Burbank Theatre

548 S. Main Street,
Los Angeles, CA 90013

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Showing 26 - 50 of 91 comments

sweetwater
sweetwater on July 13, 2008 at 8:51 pm

My uncle, Allen E. Hanson, was a projectionist at the Burbank in the late 40’s, when they still showed movies AND had live burlesque entertainment. My aunt would bring him his lunch and we’d watch the movie in the little seating area just outside the projection booth, then, when the live “comic” came on stage and before the first stripper came out my aunt would grab me by the arm and hustle me down the stairs to the street. (I was about 6 or 7, I think.) Never DID get to see Tempest Storm’s act until I took in the Palm Springs Follies a few years ago. She still looked pretty great!

Tillmany
Tillmany on June 27, 2008 at 1:59 am

The Burbank is featured in the opening sequences of Sam Fuller’s film, The Crimson Kimono, filmed February-March 1959.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 30, 2007 at 6:58 am

Known as Pelton’s Burbank in 1919:
http://tinyurl.com/2s5qeu

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 26, 2007 at 7:20 am

Here is an October 1915 ad from the LA Times:
http://tinyurl.com/2q5g9f

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 2, 2007 at 9:47 am

He was doomed one way or another, apparently. I hope he had AFLAC.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 1, 2007 at 8:54 pm

vokoban: The card has only the date, alas.

Ken: Oliver Morosco died in 1945 (hit by a streetcar in Los Angeles), so I guess he survived his fall down the stairs.

The Burbank, by the way, is were Morosco had his first success- and his success was the Burbank’s first success as well. Here is Time Magazine’s obituary for Oliver Morosco.

vokoban
vokoban on October 1, 2007 at 8:13 pm

does the card catalog list a section and page number?

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 1, 2007 at 8:04 pm

The closest hit was when Oliver Morosco fell down the stairs. He was in bad shape. I don’t know if he survived that accident.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 1, 2007 at 7:47 pm

The reference is from a card in the California Index at the L.A. library. It might be a different edition of the paper. They sometimes did several editions a day in those days. It could also be a typo on the index card. The library does make a disturbing number of mistakes.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on October 1, 2007 at 7:32 pm

I can’t find that article either. Joe, are you sre about the date of the article?

vokoban
vokoban on October 1, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Joe, how did you find the article? I keep looking through the paper for that day and can’t find it.

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on October 1, 2007 at 5:09 pm

The airplanes didn’t show movies in 35 mm. Did the Queen Mary?

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on October 1, 2007 at 4:50 pm

The remodeling that gave the Burbank its streamlined facade took place in 1937, according to an article in The Los Angeles Times of October 17 that year.

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 5:07 pm

alright…maybe i wasn’t clear….let’s just sink that ship

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 4:48 pm

I never said the Queen Mary was built for that purpose….I said that the enclosed theater within the ship was built for that purpose….and i also already said that I never planned on adding it to Cinema Treasures….I think someone maybe just likes to argue about nothing…or I could be wrong. The silly thing is that there is nothing remotely controversial or debatable in this discussion.

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 4:21 pm

Well, it was built specifically to show movies as a theater…I don’t think just because its on a ship really matters even though I’m not much interested in theaters built after 1950. It’s not like a plane or somewhere where they happen to show movies at times.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 3, 2007 at 3:04 pm

I wonder if that would be considered a “float-in” theater.

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 2:57 pm

I wasn’t going to add it….just wondered since its pretty much stuck in Long Beach now.

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 2:42 pm

All I’ve been able to find out is that it was added to the ship in the 60’s or 70’s and seats 150 people.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 3, 2007 at 2:40 pm

I didn’t know there was a theater on the Queen Mary.

vokoban
vokoban on August 3, 2007 at 2:17 pm

It does look later than the 1880’s. Does anyone know if there is a CT page for the movie theater on the Queen Mary? I think its called the Royal. I’m going there tomorrow and wanted to see if there was any information about it.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on August 3, 2007 at 1:55 pm

Part of the Burbank is on the left in this USC photo, according to the information given by the archives. I think the date is wrong, probably 1920s as opposed to 1880s:
http://tinyurl.com/37jecf

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on July 31, 2007 at 6:38 pm

The Burbank is at the bottom of this 1907 USC photo:
http://tinyurl.com/yvrtzs

vokoban
vokoban on June 20, 2007 at 9:08 pm

Ken mc….that story would make a good graphic novel episode.