He positioned a host platform on the left side stage, which had hydraulic lifts, during the course of Lewis conducting interviews with guests, the "home base" desk seating area could be raised 8 feet above the stage floor. William "Bill" Morris III was the show's art director. In the auditoriums' right side (camera right) the concrete level floor, connecting the apron, was filled in to the back auditorium wall. A Vine Street access door provided entry and load-in for equipment. Behind the control booth was the video tape room where Ampex video tape machines were located.
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The TV control booth was situated on the left rear auditorium side facing the stage (which would be camera left). The "level" concrete ramp and stage apron supported the Chapman Crane required for video taping talent and performers. A stage-centered 4' wide concrete camera ramp connected the stage apron with a 6' deep camera aisle against the auditorium back wall. The front stage apron in front of the proscenium was extended by filling (pouring concrete into) the original orchestra pit. The adjacent toilet suite was equipped with a wall mounted telephone for Lewis to conduct business while using the facilities and his make-up area. A circular spiral metal stairway led to the second floor, a make-up mirrored counter desk, with a Hollywood bed/couch. The first floor dressing room had a small front bar with a mirrored back bar, an upright piano, and a sofa lounge area. Opposite this stage load-in door was the "star dressing room" which was completely rebuilt for Jerry Lewis. All stage scenery was moved in and out of the stage load-in entrance. Located stage left are the double-load in doors that the stage alley connected and leads to and from Vine Street. The backstage second floor fly weights are located stage right. The stage had an existing rope counterweight fly system.
Jerry Lewis used the theater/radio studio for his weekly Saturday night television program (lasting 13 weeks from September to December, 1963), and appropriately renamed the theater The Jerry Lewis Theatre. In 1963 American Broadcasting Company (ABC) television renovated the building, spending $400,000.
The theatre was also home to The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Lawrence Welk Show, Truth or Consequences and This is Your Life.
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This event is often mistakenly said to have taken place at the El Capitan Theatre on nearby Hollywood Boulevard, though that theater was never a television studio and in 1952 was operating as a movie house called the Paramount Theatre. It was from a set on its stage that Richard Nixon delivered his famous " Checkers speech" on September 23, 1952. In the 1950s, still under the name El Capitan, the theatre was converted by NBC into a television studio. Īlso in the 1940s, Bob Hope's NBC radio show originated from the El Capitan. In the 1940s, the theatre was renamed The El Capitan Theatre and was used for a long-running live burlesque variety show called Ken Murray's Blackouts. It has a capacity of 1,500, and is located across the street from the Capitol Records Building.ġ937 poster for the Federal Theatre Project production of George Bernard Shaw's Captain Brassbound's Conversion at the Hollywood Playhouseĭuring the Great Depression, the Hollywood Theatre operated under the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration, and was a venue for government-sponsored theatrical events. It has previously been known as The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theatre, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace and The Palace. The Hollywood Playhouse, The WPA Federal Theater, El Capitan Theatre, The Jerry Lewis Theatre, The Hollywood Palace, The Palaceģ4☀6′10″N 118☁9′37″W / 34.1027°N 118.3270°W / 34.1027 -118.3270 Coordinates: 34☀6′10″N 118☁9′37″W / 34.1027°N 118.3270°W / 34.1027 -118.3270Ĭoncert hall, nightclub, afterhours, lounge, restaurant, barīig band, rock and roll, pop, electronic danceĪvalon (or Avalon Hollywood) is a historic nightclub in Hollywood, California, located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, at 1735 N.