"Foxes"

Jodie Foster and her teenage friends live in the Valley, yet somehow they end up walking by the Ivar Theatre in Hollywood on their way to school in Adrian Lyne's "Foxes" (United Artists, 1980). The film about drugs, sex and growing up in L.A. also features Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan, Kandice Stroh, Scott Baio, Sally Kellerman, Randy Quaid and Lois Smith.

See the Los Angeles Theatres page about the Ivar Theatre for more about the building. It's a small legit house, now used by the L.A. Film School,  that opened in 1951. 

The girls say they're going to a concert at the Shrine Auditorium. We get lots of shots in a parking lot, a lobby area, and of a group performing onstage. But none of it is identifiable as the Shrine. It could have been shot anywhere. See the main page about the Shrine Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a list of many films where the building actually appears.

One of the young ladies goes missing later in the film and we go to Hollywood looking for her. In this shot looking west we get a view in the distance of the madly flashing vertical of the Pix Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd. It had opened as a legit house called the Music Box in 1926 and is now a music venue called the Fonda Theatre. See the Music Box page for many photos.

That red X hiding behind the palm trees on the far right is the sign for the X Theatre at 5959 Hollywood Blvd. See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the X Theatre for a bit of history and a few photos.   We only get a sliver of it here but just beyond the X is the vertical for the World Theatre, 6025 Hollywood Blvd.

On IMDb: "Foxes"

"Nina"

The auditorium of the Music Box, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., is used for a club (presumably in the south of France) in "Nina" (RLJ Entertainment, 2016).  The exterior shot is of a European looking street with a nice neon sign that says "Caveau de la Huchette." But as soon as you go inside and get a look at the wall murals you know it's the Music Box.

The Nina Simone biopic, directed by Cynthia Mort, stars Zoe Saldana as Nina and David Oyelolo as Clifton, the nurse who becomes her friend and manager. Filmed in Los Angeles, a lot of it is set in France courtesy of some lovely stock footage.

Interestingly, that "Caveau de la Huchette" shot also turns up in "La La Land" during Emma's dream montage near the end of the film. There it's used as the exterior of a Parisian jazz club. 

It's interesting that for this scene we're not set up onstage but over on house right just in front of the balcony overhang. Here we've pulled back a bit and you get to see the front of the balcony with its Spanish revival style trim. On the right is an exit out to the foyer behind the auditorium.

A look out into the audience at our South-of-France club. The Music Box's proscenium is over on the right.  Note part of the house sound system piled up over there -- a strange location for where the musicians are in the film.  We've seen a similar blue curtain earlier in the film for a scene set in a club in Chicago. Perhaps that Chicago scene was also done at the Music Box.

Clifton (David Oyelolo) observing the performance from across the house.

The theatre's rooftop pavilion is seen in the final scene of the film just as the credits roll. It's a club space that's unidentified in the film. We're looking west -- the glass doors on the left wall open out onto the theatre's rooftop patio. The wall on the right once was open to Hollywood Blvd. back in the days before the facade got covered over with steel cladding.

See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Music Box/Fonda Theatre for a history of the building and many photos.

On IMDb: "Nina"

"Hail, Caesar!"

Hollywood star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney) gets kidnapped by a group of Communist-inclined writers in the Coen Brothers Hollywood epic "Hail, Caesar!" (Universal, 2016). On the way to their beachfront lair, the panel truck containing Whitlock heads south on Wilcox past the side of the Warner Hollywood Theatre.

The Warner, at 6433 Hollywood Blvd., has in recent years been boarded up as the owners consider redevelopment possibilities. See the Warner Hollywood pages on the Los Angeles Theatres website for more on the building, a 1928 G. Albert Lansburgh design.

We head to the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, for a premiere of "Lazy Ol' Moon," the Capitol Pictures western in the film starring Hobie Doyle (Alden Eherenreich). No exterior views -- we start with a look at a display case and then get this view toward the stairs.

Another view of the Los Angeles Theatre lobby as we pull back a bit.  

The titles on the screen. The film is set in 1951 -- which we also get as the copyright date on this title card.  In 1951 this or any other film would have been shown in a 1.37 to 1 ratio, not cropped to the widescreen format we see here.

A look back into the house. Hobie is there with his studio arranged date Carlotta Valdez (Veronica Osorio), a star in the Carmen Miranda mold.

