Touring Hollywood’s Past

The venerable Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood will be celebrating its 79th anniversary next Thursday. Over the years, the theater fell into disarray, until its massive restoration and renovation, which was completed in 1998. Government guidelines were followed to make certain it was restored to its former glory. Since its reopening, the Egyptian has been designated a historical landmark.

For the last three years, the Egyptian has been the home of the American Cinematheque, the nonprofit, viewer-supported film exhibition and cultural organization dedicated to the celebration of the motion picture in all forms.

During the week, Cinematheque docents conduct tours of the restored 1922 movie palace. Since the beginning of the year, the Egyptian has also held tours one weekend a month. The latest behind-the-scenes tours will take place Saturday and Sunday. The hourlong tour explores such things as the theater’s old dressing rooms, the famous courtyard and the state-of-the-art projection booth.

After the tour, participants may stay for the screening of the historical documentary “Forever Hollywood.”

Margot Gerber, who heads up the historical tour program at the Egyptian, recently discussed the highlights of the tour.

Question: What types of people take these tours? Are they tourists? Local movie buffs?

Answer: We do always ask because we are interested to know that. The tours are [divided] into two significant groups. There are tour companies that are not necessarily in L.A. but in adjacent cities like San Dimas and Long Beach. They do these busload tours for senior citizens. We had no idea before we started this that it is a big, big business, and they are always looking for places to go and they found us. They really love it because they get to do an hour tour and they get to see the movie “Forever Hollywood.”

We have just developed a slide-show version of the tour, so we don’t have to walk them around. We started occasionally doing these ones on the weekend a year ago. Every time we did them and announced them, they just did amazing business. So after the first of the year, we started choosing one weekend a month where on a Saturday and a Sunday, people can walk up and take the tour. The weekend tours are almost 100% local people.

Q: Do the weekend tours attract all age groups?

A: We have had people who have brought along fairly young kids. Then it goes all the way to people who are senior citizens.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of people who can take the tour?

A: If we have a really large group, we like to know in advance so we can do the slide show. That is an option on the weekends as well, but we prefer to take people around with a docent as long as they don’t have trouble getting around. They get to see more nooks and crannies.

Q: So what are some of the nooks and crannies you talk about?

A: On the really thorough tour, we take people into the women’s restroom, because there is a piece of the historic ceiling that is exposed, which is fun to see. We always get a good reaction when we take 80-year-old men who are on the tours. They say, “I’ve never been in a women’s restroom before.”

We take them into the area which we call the singer’s boxes [alcoves where singers used to perform]. Though the theater was never a live theater, they did have stage shows before the screenings--at least between ’22 and ’27.

Q: Where are the boxes located?

A: They are on either side. [To get to] the one we go into, you have to exit the building from the auditorium and then you have to go back into the building. We take people through an underdeveloped area that used to be old dressing rooms of the theater. People can get a sense of the decay of the theater too, and what it might have looked like before we started [restoration]. There is paint peeling off the wall--the whole bit.

Q: Did any famous actors appear at the Egyptian in these shows?

A: They would advertise that there were actors in the flesh from the movie, but it was generally extras [from the movie]. According to one of our docents, I think it was Myrna Loy who was onstage at the Egyptian, but it was before she became well-known.

Q: What are some of the other highlights of the tour?

A: We go through some of the history and take a look at the different areas of the courtyard. We have doors [in the courtyard] that don’t open and people might not realize that if they are walking by. We show some tiles from the original Pig ‘N’ Whistle restaurant [in the theater’s courtyard] on the wall that are covered by a bunch of bushes. There are a number of things that people might not notice. A lot of people go into the women’s restroom when they get there, and when we go on the tour they had no idea that there was anything in there because I guess you don’t look up [in the bathroom].

Q: What is on the ceiling?

A: It’s a piece of decorative ceiling. What happened is a lot of the areas of the theater were covered up in the 1950s when they were trying to make everything more streamlined and modern-looking. What that ended up doing was preserving certain pieces of the wall or the ceiling. When they were doing construction and renovation, they saw this area was intact and in perfect condition, so they decided it would be a nice idea to expose it so people could see it. There were Egyptian-looking bars on the window in the ladies’ room. They are still there.

Q: Have there ever been any reports of the Egyptian being haunted?

A: No, unfortunately, we don’t have any haunting stories. Apparently [silent movie filmmaker] Thomas Ince had his wake at the Egyptian, so I don’t know if that produced any spirits or not, but the Egyptian has had a pretty clean history as far as hauntings go. But those dressing rooms are pretty scary.

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Egyptian Theatre historical tours take place Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Admission is $7 for adults; $5 for children younger than 12, seniors older than 65 and Cinematheque members. A combination tour and admission to “Forever Hollywood” is $10. Advance reservation are optional (fax [323] 461-9737) or tickets are available at the box office. For information, call (323)-455-FILM.