Los Angeles Theatres: Polly-K / Sherman Theatre

8938 Keith Ave. / 812 N. Robertson Blvd. West Hollywood, CA 90069 | map |

Opened: April 7, 1924 as the Polly-K Theatre, a project of Joe Stokes. It initially occupied the center third of the building at Keith and Swall Ave., the latter a street now known as Robertson Blvd. At the time the building was known as the Christoffels Building. Later the lobby was was expanded into the west third of the building. It's Keith Ave. to the left and Robertson Blvd. on the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

West Hollywood was once known as Sherman, a town founded by Moses Sherman. Many rail lines converged there and there were a number of streetcar barns. The site occupied by the Pacific Design Center nearby was once a large rail yard.

Seating: 360

Architect: The architect, date of construction, and location of the building before its move to this site are unknown.

An April 1924 article about the new theatre that appeared in the Hollywood Daily Citizen. It was included by Ken McIntyre in a Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page thread about various theatres, including the Polly-K, that were mentioned in a 1924 Paramount Week ad.

As the article notes, the Polly-K was to be Sherman's first. The Paramount Week that ran in the September 2, 1923 issue of the Times had no mention of any theatres in Sherman. The 1922 and 1923 L.A. telephone directories (which included Sherman listings) had no listings for any theatres in Sherman.

An ad in the Hollywood Citizen announcing the grand opening of the Polly-K. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating it.

The new theatre was noted on page 102 in the June 8, 1924 issue of the L.A. Times as part of an article discussing Sherman's growth. The Cristofelles Lace Factory was also listed in the article as having set set up shop in 1923. They were in the theatre building but as noted in the April 1924 article above they ran into supply chain problems and had closed up by the time the theatre opened.

Early myths: One story about early use of the building was that it was a soundstage for the production company of Norma and Constance Talmadge. The smaller buildings to the east of the main structure were supposedly used for dressing rooms, offices for writers and production people, and so forth. However, there's no evidence that any of this is true. The whole story was perhaps concocted by famed production designer/decorator Tony Duquette, who later had the building as his studio.

Norma Talmadge came west in August 1915 and did one film for National Pictures Company, "Captivating Mary Carstairs." But it wasn't her own production company. Then after National folded, she did seven pictures for Triangle in 1915 and 1916. She then returned to New York, met Joseph Schenck, who became her husband/business partner, and set up Norma Talmadge Film Company in New York. She and hubby didn't come back to Hollywood until 1922.

It's possible that part of the Polly-K / Sherman Theatre building was used for production work. Or perhaps they used other structures on the site before the Polly-K building was moved there. The Talmadge firm's product was released through First National. In 1924 Joseph moved over to a new job as head of United Artists. Talmadge's later films were released through UA.

The building is located in a neighborhood called the Norma Triangle. The other half of the tale is that the area itself and its many streets were supposedly named for people involved in films produced there. Wikipedia comments on the Norma Triangle myth: "Contrary to some reports, Norma Place and the neighborhood is not named after silent film star Norma Talmadge. After extensive research, historians believe Norma and streets like Clark, Lloyd, Lloyd, Cynthia, Dicks, Clark, Hammond and others were named after senior executives [or their children] of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Company, owned by Moses Sherman and Eli P. Clark, who built the streets..." WeHoVille also has a page about Norma Triangle.

The Polly-K got a listing way in the bottom right corner of a nearly full page ad from Paramount in the August 31, 1924 issue of the L.A. Times with the notation that it was located in the town of Sherman. The ad was celebrating "Paramount Week."

Thanks to Johnny Dunn, Executive Creative Director and Chief Brand Officer for Annapurna Pictures for finding the ad as well as doing much of the other research on the building that appears on this page. The film production company now owns the building as well as a number of smaller buildings on the same block.

A December 1924 issue of Variety carried this story about the Polly K and a number of other theatres being investigated for child labor law violations for letting kids perform in amateur nights without having a children's work permit.

Another December 1924 article about child labor troubles at the Polly-K. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this one in the Hollywood Daily Citizen.

