Los Angeles Theatres: Metropolitan/Paramount Theatre: stage

The dimmerboard at the Metropolitan, offstage right. "Largest and most compact board ever installed in a theater. Designed specially for this $184,000 lighting scheme." The photo was included with "Concrete and Creative Architecture," an article about the building by William Lee Woollett in the May 1923 issue of Architect and Engineer. In the same issue see "Grauman Theater, a Work of Art" by E. Bingham. It's on Internet Archive.

The theatre was featured in this spread on page 52 of the 1923 Ward Leonard publication "Theatre Lighting: Past and Present" that's on Internet Archive. The 62 page booklet includes interesting photos of vintage equipment as well as shots of many theatres and their dimmer installations. Included are Loew's State and the Raymond in Pasadena. Thanks to Bob Foreman for locating this. See what other research he's done lately on his terrific Vintage Theatre Catalogs site.

Ward Leonard made the dimmers in the board. Hub Electric made the onstage board (seen in the lower right) as well as the clapper board (aka 'remote switchboard') in the basement with the contactors for switching loads on and off. The top illustration shows the back of the board and its dimmer plates. Large house lighting loads were handled by saturable reactors downstairs with the DC control current for them provided by regular resistance plates on the stage board. That's one of the reactors seen in the lower left. On page 49 they discuss the installation:

"The control board of Grauman's Metropolitan theatre shown on page 52, is the most compact of any ever built. While it controls 135 feeder switches and the dimmers regulate the lighting load of 650 kw., it is only about 13 feet long, and is installed in a recess of the prompt side of the proscenium arch.

"The remote switchboard is installed directly under the stage in the basement. At the rear of this board are mounted the reactors, which are controlled by the Vitrohm plates on the control board (shown at the top of page 52)."

This version of the photo of the board that's at the top of the page appeared in an ad by the manufacturer, Hub Electric Co., in the October 13, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Herald. Thanks to Bob Foreman for including the ad with his terrific article "Secrets of Preset Pre-Selective Switchboards" on his site Vintage Theatre Catalogs. The two-scene board allowed the operator to select which circuits would be active in the next scene and switch instantly via remotely controlled contactors in the basement.

Another Hub ad for the system that was located by Bob Foreman. This one appeared in the December 8, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Herald. Thanks, Bob!

Proscenium: 52' wide, 32' high [An article in the February 10, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Herald gave the dimensions as 60' x 42'.]

Orchestra onstage: Grauman originally had the seating run right up to the stage with no orchestra pit. Where at the Million Dollar he had a pit half in the auditorium and half onstage, here the orchestra was all onstage -- on a big downstage screwjack elevator. The stage lift was 55' long x 14' wide. This elevator was disabled after Jack Partington's "flying stages" equipment was installed.

Upstage action: The band could be up at full height or dropped down out of sight when a prologue was happening upstage. Or during a movie. The screen was originally pretty far upstage.

Lighting control: Off right. The dimmerboard was by Hub Electric using Ward Leonard dimmers. The total lighting load was 650 Kw.

Projection throw: 160' after the screen was moved downstage following the 1926 renovations.

Dressing rooms: In the basement and a four story stack offstage left.

Rigging: It was originally designed as a hemp house with a flyfloor stage right. It ended up with a Peter Clark counterweight system, operated at stage level stage right. See several Peter Clark ads down at the bottom of the page. The ads are very loose as far as telling you how much of the equipment was by Peter Clark. Some were full systems, others perhaps just the rigging for the asbestos.

Organ: It was a Wurlitzer. The console, on a lift, was located at center -- originally the only thing downstage of the proscenium.

Organ chambers: The original scheme was for the organ to speak through grillework in the ceiling, a favored Grauman style. The sound was to drift down upon you from the heavens. Publix revamped
the organ installation with grillework added in the proscenium for new organ chambers down lower. Ron Mitchell notes:

"The style 285 Wurlitzer was originally installed across the proscenium behind the grille work...Robert Morton later moved the organ into chambers on each side of the proscenium arch. Foundation, main, solo, and percussion on the left, brass and echo on the right. Frank Rogers, who installed the organ in 1922, worked with us removing the organ, said that the organ was harder to hear after RM moved it, than before.

