"It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)"

Playwright Reginald Denny and Inez Courtney, the wisecracking secretary of the play's producers, have come in the stage left stage door of the Mayan Theatre and are heading onstage at the beginning of Phil Rosen's charming film "It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)" (Invincible Pictures Corp. / states rights, 1936). They're walking by the fenced-off operating lines for the theatre's three asbestos curtains. We also get many additional backstage, auditorium and lobby shots of the theatre, located at 1038 S. Hill St.

The film, set largely in a New York theatre, is about two producers (Claude King and Bryant Washburn) who get murdered. The police think one of the producers killed the other -- but it turns out the suspect had been killed earlier by a third party. It's up to the playwright to solve the mystery. And to wake up and realize that the secretary is in love with him. Evelyn Brent is the show's leading lady. We also get a gangster (Jack La Rue) who wants a piece of the show -- or at least a part in it for his blonde girlfriend (Emily LaRue) who has been going to elocution classes. 

Here we get several more of the film's characters pulling up in front of the Mayan. It's evidently the theatre's first appearance in a feature film.  

A lobby scene at the Mayan with lots of plants.  

Another lobby shot. That's our gangster at the center. 

A nice conference at the rear of the auditorium. 

 

 Our playwright puts on a little show to reveal the murderer.

A look over toward the house left side stage during the reenactment.

See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the Mayan Theatre for many photos of the 1927 legit house, a design of Morgan, Walls & Clements. The theatre, built as a musical comedy house, is now thriving as a music club.

On IMDb:"It Couldn't Have Happened (But It Did)"

A lobby card appearing on IMDb. Behind the performers are the purchase lines for the asbestos curtains at the Mayan.