In 1925 Stokes was still interested in the theatre business but he had turned over operation of the Polly-K to L.C. Pickering. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this February Hollywood Daily Citizen article about a new theatre the duo were planning on leasing on Palm Ave. just north of Santa Monica Blvd. Evidently this was a project that was never built.

This item in the August 29, 1925 issue of Exhibitors Herald noted that stage and silent film actress Rose Burdick acquired the house and had renamed it the Sherman Theatre. Burdick was mentioned in the June 1, 1926 issue of Variety as being one of 600 attendees at the Motion Picture Theatre Owners of America convention at the Ambassador Hotel that week.

The Sherman was one of many theatres listed in big ads for the 1925 Paramount Week. One version of the ad appeared in the September 6 issue of the Times.

A 1925 Los Angeles Daily News ad listing the Sherman. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles Facebook page.

An ad in the September 15, 1925 issue of Film Daily placed by Tamar Lane. He was looking for product for his new organization The Photoplay League, a group that held their first (and evidently last) screening at the Sherman Theatre on July 12, 1926.

David James' 2005 book "Most Typical Avant Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles" credits the Sherman Theatre with being the birthplace of The Photoplay League and L.A.'s version of the "Little Cinema" movement in 1925 and 1926. 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. In an excerpt located by Johnny Dunn, James comments:

"Always in some way adjunct to the industry, most early experimental films screened as shorts in regular commercial theaters or in the specially designated art houses that emerged in the mid-1920s parallel to the 'Little Theater' movement. The 'Little Cinema' movement first got under way in New York with special screenings organized by the Screen Guild in 1926, with a parallel initiative immediately after sponsored in Los Angeles by the author and publisher Tamar Lane, a staunch proponent of the art film. In his 1923 book, What's Wrong with the Movies? Lane had argued that while works such as Griffith's Broken Blossoms had proven that film could be an art, the medium had failed to fulfill itself because the industry was dominated by businessmen who were all 'wrapped up in the chase after the almighty dollar.'

"Continuing to crusade for the artistic potential of the medium in his weekly trade, the Film Mercury, which he founded in 1924, the next year he announced the formation of the revolutionary Photoplay League to promote films that lacked mass public appeal or that had run afoul of censorship. Lane anticipated a cohesive organization, 'one body of the legion of intelligent playgoers who are seeking a higher grade of silent drama,' and to avoid the censor, the league was to be a membership organization (though annual membership was only $1), with its own monthly bulletin and its own theater, where censors would not be allowed.

"The Photoplay League's first screening, held on 12 July 1926 at the Sherman Theater in Hollywood, was restricted to patron members, who were expected to fill the 360-seat room, with additional screenings later in the week promised. Evidently the program of European experimental films (including Ballet mecanique) and early Chaplin comedies was not a success, and though Lane concluded that overall the project had begun well, his own review of the films was largely negative. No additional screenings were organized, and the league quickly dissolved."

An alert in the Variety issue of June 30, 1926 about the upcoming "Freak Film Show" at the Sherman. Thanks to Johnny Dunn for finding the article.

The July 12, 1926 screening at the Sherman was reviewed in the L.A. Times by their film critic Edwin Schallert in the issue of July 14. It was, as he noted, a very long show. The long review:

A 1926 Sanborn insurance map showing two-thirds of the building used for "moving pictures." The building has a footprint of 75' x 110'. Thanks to Johnny Dunn at Annapurna for finding the map and doing the annotations.

The theatre didn't get a listing in the 1925, or 1926 L.A. city directories. But it is listed in the 1927 L.A. city directory as the Sherman. There's nothing for it in the 1928 or 1929 editions. There's no listing for the Sherman in the September 1927 or March 1928 L.A. telephone directories, both of which contained Sherman listings.

Closing: The assumption is that the Sherman continued to have a life (albeit short) as a neighborhood cinema after that famous screening in July 1926. One possibility is that the theatre closed as a result of the competition from the nearby Marquis Theatre, which opened in November 1925.

Later tenants included a candy factory and a Mission Springs water bottling plant. In the 1928 city directory Ethera Radio Laboratories is listed at 8938 Keith Ave. Famed decorator Tony Duquette occupied the building, and decorated it lavishly, beginning in 1956. Sometime in the 40s or 50s the main entrance was moved to the west side of the building. Duquette used an 824 N. Robertson address.

