Actors’ Equity Bullish on Hollywood Theater : As the box office sets new records each week, a committee mulls the consolidation of the theatrical scene into an expanded district.

The Los Angeles box office continued to break records last week--and much of the shattering could be heard in the newly invigorated Hollywood theater district.

The fourth record-breaking week at the combined box office of the seven Los Angeles shows that report grosses to Variety yielded a $2,456,679 figure--up 6.2% from last week.

In Hollywood, “Les Miserables” broke the house record at the Pantages (set last year by “Starlight Express”) with a $710,826 gross. And “Tru,” at the Henry Fonda, climbed to a new weekly house record of $245,256.

It sounds like an opportune time to investigate the possibilities of expanding the Hollywood theater district--and that’s what an Actors’ Equity committee is doing.

An expanded district should have “theaters of all sizes,” said committee chairman Zale Kessler, including former movie theaters and smaller storefronts that could be adapted into “black box” theaters.

“We’d like to see some of the smaller theaters in town move to (Hollywood) boulevard and create a mix of small and large, some dance companies, puppet theaters, children’s theater, cabaret. It would be an exciting mix for foot traffic to explore.”

Not that the outlook from Hollywood is completely upbeat. “The Shadow of a Gunman” at the Ivar Theatre (which did not report grosses to Variety) closed Sunday, one week early. Director Brian o h-Eachtuigheirn said that weekend audiences were filling half the house, but weekday audiences were barely there.

(Two other factors also contributed to the show’s closing: O h-Eachtuigheirn wants to save the remaining time that he has the rights to the play for a re-staging on St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and noise from a nearby bar was troublesome during the second act at the Ivar.)

“It doesn’t mean anything one way or another,” said Kessler in response to the fate of “Gunman.” “I’m sorry they closed, but it’s not necessarily an indicator.”

Kessler’s committee has met with some of the operators of existing Hollywood theaters and plans to approach Hollywood movers and shakers, including--ultimately--the Community Redevelopment Agency, which is just beginning to detach itself from its long commitment to the Los Angeles Theatre Center on Spring Street downtown. Without CRA support, said Kessler, “we won’t have a chance.”

While Equity’s new Hollywood Theatre Contract (which covers theaters of 100-499 seats) would be an ingredient of the new district, Kessler said that another proposed contract--which would alter the terms for theaters of 100-199 seats--is also under discussion.

What’s the value of a theater district, as opposed to the same number of theaters in different neighborhoods?

“Audience security,” replied Kessler. “Audiences feel safer when they’re in large groups. That’s what makes the theater district in New York work. People who go to outlying areas sometimes feel alone or threatened. The sense of occasion isn’t as present. An energy exists in a theater district that you don’t find in isolated areas. There’s a definite excitement when all three theaters are open at the Music Center.”

Kessler believes that LATC “would do better if they weren’t in an isolated area. I don’t criticize their move there. But they’re working a lot harder than they might have to if there were other theaters around.”

LATC D-Day Nears: How is Los Angeles Theatre Center paying its bills?

Last October, the Los Angeles City Council approved temporary funding of the theater’s facilities costs through January. Many observers thought then that a city takeover of the building would be in place by now.

The wheels of municipalization are turning--but more slowly than expected. The theater is still awaiting council consideration of the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Jan. 10 recommendation that the city buy the theater for $6 million.

In the meantime, “we’ve increased the tempo of our fund-raising,” said LATC managing director Robert Lear, receiving enough in advance of the usual pledges from the theater’s trustees and other donors “to keep the money flowing.” These contributions “are normally given for something other than facilities,” added Lear. But the theater presumably will be reimbursed, assuming the council approves the package requested by the CRA, which called for $100,000 in facilities costs each month, from February through April, plus an additional $450,000.

The CRA and the council have been preoccupied with the controversy over the terms of CRA administrator John Tuite’s departure and the council’s desire to manage CRA affairs more rigorously. Furthermore, Councilwoman Gloria Molina, who chairs the council’s CRA oversight committee, was running for county supervisor (she was elected Tuesday).

But now the LATC plan is scheduled to be voted on Monday at a joint meeting of three council committees: Molina’s panel; Joel Wachs’ arts, health and humanities committee (overseer of the Cultural Affairs Department, which would manage the LATC building and participate in some of the programming under the proposed plan), and the Finance committee, headed by LATC funding opponent Zev Yaroslavsky.

Later next week, the committee decision will go to the full council, where passage requires the approval of eight of the 14 members. In the high water mark of opposition to LATC funding requests last October, the request for temporary funding through January netted 7-5 and 9-4 votes on two consecutive days. The 9-4 tally was enough to pass that measure.

Westwood Watch: ‘Tis the season for yocks at the Westwood Playhouse, with four weeks of Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca coming up, to be preceded by a week of “Jokes: Kosher and Traif.”

“Jokes” is “an anthology of ethnic humor,” according to its writer and producer Irwin Parnes. Starring comics Dave Barry and Sheila Rogers, with narration and songs by Ray Victor, it will play seven performances, April 9-14.

Five performances of an earlier version of the show were staged at the University of Judaism Dec. 15-18, starring Shelley Berman and Lotus Weinstock.

April 17-May 12 are the Westwood dates for Caesar and Coca, who will repeat a show of classic sketches they performed in New York last summer and in Chicago last fall, assisted by straight man Lee Delano and a six-piece orchestra.

My Fair Fund-Raising: “My Fair Lady” will get to the church on time, after all.

The church in this case is Pasadena Civic Auditorium. California Music Theatre’s revival of the musical, threatened with postponement because of a CMT cash shortage, will open there on March 6 as planned.

A recent fund-raising drive raised more than $250,000 in pledges or cash--enough to secure the opening of the show, said CMT artistic director Gary Davis.