Hollywood's Lost Studio

 

HOLLYWOOD'S  LOST
FILM  STUDIO

 

 

The main gates of the old Selig Polyscope Studios and Zoo as seen in 1962.

All photo's courtesy of "Google Images" and thanks to "Wikipedia for the information

contained in this article.

 

 

by Felicity Blaze Noodleman

 

Research for this article has been a “mind bender” to say the least.  It seems the early pioneers of the silent film era were all intertwined at one point or another.  The early twentieth century was an explosive period for new inventions.  The entrepreneurs who saw the potential and opportunity for new companies and products were forming everywhere at a frantic pace.  All sorts of businesses began manufacturing throughout the country and elsewhere in the world.   All sorts of products hardly ever imagined before from automobiles to electric toasters were being mass produced and becoming available for everyone. 

 

All of these new start ups were financed by Wall Street.  The production of Motion Pictures was no different from the other businesses of their day.  Dozens of film companies would eventually move into the Los Angeles area from New York, New Jersey and Chicago to take advantage of the unique opportunities in southern California.  This flurry of opportunity would all end with the Great Depression and the crash of the stock market in October 29, 1929 leaving only the financially strongest to survive.

 

I first heard the rumors of a lost studio here in Los Angeles on the PBS television program “The History Detectives”.  A young woman had written the Detectives about a park in her Lincoln Heights, CA neighborhood of Los Angeles.  At the gate of the park were two concrete lions.  She had been told the park once had been the location for a motion picture studio which had been there during the silent movie era.  The young woman was unable to establish a link to any studio which might have been in the parks location and was bewildered as to what the studios existence may have been.

 

The History Detectives uncovered many of the facts I have found for myself but I believe maybe we are able to go a little further and show a connection with one or more of today’s motion picture studios.  Many of the details for this week’s story have been lost for nearly a century.  The ages of time have almost wiped the story and the studios existence clean from the pages of history.  Only a park gate with the facade of two concrete lions stand as a testament to what happened there over a century ago in Lincoln Heights, CA.

 

 

 

 

 

 Advertisement for Selig Polyscope in Chicago, IL showing the early motion picture

studio and processing facilities.

 

Inside the Chicago, IL studios and filming stage.

 

The Selig Polyscope film company was founded in 1896 by William Selig in Chicago, IL.  Selig had been a magician and was impressed with Thomas Edison's movie equipment and decided to start making his own films.  He was highly organized and a visionary who was truly ahead of his time.  With help from Union Metal Works and Andrew Schustek, he shot his first film, "Tramp and the Dog".  He went on to successfully produce local actualities, slapstick comedies, early travelogues and industrial films (a major client was Armour and Company).   



In 1909 he moved west to southern California and was the first motion picture studio to open in the Los Angeles area of Edendale.   Moving to the Southern California area for expansion and the favorable filming conditions available in the Los Angeles area was a master stroke and his model for the modern motion picture studio still remains as the fundamental foundation upon which all of the studios of today were built upon.

 

William Selig

 

Over the years in Edendale Selig had collected animals used in the filming of his movies and by 1912 he decided to open a zoo to the east of Edendale in the Lincoln Heights area where he purchased 32 acres for $1,000,000. In 1916 Selig moved his studios to the new location where he combined his businesses. Selig had spent lavishly of the property, animals and the upkeep of building his new facilities which became the demise of Polyscope. This too would also be a lesson for the survival of today’s studios. Over spending is the one single biggest mistake a business can make and will almost always result in bankruptcy.

The Edendale area would become home to the "Keystone Studios" of Mack Sennette and William Fox would purchase the Ployscope studio in 1917.  A small community of early motion picture pioneers sprang up in the Edendale area and must have certainly influenced each other as they were now a studio Colene.

 



 



 

Originally a small bungalow in Edendale, Selig built his second studio in southern

California which was sold to William Fox in 1917.  I feel this a strong indicator of the

influence Selig on the Studios of today.  Fox's studio would eventually become

20th. Century Fox after a merger with 20th. Century Pictures.

