The Million Dollar Theatre pages: history | vintage exterior views | recent exterior views | ticket lobbies | lobbies and lounges | vintage auditorium views | recent auditorium views | booth | stage | orchestra pit | basement areas |
An early view onto the stage appearing in the collection of the Los Angeles Public Library. It was also on view in a special Architectural Digest Southern California buildings survey published in 1922. It's on Google Books. Note the orchestra pit extending well onto the stage in its original configuration. See the orchestra pit page for more details.
A view of a rehearsal for a prologue. Thanks to Cinema Treasures contributor Dallas Movie Theaters for finding the trade magazine photo and posting it on the Cinema Treasures page about the Million Dollar. Their comment: "A rare shot of a prologue rehearsal at the Grauman’s Theatre in 1919 in support of Charles Ray’s 'The Busher.' And a bonus is that’s Sid Grauman himself by the organ directing the show." The film was a May release.
Usually Sid's stage presentations were prologues before the feature. But this was a burlesque epilogue that immediately followed screenings of "Salome vs. Shenandoah" in October 1919. Featured were Mack Sennett comics singing songs that parodied Cleopatra with lyrics about recent local events. Stars of the film Charles Murray, Ben Turpin and Charles Conklin also participated. The photos and story were a full page feature in the November 15, 1919 issue of Motion Picture News. It's on Internet Archive. The caption for this shot: "Here they are in all their 'glory,' Sennett's company of comedians as they appeared at Grauman's Los Angeles."
The theatre was doing capacity business with the comedy "Salome vs. Shenandoah," thanks to Mack Sennett's "fifteen warriors against gloom" appearing in the epilogue. This second photo from the November 15, 1919 issue of Motion Picture News appeared with this caption: "Sennett fun makers as they posed during the personal appearance at Grauman's, Los Angeles." Arthur Kay was conducting the "Grauman's Symphony Orchestra" with C. Sharpe Minor at the "Mighty Voiced Organ."
"In Mizzoura" was the feature film on the program with "Salome" for the week of October 20. See the program for the week as well as the opening day Times ad, both located by Kurt Wahlner. Arthur Kay was conducting the "Grauman's Symphony Orchestra" with C. Sharpe Minor at the "Mighty Voiced Organ." Also see a Paramount trade magazine ad about this engagement that was shared on IMDb.
A 1920 trade magazine photo on Cinema Treasures from Dallas Movie Theaters. They comment: "How successful was Sid Grauman’s 'Bathing Girls Revue of 1920'? In the matinee show, around 1,000 people were turned away and 1,500 turned away from the night performance. Keeping in mind that around 2,000 people were already inside the sold out theatre, that’s saying something."
"The Paper Lantern Cafe" prologue that appeared before the 1921 film "At the End of the World." Thanks to Dallas Movie Theaters for the photo on Cinema Treasures.
Another 1921 prologue showing again how Grauman used different scenic elements within the columns of his permanent set. It's a trade magazine photo from Dallas Movie Theaters on Cinema Treasures. Thanks, DMT.
Recent stage views:
The loading door on 3rd St. Be careful going in. The stage is over 10' below street level at this point. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A look across the stage from inside the loading door. Thanks to Rich Alossi for his photo on Flickr.
A view across with the stage set for a film screening. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021
Upstage left -- looking up toward the loading door. The doorway straight ahead gets you to a storage room and the stage left stairs down to the basement. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A wider view across to stage left. That's the loading door on the left. Theatre historian Ed Kelsey is the gentleman standing near the proscenium on the right. The caption: "Kudos to Ed Kelsey (Orpheum Theatre manager, Historic Theater Services), whose behind the scenes efforts made the "Blade Runner" screening successful. Not only did he make the theater pass city fire codes (which opened the balcony), he also tweaked the sound system." Photo: Wendell Benedetti - LAHTF Facebook page - 2013
A closer look downstage left. Overhead in the center of the photo is part of the organ chamber protruding into the stage area. Underneath is a door leading to a prop room directly under the organ chamber. That's a bit of the screen frame at right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking into the prop room. Around in the far right corner of the room is a hole providing access to the organ chamber above. Photo: Bill Counter - 2018
The open door leads to the scenery storage area. It's one of 54 photos that once appeared with "Million Dollar Theatre Tour," Star Foreman's 2013 L.A. Weekly article publicizing a LAHTF "all-about" tour of the building. Thanks for all the photos, Star!
