Honoring a Family’s Commitment to the Indie Vision

Bigger isn’t necessarily better, and more really can sometimes seem like less--at least to the Laemmle family of Los Angeles, which has carved a distinguished niche for its theaters in a land of blockbuster-dependent behemoths.

At a time when most companies are building bigger theaters with more screens but seem to have less and less room for small films, it’s good to know that there are still people willing to buck the trend.

So it is fitting that on Tuesday, the closing night of the fifth edition of the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, Robert and Gregory Laemmle of the Laemmle Theaters will receive this year’s Indie Supporter Award, which is presented by the festival to individuals who have been instrumental in helping independent filmmakers realize their visions.

The award comes a year after Laemmle Theaters, with a long tradition specializing in foreign films and other sophisticated and eclectic screen fare, celebrated the 60th anniversary of its founding in 1938 and two months after the opening of its state-of-the-art Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, which brings its total number of screens to 33.

And they plan to add another multiplex on Hollywood Boulevard in the vicinity of the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater.

“We’ve worked hard at meeting the changes in the community,” said Bob Laemmle, 63, seated at his desk opposite that of his son Greg, 33, in the cluttered offices above their West Los Angeles flagship, the Royal. “There’s a game a lot of people play, and that’s announcing theaters to be built just to scare [competitors] away. We’ve had disappointments, but we try never to announce new screens unless we’re certain that it’s going to happen.

“It takes years and years to get new theaters built. You have to research locations, find the developers and get the financing, all of which takes time. The Sunset 5 took at least 10 years to happen, and so did the Playhouse 7. My nephew Jay Reisbaum spent years getting the right location and overseeing the construction of the Playhouse 7.”

The emphasis in the Laemmle office is on family, not titles, Bob Laemmle pointed out. “I’m the father, he’s the son and he’s the nephew,” indicating Greg opposite him and Jay Reisbaum nearby.

It has always been this way for the Laemmles.

Turn back the clock a little more than a decade and you would have found Bob sitting at Greg’s desk, and Bob’s desk occupied by his late father Max, who founded the chain with his late younger brother Kurt after leaving Europe during the rise of Hitler; at Jay’s desk you would have found the late George Reece, Max’s brother-in-law, who had worked with Cecil B. DeMille at Paramount and ventured into manufacturing before becoming co-owner of the Monica, which brought him into the office for the rest of his life. (Neither Max nor George retired.)

Kurt and Max were related to the founder of Universal Pictures, Carl Laemmle, for whom Max ran the studio’s Paris office in the ‘30s. Max and Kurt Laemmle started out with several neighborhood houses in the Highland Park area. With the advent of television, by the early ‘50s, Max was down to the Los Feliz, and Kurt had embarked on a career in the insurance business.

In the early ‘60s, Max Laemmle began experimenting with foreign film bookings, gradually changing the Los Feliz (which has since changed hands) from a neighborhood theater to the city’s premiere art film venue. Max, who combined taste with a hard head for business, didn’t merely book films and open his doors but aggressively cultivated business by building a mailing list of dedicated customers. If he booked a dance film, you could be sure that every dance teacher in Southern California knew about it and was offered a group rate for pupils.

Bob Laemmle hadn’t necessarily planned to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“It was when my parents took a six-week vacation that I realized I had to become involved,” said Bob, who had begun a career in banking. “I decided that if anything happened to them I’d have to know how to run the business.” With Bob’s joining the company, Max Laemmle, who had always said he liked to keep things small, began to think about expanding--eventually to a handful of theaters scattered from Pasadena to Santa Monica.

The Sunset 5 has been a phenomenal success from the start.

“Edgy, stylish films like ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse’ do extremely well and sometimes set box office records,” said Bob. “Films that appeal specifically to gay audiences, like ‘Jeffrey,’ ‘The Opposite of Sex’ and ‘Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss’ do also very well. ‘Shakespeare in Love,’ which is neither edgy or gay, set a [house] record there.” The theater is also a key venue for the L.A. Independent Film Festival and Outfest.

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The Playhouse 7, which is the only multiplex in Pasadena with stadium seating, looks to be another success for the Laemmles. According to Bob Laemmle, the Playhouse 7 had the top-grossing run in the country for “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Guns” when the film expanded its bookings. The Laemmles also pioneered midnight movies and weekend morning screenings of special fare such as documentaries and more eclectic movies.

“We’re not thinking small anymore, we’re thinking local,” said Greg, who urged his father to use the occasion to announce one of their four upcoming projects.

“We have a letter of intent for a six-screen theater to be built on Hollywood Boulevard at Cherokee, across and slightly east of the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian. It will also have a restaurant,” said Bob. “Our goal is not to become big but to be good--to do the best job possible in our community.”