This Earl Carroll theatre was built on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, at the south end of Argyle Avenue, in 1938. The image of Beryl Wallace, one of Carroll’s discoveries who became his devoted companion, was plastered on the front of the building in 20-foot-high neon, along with the caption: “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world.” Those beautiful girls included Jean Spangler (who became more famous when her handbag was found at the Fern Dell entrance to Griffith Park and a manhunt ensued), Gloria Pall, Mamie van Doren, and many others. The “entertainment palace,” as it was called, was indeed lavish – even by Hollywood standards of the time. It featured shows set on a 60-foot wide double revolving turntable and staircase, as well as swings that could be lowered from the ceiling (not unlike the Florentine Gardens, which opened the same year on Hollywood Boulevard, less than a mile away.) A “Wall of Fame” was set up on an outside wall of the building, where Hollywood stars inscribed personalized messages on concrete bricks. After Carroll and Wallace died aboard the ill-fated United Airlines Flight 624 in 1948, the theatre itself limped on, but in the 1950s it was forced to adapt. A Las Vegas impresario named Frank Sennes bought it and renamed it the Moulin Rouge. The theatre lived on, through various incarnations, through the years: The TV game show Queen For a Day was shot there from 1956-1964. For a time, it was the Hullabaloo Rock and Roll Club, the Aquarius Theatre (while Hair was playing there in the late 60s, and where The Doors made it famous once again), the home of the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon, and the site of Star Search. In 1993, it was renamed the Chevy Chase theatre and played host to the short-lived Chevy Chase Show. Since the late 1990s, the building has been the home to Nickelodeon. It has been the site for shows like All That, The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh, iCarly, Victorious, and See Dad Run.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 00:44:53 +0000
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