Looking downstage in the scenery storage room offstage left. Down the dark recess at the center of the image is an exit door leading to 3rd St. via the stairs for the house right auditorium exits. On early plans this room was shown as an area built out with a number of dressing rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021
Looking upstage in the off left storage area. A sharp right around the tile wall at the left reveals the stairs to the basement. The door leads to a storage room under the ramp inside the loading doors. Photo: Bill Counter - 2021
Offstage left. The doorway on the left gets you onstage, the stairs at the right head to the basement. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Proscenium width: 39'11"
Proscenium height: 47' at center
Apron: 8" from edge of apron to proscenium plasterline
Smoke pocket: 4 7/8" from proscenium plasterline to upstage edge
Stage depth: 32' 1" from smoke pocket to the face of the backwall columns
Backwall columns: 31" deep from downstage faces of columns to backwall
Stage height: 45 1/4" above auditorium floor
Orchestra pit: currently covered
First row of seats: 15' from stage at centerline
Clear wing space SR: 6' 3" from proscenium to onstage edge of lockrail
Total wingspace SR: 20' 11" from proscenium to dressing room wall SR behind lockrail
Clear wing space SL: 20' 6" from proscenium to wall of storage room. There's an obstruction downstage from the protruding organ chamber.
Stage door: at the head of the exit passageway along the south side of building
Loading: Door USL opens onto 3rd St. The door opens onto a loading dock 10' 9" above stage level. Stairs adjacent to the dock come down to stage level.
Alternate loading: Passageway along the south side of auditorium or through the auditorium. A door on 3rd opens onto the inner lobby at the rear of the main floor.
Traps: One, upstage left, near the loading door. The downstage 12' or so of the stage would be difficult to trap due to the 1918 "on-stage orchestra pit" construction being still in place underneath the present stage floor. The upstage half of the stage is concrete.
Asbestos: DSR on a t-track counterweight set. It can be released either DSL or DSR.
Rigging, counterweighted: 24 wire guide sets are on the main battery SR at stage level. 5 additional wire guide sets are at 3 mini lockrails parallel to the proscenium near the dimmer board DSR. The downstage unit has 2 sets, the middle unit has 2 sets, the upstage unit has 1 set.
Loading bridge: None. Arbors need to be bulled down to either flyfloor or stage level for loading.
Rigging, hemp: It was originally a hemp house operated from a 4th floor flyfloor above the dressing rooms stage right. Hemp headblocks are still on the grid and there's still a pinrail on the flyfloor. The counterweight system lockrail will also take belaying pins.
Smoke vents: can be released DSR
Lighting control: DSR. In addition to the main resistance board, there's a rack of dimmers in the stage right organ chamber. An unknown number of patchable circuits go to F.O.H. booms and rail as well as the flyfloor.
Dressing Rooms: Stacked on stage level and two floors above that on stage right. Additional rooms are in the basement. Chorus dressing room space is in the trap room.
Offices / storage at stage level: There's a room DSR behind the dimmer board, under the organ chamber. A room DSL under the organ chamber was originally designated as a prop room on the plans. There's a scenery storage room offstage left
Original 1918 "permanent" temple set: See the orchestra pit page for photos and some comments.
Auditorium/stagehouse dimensions: Several sources, including Charles Beardsley in his Grauman book "Hollywood's Master Showman," give an auditorium width of 103' and an auditorium depth of 106.' Beardsley also notes that the balcony is 70' front to back. Occasionally one sees the 103' number also used for the stagehouse width. It's not a good number for both as the stagehouse is wider than the auditorium.
The stage door at the head of the exit passageway stage right. This passageway is between the theatre and the Grand Central Market building. The auditorium is on your right. Directly inside, you're in a corridor of dressing rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
In a room downstage right on the house side of the firewall. We're directly below the stage right organ chamber. Through the door at the left it's a view toward the backstage wall. The dimmer board is just through the doorway and off to the right. This room, currently storage, was probably the house carpenter's office. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The dimmerboard downstage right. See the auditorium basement page for a photo of the clapper board. The stage right stairs to the basement and the stage entrance from the south exit passageway are just off to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The rigging you see in the photo isn't the main lockrail but a handful of sets operated at two mini-lockrails parallel to the proscenium wall. The tension blocks for these are, rather interestingly, dangling below stage.
