Orpheum Loses Harp

[Paul Mackin]

On Fri, 29 Dec 1995 LARSSON at vax1.mankato.msus.edu wrote:

> 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!

Thanks for the good news about this restoration. I will make a special
trip out, and head straight for Loew's State. I will sit in the balcony,
and my only regret will be not being able to put fifteen cents in the
cigarette machine and getting out a pack of Luckys. The packs had just 
recently gone to the white background (from green). "Lucky Strike Green 
has gone to war," as the radio and billboards told us. Incidently,
does anyone know what _that_ was about?

Had forgotten about the Orpheum being part of the vaudeville circuit.
That explains the big bands I remember. Got to get my hands on an
L.A. phone directory to see if there really _is_ an Orpheus Theatre. 
Just one letter difference. A shift from m to s. Hmm. And moved a good
distance west, to a more affluent part of town. Where the rocket would 
more likely be felt by the opinion makers. To mix threads a little.

Thanks, Don, and please excuse this post for sounding so self centered.

						P.