Saban Theatre
8440 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverly Hills,
CA
90211
8440 Wilshire Boulevard,
Beverly Hills,
CA
90211
32 people
favorited this theater
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Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The Fox Wilshire’s 58-week run is mentioned in the piece.
Brief marquee shot at the November 4, 1953 premiere of “How To Marry A Millionaire”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O2y9FvAdak&fbclid=IwAR0EnD-gXH8x2p11rdhkyV_h0_k7_At94yzbP0M8LdW3uJMVlf9UUDMO_R0
Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” opened its world premiere engagement here on this day in 1959. Happy 60th!
The Saban’s web site shows from two to four one-night events a month scheduled over the next several months, mostly baby boomer nostalgia music acts (Peter Cetera, Isley Brothers, Paul Anka, etc.) It would be nice if they could throw in an occasional classic movie, but I don’t know if they even have projection equipment anymore— or a screen, for that matter.
I’m curious as to what exactly is going on with the Saban these days. It’s just down the street from me, and I pass it frequently when driving, but there never seems to be anything happening there. It just sits there, GRAND, magnificent.
Wow from the original photos to the ones in 2002 it looks like someone repainted their basement. One thick coat of ugly colors slapped on with a big brush.
I hope the Saban restoration was able to bring it back to its former beauty. What a great place it probably was to see SOM.
The TVLand 2015 Awards were filmed here, and the place looked great.
“The Sound of Music” premiered here fifty years ago today. With a reserved-seat run of 94 weeks, I imagine it’s the long-run record holder for this venue.
The October 2013 issue of “Signs of the Times” magazine tells you more than you could ever want to know about the restoration of the Saban Theatre marquee. The lead contractors were Duarte Design and Alpha Architectural Signs.
This was the location of the L.A. Conservancy’s first screening in Beverly Hills during their annual Last Remaining Seats program. There were two showings of “The Wizard of Oz,” at this theater on Saturday, June 30th.
There was already new carpet in the auditorium when we held the All About. It’ll be nice when they get the carpet and walls and decorations all matching. Right now the place looks a bit odd.
Walked by the theatre the other day and they were hard at work installing new carpet in the lobby, and possibly throughout.
Undated color photo:
http://tinyurl.com/32mmamn
Here is a link to a photo of the Saban from the LAHTF tour. A couple interior shots accompany it: View link
I just watched Silent Movie again with an eye toward comparing it to the theater we just toured. The name above the marquee resembled the one it had until recently, but I’ve never seen a photo of the Wilshire that had a ticket booth like that one. Also, they don’t show much of the auditorium, so it’s hard to place as well. But that lobby — the pillars are very identifiable, as well as the curved shape of the back wall, the stairs, and that side hall to what are now handicapped-accessible restrooms… that I feel confident about. The rest of it? Who knows?
It was forty-five years ago this week that THE SOUND OF MUSIC premiered in Southern California at this theater. With a run of 94 weeks, I imagine THE SOUND OF MUSIC was the most successful film to ever play the Fox Wilshire/Wilshire/Saban.
And in case you missed it last week when first posted, here’s a little retrospective article I put together to celebrate the film’s 45th anniversary.
Damn! The ; should not be a part of the link above!
The LAHTF Insider’s Peek for the Saban (Fox Wilshire) is now up at www.youtube.com/lahtf; theater historian, manager and restoration expert Ed Kelsey talks a bit about the work done on the proscenium. Also shown is the new marquee with the new name. Ed actually gave me about 15 minutes worth of material covering all areas of the theater, and I’ll be putting a longer, more comprehensive video on the LAHTF channel soon.
There’s a typo in the URL indicated above: the correct one is: http://www.lahtf.org/
There is an amazing new photo of the interior posted on the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation’s FaceBook Page
Remember that the LATHF will have a public tour of this theatre on Saturday, March 20th at 10:30 am!!
www.lathtf.org
Very nice.
Keep March 20th open, because on that morning the Wilshire/Saban Theater will open its doors for an LAHTF All About. More details soon.
It was probably the Wilshire Theater in West Los Angeles that they used for the auditorium scenes in Silent Movie. The Fox Wilshire was still a major venue in 1976 and a big money maker. The Manager, Bob Shapiro, was old school and would never have allowed it to become “shabby” or anything less than perfect.
The original seating capacity was well over 2000. During it’s roadshow days it seated 1840, and that was with the two upper balconies closed off.
I drove by the theater this morning. The marquee is wonderful, though not exactly true to the original. Almost all traces of the ugly sixties modernization to the exterior are gone
I’m watching Silent Movie (1976) right now and the marquee and auditorium look pretty shabby, and I wonder how they fit 1900 seats into it. But the lobby looks good.
The new marquee is up and is a pleasant surprise. I went by last night expecting back-lit plastic, and instead I saw neon. They’ve done a great job.