It’s Time for History to Unspool

The Los Angeles Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats film festival, which showcases the opulent historical theaters downtown on Broadway, began in 1987 simply as a proposed lecture series.

“The Broadway theaters were an important historical resource that we wanted to showcase,” says Conservancy Executive Director Linda Dishman. “We had a volunteer committee who were very interested in the historical theaters and were trying to figure out a way to get people into the theaters. Someone said, ‘How about a lecture series?’ And then someone else said, ‘Why don’t we show a movie?’ ”

The first year of the film series was “pretty much” a sellout, says Dishman. Since then, “we have been up and down in series attendance. The year of civil unrest in 1992 was our lowest year. We worked really hard in those years to build up attendance, and now we are consistently selling out at least most nights of the series.”

The inaugural year, the series featured four vintage Broadway theaters: the Orpheum, the Palace, the United Artists and the Los Angeles. Over time, Last Remaining Seats has visited the Rialto in South Pasadena, the Mayan, the Wiltern, Westlake, Studio Drive-in, the State and Million Dollar Theatre.

Last Remaining Seats kicks off its 15th season tonight at the Los Angeles Theatre with a screening of the 1957 musical “Pal Joey,” directed by George Sidney, starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak.

The Los Angeles Theatre, completed in 1931, was the most lavish as well as the last of the movie palaces on Broadway. It opened just in time for the premiere of Charlie Chaplin’s “City Lights,” attended by special guest Albert Einstein.

Last Remaining Seats showcases the Palace Theatre next Wednesday with a screening of the 1942 Alfred Hitchcock thriller “Saboteur.” The Palace was built in 1911 as the third home of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit in Los Angeles. It’s the oldest remaining original Orpheum theater in the country.

The festival shifts to the Million Dollar Theatre on June 13, when Sir Carol Reed’s 1949 film noir “The Third Man” unspools in the Spanish Baroque auditorium. The theater opened in 1918 and got its moniker because it allegedly cost $1 million to build.

“The Adventures of Robin Hood,” the 1938 Errol Flynn swashbuckler, will screen at the Los Angeles Theatre on June 20.

The 2001 series finale, Buster Keaton’s 1923 comedy “Our Hospitality,” will be presented at the Million Dollar on June 27.

“It has always been our belief--and it has proven to be true--that once people go into one of the Broadway theaters, they have become a constituent for their preservation,” says Dishman. “It is almost like walking into Independence Hall or a church where you have an emotional response to the architecture because it is so grand.”

This year, the Conservancy is spending more money on the festival because it has to rent and install projection and sound equipment.

“Metropolitan Theaters, which had been on the street for 60 years, had been using at least two theaters,” says Dishman. “Those theaters always had good projectors. Now Metropolitan has withdrawn . . . and there are no movies on the street. This year in particular, we are having a much harder time [getting projectors] and having to invest more money from a technical side” to prepare the theaters for film presentation.

During the past 14 years, Last Remaining Seats has screened such classics as “The General,” “The Seven Year Itch,” “Bringing Up Baby,” “Grand Hotel,” “Top Hat,” “Gigi” and “City Lights.” The Conservancy has managed to never repeat a movie.

Choosing the program for each festival takes several months and actually begins shortly after the most recent series concludes. A volunteer committee of 25 from the Conservancy selects the films.

“This year, we sort of divided it into basic genres and everybody put down all of their favorite films,” says program coordinator Anne Lasky. “We came up with a list of 200 fabulous movies we have never shown before. Basically, the rules are: We cannot have shown it before and it has to have been made before 1975.”

Eventually, those 200 are narrowed down to five films per genre.

“You want [films] generally from different genres, in color and black-and-white, and with different stars,” says Lasky. “We also pick films from different studios.”

Once the list is compiled, the committee goes to the studios and rental companies to find out whether good prints are available.

They don’t always get their first choice. This year, says Lasky, “we had really wanted an Abbott and Costello film. Then at the last minute, we discovered that the film went on a tour of Europe.

Stage shows accompany the shorter films. Longer films usually are preceded by a live-action short or a cartoon.

With “Our Hospitality,” for example, the Robert Israel Orchestra will provide the live accompaniment. Film historian Leonard Maltin will introduce the film, and there will be a 30-minute live show, “Waltzing on Broadway,” which will look at dance from the 1860s to the 1920s.

For the “Robin Hood” screening, which takes place on Errol Flynn’s birthday, there will be a live stage combat exhibition featuring fencing, broadsword and quarterstaff.

Last Remaining Seats attracts people of all ages and backgrounds, with the silent films usually skewing more toward a family audience.

“Definitely, a young crowd has discovered how wonderful these [silent] movies are,” says Lasky. “Silent comedies are so completely delightful that people really enjoy them.”

Last Remaining Seats schedule:

Today: “Pal Joey,” including an introduction by film historian Leonard Maltin and the 1948 cartoon “Little Tinker,” at the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway.

Next Wednesday: “Saboteur,” including a newsreel about D-day and an appearance by the film’s star, Norman Lloyd, at the Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway.

June 13: “The Third Man,” including two film shorts, at the Million Dollar Theatre, 307 S. Broadway.

June 20: “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” including the Bugs Bunny cartoon “Rabbit Hood” and a stage combat exhibition, at the Los Angeles Theatre.

June 27: “Our Hospitality,” including an introduction by Maltin, accompaniment by the Robert Israel Orchestra and the live stage show “Waltzing on Broadway” with music provided by Mora’s Modern Rhythmists Dance Orchestra, at the Million Dollar.

Doors open at 7 p.m. and all performances begin at 8 p.m. Admission is $12 for Conservancy members and $15 for nonmembers; series tickets are $50 for members and $65 for nonmembers. Information: (213) 430-4219 or https://www.laconservancy.org on the Internet.