The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre (usually referred to as just The Montalbán) is a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...

in the

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

section of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

History

The theatre is located near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, on

Vine Street Vine Street is a street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California that runs north–south between Franklin Avenue and Melrose Avenue. The intersection with Hollywood Boulevard was once a symbol of Hollywood itself. The famed intersection fell into di ...

between

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywo ...

and

Sunset Boulevard Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare i ...

, at the site of the former Robert Northam / Jacob Stern estate. The Beaux-Arts building was designed by architects

Myron Hunt Myron Hubbard Hunt (February 27, 1868 – May 26, 1952) was an American architect whose numerous projects include many noted landmarks in Southern California and Evanston, Illinois. Hunt was elected a Fellow in the American Institute of Archi ...

and H.C. Chambers and constructed in 1926–27. Seating 1,200 at the time, it was the first

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

-style

legitimate theater Legitimate theatre is live performance that relies almost entirely on diegetic elements, with actors performing through speech and natural movement.Joyce M. Hawkins and Robert Allen, eds. "Legitimate" entry. ''The Oxford Encyclopedic English Dict ...

venue in Los Angeles. It opened January 19, 1927 under the name "Wilkes' Vine Street Theatre". The first production was

Patrick Kearney Patrick Wayne Kearney (born September 24, 1939), also known as The Trash Bag Killer, is an American serial killer and necrophile who murdered a minimum of 21 boys and young men from 1962 to 1977 in southern California. He is one of three men r ...

's adaption of Dreiser's ''

An American Tragedy ''An American Tragedy'' is a 1925 novel by American writer Theodore Dreiser. He began the manuscript in the summer of 1920, but a year later abandoned most of that text. It was based on the notorious murder of Grace Brown in 1906 and the trial ...

'' which had opened on Broadway in 1926. Other productions mounted at the theatre included ''Philadelphia''. In March 1931, the theater was converted to a

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall (Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

, under the name "Mirror Theatre", part of a chain run by

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in t ...

and

Harold B. Franklin Harold B. Franklin (4 May 1889 – 21 April 1941) was an American cinema chain executive who later moved into production of stage shows and films. He co-produced the musical comedy ''Revenge with Music'' (1934). He produced the 1940 melodrama parod ...

. That company soon fell apart, and by the mid 1930s, the theatre was operating under the name "Studio Theatre". CBS bought the theatre in 1936 and converted it to a live performance radio auditorium and radio studio for local affiliate KNX, under the name "CBS Radio Playhouse". CBS's ''

Lux Radio Theatre ''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...

'' moved there from New York that year (because of this, some sources give the theatre's name as Lux Radio Playhouse). This popular anthology show featured radio adaptations of stage plays and film scripts performed by well-known actors in front of a live audience;

Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille (; August 12, 1881January 21, 1959) was an American film director, producer and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films. He is acknowledged as a founding father of the American cin ...

was for many years its producer and host. The theatre was also the home of the

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

show from 1936 to 1939 . A&P heir and arts patron

Huntington Hartford George Huntington Hartford II (April 18, 1911 – May 19, 2008) was an American businessman, philanthropist, stage and film producer, and art collector. He was also heir to the A&P supermarket fortune. After his father's death in 1922, Hartfor ...

bought the theatre from CBS in 1953, modernized it with design by Helen Conway, and re-opened it with 970 seats as the first legitimate theatre venue in Los Angeles in many years, under the name "Huntington Hartford Theatre". The premiere production of the Hartford was '' What Every Woman Knows'' starring

Helen Hayes Helen Hayes MacArthur ( Brown; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress whose career spanned 80 years. She eventually received the nickname "First Lady of American Theatre" and was the second person and first woman to have w ...

. Hartford ran the theater successfully for ten years, with high-profile productions featuring the biggest stars of the era. After ten years, Hartford lost interest in patronizing the arts in Los Angeles, and in 1964, the theatre was sold to James Doolittle, operator of the

Greek Theatre Ancient Greek theatre was a theatrical culture that flourished in ancient Greece from 700 BC. The city-state of Athens, which became a significant cultural, political, and religious place during this period, was its centre, where the theatre was ...

(who outbid

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

), and renamed the "Doolittle Theatre". Doolittle ran the theatre successfully for 20 years, after which it was acquired by

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. In 1999, the Ricardo Montalbán Foundation bought the theatre, which had been closed and fallen somewhat into disrepair. In May 2004, the venue re-opened "Ricardo Montalbán Theatre". One goal of the new theater was specifically to promote Latino stage productions. Although the foundation encountered some financial difficulties, and struggled to fully renovate the theatre to achieve and maintain profitability, the theatre has successfully remained open. Film festivals, art galleries, and other programs are hosted, and there are rooftop film screenings in the spring and summer. The theater does not stage its own productions, and instead serves as a rental venue for traveling productions. Productions staged at The Montalbán have included '' Zorro in Hell'' (2007), ''

An Evening Without Monty Python ''An Evening Without Monty Python'' is a stage show produced by WestBeth Entertainment and directed by Eric Idle and BT McNicholl in celebration of the comedy troupe Monty Python's 40th anniversary, featuring sketches and songs from the show hand- ...

'' (2009), and the

enra ''This article contains some content translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at :jp:enra'' Japan, Japanese performing arts company enra (stylized in lowercase Latin letters.) combines video art with live performance, synchronizi ...

show PROXIMA (2016). In 2009, the venue entered an agreement with

Nike, Inc. Nike, Inc. ( or ) is an American multinational corporation that is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing, and worldwide marketing and sales of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories, and services. The company is headquartered ne ...

for various concessions: a mini Nike retail store in the back of the orchestra section, Nike logos at the mezzanine level and lobby, a retail display case in front of the theater's main entrance, and rental to Nike for promotional film screenings during which the theatre would operate under the name ''Nike Sportswear at the Montalbán''. This occasioned some criticism. An officer of the Nosotros theater company described the situation as "a mixed bag. Artists aren't happy about it but, at the same time, Nike is helping the theater to pay its bills".

In film

The exterior and adjacent parking lot featured as the "Burlesque Lounge" theatre in the 2010 film ''

Burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

'' with

Cher Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...

and

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice o ...

References

{{Authority control Theatres completed in 1927 Theatres in Hollywood, Los Angeles Theatres in Los Angeles Music venues in Los Angeles 1927 establishments in California