 

 



 

The Selig Polyscope Studios and Zoo in Lincoln Heights, CA with their gates

inserted in the photo at the upper right.  Below; another aerial photo of the

complex.  The gates are visible in the lower portion of these photos.

 

 

 

 

 

William was a true innovator and pioneer in so many ways.  Business man, artist and story teller he was blazing the trail for all modern day film producers.  I love to see these old films after they have been lovingly restored to their original luster.  In many ways they were much like movies today.  Selig's genius lives on as an inspiration for film makers in our day.  

 

 

 

 

Selig Polyscope produced hundreds of early, widely distributed commercial moving pictures of all types, including the first films starring Tom Mix and other cowboy stars such as  Gilbert M. Anderson who was known on screen as "Bronco Billy" and had acted in Thomas Edison's film "The Great Train Robbery" (brought back to life by Clint Eastwood's 1980 film which was loosely based on the cowboy actors life), Harold Lloyd, Colleen Moore, and Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle.  Polyscope was the originator of the "Cliff Hanger" serial and did many of the stories from the children's book collection "OZ".  Polyscope did the first production of "The Wizard of OZ".  I get the feeling William Selig must have been a jolly ol' fellow who threw a lot of hart into his work!

 

 

 

 

Surviving hand tinted still from The Fairylogue based on L. Frank Baum's Oz books.

 



Some of the Selig Polyscope stars: (top left to bottom right)  G.M. "Bronco Billy"

Anderson, Kathlyn Williams, Rosco "Fatty" Arbuckel, Harold Lloyd, Tom Mix

and Colleeen Moore.

 

 

 

 

World War I cut severely into the substantial revenues of Selig Polyscope which had been garnered in Europe and the company shunned profitable movie industry trends which had shifted towards dramatic (and more costly) full length feature films.  Polyscope had been in the industry now for twenty years and a new generation of film makers were coming of age. 

 

 

 

 

Also;  theater chains back east were begining to establish their own studios which began to cut into Polyscop's business such as Fox, MGM and the Warner Brothers.  Competition for films was becoming fierce.   Selig Polyscope became insolvent and ceased operations in 1918.  Mix signed with Fox back at Edendale and went on to even greater success as a matinée cowboy star.  Movie studios rented animals and staged many shoots at the Selig zoo (sometimes later claiming they had been filmed in Africa).

 

The First Tarzan movie (1918) was filmed there. In 1920 Louis B. Mayer rented his first studio space for Mayer Pictures at the site.  I feel this is another strong link Selig had with the studios of today as  Mayer would eventually merge and become part of MGM.  Selig planned to develop his zoo into a major tourist attraction, amusement park and popular resort named Selig Zoo Park with a ferris wheel, carousels, mechanical rides, an enormous swimming pool with a sandy beach and a wave making machine, hotel, theatre, cinema, restaurants and thousands of daily visitors (more than 30 years before Disneyland). Only a single carousel was built. Selig Polyscope's extensive collection of props and furnishings were auctioned off at the zoo in 1923.

 

The potential of movies as long term sources of revenue was unknown to early movie industry executives.  Films were made quickly, sent into distribution channels and mostly forgotten soon after their first runs.  Surviving prints were wontedly stored haphazardly, if at all. Early film stock was chemically volatile and many prints were lost in fires or decomposed to goo in storage. Some were recycled for their silver content or simply thrown away to save space.  Out of Selig Polyscope's hundreds of films, only a few copies and scattered photographic elements are known to survive.




It is at this point that we should look at the movie theaters which were being built to exhibit these early silent motion pictures.  These motion picture palaces were built to compete with the live theater of the day.  Going to a silent motion picture in these newly constructed "movie shows" was quite a moving experience.  Sound was furnished with a live orchestra and the close up intimacy of the film drew the viewer into the story like never before in a theatrical presentation.  The photo below is an excellent example of the silent era "movie palace".  Well, you can see and imagine what an experience it must have been in the early 20th. century!

 



The Downtown Palace Theatre, at 630 S Broadway, was built in 1911 as the third Los Angeles home of the Orpheum Vaudeville circuit. It was originally know as the “Orpheum” and is the oldest remaining Orpheum theatre in the country. Renamed the Palace Theatre in 1926, it became a silent movie house and later added sound. The theatre is preparing for a new century of performances and screenings.