"Then only the organist could hear it, as it spoke through the criss-cross grille work around the proscenium arch. Note the hole we broke out [seen in an LAPL photo] of the grille in front of the foundation chamber to get the Morton Vibraphone out, that they had added between the shutters and grille work. That was by far the dirtiest organ that I ever removed, or helped remove."

Clark Wilson adds:

"I remember the comment: 'Before the organ was moved only the folks in the balcony could hear it; after it was moved nobody could hear it!'"

Publix renovations: The renovations beginning in 1926 included getting the orchestra off the stage and constructing a regular orchestra pit downstage of the proscenium. And moving the movie screen farther downstage.

The Partington "Flying Stages" additions: A February 13, 1926 article in Exhibitors Herald announced that Jack Partington, formerly of the Granada Theatre in San Francisco, was being made general manager of productions at the Metropolitan. The Herald issue is on Internet Archive. About his work at the Granada the article noted that

"...he had developed a new type of prologues and and stage presentations that have become a sensation. One of the outstanding features of his work there has been the invention and perfection of an automatic stage. The stage is built in three sections and by the use of invisible tracks and special machinery the sections can be lifted and lowered and shifted at every conceivable angle on the regular stage.

"Partington has already arranged for the construction of a huge automatic stage to be built at the Metropolitan. Through the use of this stage and his new production system he plans to produce stage presentations on a more elaborate and spectacular scale than anything ever before attempted for a motion picture house..."

Thanks to Bob Foreman for finding the article. The new stage equipment was in operation by August 1926, perhaps earlier. For more about Partington and his stage equipment designs see the Flying Stages page on the San Francisco Theatres site. The equipment was at various times also called Magic Stages and Automatic Stages. Partington's San Francisco firm, Automatic Stage Appliance Co., installed the orchestra and organ lifts at the Warner Hollywood in 1928.

An excerpt from a December 12, 1926 L.A. Times article discussing the "flying stages" equipment that was installed at the Metropolitan. The "Almost a year ago" time frame noted for the installation was a bit of an exaggeration. The occasion for the article was the theatre's 3rd anniversary celebration. We don't get a discussion of the new orchestra pit, other than noting that one of the "stages" could come downstage past the footlights. Thanks to Bob Foreman for finding the article.

A section of the Metropolitan from the September 1923 issue of The Building Review. The plates section has twelve full page photos plus drawings and plans. In addition, five small photos are included with the article "Pioneers." Also in the issue is "The Metropolitan Theater - A Digest From the Local Press." There's a continuation of the Press Digest on page 36. It's on Internet Archive.

A stage detail from the section above. The intended flyfloor (but modified later for the counterweight system T-wall) was stage right. We're looking east toward the dressing room floors stacked stage left. Note the trunk doors. The depression downstage was for the on-stage orchestra lift and machinery room underneath. There was initially no orchestra pit downstage of the proscenium -- just the organ lift.

A stage floorplan. Note the on-stage orchestra lift and the footlights upstage of that. The portion upstage delineated by the rectangle was trappable. It's a detail from a main floor plan appearing the September 1923 issue of The Building Review. It's on Internet Archive.

An upper level stage plan. Note the dressing rooms stage left, flyfloor stage right and a paint bridge along the back wall. It's a detail from a mezzanine plan appearing the September 1923 issue of The Building Review. It's on Internet Archive.

The organ and orchestra lifts in their upper position. That backdrop we see isn't the asbestos -- we're looking at a drop halfway upstage. Look in the upper right for one of Woollett's mythical snail-like creatures in the design. Prologue action originally happened upstage, with the orchestra dropped down out of sight. Or the downstage elevator could be used for a stage presentation if cleared of all the orchestra equipment. Paramount later put in a more conventional pit downstage of the proscenium.

It's a photo that appeared with the caption "Organ Console Platform and Orchestra Platform in uppermost position. Grauman's Metropolitan Theater, Los Angeles. Asbestos curtain, when in its lowest position, rests on 6-inch concrete wall separating the two platform pits." The photo was included with "Notable Stage Elevator Installation....," an article in the May 1923 issue of Architect and Engineer, available on Internet Archive. The photo, with somewhat better resolution, also appeared in a Wurlitzer ad. The A & E text:

"Forty years ago the first power freight elevator in Southern California was built by the Baker Iron Works of Los Angeles for the H. Newmark & Co., wholesale grocers of that city. A few weeks ago this same firm built what is said to be the largest and most powerful electrically-operated platform in Southern California. The first job undertaken by this pioneer company resulted in what today would be considered a crude and miniature elevator, while the second instance resulted in the immense orchestral elevator and pipe organ console lift in the new Grauman Metropolitan Theater.