The film's opening scene on the screen at the Los Angeles.

Another shot at the Los Angeles -- but one that doesn't appear in the film. This view is from the trailer and shows footage from another Capitol Pictures feature "Merrily We Dance" that we see in the film being directed by Lawrence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes). Thanks to Wendell Benedetti for the screenshot, appearing on the LAHTF Facebook page with lots of comments.

Head to the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Los Angeles Theatre for a history of the building along with hundreds of photos of different areas.

Carlotta and Hobie go out for dinner after the film with the Hollywood Palladium used as a location. The bandstand we see was built for the film at the opposite end of the space from the building's real stage.

Filming the scene at the Palladium,6215 Sunset Blvd. It's a screenshot from one of the making-of featurettes that accompanies the DVD of the film. The Palladium page on the Los Angeles Theatres website has several more interior views of the building.

Exiting the Monte Carlo nightclub we see the Music Box/Fonda Theatre, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., used for the exterior. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for doing some research on this one. 

Another shot a little wider. See the Music Box Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more on this venue, one that started as a legit house in 1926.  The architecture we see in the film obviously doesn't date from 1926 -- it's from a 40s or early 50s Fox West Coast remodel when it was a film house.

The fine L.A. Weekly story "Your Complete Guide to the L.A. Filming Locations of 'Hail, Caesar!'" notes that when we look across the street from the Music Box, what we see is the Chapman Plaza building in Koreatown at 3465 W. 6th St.

The film also features Josh Brolin as studio head Eddie Mannix, Scarlett Johansson as an Esther Williams style aquatic star, Tilda Swinton as twin gossip columnists, and many others. 

On IMDb: "Hail, Caesar!"

"The Errand Boy"

We get off to a promising start in the in the Jerry Lewis film "The Errand Boy" (Paramount, 1961) with some nice Hollywood aerial photography before the credits. Here in the lower left is part of the Music Box. At center is the Pantages and, between the Pantages and the Capitol Records building, is the Hollywood Playhouse on Vine St.

See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the Pantages, the Music Box (now called the Fonda) and the Hollywood Playhouse (now known as the Avalon) for more about these historic theatres.

Another shot before the credits looks west along Sunset Blvd. and gives us the Earl Carroll on the left (here renamed the Moulin Rouge) and, across the street, the Hollywood Palladium.

See the LA Theatres website sections on the Earl Carroll Theatre and the Palladium for more about these two venues.

Jerry is working for Paramutual Pictures and is being used as an unwitting spy to find out why the studio is hemorrhaging so much money. He learns nothing and just manages to create messes wherever he goes.  But he ends up a star, of course. Written by Lewis (with Bill Richmond), directed by Lewis, starring Jerry Lewis (of course). Other performers include Brian Donlevy and Renée Taylor.  

Here we're at the Fox Westwood Village Theatre for a preview that goes very wrong -- Lewis got into the sound studio and overdubbed the singing of the film's leading lady. Thanks to veteran L.A. projectionist Mike Schleigel for the tip about the appearance of the theatre's marquee in the film..

When we go inside the Fox Westwood Village for the preview we get a view of the studio execs in the back row and this look toward the screen -- obviously not either the theatre before its Skouras remodel or the way it looked in 1961.

The theatre is still a major first run house now under the direction of Regency Theatres. They call it the Regency Village Theatre. See the page on the Village Theatre for history and many photos.

For another preview we go to the Chinese of the Parimutual Pictures production "So?" -- but it's a studio set.  Note the boxoffice off-center.

 

After the shot above we do get this nice Christmas season vista east on Hollywood Blvd. with the Chinese over on the left. See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on Grauman's Chinese for lots of history and many photos of all areas of the building. 

Another view of the faux-Chinese.

And another -- this time with a look into the set's version of the theatre entrance. For this shot it looks like their boxoffice has been rolled out of the way.

On IMDb: "The Errand Boy"

 

"The Errand Boy" playing at the Hollywood Theatre in February 1962. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for locating this photo by Erich Andres for a post on the Photos of Los Angeles private Facebook group. It can also be seen on the site Alamy.  

 An ad for the film that was located by Ken.

"The First Nudie Musical"

A shot of Schechter Studios near the beginning of "The First Nudie Musical," (Paramount, 1976). We're actually at Producers Studio, 5300 Melrose Ave. It's now looking quite a bit more gentrified and is called Raleigh Studios.

The film stars Stephen Nathan as a low-budget producer, Cindy Williams as his secretary, Bruce Kimmel as director of the film-within-the film, and Leslie Ackerman as an ingenue fresh of the bus from Indiana. And Ron Howard has a bit part. The book, music and lyrics are by Mr. Kimmel. Direction was by Mark Haggard and Mr. Kimmel.

Another shot of the studio. As soon as producer Harry Schechter gets the idea for his new film they'll be having auditions. They decide on a nudie musical called "Come, Come Now." See the Raleigh Studios site for a fine history of the lot.

 
Leslie Ackerman gets cast as the ingenue and bursts into song for a stroll down Hollywood Blvd. It's a great number. Here we're under the marquee of the Hollywood Theatre, just east of Highland Ave. The song, "The Lights and the Smiles," is actually sung by Annette O'Toole.

A shot of the joyous Ms. Ackerman continuing east with the Hollywood behind her. 

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We get a number of signage views during the number. See the page about the the Hollywood Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many photos of the 1918 vintage building.

A shot of the Vine lettering on the S. Charles Lee designed theatre just west of Vine St. See the Vine Theatre page for more about the building.

A view of the Pantages neon. We'll be back for the premiere of "Come, Come Now." Well, at least for a couple exterior shots. See the many pages about the Pantages Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of this 1930 deco gem along with hundreds of photos.

The sign interlude also includes a shot of one of the Chinese dragons. See the Chinese Theatre pages for many photos of all areas of the building.

At the Pix, 6126 Hollywood Blvd., for a look at the great signage it had. It's been a theatre of many names. See the page about the Music Box / Fonda Theatre for lots of details.

Ms. Ackerman, singing her way down the boulevard, now heads back west from the Pix. 

Another view with the Pix in the background. They're running "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud."

The number winds up with this shot looking west toward the Hollywood Pacific. It got renamed that in 1968 when the successor company to Warner Bros. sold it to Pacific Theatres. See the pages about the Warner Hollywood on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the building.

Soon we get around to actually filming "Come, Come Now" with scenes that include musical numbers such as "Orgasm," "Dancing Dildos," "I'll Kick You With Boots," and "Let 'em Eat Cake...But Let Me Eat You."

Back at the Pantages for the premiere of the film. Well, they're having a premiere all right, but not for our film. 

Another premiere night Pantages shot. But we don't go inside. The interior shots of the premiere were done at the Fox Venice, 620 Lincoln Blvd. 

In the lobby at the Fox Venice with an announcer talking about "Come, Come Now." 

Another lobby shot with worried producer Stephen Nathan pacing.

 

In the auditorium with Cindy Williams and Nathan. We have several more shots like this of various cast members and people in the audience but don't see any of the auditorium decor. See the page about the Fox Venice for more about the theatre.

 

 

Bruce talks about a preview at the Academy Theatre in Pasadena --

"What a theater this was, even back in the 1970s. It was a major preview house for the studios, since they could run work prints with interlock sound. One of the greatest nights of my life was on August 8th, 1975 when we all trudged out there for the sneak preview of 'The First Nudie Musical,' work print in hand with interlock mag sound. They were showing 'Tommy' and 'Once Is Not Enough.' 

"We screened at eight-thirty, the usual preview time. The theater was full, all 1,700 seats and the reaction to our little movie was unbelievable in terms of the laughs it got, even with the shitty work print, no opticals, and raw, unmixed sound. I'll never forget it. And the next night, we were in San Diego previewing at some huge downtown theater that was showing, of all things, 'Dolemite.'"


The featurette "From Dollars to Donuts" --

In Hollywood the film played at the Fox Theatre where it was doing fine business. This shot appears in "From Dollars to Donuts," included on the DVD of the film. In the featurette Bruce Kimmel talks about the sad relationship they had with Paramount regarding the distribution. Amid concerns about tarnishing the reputation of Cindy Williams, Paramount pulled the film. "Laverne and Shirley," at the time a new hit series, was a product of Paramount's TV division.

"The First Nudie Musical" later went out with a different distributor and enjoyed record runs in a number of theatres. The featurette has terrific stories about the production from Ms. Williams, various cast members and both directors. Will Ron Howard show up to talk about his role? Watch it and find out. 

On IMDb: "The First Nudie Musical"