1952’s `Singin’ In the Rain’ opens with an authentic recreation of the sort of film premiere seen at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in the silent era.
As I was able to find no copy of it on the Internet, here instead is Mickey Mouse’s take on the typical Grauman’s Chinese Theatre premiere from 1933 - complete with Al Hirschfeld-style pastiches of many favourites from the silent era, including the Keystone Kops, Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Greta Garbo.
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre - Photo from Grand Opening (1927)
An usherette in `authentic’ Chinese regalia promotes the opening of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (the photo is vintage, but the frame is not original).
Fantasy theatres such as Grauman’s Chinese and the neighbouring Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre were very popular in the silent era. They were rarely historically accurate, but they added to the impression of Hollywood as a dream factory, and moviegoing as an all-encompassing escapist experience.
Such theatres came to be seen as tacky in later years and many had their ornamentation removed or modified. Grauman’s Chinese Theatre’s iconic status has helped to preserve it, and it is still relatively intact. Happily, the Egyptian has also been restored recently, after years in disrepair.
Visitors to the Capitol Theatre in Sydney, an outstanding surviving example of the `ambient’ theatre (designed to appear like an outdoor Roman amphitheatre) will also get an impression of the whimsical nature of cinema and theatre design in this era.
Aside from its architecture, what makes Grauman’s world-famous is of course its tradition of inviting stars to place their footprints and handprints in the concrete pavement outside the theatre.
As with nearly every Hollywood tradition, legend and fact have mingled to the point that it’s difficult to say how this idea began. Some stories suggest that Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped in wet concrete during the construction of the theatre. Others suggest, perhaps more plausibly, that it was theatre manager Sid Grauman himself who trod in a slab and quickly realised that there would be more value in the preservation of a celebrity footprint than of his.
Whatever the origins, the prints have made Grauman’s Chinese Theatre a compulsory visit for any visitor to Hollywood, and generations of fans have attempted to fit their hands and feet into the prints of their favourite stars.
`The King of Kings’ was the kind of religious epic for which Cecil B. DeMille was famous throughout his career. Those who worked on the film testified to DeMille’s reverence for the subject. For example, he permitted no-one to speak to actor H.B. Walthall while he was on set as Jesus. Nor was anyone allowed to watch his ascent or descent from the cross.
Nevertheless, DeMille was a showman first and foremost, and his reverence did not preclude the inclusion of salacious details such as pagan orgies. Last Easter, Time Magazine named the 1927 version of `King of Kings’ the greatest Easter movie of all time.
One of the least remembered aspects of silent film is that it was the first (and perhaps the only) truly universal form of mass media. A Kalahari bushman could find as much to laugh about in a Charlie Chaplin movie as a suburban child in a nickelodeon. This goes some way towards explaining the incredible level of international stardom enjoyed by silent stars.
This was particularly true of India, where speakers of numerous different languages, dialects and castes might live very close to one another. All were able to gather together and enjoy a silent film on some level, even regardless of whether they could read the intertitles.
This universality was lost when sound was introduced. A new form of entertainment was developed, featuring stories were `told’ not only via dialogue but by gesture and music, understandable without dialogue - and thus was Bollywood cinema born.
In the case of `King of Kings’, this universality made the film a powerful tool for missionaries in non-English speaking countries, and it is rumoured that prints were still being used in this capacity as late as the 1950s.
This was not a time in which cinemagoing simply involved buying a ticket from a bored teenager and shuffling through ankle-deep popcorn into a dark, anonymous room. In 1927, the most luxurious theatres provided a complete night’s entertainment. The experience began the minute you stepped through the door, with fantastically decorated cinemas and, especially in the case of prestige pictures, an extensive programme of live entertainment.
Showman Sid Grauman spared no expense, and the festivities included a full orchestral overture and a live performance, firstly of several Biblical scenes and then of `Tableaux’ - an odd phenomenon popular in this era, in which motionless performers would portray `Tableaux Vivants’ - living pictures (for example, an imitation of a famous painting), often accompanied with dramatic music and an interpretation by a narrator. This was a good way of displaying fabulous scenery and costumes (and, thanks to a loophole in obscenity laws, far more flesh than would have been permitted in a regular play or musical).
Program - Official Opening, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre (1927)
Here is something special with an Easter theme - an original program from the official opening and dedication of the legendary Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The cinema was dedicated in appropriately grand style with a showing of Cecil B. DeMille’s religious epic `King of Kings’ (1927).
By all accounts it was a lavish event. 2,000 attendees crowded the cinema itself, and an estimated 50,000 fans crammed the surrounding streets to see their favourite stars. Though not quite on this scale, it’s a scene that has been repeated many times over the subsequent decades, with the venue still a favourite for major premieres.
The theatre itself has also figured in numerous movies. The earliest such appearance that I’ve been able to find is in the 1929 William Haines movie with the rather ironic title of `A Man’s Man’. As in the case of many early talkies, all that remains of this film is its soundtrack disc.
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