The Premiere of the Premiere
Tag: Historic Hollywood
On Monday, December 14, 2015, Hollywood experienced the biggest movie premiere ever recorded with the opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. More than 6,000 fans packed three world-renowned theatres in Hollywood—the Dolby Theatre, the TCL Chinese Theatre and the El Capitan Theater—to experience the opening of one of the most anticipated movies of all time. Disney and Lucas Films linked the three with a quarter-mile tent that housed every type of Star Wars-themed interactive installation imaginable, delighting throngs of light sabre-wielding, Obi-Wan costumed fans, celebs and press.
But this is par for the course in Hollywood, the place where the movie premiere was conceived. Enormous star-studded, glamorous, glitzy premieres have been a mainstay of movie debuts since Sid Grauman, showman and entrepreneur extraordinaire, invented them way back in 1922.
The opening of the Egyptian Theatre in 1922.
Grauman opened his first Hollywood movie palace, the Egyptian Theatre, on October 18, 1922 with one of the most expensive movies of the 1920s, Robin Hood, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery. Costing upwards of a million dollars to produce, the film was deserving of a spectacular opening night and Grauman delivered with giant klieg lights sweeping the sky, limousines lined up for blocks and movie stars, swathed in diamonds and furs, arriving by the dozens. Tickets to the premiere cost $5 apiece and hundreds of fans lined up for hours just to see their favorite screen idols. This set the standard for decades of premieres to come.
The Egyptian Theatre is today managed by American Cinematheque. (Photo by Gary Leonard)
After the Egyptian, Grauman turned his attention to the Orient with his next big Hollywood project, the Chinese Theatre. The dazzling new theatre made its debut on May 18, 1927 with the star-studded premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s silent biblical epic, King of Kings. Thousands of people lined Hollywood Boulevard and it’s reported that a riot broke out as fans tried to catch a glimpse of celebs arriving for the opening.
The premiere of King of Kings at the Chinese Theatre in 1927.
The popularity of movie premieres only grew from there. In 1930, Grauman produced one of Hollywood’s biggest premieres to introduce Howard Hughes’ wartime epic, Hells Angels. On May 27, 1930 one full mile of Hollywood Blvd was lit with 185 white arc lights that sent columns of light shooting up into the sky. Model aircrafts depicting Hughes’ Fighting Force were strung at intersections all along Hollywood Boulevard while klieg lights searched the sky, as if looking for enemy planes. Friendly fighter squadrons roared overhead producing patriotic red, white and blue trails, with stunt pilots parachuting out of planes onto Hollywood Blvd. More than 600 policemen were brought in to control a crowd that numbered well over 15,000.
Photo of the premiere of "Hell's Angels" at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California, on May 27, 1930.
Security measures tightened up at premieres after Hells Angels due to their sheer popularity. Streets around the theatres were closed off and police ensured limos could get through to deliver their celebrity passengers. One of the biggest premieres in the following years included the official world premiere of King Kong at the Chinese on March 23, 1933. Kong’s giant head was displayed in the theater's forecourt and a seventeen-act show preceded the film. All of the Kong cast and crew were there, including lead actress Fay Wray who is said to have commented afterwards that she thought her screams were “distracting and excessive.”
The TCL Chinese Theatre, still one of the most recognizable landmarks in Hollywood. (Photo by Gary Leonard)
On August 15, 1939, the Technicolor classic, The Wizard of Oz had its premiere at the Chinese. More than 10,00 fans showed up to see Judy Garland, the Oz cast, and other MGM celebs. The studio recreated the Yellow Brick Road and built a mini-Munchkinland in the forecourt, complete with a scarecrow and costumed Munchkins. L. Frank Baum’s widow, Maud, who lived just down the street in a beautiful Victorian on Cherokee Avenue, was even in attendance that night.
But wartime was just around the corner. In the early 1940s premieres and the target their bright lights presented, were banned. The last premiere to be held until WWII was over was on August 19, 1942 for Pride of the Yankees at the Pantages Theatre, and was attended by such luminaries as Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers and Ronald Reagan.
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One of the greatest movie palaces from Hollywood's Golden Age, Hollywood Pantages is now LA's showplace for blockbuster live Broadway entertainment. (Photo by Gary Leonard)
After the war, premieres resumed and continued growing in grandeur and spectacle. But in the decades to follow, perhaps the biggest premiere of all time would be a non-premiere—the opening of a little film called Star Wars. At the time, the movie was considered a kids’ movie and wasn’t especially wanted by theatres. Twentieth Century Fox booked it into only 32 theatres across the States with no premiere planned. But great word of mouth created unprecedented anticipation for film. The trailer had been released the December before and by the time the film was set to open, sci-fi fanatics were foaming at the mouth to see it. On Wednesday, May 25, 1977, thousands lined up outside Grauman’s Chinese to pay their $4 to see what would become one of the highest grossing franchises of all time.
And the tradition continues while movie premieres both large and small continue to seek Hollywood as their venue of choice. So while many may complain about the horrific traffic and inconvenience premieres and their street closures cause, there’s no denying they are one of the most exciting parts of being in Hollywood. There’s nothing like seeing a klieg light sweep across the sky, signaling something exciting is coming our way.
The Dolby Theatre, home of the Oscars. (Photo by Gary Leonard)
Kim Sudhalter has worked with the Hollywood Entertainment District since its early years, helping to attract investment and revitalize the area. Originally from Europe and New York, she is an architecture and history buff who has a deep and abiding love for Hollywood and its past.