Vaudeville Finds a New Home in LA
According to trendhunter.com vaudeville has returned to downtown Los Angeles.
The performance group, Lucent Dossier is performing every Wednesday at the Edison. The lounge occupies a space that formerly housed the first private power plant in the city. On a visit to the Lucent Dossier website, I found out that they bill themselves as a "vaudeville cirque" with aerial acts, sword swallowers, dancers and "other acts of magic and mayhem." The vaudeville act may have returned in a dazzling new way, but vaudeville never really left downtown completely.
via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]
That's because two theater buildings are still standing in the heart of LA's historic Broadway
theater district which once belonged to America's premiere vaudeville circuit - The Orpheum. It's hard to imagine how popular vaudeville was in the U.S.; more people (as a percentage of the total population) attended a vaudeville performance once a week, than attend movie theaters today. Vaudeville was circus, legitimate theater, vocal and instrumental music performance, all rolled into one. For those who remember the Carol Burnett Show on CBS, the TV variety show was a direct outgrowth of vaudeville. The Orpheum circuit was considered the cream-of-the-crop and had the hottest, top-rated performers under contract. They had theaters in all the major cities in America, and the 1911 Orpheum/Palace Theatre is the oldest building remaining of the national chain. Designed by architect G. Albert Lansburgh, this was the third LA theater for the vaudeville empire and much grander than the previous two. The exterior design was inspired by the 17th century Florentine palazzo while Lansburgh looked to 18th century France for the interior. When the owners of the Orpheum decided to build an even larger and more spectacular theater in the mid-1920s, the name was changed to the Palace, which survives in glittering neon signage to this day.
Artwork: designslinger]
When the 4th Orpheum Theatre (also designed by Lansburgh) opened in Los Angeles in
1926, vaudeville was thriving, but motion picture business admissions were on the rise. Surprisingly, vaudeville lasted at this location until the early 50s when television finally killed the entertainment venue. Both the Palace and the Orpheum were converted into movie houses, and each screened their last film in 2000. Since then, Orpheum owner Steve Nudelman has made a multi-million dollar investment in refurbishing and updating the theater and converting the building into loft housing. The Palace has been on line for refurbishment, but has yet to have the same kind of top-to-bottom restoration as it's sister building. The interior of the Palace was featured in the recent film, Dreamgirls and the Orpheum hosts all kinds of special events and concerts. The Los Angeles Conservancy has a weekly walking tour on Saturdays that includes a stop at the exterior of the Palace and (unless there is a concert) the interior of the spectacular Orpheum auditorium.
It's hard to believe that in a city with a reputation for destroying it's architectural heritage
at the drop of a hat, that these two theaters, along with 10 others on the street, have survived to tell us a story about the entertainment history of this country, and where the ghosts of former vaudevillians still have a home.
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