"All hands on deck... for the song-and-fun hit of '61!" The Palms Theatre at 3751 Motor Ave. in the Palms neighborhood near Culver City is disguised as the Fox Geronimo in "All Hands On Deck" (20th Century Fox, 1961). Thanks to veteran projectionist Mike Schleigel for the information about the theatre's appearance in the movie. He notes that it was one of his favorite theatres to work in and he was there for years.
The film, directed by Norman Taurog, is actually in CinemaScope. The screenshots here are from the sad pan and scan version that's currently available as a DVD. It's a musical starring Pat Boone, Buddy Hackett, Barbara Eden and Dennis O'Keefe. Boone gets four songs including "You Mean Everything To Me." The story revolves around a navy captain obsessed with catching a fish and an executive officer (Boone) wanting to get married.
We're at the theatre as one of the sailors (Hackett) is there watching a Western and he gets very excited and goes on rampages when the Indians are losing. He's from the Chickasaw nation, you see. Except for the exterior view, the other theatre shots were done on the Fox lot. The film also did a lot of shooting on a ship docked in a Navy facility, evidently San Diego. In the film they refer to it as Long Beach.
The auditorium set after Hackett's rampage.
A bit of screen damage. Hackett pays $12,000 to fix everything, including some booth repair. Don't you like that second set of drapes behind the screen? We're certainly not at the Palms for the interiors.
Behind the screen. It would be a most curious layout for a real theatre.
The theatre is no longer with us -- it was demolished in the late 80s. See the Palms Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a few photos.
On IMDb: "All Hands On Deck"
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