Selig Polyscope Filmography

 

·        Soldiers at Play 1898

·        Chicago Police Parade 1901

·        Dewey Parade 1901

·        Gans-McGovern Fight 1901

·        A Hot Time on a Bathing Beach 1903

·        Business Rivalry 1903

·        Chicago Fire Run 1903

·        Chicago Firecats on Parade 1903

·        The Girl in Blue 1903

·        Trip Around The Union Loop 190

·        View of The Tramp and the Dog 1896

·        State Street 1903

·        Humpty Dumptry 1904

·        The Tramp Dog 1904

·        The Grafter 1907

·        The Count of Monte Cristo 1908

·        Damon and Pythias 1908

·        The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays 1908

·        Hunting Big Game in Africa 1909

·        The Wonderful Wizard of Oz 1910 (survives)

·        Lost in the Arctic 1911

·        Life on the Border 1911 (partial section survives)

·        The Coming of Columbus 1911

·        Brotherhood of Man 1912

·        Kings Forest 1912

·        War Time Romance 1912

·        The Adventures of Kathlyn 1913

·        Arabia, the Equine Detective 1913

·        The Sheriff of Yavapai County 1913

·        The Spoilers 1914 (survives)

·        A Black Sheep 1915

·        The Crisis 1915

·        House of a Thousand Candles 1915

·        The Man from Texas 1915

·        The Garden of Allah 1916

·        The City of Purple Dreams 1918

·        Little Orphant Annie 1918 (not to be confused with the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie".

 

Selig finally sold the zoo following a flood during the Great Depression. Some of the animals were donated to Los Angeles County, forming a substantial addition to Griffith Park Zoo. The property was used as a jalopy racetrack during the 1940s and early 1950s. In 1955 the site was described as "an inactive amusement park."

 

William Selig became a literary agent, re-selling story rights to film properties he had produced or acquired years before.  For his contributions to the motion picture industry William Selig has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6116 Hollywood Boulevard.  In 1947 Selig and several other early movie producers and directors shared a special Academy Honorary Award to acknowledge their role in building the film industry.  Col. William N. Selig died at the age of 84 in 1948 having established three motion picture studios and was a true pioneer in movie history.  I'm glad to have learned of his story and was able to share it with you here at the Noodleman Group.

 

 

 

 

 * “The Noodleman Group” is pleased to announce that we are now carrying a link to the “USA Today” news site.We installed the “widget/gadget” August 20, and it will be carried as a regular feature on our site.Now you can read“Noodleman” and then check in to “USA Today” for all the up to date News, Weather, Sports and more!Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of our site and hit the “USA Today” hyperlinks.Enjoy!

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Wilshire Grand Hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE LIFE, DEATH AND REBIRTH OF A L.A. HOTEL ! 

 

The Wilshire Grand in downtown Los Angeles, CA as it looked until recently,

shortly before demolition is scheduled to begin.

* Images courtesy “Google Images”, USC Digital Archives and
the Los Angeles Public Library.

 

 

by Felicity Blaze Noodleman

Our story this week takes us back to the mid 20th. century and back even back further into the late 19th. century as we trace the property where the Wilshire Grand Hotel has stood for the last 60 years.  Sometimes history just has this kink of allure for me when I think of all the events which most certainly occurred in the past within a place. I love history and reconstructing the chain of events associated with a place or location. 

If it’s true that Los Angles is much like New York, “the Naked City with a million stories to tell”, as depicted in literature and film Noir, than our hotel has the perfect setting.  The mid 20th. century was the age of Noir, after all.  Maybe Los Angeles could have been the setting for a Mickey Spillane crime and suspense novel characterizing most big American cities. Radio and television’s program “Dragnet” chronicled the story of a police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, who certainly brought things home for Angelinos with the stark confession of his profession stating:  "Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent"!  

