Warner Beverly Hills: history + exterior views

9404 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90212 | map |

Also see: Warner Beverly Hills - interior views | VistaVision in Los Angeles |

Opened: May 19, 1931, the "Show World's Most Brilliant Opening." The first feature was "The Millionaire" with George Arliss. The Warner Beverly Hills had a glorious career over many decades as a deluxe venue for prestige films. Thanks to theatre historian Kurt Wahlner for sharing this photo from his collection. Visit GraumansChinese.org, the site he curates about the Chinese. Also see an entrance detail taken from this image.

Seating: 1,500

Architect: B. Marcus Priteca designed "The Pride of Beverly Hills." The contractor was McDonald & Driver. Mike Hume found this item in the May 17, 1931 issue of the L.A. Times: "Warner Brothers Beverly Hills Theater, completed by McDonald & Driver, contractors, is scheduled to be opened with appropriate ceremonies Tuesday evening."

Decoration was by the Robert E. Power Studio. In initial press reports the decor was described as being Spanish in style. An article titled "Modern Ceiling Designs" in the August 29, 1931 issue of Motion Picture Herald lists Power as the decorator and calls the interior "a modern interpretation of Mexican motifs."

This was the last of the three suburban houses in the L.A. area that Warners built. Ahead by a few months were the other two Priteca-designed houses: the Warner Huntington Park (opening November 19, 1930) and the Warner San Pedro (opening January 20, 1931). In addition to many theatres elsewhere, Priteca was also the architect of the downtown Pantages (1920, later renamed the Warner Downtown), the Hollywood Pantages (1930) and the Fine Arts (1937).

Also in the Warner pipeline in the L.A. area was the Wiltern (opened October 7, 1931), a design by G. Albert Lansburgh. But they didn't build that one, they were just a tenant. They also had the Warner Hollywood, another Lansburgh design (built by Warners in 1928), the Warner Downtown (which they bought in 1929) and the Forum (opened 1924) which was initially an independent that they took over. 

Priteca's rendering for the Warner from the collection of the Beverly Hills Historical Society. Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur for posting it on the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation Facebook page.

The project was announced in the February 12, 1930 issue of the L.A.Times with this nice comment that was located by Mike Hume: "This will be the third new theater in the greater Los Angeles district to be put into construction by the Warners immediately. Last week it was announced that work will start on theaters in Huntington Park and San Pedro."

The theatre was discussed in the April 5, 1930 Motion Picture News article "Ultra Modern Is How Warners Describe Plans For West Coast." The article featured drawings for the Huntington Park and San Pedro theatres and noted that the Beverly Hills house would be up next in the lineup. Warners promised that the new houses "will represent the most advanced types of architecture and construction....The plans include air conditioning and refrigerating plants, remote control pre-set switchboards and other modern features..." It was also noted that the theatres would be designed to accommodate the new "large screens." Regarding Beverly Hills they noted:

"Warners' Beverly Hills theatre will be the next addition to the rapidly expanding chain on the West Coast. Warner Brothers Pacific Coast Theatres has acquired from the owner, Harley J. Hoyt, the property at the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Reeves Drive, opposite the Beverly Hills Branch of the Bank of California, and will at once start construction on a 2,000-seat deluxe theatre that will cover the entire site...The Beverly Hills theatre will house all Warner and First National pictures. The theatre, while not quite as commodious as the Warner Hollywood, will nevertheless be comparable in design, treatment, equipment, and comfort to that structure. It will be entirely modern in architectural treatment..."

"Designs For Various Cities Shown - To the upper left is depicted the Warner Brothers Theater at Wilshire Boulevard and Reeves Drive in Beverly Hills, to be started this month. To its right is shown the Fox Pantages Theater at Hollywood Boulevard and Argyle, the opening date for which has been set for the 29th inst. To the lower left is the Fox Theater soon to be built on Greenleaf avenue, Whittier, while Warners' San Pedro project is pictured at the lower right. In the center is the Fox Wilshire Theater now being erected at Wilshire Boulevard and Hamilton, Beverly Hills. Completion is scheduled for September."

The illustration appeared in the May 4, 1930 issue of the L.A. Times. This article appeared on the same page:

The new Fox theatres mentioned for Wilshire Blvd. at Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills and in Huntington Park never happened. Fox broke their lease on the theatre in Whittier and it opened as an independent called the Wardman, named after its owner.