Another view of the board. Note some newer SCR dimmers on the right. Thanks to Gary Helsinger for sharing his August 2023 photo, one of eleven stage and booth views he included in a Facebook post.
A dimmerboard detail. Thanks to Star Foreman for this and many other photos included on these pages. This was one of 54 photos that appeared with a 2013 L.A. Weekly "Million Dollar Theatre Tour " story. They're no longer on the site.
Another board detail. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013
Behind the dimmer board. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking offstage right. The wire-guide counterweight system installed so far onstage isn't original. It
was a hemp house with this as clear wingspace. The flymen would have been up on the
flyfloor above the 3rd floor of dressing rooms. Thanks to Gary Helsinger for this August 2023 photo.
A wide angle view looking off right. Note the 3 floors of dressing rooms and the underside of the flyfloor above. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - LAHTF Facebook page - 2013
A view toward upstage right beyond the counterweight system to the dressing rooms and flyfloor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2010
The view along the lockrail -- and all the space behind it. When the counterweight system was installed, it was brought onstage about 15' to clear the edge of the flyfloor. Thanks to Sandi Hemmerlein for the 2013 photo. Her Million Dollar Theatre photo essay on the blog Avoiding Regret details her adventures at a
LAHTF "all-about" tour where she explored interesting corners of the
theatre.
The area behind the lockrail upstage right. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013
Another angle on the area behind the rigging, taken a decade later. Photo: Gary Helsinger - 2023
A view from upstage. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Getting ready to go on for a "Last Remaining Seats" presentation in 2009. It's a photo by Larry Underhill appearing on the L.A. Conservancy Facebook page.
Onstage behind the screen. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A look across to stage right. The setup was for a June 2018 L.A. Conservancy screening of "Kiss of the Spider Woman." Photo: Bill Counter
The empty stage from the balcony. The
crowd was there exploring during a March 2013 LAHTF "all about" tour.
Some of the luckier ones had scored tickets for the sold out screening
of "Blade Runner" that same evening. Photo: Wendell Benedetti - LAHTF Facebook page - 2013
One of the stage level dressing rooms. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Heading up to the flyfloor:
A peek at the 2nd and 3rd floor dressing room corridors through the rigging. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
From downstage stage right, the view up toward the 2nd floor dressing room corridor. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
One of the dressing rooms. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
The stairs at the 2nd floor level. Follow the arrow to either the fire escape or the organ chamber. Photo: Gary Helsinger - 2023
In the stage right organ chamber. The chamber is accessed by going through a dressing room on the 2nd floor. Currently it's the home of sound and dimmer racks, which Steve Gerdes is happily inspecting. Off to the right, there's a ladder to go up another level for relamping areas at the top of the organ grilles. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Looking out from the 2nd floor dressing room corridor. Photo: Gary Helsinger - 2023
Looking downstage from the 2nd floor dressing rooms with the screen flown in. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Another view out from the 2nd level of dressing rooms. You're looking at the offstage side of the lockrail and all the space between it and the dressing rooms. That's the back wall at the left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The 3rd floor dressing room corridor -- the stage is out to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Storage in an unused dressing room. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
Up on the flyfloor at 4th floor level. Access is via a narrow ship's ladder from the 3rd floor dressing room level. On the deck, the newish angle irons are seismic bracing to an upstage wall column. On the left is a pinrail positioned underneath the original headbeam. The headblocks for the current wireguide counterweight system (seen at right) are just set on the grid itself. There is no loading bridge. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A look upstage from the flyfloor along the bracing toward the back wall. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A look downstage from the flyfloor. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013
A view from the upstage end of the flyfloor. On the left is the ladder to continue up to the grid. Thanks to Mike Hume for his 2020 photo. Visit his Historic Theatre Photography site for hundreds of fine photos of the theatres he's explored. And don't miss his page about the Million Dollar.
A murky view from the flyfloor up to the grid. At the left is the stage right wall, the proscenium wall is at the top of
the photo. In the gloom above, one can see the gap above between the
original headbeams. Hemp sheaves are still up on the grid. The current
linesets are positioned onstage far enough to clear the edge of the
flyfloor. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
On the roof stage right looking down the hatch. Thanks to Michelle Gerdes for her 2021 photo. It's one of 340 in her Million Dollar Theatre album on Flickr.
