Orpheum Loses Harp

[LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu]

P. wonders:
"Though I spent a good portion of my teen years in L.A. theatres,
the closest I remember to "Orpheus" was the huge "Orpheum" on S. Broadway
(I think), just south of Lowe's State, but on the other side of the street."


I had the delight of touring the Broadway theaters in LA a few years ago,
courtesy of the LA Conservancy, which is trying to preserve them.  It's
a remarkable few blocks of worn-down former movie palaces.  The Loewe's
State looked just like a larger version of the same one in my hometown in
CT (no wonder, since Loew's was the theater company that owned MGM).  The
Orpheus, I think, was closed.  (Some of the other theaters were closed
or had been converted to various retail uses, but a few were still in
operation, including the one Charlie Chaplin had built of pre-fab materials
just so he could have a place to show CITY LIGHTS.)  The Orpheum Theater
chain was a vestige of the old vaudeville circuit, and was allied with
RKO (which was allied with NBC).  This is all from the pre-1948 days of
industry vertical integration, when one company could own production,
distribution *and* exhibition facilities.  That practice was invalidated by
the Supreme Court in 1948.

Orpheus, I assume, is fictional, a continued play on the mythical Orpheus
references that proliferate throughout GR, but if any Angelenos know better
I'd be curious to hear about it.

BTW, the jewel in the Broadway crown is the United Artists flagship theater,
which has been lovingly restored, including giant murals of the founders
of UA--Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and DW Griffith--
in various poses.  The kicker is, though, that the restoration was done by
the church that now owns the place.  The church is presided over by a guy
who is something of a local cable celebrity for his on-air sermons.  Werner
Herzog's short film, GOD'S ANGRY MAN, is about him!


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)