"Beverly Hills, Cal -- Low, roomy and Spanish in motif, the new Warner Theatre to be built at Wilshire Blvd. and Reeves Drive, in fashionable Beverly Hills. B. Marcus Priteca of Los Angeles prepared the plans." This monochrome version of Priteca's rendering appeared in the June 7, 1930 issue of Motion Picture News on a page titled "Some New Fashions in Theatre Concepts." It's on Internet Archive. The page also had illustrations of new Warner theatres in Erie, Pennsylvania and Youngstown, Ohio.

Thanks to Mike Hume for locating the Motion Picture News and Times items. Check out his wide-ranging explorations on the Historic Theatre Photography site.

Jack Warner, Jr. at the groundbreaking ceremony. The shot is from nine minutes of film from the Beverly Hills Historical Society on You Tube of the groundbreaking, the development of Beverly Hills, and the finished theatre. The film is narrated by Marc Wanamaker and includes footage that was screened at the opening shot by Warner Bros. of both the ceremony and the completed theatre.

Talking about the theatre, the opening night program noted that "It is not for us to tell you whether it is beautiful, but for you to tell yourselves."  That message was also repeated in film on the screen, as seen here.

More of the filmed opening message. The 1st Anniversary film, also on You Tube, included footage of the festivities at the opening a year earlier.

The front cover of the opening night program. It's from the Mark Tipton collection. He found the program in Cincinnati in 1985. The front cover is actually silk screened on gold foil, which he comments does not photograph well.

The inside of the front cover of the opening night program. On the left you get a look at the gold foil of the front cover.

A welcome from Jack! 

The opening night events.

 

A message from the growing City of Beverly Hills. Thanks to Mark Tipton for sharing the images from his rare copy of the program.

 

 

A ticket for the 1935 premiere of Max Reinhardt's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" with Mickey Rooney. It was a post on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

Horizontal VistaVision at the Warner: In 1954 the Warner was equipped with a rare installation of the special Century horizontal 8 perf VistaVision projectors for the run of "White Christmas," the first film released in that format. Century Projector Corporation had quickly made six prototype machines. Two went to the Radio City Music Hall, two went to the Warner, two went to the Paramount lot. These had no soundheads. 

 

The Perspecta "stereo" optical track for the initial runs played at 90 fpm, interlocked on one of the theatre's regular projectors. Paramount wasn't big on true stereo sound at this point so the system employed Fairchild's Perspecta Sound, a system using inaudible low frequency control tones on the single optical track so it could be directed to any of the three stage speakers in whatever combination was desired.

 

 An October 26, 1954 item in The Hollywood Reporter.  

 

An October 27, 1954 ad for the "White Christmas" west coast premiere that night at the Warner. The Downtown Paramount (formerly the Metropolitan) joined the run the following day using a 4 perf reduction print. In New York the film had opened at the Radio City Music Hall October 14, also running in the horizontal format.

See a photo of the premiere at the Warner. It appears that "White Christmas" and "Strategic Air Command" (opening April 28, 1955) were the only films shown horizontally at the Warner. The equipment was evidently removed in the early 60s. 

The May 1955 release "The Far Horizons" is on various lists as playing the Warner in an 8 perf horizontal print. But it opened first-run on May 25 at the Orpheum, Vogue, Picwood and a half dozen drive-ins. 

 

 

A look down on one of the prototype horizontal VistaVision projectors. With 8 perforations per frame, the film speed was twice normal 35mm -- 180 feet per minute. In the early runs of "White Christmas" they were playing the Perspecta optical soundtrack on separate machines. What looks like a soundhead is just a feed sprocket and several rollers. Photo: Mark Gulbrandsen collection.

 

A ad for the April 28, 1955 invitational premiere of "Strategic Air Command" at the Warner. Thanks to Martin Hart for sharing the ad in his American Widescreen Museum VistaVision section. The copy mentions their horizontal projectors and big new screen. In the full horizontal projection format, VistaVision was ideally as wide as a theatre's Cinemascope picture but twice as tall -- a screen size that could be as big as was being used for TODD-AO or Cinerama. 

 

The Warner did get a long, long exclusive L.A. engagement of the VistaVision feature "The Ten Commandments" beginning November 14, 1956 and running until September 1957. There's no indication that it was anything other than a 4 perf reduction print.  

 

 

Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this September 1956 ad. 

 

 This item appeared in the November 8, 1956 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.

