The downtown United Artists Theatre was opened in 1927 by its founders Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford; who needed the massive Spanish Gothic style movie palace as a venue for world premieres of their movies.
With its elaborate exterior and interior, the former United Artists Theatre is now the home for Gene Scott's Los Angeles University Cathedral
Contributed by William Gabel
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The United Artists was the only theatre on Broadway built as a flagship house by a major studio.
It is a grand picture palace in the flamboyant Spanish Gothic style, with a dummy tower to circumvent the local height restriction of the time. The tower is a detached 50 foot high sign erected on stilts. The United Artist/Texaco building was the city's tallest privately owned building for 20 years. The theatre was financed by Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks & Charlie Chaplin whose portraits appear on the interior murals inside the auditorium. Mary Pickford, enchanted with European castles, played a major role in the design of the building. It was her favorite theatre. Gothic tracery shoots vertically up the building's facade, accented by pointed Gothic arches. Grotesqueries appear in the terra cotta ornament, depicting the film industry. The narrow lobby continues the Spanish Cathedral form, with vaults and frescoes painted by Anthony Heinsbergen.
The ornate stained glass window patterns were originally repeated in the carpet design. The auditorium drips with gothic tracery, whose dazzling effect is enhanced by tiny glass mirrors and hanging prisms. In the mid 50's, the United Artists theatre became the Downtown outlet for the TODD-AO films. TODD-AO was Mike Todd's answer to CinemaScope. The Egyptian theatre in Hollywood was Todd-AO house #2 and UA was house #3. The United Artists was the only theatre that was equipped for 70mm projection in Downtown Los Angeles. In the early 60's the United Artists theatre had a open and closed policy. During the 60's the business was more near the 6th and 7th street. During that time it became a Spanish house till it closed. Dr. Gene Scott's church returned the United Artists theatre back to it's original 1927 look.
posted by William on Aug 21, 2002 at 10:28am
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