Comments from jamwood

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jamwood
jamwood commented about Carthay Circle Theatre on Feb 22, 2008 at 2:39 pm

To vokoban, not sure I’d know how to do it myself, but would it be difficult to post one or two or a few of those classic ads online? How wonderful it would be to see them! And I agree 100% about the spelling – Theatre. Many called Leonard the conductor “Bern-STEEN,” while others said “Bern-STINE.” Tempest in a teapot, why not ask the owner of the name? Bernstein himself quite simply stated the STINE option, as would be proper in German or Yiddish. So there, be it Bernstein or Carthay Circle, the final decision rests with the one who owns the name!

jamwood
jamwood commented about Carthay Circle Theatre on Feb 21, 2008 at 11:07 am

Theater or Theatre? The Web’s many sources are amply divided between the two. In essence, “theater” is the American spelling, and “theatre” is British, but often used in the U.S. as a kind of affectation or quaintness, especially in the early days of Hollywood filmdom. However, one Web site, Historic Neon Signs in Los Angeles, settles the bet. It shows a bold and beautiful archival photograph of the actual neon sign: “Carthay Circle Theatre.” Many sites provide first-hand evidence of “Fox Theatres Corp.”

jamwood
jamwood commented about Carthay Circle Theatre on Feb 7, 2008 at 12:42 pm

I agree with those who disparage the demolition of a theater that easily rivaled the glamour and glory of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, still standing on Hollywood Blvd. Raised by a single mom in the 1930s, we were taken by her younger college-age sister, our sitter, to first-run premieres of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Fantasia,” and “Gone With the Wind.” My fondest memory is when we went to see “Snow White” and were greeted by Ms. White (a pretty girl fitting the bill), Doc, Bashful, and the whole gang. The latter were actually fairly large, I suspect smallish people in costumes with cartoonlike (papier-mache?) heads. Long before Disneyland made them commonplace, we looked with awe at the phantasmagorical diorama reproductions of the magical house and forest before entering the theater. You blokes with the wrecking ball, how could you do it?!!

jamwood
jamwood commented about Meralta Theatre on Feb 7, 2008 at 12:21 pm

In the 1930s I lived three blocks from the Meralta. At ages six-seven my little brother and I attended the ten-cent Saturday afternoon matinee with a newsreel, previews, cartoon, main feature, and our favorite, the weekly serial with cliffhangers and the works. The Meralta introduced me to Franz Liszt’s beautiful “Les Preludes.” To this day when I hear it in the concert hall I see Flash Gordon’s rocket-ship mockups wobbling into outer space on invisible strings. It was the ticky-tacky 2001 Space Odyssey of its day. One preview scared the pants off of me when a giant genie, played by Rex Ingram, shot up from a bottle uncorked by Indian boy actor Sabu. The following week I went for more terror at “The Thief of Bagdad [sic],” an all-time favorite that I’ve seen several times since. One day my brother and I went AWOL from Pacific Military Academy up in the Cheviot Hills, walked three miles to see a picture show at the Meralta. I still don’t know how the Commandant found us, marched in Gestapo-style, and personally hauled us back to the school, where corporal punishment was no issue. We got swats (not too hard), an hour of standing at attention against the wall, and a full day of litter pickup on the campus grounds. So sad to see the old movie house dead and gone.