The other Los Angeles area theatre to get the horizontal VistaVision machines was the El Capitan in Hollywood, then known as the Hollywood Paramount, for the runs of "The Seven Little Foys" (opening June 23, 1955) and "To Catch a Thief" (an eight week run opening August 3, 1955). See our VistaVision in Los Angeles page for more details.

70mm at the Warner:  In 1960 or 1961 the theatre was equipped with Norelco AAII 35/70 projectors and 6 channel Ampex sound for 70mm presentations. It was a four machine booth -- the other two were Simplex XLs. 70mm roadshow engagements included:

"Lawrence of Arabia"- 1962
"Becket" - 1964
"Lord Jim" - 1965
"Flight of the Phoenix" - 1966 - possibly 35mm, not reserved seats
"Taming of the Shrew" - 1967 - possibly 35mm
"Doctor Zhivago" - 1968 - moveover, not reserved seats
"2001" - 1969 - moveover from the Warner Hollywood, reserved seats
"Julius Ceasar" - 1970 - possibly 35mm
"Ryan's Daughter" - 1970 - a "reserved performance" engagement opened November 17
"Doctor Zhivago" - 1970 - moveover from the Paramount/El Capitan, not reserved seats
"Patton" - 1970 - moveover, reserved seats
"Mary, Queen of Scots" - 1971
"Sound of Music" - 1973 - return engagement, not reserved seats
"Gone with the Wind" - 1974 - 70mm blowup, not reserved seats

Operators in the 50s and 60s: After the consent decrees of the 50s, the Warner Beverly Hills was operated by the RKO-Stanley Warner Corporation as the Stanley Warner Beverly Hills and, starting in 1968, by Pacific Theatres as Pacific's Warner.

The final years: As the good bookings migrated to Westwood and more suburban locations, this once glorious theatre found the pickings slim and it became a second run house. After Pacific left it was called The Beverly Hills Theatre. There was a brief fling as a legit house in the late 70s. Then it had a spell of sitting vacant.

It was back to movies in 1980. A September issue of Boxoffice had a three page story on the Warner becoming Beverly Hills' first 99 cent theatre. Later it was resurrected as a concert venue named The Beverly (not to be confused with the other nearby Beverly Theatre). Evidently neither the residents nor the city fathers were happy with the noise or the late hours.

Closing: Sometime around 1987. 

Status: It was demolished in 1988 -- a sad day for Beverly Hills. One of the stated reasons for the demolition was that the bank owning the building didn't want to do seismic retrofit work and offered a possibly bogus $12 million cost estimate as their justification. Bill Givens comments: 

"The night when activists, including the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation were testifying at the Beverly Hills City Council to preserve the beautiful Beverly Warner, S&L oligarch Charles Keating brought in bulldozers and began demolishing the building. Literally..during the hearing. He planned to build on the lot, but prison time intervened. Years later, the site remains a parking lot."

 

More exterior views:

1931 - The theatre nears completion. Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this Keystone Photo Service shot from his collection. It's on Flickr. Check out the Angel City Press book Eric wrote with Tom Zimmerman: "Spectacular Illumination: Neon Los Angeles 1925-1965." Also see Eric's 2016 book "Signs of Life: Los Angeles is the City of Neon."

 

 

1931 - An opening week photo from the Los Angeles Public Library collection. On the marquee it's "The Millionaire - The Finest Picture of the Year"

 

 

1931 - An opening week view down Canon Dr. toward the Warner. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection. "The Millionaire" was still on the marquee.

1931 - Looking south toward the Warner in a photo from the Marc Wanamaker collection. They were playing "Born To Love," an April release with Constance Bennett. Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur for sharing this on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

1931 - A closer "Born To Love" shot taken the same week. It's another from Marc Wanamaker and Beverly Hills Heritage.

1931 - A Mott Studios photo with "City Lights" on the marquee. It's one of seven photos of the Warner in the California State Library collection cataloged as set # 001387281. Duplicates of two of the seven are also listed as set # 001387287. They have no interior photos. 

1931 - Another "City Lights" shot, this time looking a bit west. It was a second run engagement -- the film had opened the Los Angeles Theatre in January. Photo: Mott Studios -  California State Library 

 

1931 - "The Finger Points" was a May release with Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray and Regis Toomey. Photo: Mott Studios - California State Library

 

1931 - A closer look at the marquee. It's a detail from the previous Mott Studios image. 

