Historic Los Angeles Theatres - Egyptian Theatre -Hollywood-

After years of being enclosed, the Egyptian's forecourt is once again open after the American Cinematheque renovations.

These top 3 photos (and the vertical at left) are 2007 shots by Bill Counter.

click any of these images to enlarge

Below is the stagehouse of the Egyptian. Note the Egyptian style tile roof on the equipment building at the left of the photo.

More sources for information about the Egyptian Theatre...

The thumbnail images below are generally as shown by Google Images, Yahoo! or other databases for image searches on this theatre. Click on the image to see how it was found in context.

We also give you a link to the site itself (or sometimes a specific article) for your further research.

All images are subject to copyright.

American Widescreen Museum

www.widescreenmuseum.com Here's a photo of ladies up admiring the neon on the Egyptian marquee for the 1955 roadshow presentation of "Oklahoma." The Egyptian was the first theatre in Los Angeles to be equipped for TODD-AO.

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The TODD-AO screen at the Egyptian Theatre installed in 1955 for "Oklahoma."

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California Movie Theaters With Best Sound

history.sandiego.edu/gen/ A great view of the forecourt for the premiere of 1925's "The Big Parade" is on this Movie Theaters with Best Sound survey page done by USD students.

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The Egyptian -- History

www.volume5.com This site has a nicely detailed History of the Egyptian with great research and stunning pictures. Jennifer Minasian did the work for the American Cinematheque.

Shown here is the forecourt before any significant signage was installed. Playing is "Thief of Bagdad" in 1923. full size image

A great detail view of the proscenium of the Egyptian Theatre on Ms. Minasian's study of the theatre.

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Epnet

www.epnet.com On this site is this nice shot of the marquee for "My Fair Lady."

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Donna Grayson on Flickr

flickr.com/photos/donnagrayson

Included in Donna's Hollywood Set set of over 700 photos is this 2006 courtyard view. full size view

Another view of courtyard wall murals by Donna.

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From Script to DVD

www.fromscripttodvd.com This wonderful site has a number of interesting pictures of the Egyptian Theatre.

Here's a view courtesy Robert Weisgerber from the Motion Picture Herald of the demo being done in 1969 for the D-150 screen installation. full size view

The D-150 screen being installed.

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For more pictures of the theatre, visit the site's Egyptian Theatre page.

Historic Resources Group

www.historicla.com The Historic Resources Group, a firm specializing in planning for historic preservation, has a some nice views of the theatre (and a detailed history) on their site in a section on the Egyptian. Here is a vintage postcard of the forecourt. full size view

A view of the marquee in 1946 from the HRG site.

Browse through their site for lots of other photos of the Egyptian and other Hollywood landmarks on the Hollywood Blvd. tour. full size image

Hollywood Photographs

www.hollywoodphotographs.com The Bruce Torrance Hollywood Photograph Collection has numerous exterior views of the EgyptianTheatre to browse.

David Hornbuckle on Flickr

flickr.com/photos/hornbuckle

Ceiling detail of the Egyptian Theatre by David Hornbuckle

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L.A. Public Library Photo Collection

www.lapl.org From the Library's collection:

A view of the Egyptian's proscenium and fire curtain. full size view

another proscenium view

The view toward the back of the house.

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Online Archive of California

www.oac.cdlib.org A 1932 exterior view of the Egyptian with quite elaborate signage installed. full size image |

more LA theatre photos from the archive

Hollywood 90038 on Photobucket

photobucket.com...hollywood90038

Hollywood 90038 took this great photo of the 1994 earthquake damage to the Egyptian Theatre along with a view of repaired stagehouse and side wall. full size images

Spherical Panoramas

www.sphericalpanoramas.com A terrific circular view of the new auditorium constructed inside the shell of the Egyptian Theatre by the American Cinematheque.

You can pan and tilt in all directions. Here's a view of the sidewall and screen of the revamped Egyptian Theatre auditorium.

To start your tour: go to the website and either scroll down through "most recent" panoramas or hit the "movie palaces" link in the left column. Click on the photo of the Egyptian's proscenium.

Tales of an LA Addict on Flickr

flickr.com/photos/la_addict

The '06 Egyptian Theatre set by Tales of an LA Addict has 46 nice interesting photos of the Egyptian including this photo of furniture in an old dressing room. full size view

Uncovering Tutankhamen

A nice article about the discovery of King Tut's tomb. The picture of the Egyptian interior is from a chapter on Cinematic Contributions -- a discussion of the Egyptian theme in movies and theatres. full size image

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG00/rekas/tut/uncover.htm

UPA Pic

www.upapix.com This photo by Randall Michelson shows the Egyptian interior after the renovation (and downsizing) by the American Cinematheque.

