Egyptian Theatre

I remember that wide-screen version of Gone With the Wind, though I didn’t see it at the Egyptian. It turned up later at the El Rey Theatre in Alhambra, where I believe they used to to inaugurate their CinemaScope installation. It was the first time I saw that movie and the first time I saw CinemaScope, and as the original framing had been butchered to fit the wide screen it was not a good introduction to either. I would hope that every print of that abomination has been destroyed.

Link with a fade of 1938 and now. Copy and paste to view.

http://www.whatwasthere.com/browse.aspx#!/ll/34.101551,-118.336851/id/70626/info/sv/zoom/14/

Yeah, Flix70, the Egyptian has screenings nearly every night so you’d think there would be more comments on this page. Anyway, I’m pleased you enjoyed the “1941” article. No Spielberg at the event (unless he was in disguise). The Q&A included actors Tim Matheson, Nancy Allen, Dianne Kay, Bobby Di Cicco, Susan Backlinie, and Jordan Cohen, plus co-screenwriter Bob Gale, producer Buzz Feitshans, miniature supervisor Greg Jein, second assistant director Chris Soldo, and stuntperson Leslie Hoffman. Mike Matessino hosted.

Off topic – the Arena Cinema: looking at pictures on Yelp it seems to have 1 auditorium. Were the 2 cinemas opened up into 1?

After sitting dormant for the past few years, they’ve finally begun putting the courtyard storefronts back in to use. The main entrance/Hollywood Blvd corner unit is slated to reopen as a juice bar in April and the remaining units received some remodeling recently (not sure if there are tenants lined up for those yet).

terrywade: Totally agree!

I hadn’t been to the Egyptian since the early nineties, before the quake and remodeling. I had read others' descriptions of what had been done to the poor theatre, and wasn’t in a hurry to return. But there was something showing a couple months ago that I wanted to see, and both the Chinese and El Capitan were running movies on my “need to see” list, so I thought I’d do all three movie palaces in one day. So, straight from El Cap to the Chinese, with all of their splendors, I walk into the Egyptian, and… no matter how many interior photos I had seen, somehow I just wasn’t prepared for how underwhelming the poor theatre had become. At least with the curved screen and curtains, the sunburst and scarab where the old proscenium arch once was still had a visual connection to the screen. Now it’s just in the middle of nowhere, with the tiny, unadorned screen far away from it, looking like it’s right out a multiplex in a mall. They really put the “gyp” in Egyptian.

Bring back the curved D-150 screen. The little flat screen today with no curtains is a sad place to watch a film. No color lights inside during a film. The fountains ran dry because of leaks many years ago in the for court. No marquee out front to tell all the tourists what is going on inside. Time for a new management team to come in and bring back some showmanship and customers. Take a cue on what the El Capitan Theatre does up the street,they have lines outside while the Eqyptian only has a few good nights a month.

When did the street facade remodeling from the 50’s occur?
Maybe I missed something, but I can’t find the exact dates of its existence. Just that it was around from the 50’s to the 80’s.

It seems that this information should be included in the overview.

The screen was never 90 feet wide. It was somewhere between 70-80 feet measured along the curve, which is key. That particular screen (Dimension 150) featured a 120 degree curved screen and was installed in 1968. Without the curve, the screen would have to be a lot smaller. It was during this 1968 remodeling that the proscenium went, not for the Todd-AO remodel. For the original CinemaScope installation in the early 50’s, the two inner pillars were removed. For Todd-AO, the screen was actually brought forward, hiding the outer pillars. This was when the draped look went up. then in 1968, the last of the pillars and proscenium were removed and the new D-150 curved screen installed by pushing it back to where the original stage was. Ironically, much of the original side work was revealed of the auditorium at this time.

Anyone know how the World 3-D Movie Expo in September will be projected? 35mm dual projector polaroid or Digital?

Return of the Jedi was shown again this past weekend for star wars weekend to celebrate it’s 30th anniversary on May 25th, weeks after the film had its world premiere at this theater. It was part of a festival.

What I recall from having gone just a couple of times was that you still entered through the main walkway, then jogged around to the left side of the main building, and I believe the doors to the small building were on its south side. I hate to say it but I don’t even recognize it from that photo. I thought there might have been a small patio style entrance, but basically it was just a plain little building with two tiny screens.