1931 - The corner of the building. Photo: Mott Studios - California State Library

1931 - Another look along the east wall.  Photo: Mott Studios - California State Library

1931 - Another view in the set taken when "The Finger Points" was playing. Photo: Mott Studios - California State Library

 

 

1931 - A closer look at the sign. It's a detail from the previous Mott Studios image.  

1931 - A night shot taken during the run of "The Finger Points." Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

1931 - Bobby Jones is again on the end of the marquee in this view looking west. Jones made a whole series of golfing shorts for Warner Bros./Vitaphone in 1931. Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur  for sharing the photo from the Marc Wanamaker collection on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

c.1932 - It looks like the bunting was up for the 4th of July. On the end panel of the marquee "2 Shows Tonight." Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

 

 

1935 - A shot from footage on Internet Archive that features a wonderful drive down Wilshire. Playing at the time was "Oil For The Lamps of China" with Pat O'Brien, Josephine Hutchinson and Jean Muir. The first-run engagement had been at the Warner Hollywood and RKO Hillstreet beginning June 6. There's also a quick drive-by later in the footage showing the front of the theatre.

1935 - October 16, premiere night for "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Thanks to Marc Wanamaker and Beverly Hills Heritage for the photo. 

 

 

c.1935 - A parade photo looking east from Marc Wanamaker's Bison Archives. It was a post on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

 

1937 - Looking south toward the Warner. They were running the June release "The Road Back" with John "Dusty" King, Richard Cromwell and Slim Summerville. Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

c.1938 - A wonderful aerial view of Beverly Hills thanks to Marc Wanamaker and Beverly Hills Heritage.  The dome over toward the left is that of the Beverly Theatre.

c.1938 - A detail from the photo above.

 

c.1938 - A Dick Whittington view east on Wilshire. We get the Warner on the right. On the left, just beyond the Brown Derby sign, you can see the dome and stagehouse of the Beverly Theatre. It's in the USC Digital Library collection.

c.1938- Another Dick Whittington view from the same shoot -- but a bit closer to the Warner. It's on the USC Digital Library website. There's also a similar shot of the same vintage in the collection.

1938 - A view with the theatre running "Valley of the Giants" and "Four Daughters." Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

1938 - A closer look at the Warner's entrance during the run of "Valley of the Giants." It's a photo from the Beverly Hills Heritage collection. Want to enter the $250,000 movie quiz?

 

 

1939 - The world premiere of "Juarez," an April release with Bette Davis and Paul Muni. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo for a post on the Facebook group Ken's Movie Page. It's a press photo of the event that's offered for sale on the site Royal Books.

1939 - Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for this sharing this view from his collection of the August "world premiere preview" of "The Old Maid" with Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis. It's on Flickr in the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation photo pool.  

1939 - The September 27 premiere of "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex," a November release. It's a Dick Whittington Studio photo in the USC Digital Library collection. They also have another view taken on the sidewalk to the west.

c.1939 - A view looking east toward the Warner -- with a bit of the Beverly Theatre's onion dome on the left. It's a photo from Marc Wanamaker and Beverly Hills Heritage.

 

1939 - Rita Hayworth strolls Beverly Hills in a photo by Frank Worth. Behind her we get a view east on Wilshire toward the Warner Beverly Hills. Thanks to Stephen Russo for spotting this one on a now-vanished website. For more on Frank Worth good places to begin are a Wikipedia article, a 2010 story in the Los Angeles Times and the many photos on Google.

 

1940 - Looking west. The marquee was advertising the March release "Virginia City" with Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott and Humphrey Bogart. Photo: Los Angeles Public Library

 

 

 

c.1940 - A Life photo looking east with the Beverly Theatre on the left and the Warner Beverly Hills in the distance. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor BifRayRock for including the shot on Noirish post #40301.   

 

 

c.1940 - A great shot showing both the Beverly Theatre and, farther east, the Warner Beverly Hills. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

c.1940 - A postcard using the photo seen above. Thanks to Sean Ault for sharing this one from his collection.

c.1947 - A view looking east with a glimpse of the WB on the stagehouse. Thanks to Marc Wanamaker and Beverly Hills Heritage for the photo. It appears that the Warner was still using their original milk glass letters.

 

1948 - A photo taken in December when the theatre was running "June Bride," an October release with Bette Davis and Robert Montgomery. The co-feature was "The Velvet Touch," a July release starring Rosalind Russell. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.  