Margo Leavin bought the building in 1973 for her gallery and started acquiring the rest of the property on the block that was east of the main building as it became available. A Yves Saint Laurent design studio was a long-term tenant in one of the buildings. Other tenants in the smaller buildings included artists, writers, and various production companies. The Margo Leavin Gallery was still using the main building until about 2015, using an address of 812 N. Robertson Blvd.

Status: The main building, and the other buildings to its east, are still in the movie business as the home of Annapurna Pictures. The firm has been there since May 22, 2015. Thanks to Johnny Dunn for his research on the Sherman. He notes that he feels a connection to the "Little Theatre" and "Little Cinema" movements:

"As a company, we have some interesting parallels to the Little Theatre paradigm: We tend to cater to the more sophisticated adult drama, and have championed auteurs when more and more of the weekend openings are comic book spinoffs. The Little Theatre movement sought to enlighten the curious and the interested, employing screen features and novelties of exceptionally high order — and I feel that we are carrying a similar torch."

Interior views:

The theatre space when it was the Tony Duquette studio. Thanks to the website TonyDuquette.com for the photo. It's on their page "Historic Tony Duquette Studio" with the caption "The Big Room circa 1960 featuring the stage decorated with abalone panels, crystal chandeliers and a throne from the Chapultapec Palace in Mexico City. The chairs in the foreground are 18th century Venetian."

The site also notes: "This room was 150′ long and 25′ wide with 28′ high ceilings. The room was furnished with the Duquettes’ collections of 17th, 18th and 19th century European and Asian antiques as well as their own works of art and furniture designs. Duquette built the stage at the end of the room in order to showcase sections of ballets, operas, and film costumes and sets. The stage was also used for the Duquettes’ own lavish entertainments as well as for dining."

The back of the room. The photo appears on the TonyDuquette.com website with the caption "The big room circa 1960’s looking towards the balcony. In his 'rich hippie' phase Duquette decorated the balcony installing an iron and crystal pagoda of his own creation with a mirrored ball in its center as part of the overall light show in the room. The balcony was often used for dining, gambling, and people watching by special friends like Elizabeth Taylor, who Duquette invited to join him during parties."

A vintage view down from the balcony. The photo appears on the TonyDuquette.com website. Thanks to Hutton Wilkinson for the photos. He had been Tony Duquette’s business partner since 1972 and is continuing the designer's work.

The reception area, a small portion of what had been the theatre space and later Tony Duquette's "big room" and, later yet, the Margo Leavin Gallery. You've heard of a video wall? Well, this specifically is a VHS wall. The installation, designed by Johnny Dunn, uses VHS tape boxes of varying colors. The right wall, on the south end of the building, was presumably once the location of the screen. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

A view north from the reception area, back toward Keith St. No, that's not a mirror on the wall. The building goes on and on. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

More exterior views:

A 1931 aerial view of West Hollywood from the California Historical Society that's on the USC Digital Library website. The yellow arrow is pointing at the former Sherman Theatre. The photo can also be seen on Noirish Los Angeles post #49563.

A detail from the 1931 photo.

The building as the studio of Tony Duquette c.1960. The photo, credited to Wendy Goodman and Hutton Wilkinson, appears with a discussion of the building on page 58 of "Historic Context and Associated Property Types," a survey of historic buildings by the City of West Hollywood. It's a pdf on the WeHoPreservation website.

The facade along Keith, once the entrance to the theatre. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

The west side of the building along Robertson, now used as the entrance. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018

More information: See the page on the Filmarte Theatre on Vine St., another house exemplifying the "Little Cinema" movement in this period.

See the Wikipedia article about Norma Talmadge.

Martin Pal's Noirish Los Angeles post #49575 includes lots of interesting history about the Norma Triangle area. Also see Ethereal Reality's Noirish post #49579 for more about Norma Place and one former resident, Dorothy Parker.

Los Angeles Theatres

Polly-K / Sherman Theatre

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