Our article takes us back over a number of decades and is about a hotel here in the downtown Los Angeles  area.  Maybe you might remember “Hotel” was a novel by Arthur Hailey and became a television dramatic series in the mid 1980’s staring James Brolin and was produced by Aaron Spelling for ABC.  “Grand Hotel” was also the title of a motion picture produced in the early 1930’s which followed the activities of various people in a large busy hotel, with some of the characters' lives overlapping in odd ways and some of them remaining unaware of one an other's existence.  This is the experience that I’m beginning to feel!   

 

I first read about the story of the Wilshire Grand Hotel’s planed demolition in “The Los Angeles Downtown News”, a small free publication covering news of our downtown area with an emphasis on the growth and expansion of real estate in the vicinity of downtown proper.  At the time I didn’t think too much about it.  Just another revitalization effort to upgrade the LA city core.  It happens all the time.  As I began to hear more of the project, the idea of a story began to form and with a little research the projects picture and scope started coming into focus for me.

 

 

 

 

On February 14, 1946, high officials from Hotels Statler, Inc., arrived in Los Angeles to scout locations for a potential hotel here. The company, which then operated eight hotels in cities to the east, apparently liked what it saw. On March 6 a company spokesman announced that the firm had taken an option for 125,000 square feet of land at Figueroa and Wilshire.  The hotel is shown here shortly before completion in November of 1951.

 

November 1952 - some of the first guests arrive at the Statler as Chefs and
kitchen staff prepare Turkey's for dinner. 

 

 

The Wilshire Grand was originally built as the Statler Hotel.  The Statler hotel chain managed a number of hotels across the country and opened its new establishment at 930 Wilshire Blvd. and Figueroa St. on August of 1952.  This is the first coincidence for me because I was born in March of 1952.  The hotel and I are the same age!  It is rare that I should be out living a building because so many buildings are older than I am and will still be around after I have passed away.

 

The hotels opening ceremony and dedication was held on October 27, 1952.   Governor Warren and Mayor Bowron were both on-hand to speak, as were hundreds of business leaders.  Actor Ronald Reagan, later to become California Governor and President Reagan, was the Master of Ceremonies.  The hotel itself  when opened, was a 13-story complex housing 1275 rooms, all wired up for television (Remember: television was still a new medium at this time with only a few stations broadcasting in black & white).  A 150,000 square foot office tower on Figueroa was fully leased.  A garage in the project held 500 cars, and the laundry facilities were described as "capable of serving a city of 20,000." 15 conference and banquet rooms had a capacity of 3500. 

 

 

OPENING  AND  HOTEL  HISTORY

 

 



Statler Executives display the model of their new Los Angeles hotel.

 

 

 

It was a mammoth project for its day and many cities in the country would love to have a hotel of this size in their community. I would describe the architecture as a clean looking reinforced concrete style which could have lasted for many more decades as a beautiful part of our city. The largest hotel to be built in the United States since the Waldorf Astoria in 1931 it hosted movie stars, presidents (Eisenhower to Reagan) and kings as well as Pope John II; it was the venue for the 1952 Emmy Awards; it welcomed the Brooklyn Dodgers to their new home in Los Angeles; sequestered the jurors in the Rodney King Jr. trial; as well as delegates to the 1960 and 2000 Democratic National Conventions and it was once one of the “Crown Jewels” of Conrad Hilton’s mighty empire.

 

Since Hilton's ownership of the hotel it was sold two more times; once becoming the now Grand hotel and most recently to the new owners, Korean Airlines.  This was the second point of interest for me.  Most United States airline companies usually are for the most part unprofitable and end up in bankruptcy.  Although US airline companies are bigger and service more routs in the world the smaller Korean company has managed to turn a profit large enough to finance a deal like the new Wilshire Grand.

 

I also found the money trail of the hotel very interesting.  Rarely do we get a look at these kind of finances in the real world of Monopoly.  Below is a basic chart of the investments made at the Grand:

 



 

 



 

 100  YEARS  OF  HISTORY AT  WILSHIRE  &  FIGUEROA

 

1905 - The property at the site of the Wilshire Grand prior to the photo below.

The area was a residential neighborhood and Figueroa was lined with these old
Victorian homes.  The suburbs of the late 19th. century.  This would be
E.A. Forrester's house at 949 West 7th St. where the Grand sits today.

