Follies Theatre
337 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
337 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles,
CA
90013
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This photo is supposedly from 1920, but as the Belasco photo above is also supposed to be a 1920 shot, you have to assume that the Follies shot was sometime later in the 20s:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015292.jpg
Was Ili Ili an actual human being? I guess so if he/she was arrested, but the ‘untamed’ part makes me nervous.
Woo, the Hot Mamma Chorus! That must have been quite a show! I’m sorry I missed it. And I wonder whatever became of Ili Ili?
This article mentions the Follies and also confirms Joe’s correct address. Plus, it gave me a good laugh. I would give my left arm to have been in that courtroom that day. I want to meet Ili Ili!
(Oct. 29, 1927)
HOT MAMMA CHORUS HAS COURT SKIT
Institution of a campaign to sweep Main street clear of questionable shows brought forty-six persons into Municipal Court yesterday on charges of violating city ordinances.
Among the congregation which thronged the courtrooms were twenty-seven girls of the ‘Hot Mamma’ chorus, somewhat more completely clad than when they were arrested Thursday night by Sergt. Sweetnam in the Follies Theater at 337 South Main street, twelve chorus men, arrested at the same time, four tattooed women, wearing their working clothes, and last, but not least, Ili Ili, and untamed tree-climbing South African pygmy. The last group was arrested late yesterday at 530 South Main street on a charge of advertising on the street, by Chief Investigator Vail of the City Prosecutor’s office.
The group arrested at the Follies Theater on a charge of giving an indecent exhibition, including Dorothy Walton, leading-woman, and T.B. Dalton, manager, all pleaded not guilty when arraigned before Municipal Judge Georgia Bullock and demanded a jury trial. They were ordered to appear monday at 10 a.m. before Municipal Judge Blake to have a date set for trial, and were released on $50 bail each.
The four tattooed women, appearing before Judge Bullock, and the barkers and Ili Ili, appearing before Municipal Judge Wilson, also pleaded not guilty. Their trial will be set next week. The defendants were represented by Attorneys R. Lee Heath and Charles B. Hazelhurst.
I suspect the picture dated circa 1920 to be in error. One of the store fronts bears the words “…Liquor Company” on its awning, and prohibition was already in effect in 1920. Also, the building looks too new, and the street to tidy to depict a 1920 scene. This shot is probably a bit earlier- probably pre-WWI.
The 1919 date for the other picture raises some questions, too. David Belasco opened his new theatre on Hill Street in 1926, and yet this picture shows a blade sign on the old theatre that reads “Follies.” If this picture is from 1919, then Belsaco must have abandoned this theatre before his new one was built, or must have renamed the theatre himself while still operating it.
I see no evidence of construction around the site of the City Hall farther up Main Street, and I believe that clearance of those blocks had begun by 1926 (the building having been completed by April of 1928.) Also, the cars parked along the street don’t look like mid-late 1920’s models. The 1919 date for this photograph is probably correct.
Upon further review, it appears that I am contradicting myself as the earlier picture shows the Belasco in 1920. The Library must have the wrong date for the picture directly above.
The Follies Theater is at the bottom left hand side of the picture. The photo was taken in 1919 and is on the LA Library website:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014095.jpg
Front entrance, 1933:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015295.jpg
Here is a picture of the orginal Belasco, circa 1920, courtesy of the LA Library. You can see that is the same building as the Follies, obviously before some major renovation.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/theater2/00015226.jpg
Here are two pictures, both from the early 1970s, courtesy of the LA Library:
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014086.jpg
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics09/00014100.jpg
There are several pictures of this theater in the LA Library online database.
Sorry that link didn’t work for some reason, try this one:-
http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sclee/
Scroll down on the ‘Search by Title’ (alphabetically listed) until you come to Follies Theatre. Highlight and Submit
Photographs of the Follies Theatre View link
Architect S. Charles Lee did some modernisations on the building in the 1930’s. Two projects listed in the Appendix in Maggie Valentine’s book “The Show Starts on the Sidewalk” have un-named Los Angeles theatres that could have had work executed by Charles Lee in 1936 for an un-named client and another for client Alex Pavlov in 1937-40.
Looking at the photos on the link I give here, the interior work carried out by Lee appears to be minimal, but the exterior photo above seems to have a more ‘modern’ look, especially the blade sign and marquee.
The Belasco Theatre was known briefly as the Republic Theatre before becoming the Follies Theatre in 1919 when it bagan its long life as a major burlesque house.
It was demolished in May 1974
In fact I do remember the name Galway, but I don’t recall the location, and I can’t picture the theater in my mind. I hadn’t thought of that place in years. I have a vague recollection of having seen it listed in the newspaper theater guides, though. I think it may have been one of several houses on Main Street that ran what were then called “nudie cutie” movies.
Joe, do you recall seeing a burlesque theater on Main called the “Galway”?
Ken:
I remember this theater being called the New Follies in the early 1960s, and I believe it was a live burlesque house at the time, like the Burbank. The bus I took home from downtown ran up Main Street, so I passed the theater hundreds of times, but never went there.
Film Daily Yearbooks 1941 and 1943 list this as the Folly Theatre (this of course could be a misprint/spelling error). By the 1950 edition and beyond the listing has disappeared so it could have gone over to live strip venue use.
While viewing a bizarre film compilation on video, I glimpsed the theater and was able to identify it as The Follies from this site.
The film short was made in 1963 or ‘64 and the Follies clearly was a strip venue by that time, with “VIV VIDD/JULIE CAESAR/I WANT TO STRIP” on the marquee.
The correct address of this theater was 337 SOUTH Main Street. It was almost directly across Main Street from the Adolphus Theater (later known as the Hippodrome.) The Follies was originally the Belasco, and only became the Follies when David Belasco moved his company into his new theater on Hill Street in the 1920s. The first Belasco was built either in 1901 or 1904 (I’ve read conflicting reports) and was demolished in 1974. I don’t know if this was the same Follies Theater which was remodeled by S. Charles Lee sometime in the 1930s.
The Follies Theatre was located at 327 N. Main Street.