 

 

1951 - Joan Crawford attending the September 18 premiere of "A Streetcar Named Desire." It's a shot from newsreel footage of the event that's on YouTube from British Pathé. 

 

1953 - The west coast premiere of Billy Wilder's "Stalag 17" in July. Thanks to Dave Hunter for getting the screenshot from the "looking back" short that appears on the film's 2006 DVD. Dave notes that the short also includes several closer shots under the marquee.

 

1953 - The November premiere of "Torch Song."  It's an L.A. Times photo on Calisphere from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archives at the UCLA Library. 

1954 - The premiere of "Knock on Wood," a July release. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for spotting this shot in a newsreel clip included at the beginning of a CBS News interview with "Cagney & Lacey" actress Sharon Gless. 

 

 

 

1954 - The West Coast premiere of "White Christmas" on October 27. Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur for the photo, a post on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

 

 

 

1954 - "VistaVision"! Another angle on the "White Christmas" premiere. This one appeared in the British trade publication The Daily Film Renter on November 9, 1954 with this caption:

"Part of the vast crowd that attended Paramount's gala premiere of the first VistaVision film, "White Christmas, at the Stanley Warner Theatre, Beverly Hills. Show business stars gathered in the lobby under the bright lights for this opening Christmas season event, the usual snow and reindeer being replaced by attractive young actresses parading the street in a 'sleigh on wheels.'"

 

1956 - The updated marquee for "The Ten Commandments." It was shot in VistaVision but the Warner evidently ran a 4 perf reduction print even though they had earlier run 8 perf horizontal prints of "White Christmas" and "Strategic Air Command." Note the SW (for Stanley-Warner) on the corners instead of the WB. Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur for sharing the photo on the Beverly Hills Heritage Facebook page.

 

1957 - A wider view taken in January while they were still running "The Ten Commandments." Note the added neon on the tower. It's a Valley Times photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

Also see a similar view, but taken from the west, from Eric Lynxwiler's collection that he's shared on Flickr. Bruce Kimmel notes that the film's premiere at the Warner was November 14, 1956 with the public run beginning the next day. It played there exclusively until September 1957.  

 

c.1960 - Thanks to Kimberly Vinokur for sharing this Christmas season photo in a Facebook post. Robert Switzer commented: "The old Beverly Hills Federal Savings (now Rolex) building was under construction in this photo, so it must be around 1960."

c.1962 - Thanks to Eric Lynxwiler for sharing this great view from his collection. It's on Flickr.

1962 - A dazzling look at the opening of "Lawrence of Arabia." The photo appears in Brad Smith's great Theatre Marquees set on Flickr consisting of 133 photos taken by his father George Mann. See Scott Collette's Forgotten Los Angeles Facebook post for some shots at the premiere. He also has it on Instagram.

Mr. Mann was half of the famous comedy dance team Barto and Mann, who toured the circuits of Loew's, Orpheum, Paramount Publix and others. He was in "Hellzapoppin" on Broadway for three years and later did lots of club work. He took thousands of evocative photos documenting what is now a lost theatrical world and, later, many around Los Angeles. Brad Smith's wife, Dianne Woods, has taken on the task of preserving and organizing Mr. Mann's photos in the George Mann Archive.

1964 -  Looking west on Wilshire from Beverly Dr. toward the tower of the Warner Beverly Hills. Thanks to Alison Martino for the photo from her collection once posted on the Facebook page Vintage Los Angeles. 

1968 - Thanks to movie palace historian Kurt Wahlner for this shot of the west coast premiere of "The Subject Was Roses" with Patricia Neal and Jack Albertson. It was a find on eBay. For a treat visit Kurt's extensive site about Grauman's Chinese.

Check out the people on top of the marquee. And note the signage -- Pacific Theatres had taken over the theatre from RKO-Stanley Warner earlier in 1968. 

 

 

 

1974 - The theatre as a second run house. We're looking west across Canon Dr. during the run of "'Tis Pity She's a Whore" with Charlotte Rampling. The 1971 Italian film had a U.S. release in November 1973. Thanks to Phillip Cutler for sharing the image on his Classic Hollywood/Los Angeles/SFV Facebook page. Bruce Kimmel comments: 

"'Tis Pity She's a Whore' opened in February 1974 at the ABC Century City and had an eight-week exclusive run there. It moved over to the Stanley Warner and the New View on April 24. Second feature was Louis Malle's 'Murmur of the Heart.' Oh, how I loved this theater. Saw many movies there, including 'Lawrence of Arabia,' of course, but prior to that 'Song Without End,' 'Devil at Four O'Clock,' tons of sneak previews including a memorable one for 'The Sandpiper,' wherein over half the audience had bolted by the halfway point. 

