"In the Mood"

The Warner Grand in San Pedro gets a couple of scenes in Phil Alden Robinson's film "In The Mood" (Kings Road/Lorimar, 1987). The year is 1944.

The film stars Patrick Dempsey, Talia Balsam, Beverly D'Angelo, Michael Constantine, Betty Jinnette, Kathleen Freeman, Peter Hobbs and Kim Myers in the story of a teenager eloping with two adult women. It's also known as "The Woo Woo Kid." As they say, "based on a true story." The cinematography was by John Lindley. 

 

Patrick at the boxoffice. "Fox West Coast Theatres - The Place To Go!"

 

See the pages about the Warner Grand on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building and many photos. It's currently doing well as a performing arts center owned by the City of Los Angeles.

 

 

 

We visit Yuma when Patrick elopes with Talia Balsam. The town of Fillmore was standing in for it. Here we're looking south toward the Towne Theatre, at 338 Central Ave. Note the stagehouse peeking up in the upper center of the shot.  

 

 

After an elopement with Beverly D'Angelo, Patrick gets sent to a juvenile prison, escapes, and is on the run. A title tells us that this theatre is "Somewhere in Nevada." He goes in to sleep. 

 

They did a lovely front for "And So They Were Married" with Robert Mitchum and Simone Simon. That was a reissue title for "Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore," a 1944 Monogram release. That title was originally used for a 1936 film with Melvyn Douglas and Mary Astor. 

 

Thanks to Dennis Morawaski for identifying this theatre as the Art in Long Beach. See the Art Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about it. It had opened in 1925 as the Carter and got a deco rebuild after the 1933 earthquake.

 

 

Once we're inside, it's a return to the Warner Grand in San Pedro. Note the distinctive door design and lobby plasterwork. He's awakened by an usherette played by Kim Myers.   

 

 

Once she figures out who he is, she asks him out for a cup of coffee.

 

 

When they exit, we again see the front of the Art in Long Beach. He's leery of getting involved.

 

 

Just coffee, he says. Nothing else. No sex. "Well," she says. "Maybe a Danish."

 

 

The shot continues with a pan to a wedding chapel across the street. They married six weeks later. 

 

On IMDb: "In the Mood"

 

The 1986 shoot at the Art Theatre in Long Beach. Thanks to the Ronald W. Mahan Collection for sharing the photo. Ron included this shot, along with many other great ones from his collection, in "Why I Love Long Beach," a video that he posted on Facebook to help the "Long Beach Gives" 2024 fundraising campaign for the Historical Society of Long Beach.