"The Killer That Stalked New York"

We're looking south on Broadway past the Bradbury Building toward the Central and Cozy theatres for the finale of "The Killer That Stalked New York" (Columbia, 1950). Evelyn Keyes is up on the Bradbury ledge. She was after her two-timing boyfriend but the real killer of the title is that (gasp!) she has brought smallpox in from Cuba.

 Another street level shot with the Bradbury Building at the left and the Central Theatre on the right.

Looking down on the Central (below) and the Cozy (on the left). The Cozy is running a triple bill with "The Big House" as the main feature.

Another look down onto the two theatres. It appears that they used some Main St. locations for some of the closeups on the ledge -- the vertical sign for the Hotel Cecil (640 S. Main) appears in several shots.

A last look south toward the theatres. See the pages for the Central Theatre, 314 S. Broadway and the Cozy Theatre, 320 S. Broadway, on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about these two venues.

On IMDb: "The Killer That Stalked New York"

"Between Midnight and Dawn"

We get a nice view north on the 300 block of Broadway in "Between Midnight and Dawn" (Columbia, 1950) starring Edmond O'Brien and Gale Storm. On the left it's the vertical sign for the Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S. Broadway, with that for the Grand Central Market in front of it. On the right we get a view of the Cozy Theatre, 320 S. Broadway, with the Central Theatre, 314 S. Broadway beyond.

A view a bit later looking south. The storefront with the "Public Auction" signage is in the Bradbury Building. The Central Theatre, nearest us, is playing "The Counterfeiters" (1948) along with "The Black Cat" with Alan Ladd (1941), and "The Gay Cavalier" (1946). The Cozy is running "Mr. Wise Guy" (1942) and "Intrigue" with George Raft (1947) along with some unreadable third feature.

Thanks to Larry Harnisch for spotting the theatres in the film. See his fine blog post on The Daily Mirror for shots of other locations. Among other adventures, the film gives us a nice ride through the Pacific Electric Building at 6th and Main.

See the pages about the Million Dollar Theatre, the Central Theatre and the Cozy Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about these three venues. The Million Dollar survives. The  Central's building has been demolished. The building the Cozy was in is still there, but missing a couple of its upper floors.

On IMDb: "Between Midnight and Dawn"

"Footlight Parade"

Well, it's fuzzy footage to begin with and it goes by pretty fast.  The film is set in New York but we get a brief glimpse of the flashing marquee of the Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S. Broadway, in "Footlight Parade" with Jimmy Cagney and Joan Blondell (Warner Bros., 1933). We're speeding by on the bus to put on a Chester Kent prologue in some unnamed New York City theatre.

See the pages about the Million Dollar Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of Sid Grauman's first Los Angeles theatre.

Our bus trip also gives us a glimpse of another theatre on the other side of the block, the Central Theatre at 314 S. Broadway.  See the page about the Central Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about that now-vanished venue. What's on the marquee? Difficult to tell. The Cozy Theatre marquee is hiding behind the first streetlight. It was in the building just beyond the Central.

When Sid Grauman had both the Million Dollar and Rialto (five blocks farther down Broadway) he did elaborate prologues at both. Hillsman Wright, of the Los Angeles Historic Theatre Foundation, comments: "Press accounts of the period report that up to 40 performers at a time were on the Rialto stage after Grauman took it over. There's virtually no room understage or elsewhere in the building for dressing rooms. Here's the theory: Grauman bused chorus girls from the Million Dollar to the Rialto and back again. If this is not the case, I'd love to find out how/where the large casts were accommodated at the Rialto."

On IMDb: "Footlight Parade"