 

"Julie Andrews and then hubby Tony Walton were there that night. They ended up reshooting half the movie - didn't really help. I think the last movie I saw there was 'Swashbuckler.' That's when Beverly Hills and this particular three block section was movie nirvana for me - this theater, the Beverly, and the Beverly Canon. Just an amazing time. Plus my favorite record store, Chesterfield Records, plus Ontra Cafeteria, plus the two greatest bookstores in that area, Martindale's and Hunters. And look at it now. An embarrassment."

1974 - Thanks to Charles Smith for sharing his photo on Cinema Treasures. He commented: "Google says the Foreman-Ali fight was October 30, so according to the marquee that's the date I snapped it."

c.1975 - A nice detail of the top of the tower -- after the Warner sign came down. Note the added neon. Photo: Javier Mendoza - Los Angeles Public Library  

1978 - An entrance view taken during the theatre's brief time as a legit house. Photo: Ken Papaleo - Los Angeles Public Library

c.1978 - End of the short legit era -- the theatre was for lease again at the time of this shot. It's a photo by Anne Laskey in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.  Also see a tower detail.

1982 - Thanks to the now-vanished American Classic Images website for this December photo.

1984 - Another photo from the American Classic Images collection.

1988 - A look at the closed theatre. Note the signage in use during its days as a concert venue: "The Beverly." It's a photo by Chris Gulker in the Herald Examiner collection at the Los Angeles Public Library.

 

1989 - Looking in from the stage end of the building during the demolition. Thanks to Bill Gabel for the photo from his collection, posted on Cinema Treasures.

 

1989 - The auditorium mostly gone. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating the photo for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group.

2019 - The site of the Warner as a parking lot. Photo: Bill Counter 

Warner Theatre Salvage: 

Thanks to Dan Seat for sharing this shot of one of the original end standards. These were pulled out when the house got re-seated in the 50s or 60s.

 

 

The Warner in the Movies: 

This doctored shot of the theatre redone as the Palace is seen in George Cukor's "What Price Hollywood?" (RKO Pathe, 1932) starring Constance Bennett and Neil Hamilton. Mary Evans, the character played by Constance, gets turned into a star and we get a montage of houses playing various Mary Evans pictures as her stardom rises. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for a shot of the Wiltern marquee and several views of the Chinese from the film.  

 

 

We wander all over the theatre including backstage and basement in "Terror on Tour" (Intercontinental Releasing Corp., 1980). This adventure with a band called "The Clowns" turns into a murder mystery when someone copying their makeup and dress starts killing lovely young ladies at various locations around the theatre. Featured are Rick Styles, Chip Greenman, Rich Pemberton and the band The Names. The film was directed by Don Edmonds. The cinematography was by James Roberson. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for sixteen additional murky views.

 

We get a terrific tour of the the theatre in Rick Sloane's "Blood Theatre" (1984). It's a tale of murderous problems encountered by a new company trying to reopen a theatre with a tragic past. Don't miss the scenes with a girl trapped in a popcorn machine or the problem with a guy getting decapitated by a booth porthole fire shutter. The full film is on Tubi. The cast includes Mary Woronov, Jenny Cunningham, Jonathan Blakely, Andrew Cofrin and Joanna Fox. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for 26 more views of the Warner from the film plus two shots done at the Fairfax.  

 

 

We get a shot of the September 18, 1951 "A Streetcar Named Desire" premiere in the faux 50s Warner-Pathé newsreel that opens Paul Schrader's detective romp "Witch Hunt" (Pacific Western/HBO, 1994). A Joseph McCarthy-like senator is hunting practitioners of magic who have too much influence in L.A. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Penelope Ann Miller, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Eric Bogosian, Julian Sands and John Epperson. The cinematography was by Jean-Yves Escoffier. See the Historic L.A. Theatres in Movies post for more about the film including shots at the El Monte Drive-In and the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

More Information: See the Cinema Treasures page on the Warner for an interesting history as well as a selection of photos. For a great compilation of information about 70mm runs at the Warner and other venues, see the 70mm in Los Angeles section on FromScriptToDVD.com.

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