Earl Carroll
My friend Mr. X has gifted many images to me, and you've seen a lot of them here on GDB. Months ago he gave me a small box of slides that I think are super interesting; perhaps they are more interesting to me because I love Los Angeles history.
Mr. X's grandmother worked for Earl Carroll, who gained fame with his Sunset Boulevard theater that featured scantily-clad showgirls. When Earl died in a plane crash in 1948, X's grandma wound up in the possession of a lot of Earl's personal effects, including a many photos. The examples I'm sharing today are unusual, they are standard 35mm slides, but a single slide has two images on it, for use with some sort of stereo viewer that I have never seen before. You could probably do the "magic eye" thing if both images were presented. Anyway, color photos from this era (probably the 1940s) are very rare!
We'll start with this shot of Earl with some of his lovelies. He's armed with a tape measure, presumably checkin the girls for "ideal" measurements. Nice work if you can get it. I'd say that lady's leg is A-OK. If you're wondering what's going on to the right, the stereo images are separated by a "soft dissolve", for lack of a better description.
These photos seem to have been taken as a publicity stunt of some kind, I wonder if there was a film crew there for a saucy newsreel item? Earl and the gals are on the grounds of the Ambassador Hotel (home of the Coconut Grove nightclub, and most infamous as the place where Robert Kennedy was assassinated).
"Sorry, young lady, but your wrist is 1/4" too large, we're going to have to let you go".
Did I mention that the gals were scantily clad (1940s style)?
This next photo was presumably taken inside the Earl Carroll Theatre, "which featured sixty showgirls ascending 100 treads of stairs to a height of 135 feet" as part of a musical revue. Don't look at the showgirls, just check out those stairs. The woman in the middle is Beryl Wallace, Earl's companion. I believe the woman to Beryl's right (our left) is Judith Woodbury, while the blond to Beryl's left is Jean Richey.
Here's a vintage postcard showing the theatre in its heyday. The large neon head is a portrait of Beryl Wallace. "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world". I have a slide or two of this place (in my regular collection), but they're not handy right now, so you'll see those in some other post.
This is one of my favorites of the bunch, I believe that this is Judith Woodbury once again, in a Vegas-style costume. She looks great, but I think the hat could be bigger. It's so neat to see a photo like this, probably from around 1945 - over 70 years ago.
This is a scan of a page from a 1948 souvenir program from the Earl Carroll Theater; I think that the woman circled in red is Ms. Woodbury.
And here she is, a little blurry, but it's nice to see her onstage. Quite the beauty!
I have more photos of Earl Carroll from various points in his life, though (sadly) not so many with the showgirls. If you are interested I will be happy to share some of those.
12 comments:
These early color slides are fantastic!
Why are those girls all bunched up together like that, in the third pic? They should be spaced out at least six feet apart.
I remember passing this theater over the years and seeing all the changes to the exterior, as well as the name changes. As a kid, I remember it was the Aquarius Theater. Later, it was the Chevy Chase Theater, when he had his short-lived talk show. Then it became the Nickelodeon Theater.
I just did some research and apparently it is going to be restored and go by the "Earl Carroll" Theater, once again. They are currently building a seven story complex adjacent to the theater (in the parking lot) which will include retail and residential space.
The interesting thing is, when I looked up the "street view" on Google, it shows the new construction, but the theater is painted kind of psychedelic and has "Aquarius" painted on it, too. I wonder if that was done just for some "on location" movie filming. Maybe it was done for "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood?"
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0980365,-118.3249606,3a,75.7y,167.75h,98.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sbR0L9csazHGV43fYEpuuKQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos, Mr. "X" and Major!
Wow, these are great! The shoes! The hair!
I too, love history. There is something about seeing things change, but knowing what a building or place used to be. I "Earthed" the old house on Lamaida Street in North Hollywood once, and the memories of growing up in that old house were thick as maple syrup. TM, I remember it when it was the Aquarius Theatre as well. Major, I love these old LA photos, what a time the 50s were. Keep em coming!
Major, these are great stuff!
Quite a change from the usual GDB fare and filled with history to boot. Reminds me of the Worlds Fair peep show you posted long ago.
I’m definitely digging those stairs, too bad they are cluttered up with all those showgirls.
I say, More Like This, please.
Thanks to Mr. X and the long arm of fate that brought these pictures to light.
JG
One hundred stairs live on stage! Yowza! It's a shame they just don`t do entertainment like that anymore.
TokyoMagic!, the Aquarius Theater was also the “Moulin Rouge” after Earl Carroll died, they filmed “Queen For a Day” there. I have heard about the plans to “restore” the Earl Carroll theater, though I am still unclear what it will be used for. Surely not musical extravaganzas with dozens of beautiful showgirls! Though that would be awesome. It was completely repainted as the Aquarius Theater for “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood”, and I sort of hoped they’d leave it like that. But the colorful paint has b even covered over, sadly. All that work!
Melissa, I’m glad you liked these.
Jonathan, these were an amazing find (or gift, to be more accurate); Mr. X has some other photos that I don’t think he wants, vintage head shots of girls wanting to work for Mr. Carroll; I’m hoping he’ll let me scan those for the blog, they are really neat. Some are so huge I’ll have to scan them in pieces.
JG, you are right, these are not the usual thing; most of the other photos from this large lot show Earl Carroll and his first wife, throughout their life. Still kind of fun, and he was pretty famous in his day. But there is one neat large color transparency with Earl and some beautiful “girls” backstage, I will definitely share that one.
Chuck, maybe they were little stairs?
I recall the "Through These Portals" line being parodied in movies and even cartoons. Filmmakers assumed -- correctly? -- that Carroll's slogan was readily recognized nationwide.
Major-
Perhaps the stairs were more-akin to those in the Winchester Mystery House - 'easy riser' steps-!
It seems somehow sad, the venue should go from "Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world" to "How would YOU like to be Queen for a Day-!" That eerily-creepy daytime, early television program, hosted by Jack Bailey - who himself, with the proper makeup, could have easily been cast as the 'pedophile' in one of those 'educational films' from the 1950's/60's-!
Thanks, Major & Mr. X.
Major, was Mr. X’s grandmother one the pretty showgirls, in her younger days?
Thanks for sharing, Mr. X and Major!
Major,
I always love when you show off items that are a bit more random. Always quality, always fun to see and the equivalent of the sorbet course in a big, fancy dinner!
As far as the unknown stereo images or how to view them, Brain May (who you might know from a little band by the name of Queen) is also a PhD astrophysicist who has taken up a passionate interest in all things historical 3D. He also has been creating 3D images from spacecraft of the moons and planets those craft have been visiting. I know he's on twitter and has other contact details on his website, but an inquiry might get a reply as to what stereo viewer might have been used for these as well as who knows what other interesting information he might be able to provide.
Thanks, as always, for sharing not only your photos but the ones that people have trusted to you.
-AlbinoDragon
I’ve had to go up or down stairs onstage in two different shows. Because of my eyesight and the vagaries of stage lighting, I’ve had to either lean on someone or be inconspicuously led both times. I pride myself that the only time I actually fell, it was because there was a gap between two sections of stair that everyone else could see. Bless whatever force of nature allowed my partner to lift me out of the hole by one arm and make it look like a dance step.
Major, I am also a big fan of Los Angeles history. Great photos today.
Re: The Earl Carroll Theater - I saw the musical "Grease" there in the 1970s. I think it was still called the Aquarius. It is also where the concert film "The Big T.N.T. Show" was filmed in 1966.
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