Item List

THE GODFATHER (1972) Friday, September 16th at 7:00 pm! ** Presented in 35mm and featuring Academy Award nominee Talia Shire in conversation with historian Alan K. Rode ** Photos courtesy Getty Images; Everett / New York Post It's an offer you can't refuse.
Don't miss your chance to see one of the greatest American films ever made on the big screen, presented in glorious 35 mm: Friday, September 16th, at the Hollywood Legion Theater . For the past 50 years, Francis Ford Coppola's stunning adaptation of Mario Puzo's saga of the Corleone crime family has been routinely regarded as one of the best films of all time. This powerful statement on the American Dream exquisitely explores themes of corruption, power, and family, honestly and, often, brutally.
If you've never experienced THE GODFATHER on the big screen, there's no better time than now for its 50th anniversary year.
Featuring a conversation with celebrated film historian and author Alan K. Rode and Oscar nominated actress Talia Shire who portrays Connie Corleone in THE GODFATHER trilogy.
For ticket information click HERE DISCOUNT AVAILABLE FOR HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MEMBERS

by Mary Mallory H.H. Wilcox’s 1887 map of Hollywood courtesy of USC digital collections. Street names provide a telling story of an area’s development, growth, and history. Real estate promoters and developers give tract streets aspirational titles, monikers that salute subjects or places, or as is often the case, name them after themselves, their friends, and family. Early Hollywood pioneers looking to leave a powerful statement of their accomplishments and importance followed suit, giving the roads and streets through their burgeoning land tracts the names of their closest family members. In this way they provide a telling history of those who built a dusty little farming town into a flourishing entertainment and commercial district, one recognized and celebrated around the world. The following list describes the history of the majority of streets in Hollywood’s original land tracts that surround major thoroughfares like Hollywood, Sunset, and Santa Monica Boulevards, some of which gained their names in late 1912 after the city of Los Angeles changed some of the street names around the metropolis. Beachwood Drive takes its name from developer Albert Beach, who purchased acreage in an unnamed Cahuenga Valley canyon in the early 1900s before opening it up to development. Beach would go on to name the canyon and its main street after himself. Bronson Avenue salutes real estate promoter Marcus Alonzo Bronson, born in Michigan in 1840, who moved to Los Angeles in 1887 and began selling real estate in 1890. He later settled in Hollywood, where he died in 1907. Cahuenga Boulevard “Hollywood’s back door through the mountains,” derives from the Gabrielino word cahuenga as “place of the mountain,” the top of what we now know as the Cahuenga Pass. Originally a footpath for Native Americans, it later served as part of El Camino Real, the Butterfield stagecoach route, and in 1911, served as the Pacific Electric Railway’s Big Red streetcars route to the San Fernando Valley. Cole Street honors Senator Cornelius Cole, who moved to Los Angeles in late 1880 after serving as a congressman and United States senator from 1866-1872 and helping to found the Republican Party in California. His 500-acre ranch, named after his wife, Olive Colegrove, originally part of Rancho La Brea, and deeded to him by the Hancock family, encompassed the area between Gower, Seward, Rosewood, and Sunset Boulevard. Living to 102, he died in 1924. DeLongpre Avenue salutes French-born painter Paul De Longpre, whose Moorish-style residence and gardens at what is now the northwest corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Cahuenga Avenue served as the area’s first tourist attraction. Unable to sell paintings in France or New York, DeLongpre moved to Los Angeles, where Daieda Wilcox fell in love with his work and gave him three lots. The residence served as the Hollywood stop on the balloon route, the 1900s version of the Gray Line Tour taking tourists from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica and back showing off the beauty of the area. Visiting out-of-towners loved strolling the beautiful gardens, purchasing De Longpre’s paintings as a souvenir of their visit to charming estate. After De Longpre’s death in 1911, his home was converted to apartments, and demolished in 1927. Eleanor Street recognizes Eleanor Brydges, wife of real estate man Seward Cole, the son of former Senator Cole. Born in London, Canada, she moved with her family to the Hollywood area in 1878 when her father, Edward Brydges, opened Southern California’s first commercial rose nursery on 20 acres near Hollywood and Laurel Canyon Boulevards. She died in 1967. Gower Street takes its name from early resident John T. Gower and his wife, Mary, who owned a 160-acre ranch between Sunset Boulevard and Melrose Avenue, taking a claim in 1869, per his son G.T. Gower, in the May 19, 1922, Los Angeles Evening Citizen News. The elder Gower died in 1901. HIghland Avenue salutes Highland Mary Mosby Price, wife of real estate developer Thomas Walter Price. Born in 1866, she died in Hollywood in 1901. C. 1911 postcard of Paul De Longpre’s home, from the California State Library. Hollywood Boulevard replaced Prospect Avenue as the name of Hollywood’s main street in 1910 after residents approved the town’s annexation by the city of Los Angeles. City leaders believed the name befitted a more upscale tract seeking to become a first-class city. Hudson Avenue honors Thomas Hudson, a successful real estate man who constructed a large home on Prospect Avenue in 1902, which later received the address 1635 Hudson Ave. Hudson owned eight acres between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset. In 1917, the home was moved because of the growing commercialization of the area. The August 3, 1917, Los Angeles Evening Citizen News reported that Hudson Avenue was created in 1904 as the land was subdivided. Ivar Avenue takes its name from early pioneer Ivar A. Weid, a Danish immigrant born in 1837 who owned a ranch adjacent to the Wilcoxes that extended into the canyon originally called Weid Canyon, now the home of the Hollywood Dell and Mulholland Dam. Moving to the Cahuenga Valley in 1883, he operated a stone quarry there by the early 1890s that provided material for several Los Angeles buildings while serving with the Internal Revenue Service. He died in 1902. Lodi Place recognizes Senator Cornelius Cole’s birthplace of Lodi, New York, where he was born in 1822. McCadden Place salutes W.G. McCadden, owner of the Rebate Mining Company of Lakeview, New Mexico, who moved to Hollywood in 1901, purchasing 4 1/2 acres on Prospect Avenue one block east of Highland Avenue from real estate promoter H.J. Whitley. McCadden sold real estate, and listed himself in the city directory at McCadden Place as early as 1906. He died in 1935. Selma Avenue honors Weid’s daughter Selma, who was born in Colegrove. Seward Avenue salutes Senator Cornelius Cole’s oldest son Seward, named after Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of State and Cole’s mentor, with whom he first studied law. Seward Cole worked as a real estate developer around the Hollywood/Colegrove area. The younger Cole served as the first postmaster and justice of the peace in Colegrove, dying in 1927. Vine Street takes its name from its start in former Senator Cole’s vineyard down in Colegrove. Waring Avenue salutes Captain Howard Waring, husband of Senator Cole’s oldest daughter, Ella Lucretia. Whitley Avenue recognizes H.J. Whitley, who named the street after himself when he opened his Whitley Heights sub-development. Whitley originally owned an eponymously named jewelry store in downtown Los Angeles before beginning his real estate career. Besides Whitley Heights, he also developed the Hollywood Ocean View Tract on the west side of Highland Avenue with M.H. Sherman, Eli P. Clark, Griffith J. Griffith, and F.H. Rindge in 1901, helping ensure the Pacific Electric Railway cars would chug up and down Highland Avenue on their route to and from the San Fernando Valley. He died in 1931. Wilcox Avenue honors the father and mother of Hollywood, Harvey and Daieda Wilcox. Daieda first gave the subdivision and later the town its name. She fell in love with the sound of “Hollywood” after hearing fellow train passenger Laura Rockefeller mention the name of her estate. Harvey Wilcox employed the name on the tract map he released to the public on February 2, 1887, the beginnings of Hollywood as we know it today. Their 120-acre tract extended from Franklin Avenue south to Sunset Boulevard, Whitley Avenue east to Gower Street. Harvey died in 1891, and his widow, Daieda Beveridge, passed away in 1914. Willoughby Street honors another son of former Senator Cornelius Cole, Willoughby. He was named United States attorney for the Southern California district in 1894, serving for a short time and later worked as an attorney in Colegrove.

Keep watch for our new "Stories From the Barn" series Coming soon you will find all sorts of adventures as we roam through the museum and our archives to share our collection with you. Two examples of what you will find are available now for preview on our " Stories From the Barn " web page. Join our fan club and let us know what you think.

As part of the recent successful 58th Annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival and the Property Masters Guild presentation of "The Property Man," prop house History For Hire, Inc. has loaned the museum a number of props from movies about movies. These are props which have been replicated from actual movie equipment or made specifically for that film's story about filmmaking. Props from "Chaplin," "The Artist," "The Aviator," "Mank," and "Blonde" are included in the display.

This jovial, moon-faced performer. . . was one of the screens most expert second-bananas (and a notorious scene stealer), although he occasionally starred in films as well. After spending his early years in Oklahoma (from which he took his stage name), Oakie moved to New York, where he worked as a Wall Street clerk before entering show business in the early 1920s. A passable song-and-dance man and talented comic actor,he was signed by Paramount with the coming of sound, and appeared in dozens of films there, sometimes in starring roles but often as the leading man's best friend. Titles include The Fleet's In, (1928) Fast Company (playing an egotistical ballplayer in this Ring Lardner story), The Wild Party, Close Harmony (all 1929), The Sap From Syracuse (1930), Million Dollar Legs, If I Had a Million (both 1932), The Eagle and the Hawk, Alice in Wonderland (as Tweedledum), College Humor (all 1933), College Rhythm (1934), and The Texas Rangers (1936). He played leads in Sitting Pretty (1933), Murder at the Vanities (1934), and The Big Broadcast of 1936 (1935), among others.

At RKO he top-lined the first screen version of Hit the Deck (1930). On loan to Universal,
Oakie gave an uncharacteristically low-key and extremely successful performance as the dull-witted cohort of a pair of con artists in 1932's Once in a Lifetime, a hilarious adaptation of the Kaufmann-Ferber play satirizing Hollywood. At Fox he had prime co-starring roles opposite Spencer Tracy in Looking for Trouble (1934), Clark Gable in Call of the Wild, and Warner Baxter in King of Burlesque.

In 1937 Oakie moved to RKO, where he co-starred in That Girl From Paris, Hitting a New High, and The Toast of New York, and headlined such program pictures as Super Sleuth, The Affairs of Annabel (which launched the starring career of Lucille Ball), Annabel Takes a Tour, and Radio City Revels.

By this time Oakie was positively rotund, and his screen persona—brash, egotistical, and frequently obnoxious—dominated his offscreen personality as well. He abruptly left RKO for a long "vacation" in 1938, effectively killing his starring career. But Oakie made a startling comeback as Napoloni, the hilariously bombastic Mussolini-styled despot in Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator; the performance earned him an Oscar nomination.

Oakie's career then enjoyed a second wind at 20th Century Fox, where he was second banana in a parade of popular musical comedies, including Young People (as Shirley Temple's vaudevillian father). Tin Pan Alley, The Great American Broadcast, Song of the Sisland, Hello Frisco, Hello, (1943), reprising his King of Burlesque characterization in this Technicolor retread. It Happened Tomorrow, and Sweet and Lowdown (both 1944). He starred in Rise and Shine (1941) as a dumb football player kidnapped by gangsters. After top-lining a couple of mediocre Universal musicals. On Stage, Everybody, and That's the Spirit (both 1945), Oakie found his career in irreversible decline, and appeared in only a few more films —in progressively smaller roles—including Northwest Stampede, When My Baby Smiles at Me, Thieves' Highway, and Last of the Buccaneers Oakie worked sporadically during 1950s and 1960s, on TV and in such features as Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), The Rat Race (1960), and Lover Come Back (1961), but increasing deafness finally forced him out of the business. He continued to be a familiar face in Hollywood right up until his death. His widow, Victoria Home, published his memoirs,"Jack Oakie's DoubleTakes," in 1960.
The houndstooth suit on display is from Universal's 1944 Merry Monahans, in which Oakie plays the father of a vaudeville family.
"David Sonne, Trustee of the Jack and Victoria Horne Oakie Foundation graciously praised this wonderful Maltin article, and reminded us that "Double Takes" was published in 1980, not 1960. Thank you David!

By Mary Mallory The Hollywood Film Industry has done its part in showing patriotism and serving our country in times of crises, from visiting the troops to selling bonds to serving overseas to producing gung-ho films. Famous Players-Lasky went further, creating its own Home Guard in 1917, outshining all other movie studios. Paramount sold more bonds than every other film production company in 1917, with $75,000 in Liberty Loan bond sales collected from employees and a $100,000 donation from the studio. Two weeks after President Woodrow Wilson declared war, and just a few days before the first draft, passionate director-general Cecil B. DeMille jumped into action, establishing the Lasky Home Guard with himself as commander. Composed of studio employees unable to serve due to age or because they served as the family’s main financial support, the Home Guard possessed such members as actors Tom Forman, James Neill, Jack Holt, Tully Marshall, Hobart Bosworth, Guy Oliver, Lucien Littlefield, Kenneth Harlan, Wallace Reid, and directors William De Mille and Henry Hathaway. Veteran actor Hobart Bosworth took part in the unit, telling the San Diego Union, “I am a private in the rear rank, but I try to do my duty in that sphere of life in which it has pleased God to call me.” Older actor Theodore Roberts would even occasionally muster with the group. Cecil B. DeMille assigned Lieutenant Henry Woodward, who formerly served with troops stationed in the Philippines, to provide discipline and proper training to the studio unit. Recognized as the 51st Company, California Reserves, the group would “guard property and maintain order in the event of the National Guard being called out of the State… .” Young members would be so thoroughly trained that they would advance rapidly if actually called to serve. The June 6, 1917 New York Clipper reported the Lasky Guard contained 125 members, a 30-piece band, four member signal corps, and two machine gun units of six men each, with Cecil serving as commander. Weapons included two automatic machine guns and Remington rifles equipped bayonets, along with portable wireless radio with licensed operator, a complete field telephone unit, field ambulance, and two operating light plants for searchlights. Film vaults held one hundred twenty thousand rounds of rifle ammunition and one hundred thousand rounds for the machine guns. Little American Mary Pickford even presented the group with a silk stars and stripes not long after the organization formed, participating in the donation ceremony at the Lasky Ranch with Reid, color guard for the unit. This ceremony involved drill, review, flag presentation, and skirmish. Pickford later donated an ambulance. Woodward, chief drill master, held non-commissioned officers’ drill every night of the week. Officers attended a special school three nights a week along with drilling by the entire group two nights a week and on Sundays at the Lasky Ranch in the San Fernando Valley. The group was so organized that they could be mobilized and armed in one hour after the alarm sounded per reports. Non-commissioned officers of the group included: Captain, Cecil B. DeMille; First Lieutenant, Henry Woodward; Second Lieutenant, James Neill; First Sergeant, William De Mille; Second Sergeant, Ed Martin; Third Sergeant, J. P. Hogan; Fourth Sergeant, Alvin Wyckoff; Fifth Sergeant, George Melford; Sixth Sergeant, Kenneth McGaffey; Seventh Sergeant, Fred Kley; Eighth Sergeant, Milton E. Hoffmann; Color Sergeant, Wallace Reid; First Corporal, Horace Williams; Second Corporal, Walter Sherer; Third Corporal, J. Parks Jones; Fourth Corporal, Lucien Littlefield; Fifth Corporal, Tully Marshall; Sixth Corporal, Charles M. Geldert; Seventh Corporal, Don Short; Eighth Corporal, Louis M. Goodstadt; Tenth Corporal, Ed. Morrison; Eleventh Corporal, Ted Duncan; Twelfth Corporal, Ernest Traxler; Thirteenth Corporal, Jack Dean, bugler, Guy Oliver. The organization, which Motion Picture News called “the crack military organization of the West Coast,” was sworn into service for the State of California between filming scenes for the Cecil B. DeMille-directed film “The Woman God Forgot.” DeMille was the first to add his name to the roll, followed by his lieutenants Woodward and James Neill, and then by director of photography Alvin Wyckoff, Fred Kley, production business manager and publicity man Kenneth McGaffoy. DeMille kept his men fit and ready for service. Reports indicated they held competitive drills with other guard units nearby and they participated in patriotic meetings and gatherings around the Los Angeles area. They sometimes held performed military drills at these public events. They also took part in Liberty Loan rallies around Hollywood and Los Angeles. During a giant Liberty Bond demonstration in Hollywood on Saturday, April 13, 1918 with Lieut. Henry Woodward as grand marshal, the Lasky Home Guard’s band, infantry, and one machine gun unit joined the parade from the Lasky Studio up Vine Street to Hollywood High School. Other units participating included 500 soldiers from Fort McArthur, the Hollywood police department, the Hollywood High School cadet battalion and band, Boy Scouts, Red Cross, Hollywood’s Woman’s Club, Mrs. William C. De Mille’s Junior Red Cross, Hollywood school children, and the Joan of Arc Club, “headed by Joan of Arc in full armor and white uniform.” Just a few weeks later, on April 30, a fire occurred in a film storage room at the Lasky Studio. Newspapers reported that “thousands of rounds of blank ammunition for machine guns, stored in the stock room, began to explode in quick and menacing succession.” The fire started from sparks of wire on a cutting machine, causing some film to be lost, including color positive scenes for DeMille’s film “New Wives For Old.” During a massive patriotic rally at Clune’s Auditorium downtown Los Angeles on May 26 for the organizing of the Motion Picture War Relief Association, at which “practically every motion picture star and director was present,” the Lasky Home Guard performed a drill as part of the program. Other acts included tableaus, the participation of the Junior Red Cross, and military bands. For Memorial Day that year, the Home Guard and its band joined the Hollywood High School cadets and war service girls. and Hollywood’s officers’ training school, over 300 strong, to march to Hollywood Cemetery to decorate the graves of Civil and Spanish-American War veterans with flowers. They would later participate in a Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce patriotic rally at Exposition Park near the end of June. Governor Stephens of California addressed the Home Guard Wednesday evening, July 24, 1918 at the Studio, praising them for their service to state and country. Motion Picture News recorded his words. “As Governor of the State and Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of the State, I wish to express my appreciation and to say that the State and your Governor stand behind you and will do everything in their power to help you. I know that every man of you will fight if the necessity arises, or even the opportunity, for I have heard many fine things of this organization from various sources.” In August, newspapers reported that the Lasky Studio leased a large tract of land near the studio on which the Lasky Home Guard could conduct its drills. Just two weeks later the enlarged Lasky Guard participated in a Motion Picture Rally and parade for the war effort led by Douglas Fairbanks. Major DeMille led his two companies marching in three platoons each followed by their machine gun units with actual weapons, mounted on carriages, ambulance, and signal unit. While most of the Lasky Home Guard merely served in Hollywood, some younger members did serve overseas. Patriotic and loyal, Cecil B. DeMille and his crack military unit brought recognition and distinction to the Lasky Film Studio in their service to their country. # # #