A different angle to allow a view of the grid. The headblocks in the center of the image are for the current wire-guide counterweight system, positioned far enough onstage to clear the edge of the flyfloor. Farther offstage are the headbeams for the original hemp fly system. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2021
On the right it's a pile of some original 1918 sheaves. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2021
The ladder continues down to the stage right flyfloor. Photo: Michelle Gerdes - 2021. Thanks!
In the basement:
Offstage left in a storage room. The doorway on the left gets you onstage, the stairs at
the right head to the basement. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A peek into a mechanical room offstage left. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
In the mechanical room and about as far stage left as we can go -- out under the 3rd St. sidewalk. Whatever equipment was here originally has been removed. That's Steve Gerdes back in the corner doing an inspection. Stairs up to stage left are off to the right of the photo. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Still stage left, but a bit toward Broadway from the location of the previous photo. Continuing on to your right will get you farther under the auditorium toward Broadway and eventually to the apartment building elevator bank. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
You can get to the basement area under the lobby from either stage left or stage right. The stage right route gets you lots of scenic electrical and HVAC equipment along the way.
In the corridor as we move toward the stage centerline one encounters the house vac. The system was made by Spencer Turbine Co., who also made lots of organ blowers. Look in the lower left of the photo in case you get lost -- you'll see the arrow on the floor pointing you toward the stairs up onto stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A look into the house vac. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013.
Downstage left in a dressing area. You're looking straight ahead at the proscenium wall -- with a bit of a curve to it as it heads off left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A view of the trunk trap stage left. It's about halfway upstage -- near the loading door. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
In the trap room looking toward stage left. The trunk trap near the loading door is behind the wall straight ahead. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
The chorus dressing area downstage in the trap room. The big post and beam heading to the right is supporting the 1918 orchestra pit structure above. We're looking toward stage left. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The original orchestra pit extended about 12' onto the stage. It was abandoned and converted to a more standard configuration downstage of the proscenium after a stage fire in 1922. See the orchestra pit page for more details.
In the trap room at center looking toward stage right. That's the back wall of the building on the right. The doorway at left gets you to the stairs up to stage right -- or if you take a left through the firewall, into the orchestra pit and the forward parts of the basement. Note the concrete construction of the upstage area. The use of traps wasn't envisioned except downstage. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Underneath the 1918 "on-stage" orchestra pit. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Gary Helsinger in a dressing room in 2023 checking out some old music stands.
Another look at the music stands. Thanks to Gary Helsinger for sharing this 2023 photo and the others appearing here. Head to his Facebook post for more backstage views plus a peek in the booth.
Another basement dressing room. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
Downstage center. That's the proscenium firewall at the left -- we're looking toward stage right. On the extreme left edge of the photo is a rig for a disappearing microphone that marks the centerline of the stage. Above us is the floor of the recessed "on-stage" orchestra pit of 1918. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Discarded borderlights. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
More stuff. Photo: Sandi Hemmerlein - Avoiding Regret - 2013
A downstage right dressing room. Note a tension block dangling above. On the right, note the ends of the support beams for the floor of the portion of the 1918 orchestra pit that extended onto the stage. There's another dressing room to the left. The right hand doorway gets you to the trap room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
A closer look at the ends of the beams that had supported the original orchestra pit, recessed into the front 12' of the stage. You can see the plaster wall that was the curving stage right side of the pit. We're about 8' upstage of the proscenium and looking toward stage center. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
Downstage right looking at the proscenium wall. On the left are the ends of the beams for the 1918 orchestra pit. Those curious sheaves overhead are the tension blocks for the linesets that are operated from the auxiliary lockrails just upstage of the dimmer board. Photo: Bill Counter - 2012
The stage right stairs up to stage level are just out of the frame to the right. Through a door below the "Alto Voltage" sign you're in the orchestra pit area on the left and the theatre's main electrical gear on the right -- and onward through the fan area toward the lobby.
Another tension block view. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013
Looking along the equipment in the boiler room, entered from the stage right end of the trap room. We're looking upstage from the entrance to the room. The trap room and dressing room areas are off to the right. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019
A shot from in behind the boilers. Straight ahead is the southwest corner of the building. Through the wall to the left and you'd be in the Grand Central Market's basement. Just around the corner to the right in front of that first boiler is the door out to the stage right end of the trap room. Photo: Bill Counter - 2019
The downstage right stairs to the basement. Photo: Star Foreman - L.A. Weekly - 2013. Thanks, Star!
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