Globe Theatre, formerly the Morosco

In the view below, note the Morosco lettering still on the building behind the current marquee.

Morosco/Globe stagehouse. The star is evidently left over from the previous club in the space, Club Orion. The current tenant, Club Seven Forty, uses the stage door as the entrance to the club's spaces onstage and in the auditorium.


More sources for information about the Globe Theatre... 

The thumbnail images below are generally from searches on Yahoo! Google Images or other databases. Click on the image to see how we found it 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.

 

Broadway Theaters Los Angeles - The Globe Theater marquee in a photo from Grace Market Research's Broadway Theater Tour web page.Broadway Theatre Tour

www.gmrnet.com/theaters.html   See this site for a nice tour with lots of information about the Globe and other theatres.
full size image

 

Club Seven Forty

www.740la.com    Club Seven Forty is now located in the auditorium and stage areas of the Globe. 

 Here on the Club 740 website we have a view of the proscenium and house left box. full size view

 

 Also from the Club's site: A view from the stage looking into the auditorium. 

full size view

More photos of the club on their site: balconies | flyfloors stage left at balcony level | proscenium box and balcony | offstage left | bar area under balcony | offstage left view | flyfloors stage left |        All images copyright Club Seven Forty.

 

Los Angeles Theaters - The Globe Theatre exterior in a photo from the Los Angeles Conservancy.Los Angeles Conservancy

www.laconservancy.org    Here's an early photo of  the Garland Building and its Morosco Theatre (later the Globe) from the Conservancy's wonderful photo gallery of the Broadway Historic Theatre District.  

The photo is from the Security Pacific Collection at the Los Angeles public Library.

full size view

 

Los Angeles Movie palaces - The Globe Theatre auditorium in a photo from the Los Angeles Conservancy. 

A view of the Morosco's proscenium.  

The photo is from the Theatre Historical Society of America / Terry Helgesen Collection.

 

full size view

 

 


Theaters of Los Angeles - The Morosco Theatre, later the Globe, in a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection.L.A. Public Library Photo Collection

www.lapl.org     An early view of the Morosco Theatre and Garland Building from the Library's collection. 

Note the "Morosco" vertical sign.  

full size view

 

Los Angeles Theaters - The Globe Theater, in a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection. 

An later view of the marquee from the Library's collection.  

 full size view

 

 

 

Los Angeles Theaters - The Morosco Theater on Broadway, later the President Theater, now the Globe Theater, in the foreground with the marquee of Bard's 8th Street, later the Olympic, across the street. The image is a vintage postcard on Photobucket.Photobucket

www.photobucket.com   This great vintage postcard shows the theatre's marquee at left - when it was known as the President.

 There's also a view of the Majestic vertical down the street on the right. 

 full size view

 

 

 

UCLA Changing Times Collection

unitproj.library.ucla.edu   A 1948 photo from the UCLA collection:   Globe as the Newsreel Theatre


For more information on theaters near the Globe Theatre on Broadway see our Broadway Theaters Los Angeles page.


Producer Oliver Morosco, who ran a number of Los Angeles theaters, in a photo from the Los Angeles Public Library.Oliver Morosco

 
 Inventive and flamboyant producer Oliver Morosco was involved in operating a number of Los Angeles theaters as well as the Morosco Theatre in New York. 
 
At left is an undated photo of Morosco from the Los Angeles Public Library Collection.   full size view 
 
Among his first inventions was picking a name for himself.  He was born in 1976 in Logan, Utah as Oliver Mitchell.  He took the name Morosco from a acrobatic act called "The Three Moroscos" that he appeared in as a kid. The act was  run by Walter Morosco, who later operated theatres in San Francisco.  By age 12 Oliver was on his own and by age 16 was assistant manager of one of  Walter Morosco's theatres.

In 1899 (at age 23) he signed a lease on the money-losing Burbank Theatre on Main Street and made it a winner. His big musical success "The Bird of Paradise" (1912) made his reputation but later resulted in charges of plagiarism.

He was involved in a number of other Los Angeles theaters including the Casino (later the Empress Theatre). Like several other promoters, his time at the Casino did not go well and his tenure in 1905 lasted only a few months.
 
In November 1908 he opened the Majestic Theatre on Los Angeles' Broadway, a venue leased from department store owner M.A. Hamberger. By that time he was successfully producing in New York and also operating a Majestic Theatre in San Francisco.
 
In 1913 the Los Angeles Morosco Theatre (later the Globe) opened with weekly changes of plays, a new format for Broadway.  By the late 20's he lost control of this theatre to the Henry Duffy Players group.

New York's Morosco Theatre  opened February 5, 1917. It was owned by Lee and J.J. Shubert and given to Morosco to manage as a reward for helping the Shuberts break the Charles Frohman-led Theatrical Trust. Morosco managed the house until 1924.

He was involved in a number of other Los Angeles theater ventures and was also active as a film producer and film writer from 1915 through 1929.

He was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1926 after lawsuits and other difficulties.  Not to mention several messy divorces.
 
Oliver Morosco died August 25, 1945 after being hit by a Red Line street car in Hollywood. He had 8 cents in his pocket.
 

Sources:  
 
The Oliver Morosco bio  on Internet Movie Database discusses the Morosco Theatre in New York.  See also this sites Oliver Morosco filmography.

"Top Slander" in Time magazine September 3, 1945 is an obit for Morosco.
 
The Cinema Treasures page for the Majestic Theatre has a number of interesting postings about Oliver Morosco.

Answers.com's Oliver Morosco listing gives some of his legit credits.
 

 

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