From the Archives: 1932 Electrical Parade in the Coliseum

In 1932, Hollywood movie studios sponsored the Electrical Parade and Sports Pageant at the Memorial Coliseum.

The Sept. 25, 1932, Los Angeles Times reported, “Versatile Hollywood produced another of its amazing spectacles last night when Olympic Stadium [Coliseum], scene of numerous efforts of pageantry. was made the center of a wonderland of brilliance and beauty, when the motion-picture capital presented its electrical parade and sports pageant in the name of charity.”

“There were, before the eyes of the assemblage of 60,000 persons gathered shortly after 8 o’clock when the program was scheduled to begin, an arena in which the acts of the world’s film capital defied night; a series of exciting demonstrations by moviedom’s aces of the saddle in the form of polo; the pulse-quickening rhythm of twenty massed bands; the bow of a Presidential candidate and a glittering procession of beautiful floats. …”

After several speeches, a slew of celebrities, a polo game and marching bands, the floats entered the Coliseum. The first was the “Spirit of Hollywood.” About 20 floats participated in the parade.

A Sept. 24, 1932, Los Angeles Times article reported that proceeds of the affair would be donated to the motion-picture relief fund and the Marion Davies Foundation.

The guest of honor was presidential candidate Gov. Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York.