Gladys Rosson in the Salt Lake City Tribune, 1940. L arger than life film director Cecil B. DeMille surrounded himself with intelligent, strong women at home and work to keep his empire running. Impressed with his mother’s thoughtfulness and drive, a young Cecil admired her as a person, influencing his actions and support of women throughout his life. Several women dominated his creative endeavors, including writer Jeanie MacPherson, editor Anne Bauchens, and secretary Gladys Rosson, a group which some referred to as his “harem.” Rosson would remain at DeMille’s side for 39 years as secretary, but author Lisa Mitchell describes her as actually like the director’s vice president or aide-de-camp, organizing and ruling his business office like a controlling general. DeMille acknowledged her power and importance to his life, stating in the book Yes Mr. DeMille that she “rules my home and my office.” Rosson with DeMille, 1951. Born February 6, 1891, in New York City, Rosson was the second oldest child of Arthur and Helen Rosson and began working as a stenographer out of high school per the 1910 United States Federal Census. She found herself hired as a secretary to filmmakers Jesse L. Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille on December 13, 1914, two weeks after arriving from Rhode Island, as she told the Salt Lake Tribune in 1940. Showing strong ethics and dedication, Rosson began working solely for the great director in 1919, remaining at his side, both work and domestic, for the rest of her life. DeMille appreciated the loyalty and confidentiality of his seemingly meek and quiet secretary, who demonstrated toughness and savvy in dealing with Hollywood egos, power, and politics. Rosson was the strong woman behind the man, not just as trusted advisor but also as former mistress as well, per his niece Agnes de Mille. She sometimes relayed news good or bad to others on DeMille’s behalf, including payments or gifts to his mistresses past and present including MacPherson and actress Julia Faye. Rosson knew more about productions, contracts, or even gossip than anyone who worked with the great director, but took all her secrets to the grave. Detail oriented and with a razor sharp memory, the young woman moved beyond secretarial work into what almost could be called producing: watching dailies if he wasn’t available, critiquing continuity, acting, and production details, deciding who would travel to locations, reading scripts and watching screen tests to offer suggestions, conducting research, and scouting locations. Rosson accompanied DeMille on location trips or even weekends on his yacht or Paradise Ranch, taking notes, typing scripts, writing speeches, even laying out his clothes the night before appearances out of town. A stickler for rules and manners, some found her prissy and prim. Gladys Rosson, left, with DeMille, right, 1944. DeMille so trusted her judgment that he handed his personal investments to her as well, allowing her to research and then buy and acquire stock shares in commodities and businesses she considered most promising. When the legendary figure established Cecil B. DeMille Productions, Inc., he named Rosson secretary/treasurer, where she handled financial matters for the production entity as well as business and private loans for the executive. Working with DeMille from his Laughlin Park home, studio bungalow, or ranch, Rosson sometimes found herself drawn into film productions at little notice as well. In 1916, she served as stand-in for singer actress Geraldine Farrar in Joan the Woman since she possessed the same complexion and hair color, tied to the stake as flames lapped at her feet. Newspapers and trades proclaimed in 1919 that her beautiful hands often stood in for stars in various productions, such as the film We Can’t Have Everything. In 1952 she appeared on camera as an extra for the first and only time in DeMille’s circus film The Greatest Show on Earth . Rosson remained tight with her own family, several of whom also were veteran film workers and often all lived together. Older brother Arthur joined the industry as stuntman for Vitagraph in 1909, worked as an assistant director to DeMille, and later became a director on westerns, co-directing Red River in 1948. Younger sister Helene acted in silent films while brother Richard worked as an actor before becoming an assistant or second unit director. Baby brother Harold, the most famous of the siblings, worked a variety of odd jobs in movies before eventually becoming of the industry’s most respected cinematographers. He is perhaps best remembered as the third husband of platinum blonde actress Jean Harlow, and suffered from polio after they separated. Gladys Rosson died June 14, 1953, in her Beverly Hills home after a long illness, surrounded by family. Virtually unknown today, she helped organize and shape the life and career of renowned director Cecil B. DeMille, possibly contributing creatively to his projects, but now consumed by the great man’s shadow.