The site is devoted to a study of the UPA animation studio which produced Mr. Magoo and other cartoons. The photo is from a page on history of a UPA Documentary which was shown at the Egyptian. full size image

Leonard Maltin

www.leonardmaltin.com This photo from Leonard's website article of September 2006 shows a silver screen being installed at the Egyptian in July 2006 for a 3-D festival. full size image

In 70mm

www.in70mm.com

This photo of the Norelco DP70 projectors in the Egyptian booth is part of an article on the theatre's screening of a 4 Track Magnetic at the Egyptian festival including rare demo films. full size image

Zilf's Postcards on Flickr

www.flickr.com/photos/zilf Zilf has amassed a wonderful collection of Los Angeles postcards--459 at last count. Here's a classic forecourt view from Zilf's collection. full size view

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6712 Hollywood Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90028

(323) 466-3456 | map |

film schedule

Website: americancinematheque.com

Opened: October 18, 1922 by Sid Grauman with Douglas Fairbanks as "Robin Hood" on the screen. This was Grauman's first venture outside downtown Los Angeles and was made possible by developer C.E. Toberman.

Grauman's Egyptian was the first real movie palace in Hollywood. His close connections with studio heads allowed him to succeed as an independent exhibitor. It also didn't hurt that he did a great job of creating a romantic atmosphere with decor, costumed staff and elaborate prologues along with the feature picture.

At the beginning, the Egyptian was running only 2 shows a day at legit prices and getting long profitable runs from its pictures. In the first 3 years of operation, the Egyptian Theatre ran only 4 movies.

Talkies at the Egyptian

The Egyptian was one of the first Los Angeles theatres to be wired for sound and hosted the west coast premiere of Warner's "Don Juan" in 1926.

For a period after the "Don Juan" engagement Grauman dropped his famous prologues in favor of recorded Vitaphone short subjects. These were cranked out by the Warner Bros Vitaphone division in large numbers in the mid and late 20's and largely consisted of musical perfomances and recorded vaudeville routines. Eventually the prologues were reinstated.

Opening of the Chinese

When Sid moved up the street to the Chinese in 1927, the Egyptian became a move-over house operated by Fox West Coast. His name stayed with the building for a number of years although he was no longer involved in the operation.

The Egyptian in the '40's

"The EGYPTIAN was in excellent condition then. They had just taken the monkeys out when I got there."

--Cashier Totty Ames, talking about coming to work at the Egyptian in 1943. The forecourt used to have cages with various animals and men in exotic garb walking the parapets.

Totty appears in "Hollywood Remembered: An Oral History of its Golden Age" by Paul Zollo, Cooper Square Press, 2002. [p. 193]

In 1944 the Egyptian again became a first run venue as a showcase for MGM product. Fox West Coast Theatres was also managing the Loew's State Theatre downtown at the time.

In 1949 management was taken over by United Artists Theatre Circuit.

Long a favorite house for Hollywood premieres, it has had an amazing number of great runs of important pictures.

70mm in the 1950's

It was equipped for TODD-AO in 1955 for a long roadshow run of "Oklahoma" (on a 75 foot screen) followed by "South Pacific" in 1958, the third TODD-AO film.

Other 70mm reserved seat runs included "Ben Hur" in 1959 (running 2 years!), "King of Kings" (1963), "My Fair Lady" (1964-68 weeks), "Hawaii" (1966) and "Funny Girl" (1968).

Later Years at the Egyptian

Until the theatre's closure in 1992, the Egyptian was operated by United Artists Theatre Circuit playing lots of Fox product -- especially after the 1977 "Star Wars" snafu at the Chinese. Frequently the Egyptian played day - and - date with the United Artists downtown.

A 1979 remodeling by United Artists Theatre Circuit resulted in 2 mini-theatres in a store building to the east of the theatre and a 90 foot screen for a D-150 system installation in the main theatre.

Between the 1955 work for TODD-AO and the D-150 installation, the theatre suffered a substantial loss of decoration at the proscenium. Much of the rest of the auditorium was covered in yellow draperies from the 50's onward.

In it's last days prior to closure in 1992 United Artists was running the Egyptian as a $1.50 admission grind house.

Architects: Meyer & Holler.

The original plan was for a Spanish style theatre. That was quickly changed to an Egyptian motif to exploit the public's fascination with the Egyptian archeological discoveries being made at the time.

Seating: Originally 1771 on one level, reseated in late 40's for a capacity of 1538.

The recent renovation by American Cinematheque resulted in a substantial downsizing to 616 seats plus the addition of a second 78 seat screening room.

Status: American Cinematheque opened in the renovated building in 1998. The auditorium now is a smaller box enclosed by the shell of the original theatre. The programming is a mix of revivals, foreign films, indies and various festivals in all formats including 70mm.

More information:

See the page on Cinema Treasures for a nice history of the Egyptian by Howard B. Haas and Ken Roe plus miles and miles of additional comments.

Information on 70mm roadshow runs at the Egyptian is on Michael Coate's terrific site www.fromscripttodvd.com.

Go to the Cinema Tour page for more photos of the Egyptian Theatre.