"Cops"

We get a look over the wall to the Egyptian Theatre under construction about twelve minutes into the Buster Keaton film "Cops" (First National, 1922). It was directed by Edward F. Cline and Keaton.

Silent film detective John Bengtson notes that the Hollywood Fireproof Storage Co. building we see in the distance is still on Highland Ave. S. Charles Lee gave it a makeover in 1935 to become the headquarters of Max Factor. It's now the Hollywood Museum. The building below the Storage sign is on the corner of McCadden Place and Hollywood Blvd. It's a 1919 structure that was a clothing store before Morgan, Walls & Clements gave it a makeover in 1927 for new tenant Pig 'N Whistle.

The large brown mess just to its left is a strange construction fence at the Egyptian site. Perhaps we're seeing the remnants of an earlier building on the site. What's the guy doing? He's an anarchist lighting a bomb to throw into a crowd watching a parade. That parade action was shot elsewhere, perhaps on the Metro backlot. We don't see any more of Hollywood Blvd. John notes that the anarchist is on the roof at 6667 Hollywood Blvd, currently the location of Musso & Frank Grill.

At the time of the shooting they were just to the west at 6669 but had to move for construction of the Vogue Theatre building in 1935. Part of the Vogue building was retail space east of the theatre (now Cabo Cantina) and, behind that, a new room that was connected to the new Musso & Frank location and became their famous "Back Room." John has it all explained on his Silent Locations post "Keaton's Short Fuse - Cops, Musso & Frank and enduring Hollywood history." 

An early postcard from Brian Michael McCray's collection showing the buildings on either side of the Egyptian that we get glimpses of in "Cops." Thanks, Brian. See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the Egyptian Theatre for more about the building. It opened October 18, 1922.

It this shot about fifteen minutes into the film Keaton is being chased by many, many cops. Momentarily he's lost all but a few of them as we look west on Arcadia St. toward the Hidalgo Theatre, 373 N. Main St. They soon come pouring into the street. See the listing about the Hidalgo Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for some data and several more photos. The block no longer exists. It vanished when Arcadia was extended west as part of the 101 Freeway construction.

See additional Silent Locations posts on "Cops" where John dissects additional shooting locations. He notes that it's the only Keaton film without any interior scenes. The film shot at other Hollywood spots, on Santa Monica Blvd., around downtown and south of downtown.

The shot from "Cops" as well as other films using Arcadia St. are covered extensively in John Bengtson's later Silent Locations post "Jackie Coogan's Charlie Chaplin's Lost LA Alley - The Rag Man."

The full 18 minute film is available on YouTube. 

On IMDb:  "Cops"