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THE GENERAL (1926) with live musical accompaniment by Cliff Retallick!
Sunday, September 18th at 1:00 pm
** Presented by Retroformat Silent Films, with sponsorship provided by The International Buster Keaton Society **
For ticket information click HERE DISCOUNT AVAILABLE FOR HOLLYWOOD HERITAGE MEMBERS

In honor of the Centenary of Yma Sumac, Hollywood Heritage Museum and Yma-Sumac.com presents a special remastered screening of Paramount Pictures’ SECRET OF THE INCAS starring Charlton Heston and Nicole Maurey and featuring Yma Sumac. The film is believed to be a direct inspiration for the Indiana Jones film franchise. This is a rare opportunity to see a beautifully remastered print directly from the Paramount Studios vaults. This film has never been available on VHS, DVD or Blu-Ray in the United States!
This ONE DAY ONLY event will feature a display of memorabilia from Yma Sumac’s archives, as well as never before seen images from the film and a Q&A with Damon Devine, friend, formal personal assistant to Yma Sumac and owner of her archives. Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 11:30 AM Hollywood Heritage Museum - 2100 N Highland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90068 $8 advanced tickets available at www.yma-sumac.com/shop - $10 at the door.

Special guest Mark Cantor will be presenting " " on Saturday, September 3rd at 11:00 AM at the Hollywood Heritage Museum. This is one of two alternative programs at The Barn during Cinecon! The 1940s saw a brief if audacious experiment in mass entertainment: a jukebox with a screen. Patrons would insert a dime, then listen to and watch a three-minute musical short. Our special program explores this long-forgotten niche in entertainment and cultural history with a variety of both Soundies as well as the products of its many competitors. Among the films that will be shared in this program are several rarities, some one-of-a-kind. Join us for 90 minutes of entertainment and delight in the music of such artists as Nat “King” Cole, Duke Ellington, Merle Travis, Louis Jordan, Henny Youngman, Kay Starr, and many more. Hosted by jazz-on-film expert Mark Cantor, whose forthcoming essay The Soundies will undoubtedly be the definitive reference book on this subject when it is released this fall. Tickets $10.00 each: Available at the door.

Thank you " Thrillist for this exciting NEWS" Sometime in the early 1950s, or so the story goes, Arthur Miller came to town to develop a movie with Elia Kazan, who took him out to a bar with an actress that Kazan may have been seeing at the time—Marilyn Monroe. But this was not just any bar, this was the bar where F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway drank, where Humphrey Bogart lounged, a popular cabaret at the Hollywood Roosevelt in the heart of Hollywood called Cinegrill. Cinegrill originally opened in 1936 and enjoyed a long run as an A-list hot spot before slowly fading from prominence and eventually relocating and then closing in the early ‘00s. But that was not the end for Cinegrill—the team at the Hollywood Roosevelt is bringing Cinegrill back to life in a new format, as a luxurious theater with a stunning gilded stage and tufted velvet lounge-style sofas. The opulent room is hidden behind a bookcase in the lower lobby, and once you’re inside it’s clear the design nods to Old Hollywood throughout. There is a big red curtain with gold accents, modern takes on classic cocktails, and a modern supper club-inspired menu. A waitstaff dedicated exclusively to Cinegrill will bring those martinis, old fashioneds, and negronis right to your table during the show, so you never have to take your eyes off of the movies and performances taking place on the gorgeous stage. Cinegrill returns to life on September 21 with a thematically appropriate screening of the masterpiece Casablanca. That screening kicks off a series of Classic Cinema Nights, which will also include showings of Psycho, Rebel Without a Cause, and holiday specials like Dracula for Halloween and It’s A Wonderful Life for Christmas. The series is hosted by film critic, film professor, and winemaker José Ignacio Cuenca, and will include an introduction, a post-show Q&A, and wine tasting of Cuenca’s Little Boat label. There will also be live performances at the theater, including magic by Derek McKee every Thursday, the modern cabaret show On The Fringe every Saturday, and regular stand-up comedy, including shows like Well Dressed Comedy. The glamorous revival is yet another flag planted in the reinvented Hollywood, which seems to see a huge new opening every week. The restaurant scene is suddenly excellent and continues to grow stronger, and this swanky new theater looks to be another worthy addition to the long list of things to do. Reserve tickets to Cinegrill Theater on the Hollywood Roosevelt’s website. Want more Thrillist? Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok, and Snapchat! Ben Mesirow is an Echo Park native who writes TV, fiction, food, and sports. At one time or another, his writing has appeared in The LA Times, Litro, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Los Angeles Magazine, and scratched into dozens of desks at Walter Reed Middle School.