ranjit found both this news item as well as the ad in the August 28, 1950 issue of the Hollywood Citizen-News.  

 

 

The screenings that would conclude the "International Film Festival" were listed in this August 29 Citizen-News story located by Ranjit. The festival had opened August 8 and would close September 17. The theatre had a legit show, "The Burning Bush" opening September 22. 

  

 

Back to film after a legit interlude:  

 

In 1951 Rohauer started calling it the Coronet Louvre Museum of Arts and Sciences.  

The cover of the film calendar for screenings at Rohauer's 2nd International Film Festival running from April 12 to May 13, 1951. It's one included by Tim Lanza in the "Alternate Projections" chapter of his book "Raymond Rohauer and the Society of Cinema Arts..."

 

 

The Coronet Louvre calendar for February 1 through March 7, 1952. It's another one from included by Tim Lanza's book "Raymond Rohauer and the Society of Cinema Arts..."  

 

Rohauer and his involvement with the films of Buster Keaton were mentioned in this item from the "Here and There" column in the September 16, 1955 issue of the Hollywood Reporter.  

Experimental films at the Coronet: The theatre has a long history as a home for experimental film. Kenneth Anger showed some of his early works there. In October 1957 Rohauer was arrested during a screening of John E. Schmitz's "Voices" and Kenneth Anger's gay-themed "Fireworks." He was convicted on obscenity charges but that was later overturned on appeal.  

The Coronet is discussed in "Alternative Projections: Experimental Film in Los Angeles, 1945-1980" (John Libbey Publishing, 2015). It's an anthology edited by David E. James and Adam Hyman with much of the content generated for the Getty Research Institute's "Pacific Standard Time" initiative. It's available from Indiana University Press or Amazon. There's an article about it on the Los Angeles Review of Books website. See the Alternative Projections site for, among other items, a short biography of Rohauer.  

The Coronet is discussed as a home for experimental film beginning on page 218 in David James' 2005 book "Most Typical Avant Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles." The author is a professor in the school of Cinema-Television at USC. The book is available from the University of California Press or Amazon. A preview is available on Google Books.   

Expanding to the Riviera/Capri: In March 1959 Rohauer took over the operation of the Riviera/Capri on Beverly Blvd. It was a twin venue that's now a single-screen operation called the New Beverly. There he could run 35mm, unlike at the Coronet, which was only equipped for 16. In a March 24 Hollywood Reporter article about the takeover they also noted: 

 

"Meanwhile, Rohauer, who was recently cleared of L.A. City Police obscenity charges revolving around the showing of two films at the Coronet, will re-bill the films at the Coronet on March 31, as a victory gesture. Short pics are 'Fireworks' and 'The Voices,' to which the police objected to on grounds they showed a nude woman and discussed homosexuality. Also on the bill will be kines of various local TV shows, on which Rohauer, his attorney Stanley Fleischman, and others discussed the issues of censorship." 

Rohauer's Coronet flyer for May 9 through June 19, 1959:  

You can click on the two images and then download for a more readable version. Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for acquiring this when it appeared on eBay. 

 

 The cover for the schedule running from June 20 until August 7, 1959. Image: Tim Lanza 

 

Keaton and Rohauer again. It's an August 16, 1960 item from the Hollywood Reporter.  

Rohauer's schedule for the period from August 13 to October 7, 1960 included screenings at both the Coronet and the Riviera. page one - Coronet | page two - Coronet | page three - Coronet + Riviera | page four - Riviera | Thanks to Ranjit for sharing this. See his PDF of the schedule.  

 

 

Rohauer was mentioned as still being the Coronet's manager in this item about copyright infringement related to Chaplin films he had run. It appeared in the the April 17, 1961 issue of the Hollywood Reporter.  

 

Later in 1961, after a over decade, Rohauer stopped showing films at the Coronet. After 1961 he evidently abandoned the exhibition end of the business to focus on distribution, mostly 16mm but with a few titles in 35mm. He moved to New York but also had an operation in Columbus, Ohio.  

 

 

There was still a connection between the "Capri-Riviera" and the Coronet Theatre in 1961. Thanks to Ranjit Sandhu for locating this ad about a "Children's Movie Program" in the March 3, 1961 issue of the L.A. Times.   

 

 

A March 24, 1961 ad Ranjit located in the Van Nuys News about a more kids shows at the Capri-Riviera in conjunction with a "Coronet Children's Creative Workshop" run by Hilda Roberts.   

 

 

The Coronet's porno era - 1970 to 1974: 

 

The theatre had become a gay porno film operation by April 1971. Evidently with a title the Times didn't want to print in this case. 

 

 

A May 1971 ad located by Ken McIntyre.

 

A 1972 ad for "Boys in the Round" that was located by Ken McIntyre. 

 

 

 

"The New Coronet Action Theatre" represented a quest for a different clientele with a burlesque operation. It's a 1973 ad, another find by Ken McIntyre. It's unknown who the theatre was leased to at the time.

 

Another 1973 ad located by Ken McIntyre.

It became a legit operation again in 1975.   

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