"It Happened In Hollywood"

We're told it's 1928 when we see this Hollywood premiere action in "It Happened in Hollywood" (Columbia, 1937). It's actually footage shot in front of Grauman's Chinese for the April 29, 1932 premiere of "Grand Hotel." 

They're not visible here but when watching the film one can make out the shadows of the back of the letters of the film's title strung across Hollywood Blvd. Note the rooftop sign for the El Capitan in the upper center. That vertical we see near the "Hotel Christie" signage is for Barker Brothers, the store in the El Capitan building.

Fay Wray and Richard Dix star. She's a glamorous actress, he's a horse-riding western star who will be down on his luck when talkies come in and his studio thinks westerns are over as a genre. Harry Lachman directed. The cinematography was by Joseph Walker. 

 

 

We get this view east toward Vine St. much later in the film. Dix's character has been out of work but Fay gets him a part in her new gangster pic and we're told there will be a location shoot at Hollywood and Vine. 

It's probably footage from 1928 or 1929. Note the Warner Hollywood in the upper left -- but not yet with the radio towers on top. Near the lower right we get the top of the "Grauman's" vertical on the Egyptian. By 1932 that would be replaced with a sign saying "Egyptian" located on the east side of the entrance. That "Oriental Cafe" vertical on the far right edge was on the Christie Hotel building, now part of the Scientology empire.

See the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the El Capitan, Grauman's Chinese, the Warner Hollywood and the Egyptian for a history of these historic venues. 

On IMDb: "It Happened in Hollywood" 

 

A lobby card for the film.