 

The site of the Wilshire Grand as it was in 1937, a decade before plans were being assembled for the hotel in 1946.The Figueroa and 7^th. St. corner of the location had been a Studebaker automobile dealership. The cables suspended above the street intersection were for the “Red Car” of the “Pacific Electric Railway” system established in 1887. Everything pictured here would soon passing away in to history.
 

 

Work begins in 1951 on the "Atomic age" hotel as the foundation and superstructure
for the Statler Hotel is put into place.

 

 

Aerial photograph shows the hotels location on Wilshire Blvd. and Figueroa St.
flanked by 7^th.. St. to the rear and the newly opened Harbor Freeway to the right.
The building circled in red was the sight for a silent film which is how I ran across this photo.

 

VIEWS  OF  WILSHIRE  GRAND  AND  FACILITIES 

 

7th. St. and Figueroa services and guest entrance.  Below are the interior views of
the hotels and many of its facilities and suites.

 

 

 

 THE NEW WILSHIRE GRAND HOTEL

 

The developer–a collaboration between Korean Air (a subsidiary of Hanjin) and Thomas Properties Group.  The taller of the two towers pictured below would rise to a height of 1,250 feet tall (that figure includes the architectural spire), eclipsing the current tallest skyscraper west of Chicago that is also in Downtown LA, the Library Tower (aka US Bank Tower) standing at 1,018 feet tall. The most recently completed skyscraper in Los Angeles is L.A. Live Ritz-Carlton Hotels & Condominiums, which rises 653 feet (199 m) and 54 floors.


OK;  now I'm intensely interested in the proposed plans for the new hotel.  But won't a building of this size be at risk of earth quake damage when the "big one" hits?  It would seem so, how ever new construction techniques employ the use of shock absorbers in the buildings foundation and rollers add flexibility so that buildings of this size are earth quake resistant.  Believe it or not with these new innovations the new Wilshire Grand will be able to with stand quakes and even the "big one"!  If you ask me, I think this project is the construction deal of the century.  I would love to be the firm receiving the commission on this project!

Korean Air is considering major changes to its $1 billion plan to replace the aged Wilshire Grand Hotel. Instead of building a 45-story tower with 560 hotel rooms and a second-phase, 60-story office complex, the company is looking at erecting a single tower with 900 hotel rooms and a diminished office component.

The pending changes come as Korean Air has parted ways with office giant Thomas Properties Group, which handled the project’s entitlements and was widely expected to serve as the project developer. Martin Project Management, a new venture by architect Chris Martin (whose firm AC Martin is handling the project designs), has been appointed to manage the development.

 

 

 

Tonight the lights are dark at the old Wilshire Grand as demolition has already begun. A $25,000,000. project to tear it down floor by floor and salvage as much valuable recyclables as possible. Soon work will begin for the new Wilshire Grand with it's opening scheduled for 2017.  The hotel towers will rise some 75 to 80 stories.  I'm Felicity for the Noodleman group as we again are keeping our feet on the ground and looking to the future!

 

 

 



Daily Presidential Tracking Poll

Friday, November 02, 2012

 

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows the race tied, with President Obama and Mitt Romney each attracting support from 48% of voters nationwide. One percent (1%) prefers some other candidate, and three percent (3%) remain undecided. See daily tracking history.

Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update).
NOTE: Rasmussen Reports is based in Asbury Park, New Jersey and we were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. However, our survey interview calls are placed from a different location, so data gathering was able to continue. The Rasmussen Challenge is on hold until next week due to the weather.
“It’s somewhat surprising that heading into the final weekend of the election season, we are unable to confidently project who is likely to win the White House,” Scott Rasmussen writes in his latest weekly newspaper column. “But the race for the White House remains close because of the economy. Most Americans do not feel better off than they were four years ago, but most are not feeling worse off either.”

New surveying finds Romney ahead by one point in Iowa and by three in Colorado. The candidates are tied in Wisconsin. All three states remain Toss-Ups.
We will release new numbers out of Michigan and Ohio later today.
For most of the year, Rasmussen Reports has conducted 500 survey interviews per night and reported the results on a three-day rolling average basis. For the final week of the campaign, we will conduct 1,000 survey interviews per night.

