The Earl Carroll Theatre was the name of two major theatres, one on Broadway in New York City and the other on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, owned by Broadway impresario and showman Earl Carroll.
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Broadway
The first was the Broadway theatre venture at 753 Seventh Ave. & W. Fiftieth Street in New York City. Built in 1922 and highly successful for a number of years until it was demolished and rebuilt on a lavish scale. It reopened in August 1931 with Carroll's billing that it was "the largest legitimate theater in the world." However, the facility's operating costs proved astronomical and it went into foreclosure in early 1932 after which it was acquired by producer Florenz Ziegfeld who renamed it the "Casino Theatre." However, Ziegfeld too went bankrupt only a short time later. The building was converted to retail space in 1940 and eventually became a Woolworth's Department Store. It was demolished in 1990.
Sunset Blvd.
Earl Carroll built his second famous theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, California that opened on December 26, 1938. As he had done at the New York theatre, over the doors of the entrance Carroll had emblazoned the words "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world." An "entertainment palace," the glamorous supper club-theatre offered shows on a massive stage with a 60-foot (18 m) wide double revolving turntable and staircase plus swings that could be lowered from the ceiling. The building's facade was adorned by what at the time was one of Hollywood's most famous landmarks: a 20-foot (6.1 m)-high neon head portrait of entertainer Beryl Wallace, one of Earl Carroll's "most beautiful girls in the world," who became his devoted companion. The sign had long vanished by the 1960s, but a re-creation made from photos is today on display at Universal CityWalk, at Universal City, as part of the collection of historic neon signs from the Museum of Neon Art. Another major feature at the theatre was its "Wall of Fame" where many of Hollywood's most glamorous stars inscribed a personal message.
Extremely successful, Jean Spangler, Mara Corday, Phyllis Coates, Maila Nurmi, Gloria Pall, and Lucille Ball were some of the showgirls who performed here. The facility was a popular spot for many of Hollywood's most glamourous stars and powerful film industry moguls such as Darryl F. Zanuck and Walter Wanger sat on the Earl Carroll Theatre's board of governors.
The theater was sold following the 1948 deaths of Earl Carroll and Beryl Wallace in the crash of United Airlines Flight 624 at Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania. The theater continued to operate, but in the 1950s fell on hard times. Beginning in 1953, for a while it operated as a nightclub under the name, the "Moulin Rouge." During part of its run (1956-1964), the popular TV game show Queen for a Day was broadcast from this venue.[1] After changing hands it eventually became the "Hullabaloo" Rock and Roll club, capitalizing on the popularity of the television variety show Hullabaloo. It then became the "Aquarius Theatre" in the late 1960s and was used as a venue for the long running musical Hair and made famous as the place where The Doors performed on July 21, 1969.
In 1983, the Pick-Vanoff Company purchased the property and converted it into a state-of-the art television theater that for nine years was the taping site of Star Search.[1] For many years, it was used for the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon.[1] It later became the Nickelodeon Theater and was owned by Columbia Pictures. In 2004, it was sold to a private equity firm as part of a larger parcel of property.
As of September 2007, the City of Los Angeles Historic Preservation Board has worked to assure that the theater is protected.
In the late 1990s the theatre was purchased by Nickelodeon. Since then, it was rebranded as "Nickelodeon on Sunset," and has been the headquarters for Nickelodeon's west coast live action television production. Some of the shows filmed here include All That, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and is currently home to iCarly.
Trivia
Galina "Gay" Orlova, girlfriend of gangster Lucky Luciano performed in Carroll's "Murder at the Vanities" in New York City and Florida during the 1930s
External links
References
- Lost Broadway Theatres by Nicholas van Hoogstraten, (1991) Princeton Architectural Press (ISBN 1-878271-06-7)
Notes
- ^ a b c Gordon, William A. (1992). The Ultimate Hollywood Tour Book. Toluca Lake, CA: North Ridge Books. p. 156. ISBN 0-937813-03-6.
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