"This immense platform, 55 feet in length and 15 feet in width, is capable of lifting an orchestra of 100 musicians with their music racks and instruments. The organ console lift, working independently of the orchestra lift, is five feet ten inches wide and nine feet seven inches long. The main lift may be operated either by the director from his stand or by the stage manager from one of the wings of the stage. The console platform is operated by the organist. Both platforms are noiseless in operation, and may be stopped at different stages of elevation through the pressure of different buttons.

"There is no creeping in either of the platforms, as each stops flush with each floor objective and remains there indefinitely without shifting. This phase of the construction was necessary, as the orchestra platform is often used as an additional unit to the main stage when dancing acts are used and where absolute floor smoothness is called for. Two 25-h.p. General Electric motors operating four screws -- the screw method rather than cables or hydraulic plungers were used -- operate the large platform, while a 10-h.p. motor furnishes the motivation for the console platform. Only one screw is used for this lift.

"The screw method was decided upon because of the insurance against slipping as well as the fact that all chances of a drop in case of accident are eliminated. The four screws used in the large platform are geared together in such a manner that possibilities of slipping, tilting or sticking at the ends are likewise eliminated. The machinery is housed in a soundproof room beneath the pit of the orchestra platform, while additional noise-proof assurances are obtained through the employment of numerous rubber-tired guard wheels fixed to the sides of the platforms.

"Although the theatre is famous for its wonderful interior decoration and lighting effects, the effect produced by these two moving platforms is a matter of considerable comment from the audience. They have been in operation for several weeks and are reported to have fulfilled all of the expectations of the owners."

Both lifts down at basement level. The photo appeared in the May 1923 issue of Architect and Engineer with this caption: "Organ Console and Orchestra Platforms in their lowest positions, showing the curved form of the rear side of the orchestra pit."

The two drive motors for the main lift. The photo appeared in Architect and Engineer with this caption: "Interior Machinery Room, showing Solenoid break and screw unit of organ console at left and two 25 horsepower motors and screw unit for raising orchestra platform in background." Well, we seem to have had some of that gear cropped out of the picture prior to publication.

A look at the organ console, here run up on its lift, from "Grauman's Metropolitan Opened," an article in the February 10, 1923 issue of Exhibitors Herald. Note Woollett's design on the asbestos.

A c.1926 Mott Studios view from the stage that's in the California State Library collection as one photo in their ten photo set #1407235. Note that the photo was taken after Publix rebuilt the front of the stage to provide an orchestra pit downstage of the proscenium.

Onstage at the 1960 auction after the theatre closed. The vase was going for $5.50. Prop steps from the theatre's backstage inventory were going for $5.00. It's a Los Angeles Examiner photo in the USC Digital Library collection.

A sad 1961 look at the proscenium of the doomed theatre with Rube Wolf, former orchestra leader at the theatre, onstage. Note the counterweight system T-wall offstage right and the remnants of a paint bridge along the back wall. The flyfloor stage right was removed when the counterweight system was installed, with only a single beam remaining. It's a photo in the Los Angeles Public Library collection.

An ad from the Exhibitors Herald World issue of June 16, 1923 listing Grauman's theatres in Los Angeles (the Metropolitan) and Hollywood (the Egyptian) as theatres that had Peter Clark stage equipment.

Another ad noting the Metropolitan as having Peter Clark equipment. It appeared in the March 24, 1924 issue of the Philadelphia Inquirer on the occasion of a Peter Clark equipped house opening in that city.

The theatre is listed as Grauman's Theatre Los Angeles in this Peter Clark ad from the December 30, 1927 issue of Motion Picture News. The ad also lists Grauman's Theatre Hollywood (the Egyptian) and Grauman's Chinese Theatre. The Egyptian was a hemp house while the Chinese got a full counterweight system installation.

Thanks to Bob Foreman for finding the ads. Visit his site Vintage Theatre Catalogs for a wealth of historic tech data.

Los Angeles Theatres

Metropolitan/Paramount Theatre: stage

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