In the battle for the White House, the Rasmussen Reports Electoral College projections now show the president with 237 Electoral Votes and Romney 206. The magic number needed to win the White House is 270. Eight states with 95 Electoral College votes remain Toss-ups: Colorado, Florida,Iowa,Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.
Incumbent Democrat Jon Tester has taken a one-point lead in Montana's U.S. Senate race. Tommy Thompson and Tammy Baldwin are tied in Wisconsin. Both races are rated Toss-Ups in the Rasmussen Reports Senate Balance of Power rankings.
If you’d like Scott to speak to your organization, meeting or conference, please contact Premiere Speakers.

(Presidential Job Approval Data Below)

A president’s job approval rating is one of the best indicators for assessing his chances of reelection. Typically, the president’s job approval rating on Election Day will be close to the share of the vote he receives. Currently, 50% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's job performance. Forty-nine percent (49%) at least somewhat disapprove (see trends).
Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and additional information from the tracking poll on a daily basis.

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction. That’s the highest level of optimism since May 2009. The latest finding is up 15 points from 24% at the beginning of the year and up 22 points from 17% a year ago.

Republicans now lead Democrats by three points on the Generic Congressional Ballot.
The economy and the election are the topics on this weekend’s edition of What America Thinks, Scott Rasmussen’s new weekly television show. The program is seen on more than 60 stations nationwide.
Rasmussen Reports is a media company whose work is followed by millions on a wide variety of platforms. In addition to the new TV show, we regularly release our work at RasmussenReports.com, through a daily email newsletter, a nationally syndicated radio news service, an online video service and a weekly newspaper column distributed by Creators Syndicate.

Rasmussen Reports polling tends to show less volatility than other polls for a variety of reasons. In 2008, we showed virtually no change during the final 40 days of the campaign. Then-candidate Obama was between 50% and 52% in our polling every single day. He generally held a five- or six-point lead, occasionally bouncing up to an eight-point advantage and only once falling below a four point-lead. This stable assessment of the race is consistent with the reality of what we know about voter behavior. Obama won the election by a 53% to 46% margin.

To get a sense of longer-term Job Approval trends for the president, Rasmussen Reports compiles our tracking data on a full month-by-month basis.

(Approval Index data below)

Intensity of support or opposition can have an impact on campaigns. Currently, 31% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way Obama is performing as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -11 (see trends).
During midterm elections, intensity of support can have a tremendous impact on turnout. That was demonstrated in 2010 when Republicans and unaffiliated voters turned out in large numbers to express opposition to the Obama administration’s policies. However, in presidential election years, there is a smaller impact on turnout. Still, all indications so far for Election 2012 suggest that Republicans are more engaged and more likely to turn out.

(More below)

Rasmussen Reports has been a pioneer in the use of automated telephone polling techniques, but many other firms still utilize their own operator-assisted technology (see methodology). Pollsters for Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have cited our "unchallenged record for both integrity and accuracy." During Election 2008, Rasmussen Reports projected that Barack Obama would defeat John McCain by a 52% to 46% margin. Obama was 53% to 46%. In 2004, Rasmussen Reports was the only firm to project the vote totals for both candidates within half a percentage point. Learn more about the Rasmussen Reports track record over the years.

Daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 1,000 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. To reach those who have abandoned traditional landline telephones, Rasmussen Reports uses an online survey tool to interview randomly selected participants from a demographically diverse panel. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 3,000 Likely Voters is +/- 2.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Results are also compiled on a full-week basis and crosstabs for full-week results are available for Platinum Members.



 

 

  * “The Noodleman Group” is pleased to announce that we are now carrying a link to the “USA Today” news site.We installed the “widget/gadget” August 20, and it will be carried as a regular feature on our site.Now you can read“Noodleman” and then check in to “USA Today” for all the up to date News, Weather, Sports and more!Just scroll all the way down to the bottom of our site and hit the “USA Today” hyperlinks.Enjoy!

 

 

 

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