Tag Archives: theaters

October 21, 1947: Firefighter Sits Through Movie With Dead Friend to Avoid Audience Panic

Posted on October 21, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 21, 1947: Walter Saul and his wife had just settled in for a movie with his friend Aloysius Bollin when he felt Bollin’s head on his shoulder. Saul, a firefighter, realized that Bollin had no pulse. He was dead. But rather than created a disturbance, he waited until the double feature was over. Then told Bollin’s son Joseph to go get his mother because his father was sick. Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 15, 1907: Fire breaks out in the four-story building housing the Orpheum Theater and the Elks Hall. Entertainer Minnie Seligman made the smoke and sound of fire engines part of her act. Continue reading →

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October 14, 1897: ‘La Boheme’ Receives American Premiere in Los Angeles

Posted on October 14, 2025 by lmharnisch

October 14, 1897: Puccini’s “La Boheme” receives its American premiere in Los Angeles, performed by the Del Conte Italian Grand Opera Company of Peru. Continue reading →

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September 18, 1933: Bandit Killed, LAPD Officers Wounded in Burlesque Theater Shootout

Posted on September 18, 2025 by lmharnisch

September 18, 1933: Jack Keating, 30, and John Melvin Early, 35, had a plan to rob the Girlesque Theater at 510 S. Main St., but when the shooting was over, Keating was dead and Early and two men who helped plan the robbery were in jail. Continue reading →

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August 13, 1947: ‘Cuando Lloran los Valientes’

Posted on August 13, 2025 by lmharnisch

August 13, 1947: The Times reviewed Mexican movies, like Cuando Lloran los Valientes. Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Landmark Vista Theatre Turns 100

Posted on October 9, 2023 by lmharnisch

The Vista Theatre in 1951, via Water and Power Associates. The Vista Theatre opened October 9, 1923. Built as an upscale house for smaller studio releases, it remains viable even today, as director Quentin Tarantino restores it. One of the … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 2

Posted on November 16, 2020 by lmharnisch

“The Great Corbett Fight” at Tally’s theater. Note: This is an encore post from 2017. Former Texan T. L. (Thomas) Tally pioneered early film exhibition practices in the film metropolis of Los Angeles, catering to the needs of his audiences. … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 1 (Updated)

Posted on November 16, 2020 by lmharnisch

T.L. Tally, Moving Picture World, 1915. Note: This is an encore post from 2017. Los Angeles has stood at the forefront of not only motion picture production, but the fields of exhibition and distribution as well. Former Texan T. L. … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Mack Sennett, Theater Owner

Posted on January 13, 2020 by lmharnisch

The Woodley Theatre, from Motography, July 14, 1917. Comedy king Mack Sennett recognized the self-promotion power of owning his own movie theater long before film studios owned theater chains or Netflix looked to acquire the Egyptian Theatre. In 1917, savvy … Continue reading →

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October 1947: Firefighter Sits Through Movie With Dead Friend to Avoid Audience Panic

Posted on October 22, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Moviegoers Walter Saul of Cincinnati and his wife had just settled into their seats for a double feature with his friend Aloysius Bollin and son Joseph … Continue reading →

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October 15, 1907: Fire Threatens Orpheum

Posted on October 15, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. October 15, 1907 Los Angeles On a rainy night in Los Angeles, a fire broke out in the four-story brick office building at 235 S. Spring St. housing the Orpheum Theater and … Continue reading →

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Oct. 14, 1897: ‘La Boheme’ Receives American Premiere in Los Angeles

Posted on October 5, 2018 by lmharnisch

    Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. San Francisco has long claimed the first American performance of Puccini’s “La Boheme” in March 1898 and is given credit for that distinction in … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights – Hamburger’s Department Store, Arrow Movie Theater

Posted on September 17, 2018 by lmharnisch

A postcard of Hamburger’s Department Store is listed on EBay as Buy It Now for $2.99. Note: This is an encore post from 2013. The classy, oversize May Co. Department Store located at 801 S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles … Continue reading →

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Aug. 13, 1947: ‘Cuando Lloran los Valientes’

Posted on August 13, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. Imagine my surprise to find that The Times reviewed Mexican movies, usually in critiques signed “G.K.,” who praised this classic of Mexican cinema starring Pedro Infante, … Continue reading →

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July 1, 1947: ‘Mom and Dad’ — Elliot Forbes and Sexploitation in the 1940s

Posted on July 1, 2018 by lmharnisch

  Well, we know where this story is going. Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. I had never heard of this particular cinematic triumph, but it was apparently a fixture of sexploitation … Continue reading →

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June 21, 1947: ‘The Drunkard,’ L.A.’s Favorite Melodrama

Posted on June 21, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2005 and originally appeared on the 1947project. In the summer of 1933, expecting nothing but a brief run and modest ticket sales, two theater people from Carmel, Preston Shobe and Galt Bell, hatched … Continue reading →

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A Theater Rises on Broadway

Posted on June 2, 2018 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2006. June 2, 1907 Los Angeles The Hamburger Department Store announces plans for a theater just south of its new building on South Broadway at 8th Street, designed by the architecture firm of … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 2

Posted on November 20, 2017 by lmharnisch

  “The Great Corbett Fight” at Tally’s theater.   Former Texan T. L. (Thomas) Tally pioneered early film exhibition practices in the film metropolis of Los Angeles, catering to the needs of his audiences. Always enamored with technology, he seemed … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Organist C. Sharp Minor, Major Talent

Posted on October 30, 2017 by lmharnisch

Note: This is an encore post from 2013. Music was an integral part of silent films, giving emotional texture or humorous voice to the films’ precious images. Different types of music and musicians accompanied them: orchestras, bands, photoplayers, pianists and … Continue reading →

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Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: T.L. Tally – L.A.’s Pioneer Film Exhibitor, Part 1 (Updated)

Posted on October 16, 2017 by lmharnisch

T.L. Tally, Moving Picture World, 1915. Los Angeles has stood at the forefront of not only motion picture production, but the fields of exhibition and distribution as well. Former Texan T. L. (Thomas Lincoln) Tally pioneered in these fields, seeming … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Broadway, Downtown, Film, Hollywood, Hollywood Heights, Main Street, Mary Mallory, Theaters | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments