"Wilson"

Woodrow Wilson, played by Alexander Knox, is at a political rally during his campaign for Governor of New Jersey in Henry King's film "Wilson" (20th Century Fox, 1944). The theatre they used was the Biltmore at 5th and Grand. Thanks to theatre historian Kurt Wahlner for identifying the theatre in the film and capturing this grand panorama that opens our visit to the theatre. Click on it for a better view.

The film stars Geraldine Fitzgerald, Thomas Mitchell, Ruth Nelson, Mary Anderson, Ruth Ford, Madeleine Forbes, Charles Coburn, Vincent Price, Eddie Foy Jr. and Cedric Hardwicke. The cinematography was by Leon Shamroy and an uncredited Ernest Palmer. 

 

Thanks to Kurt for all the screenshots appearing on this page. He comments: 

 

"The picture never fails to trot out a brass band, and this is no exception - placing the band in the stage boxes house right, with the pit filled with supporters. The scene is fairly lengthy. There is a sweep of the orchestra floor, lots of footage of Wilson speaking from the stage, Thomas Mitchell heckling him from the balcony. I did enjoy it - even though TONS of stuff was glossed over and there were more than a few outright falsehoods, but on the whole, I can see that being hectored with Wilson’s message had audiences going, 'We’re workin’ on it, we’re working on it!' in the closing year of WWII.

"But Wilson’s story IS inspirational and terribly sad, because, at the end, it makes you wonder what a man’s life is for - what does it amount to? Reading about Wilson recalls the 'nattering nabobs' and the film, I think, captured that, without sending everyone out on a total buzz-kill. I was wondering how far they would go with his story - he leaves the White House; end. Not a bad place to end it, but it skips the fact that, as a bed-ridden paralytic, he wanted to run for a third term in 1920. He got clobbered, got progressively worse and died in 1924. Not a good ending!

"I very much doubt that WILSON will ever be fixed up by our chums at Fox. I very much doubt that another Technicolor thing with a similar time frame, 'Life With Father,' will ever improve from its current video edition - and it was a whopping hit. But it was sort of cringe-worthy when I finally saw it a couple years ago."

 

 

Enthusiasm among the delegates at the back of the main floor.  

 

Getting a look at the side boxes as the camera pans toward the stage. 

 

 

Alexander Knox onstage as Wilson. 

 

 

A look at the action on house left side of the main floor.  

A better look at the band in the house right boxes. 

 

 

 

A collage of the pan from the band up to the 2nd balcony, encompassing the last shot and the next two.  Kurt comments: "Some of the film has decidedly odd uses of colored gels to heighten mood."

 

Panning up the house right wall. 

 

 

The crowd in the 2nd balcony. 

 

 

William Eythe as "Princeton Man" George Felton leading cheers in the 1st balcony  

 

 

A 1st balcony view to the stage. 

 

 

Thomas Mitchell as Joseph Patrick Tumulty. 

Another view of Mitchell. He's asking if Wilson, in his mission to root out corruption, will go after party bosses such as the ones sitting in the house left boxes. 

 

 

Alexander Knox, as Wilson, addresses the party bosses in the boxes.  

 

 

Directing his remarks to Mitchell in the balcony. 

 

Thurston Hall, as Senator Edward Jones, addresses the crowd. 

 

 

Time to strike up the band. 

 

They're not worried. It's all just talk. James Rennie as boss Jim Beeker, Thurston Hall as Senator Edward Jones, unknown, and J.M. Kerrigan as Ed Sullivan

 

The theatre, adjacent to the Biltmore Hotel, opened in 1924. See the Biltmore Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for photos and data. 

 

 

For the scenes at the 1912 Democratic convention we're at the Shrine Auditorium's Expo Hall. Kurt comments: "The scenes at the conventions are hair-raising in their logistical scope." The Hall is a flat-floored space with a wrap-around balcony that's on the north side of the Shrine Auditorium. Here we're looking in from the 32nd St. entrance. The Auditorium portion of the complex is behind the far wall.

 

 

A look toward the east wall. 

 

 

 

Another view toward the dais and the south wall of the hall. 

 

 

An unidentified politician. There are many speeches.

 

 

 

Paul Everton as Judge John W. Westcott placing Wilson's name in nomination.  

 

 

Cy Kendall as New York Delegation leader Charles F. Murphy pledging to champion Clark.

 

 

 

An unknown actress as Lady Liberty. 

 

Lady Liberty's profile shot. 

 

George Macready as Wilson's Convention Manager William McCombs telling Wilson he thinks the nomination has been lost. The reply is that he'll be hanging in there until the end and his delegates shouldn't be released. 

 

Edwin Maxwell as William Jennings Bryan announcing Nebraska's delegates will back Wilson. 

 

 

Another cue for the band: Wilson will be the 1912 Democratic Party nominee!

"Wilson" returns to the Expo Hall for the 1916 Democratic convention but it's just a brief moment of coverage compared to the circus we see for 1912.

See the main page about the Shrine Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a list of many other films where the building appears. There's also a separate page for the Expo Hall. 

Thanks to Kurt Wahlner for the screenshots as well as the work identifying the actors in various shots. Visit his terrific site about the Chinese Theatre: GraumansChinese.org

On IMDb: "Wilson"

 

Alexander Knox onstage at the Biltmore in "Wilson." It's a promotional still that appears on IMDb.

"Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

We get a lot of theatre time in "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody" (Columbia, 2022). The film is bookended with a performance at the Metropolitan/Wang Theatre in Boston. And there's a visit to the Radio City Music Hall.

It's a biopic about, yes, Whitney Houston. Anthony McCarten wrote the script, Kasi Lemmons directed. The cinematography was by Barry Ackroyd. The film stars Naomi Ackie as Whitney, Stanley Tucci as Clive Davis, Tamara Tunie as Cissy Houston and Ashton Sanders as Bobby Brown.

 A lovely Shrine Auditorium flyover shot before we go to the Soul Train Music Awards.  

 

We cut to this rowdy street scene outside the Shrine before the Soul Train Awards. Except we're not at the Shrine. This was shot elsewhere. 

 

 

 

For the Soul Train scenes the lobby and auditorium shots were done at the Emerson Majestic Theatre in Boston.  

 

Later in the film we're headed to the Billboard Music Awards. Here Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown are coming in the front doors of the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway. 

 

Heading up the stairs.

Posing on the stairs. This particular shot from the trailer isn't in the finished film. 

 

 

 

A later shot across a piano during a rehearsal. 

 

A wider view reveals we're in the basement lounge of the Los Angeles. They're rehearsing "Star Spangled Banner" for the Super Bowl.

Looking toward the lounge entrance. That blue drape at the end hides the entrance to the men's room.

See the pages about the Shrine Auditorium and the Los Angeles Theatre on the L.A. Theatres site for a history of the two buildings along with hundreds of photos.

On IMDb: "Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody"

"Blank Man"

Well, it's set in Chicago, and has lots of nice footage shot there, on the elevated trains and so forth. But L.A. locations creep in around the edges of "Blankman" (Columbia, 1994). Here Damon Wayans, a self-styled crime fighter, is trying to catch a bus to take him to a crime currently taking place. The location? We're in front of the State Theatre at 7th and Broadway.

Another shot from the scene at the State. See the pages about the State Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the 1921 vintage film and vaudeville palace.

Mike Binder directed the film, also featuring David Allen Grier as Damon's brother and Robin Givens as the newscaster who falls for Blankman. 

Damon gets kicked out of his place and is ferrying his belongings to an abandoned Chicago subway station. On the way, we get this lovely shot of a triangular-shaped building in an interesting moment of transition as one skin has been taken off and it's in a moment of nakedness. Fans of this building will no doubt instantly recognize it as the former home of the Liberty Theatre at 3rd and Main.
 

Near the end of the film Jon Polito as the villain is tracked down to his lair in, would you have guessed? One look at those ceiling beams reveals that you're in the Shrine Expo Hall.

A view across the main floor of the hall. Quite a hideout, huh? See the pages about the Shrine Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the 1926 vintage building along with several hundred photos of the main auditorium as well as the adjacent Expo Hall. 

On IMDb: "Blankman" 

"Black Gunn"

About 22 minutes into "Black Gunn" (Columbia, 1972) we get a look at the front of the La Tosca Theatre, 2930 S. Vermont Ave. The film stars Jim Brown, Brenda Sykes and Martin Landau. Robert Hartford-Davis directed. Thanks to Bill Gabel for spotting the theatre in the film and Eric Schaefer for getting the screenshot. 

On the marquee in milk glass letters: "The Home of Foreign Language Art Films - Russian - Indian - Korean - German - Hungarian."

See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the La Tosca for more information about the theatre. It had opened in 1912 as the Photoplay.

On IMDb: "Black Gunn"

"An Actor Prepares"

We start "An Actor Prepares" (Gravitas Ventures, 2018) at the Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Blvd. It's a tribute to actor Atticus Smith, played by Jeremy Irons. His character has a heart attack at the tribute and, unable to fly, the film becomes a road trip east to go to his daughter's wedding. Steve Clark directed the film which also features Jack Huston, Mamie Gummer, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Ben Schwartz, Jeremy Irons, Matthew Modine, and Will Patton.

See the pages about the Shrine Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the 1926 vintage building along with several hundred photos.

A look onstage, not shot at the Shrine. Most of the movie was shot in Georgia.

A lobby view shot at an unknown location.

Another lobby shot at the unidentified theatre.

On IMDb: "An Actor Prepares"

"A Star is Born"

Perhaps in homage to the 1954 version of the film, we visit the Shrine Auditorium, 665 W. Jefferson Ave., twice during Bradley Cooper's "A Star is Born" (Warner Bros, 2018). In this shot we're there for a rehearsal for the the Grammy Awards. Jackson Maine (Cooper) was supposed to sing a Roy Orbison tribute but he gets demoted to just playing guitar. Rising star Ally (Lady Gaga) gets the award for best new performer and Maine, in the best James Mason fashion, is drunk and wanders onstage to embarrass everybody.

We're back at the Shrine at the end of the film for Ally's tribute to her dead husband. Instead of walking into the ocean, this time he hangs himself in the garage. In an echo of Judy Garland's line, Lady Gaga says "This is Ally Maine" when she comes onstage for the tribute before singing a song he wrote for her.

We visit many other venues in the film, mostly outside, including Coachella and UK's Glastonbury Festival. Also featured in the cast are Sam Elliott as Jackson's brother/manager, Andrew Dice Clay as Ally's father Lorenzo, Anthony Ramos as Ally's buddy Ramon, and Ravi Gafron as Ally's agent Rez Gafron.  The film's U.S. premiere was held at the Shrine on September 24, 2018.

See the main page about the Shrine Auditorium on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a list of many other films where the building appears.

On IMDb: "A Star is Born"