El Capitan Theater Hollywood

by Joseph Hollingsworth

Title

El Capitan Theater Hollywood

Artist

Joseph Hollingsworth

Medium

Photograph - Digital

Description

The El Capitan Theater, is not just another theater. Its historic and legendary history puts it in a class of its own. The theater is known for attracting major movie releases. On this day, the attraction is the release of the latest Star Wars movie, another hollywood phenomenon.
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace and is operated by Buena Vista Theatres, Inc., a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Distribution, and as such, serves as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios' film premieres.
In the early 1920s, real estate developer Charles E. Toberman (the "Father of Hollywood") envisioned a thriving Hollywood theatre district. Toberman was involved in 36 projects while building the Max Factor Building (now the Hollywood Museum), Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and the Hollywood Masonic Temple. With Sid Grauman, he opened the three themed theatres: Egyptian (1922), El Capitan ("The Captain") (1926), and Chinese (1927).
El Capitan, dubbed "Hollywood's First Home of Spoken Drama," opened as a legitimate theatre on May 3, 1926 with Charlot's Revue starring Gertrude Lawrence and Jack Buchanan. Barker Bros. Furniture Emporium took up the rest of the building in the 1920s.
For a decade it presented live plays, with over 120 productions including such legends as Clark Gable and Joan Fontaine. By the late 1930s, El Capitan felt the economic effects of the Depression, showcasing fewer and fewer productions.[This period saw a cycle of experimentation with entertainment. In an effort to boost attendance at the theatre, its management attempted to lure revues, road shows and benefits. Despite these efforts, business was faltering. The theatre then began showing movies. When Orson Welles was unable to locate a theatre owner willing to risk screening Citizen Kane, he turned to El Capitan, and in 1941, Citizen Kane had its world premiere there. The theater then closed for one year as Paramount Pictures purchased the theater. Late in the 1980s, Disney purchased a controlling stake in one of Pacific Theatres' chains, leading to Disney's Buena Vista Theaters and Pacific renovating the El Capitan Theatre and the Crest by 1989. These theaters became Disney's flagship houses. They spent $14 million on a complete renovation of the Paramount, restoring much of the building's original decor as well as the theater's original name. El Capitan reopened in 1991 with the premiere of The Rocketeer.

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January 30th, 2018

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