A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE EGYPTIAN THEATRE:

Sid Grauman, the impresario behind the 1921-1922 creation of the Egyptian, ran the theater company founded by his father, David J. Grauman. The company operated theaters in San Francisco and Los Angeles, including the Rialto in Pasadena and the Million Dollar in downtown Los Angeles. It was at the Million Dollar that Grauman developed the pre-screening stage shows for which he was famed. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles was a vibrant movie district, and great theaters such as the Orpheum, the State, the Los Angeles, and the Tower are still clinging to life. (The Los Angeles Conservancy screens classic films to packed audiences in these theaters every summer during their "Last Remaining Seats" event, which no enthusiast of movies or movie theaters should miss.) Broadway was the early hub of movie theaters, not Hollywood Boulevard, which was to rise during the mid-1920s thanks in large part to the Graumans.

The Egyptian Theatre is one of the most historic buildings on Hollywood Boulevard, where there is no shortage of rivals for that distinction. Completed late in 1922, the theater was designed by architects Meyer & Holler. Their still-extant work in Hollywood includes the First National Bank building with the prominent tall, pointed tower at Hollywood and Highland, the Hollywood Athletic Club on Sunset at Schraeder, and Grauman's Chinese Theater (1927). The Egyptian was constructed by the Milwaukee Building Company, whose name is to be found on many original Hollywood building permits.

The Egyptian in Hollywood was among the first of many Egyptian Revival style theaters across the country. This fancy is well known to have been spurred by the discovery early in 1922 of the tomb of King Tutankhamen. Several Egyptian style apartment buildings are also found in Hollywood from the time of this exotic revival which effected architecture, interiors, the decorative arts, and fashion.

The Egyptian Theatre is located on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard, where an open forecourt is positioned to draw pedestrians. Along the east side of the court is a series of storefronts. At the south end was a colonnade defining an open-air portico from which a series of doors lead to the narrow inner lobby.

The Egyptian is one of three remaining theaters in the Los Angeles area to feature an open forecourt entrance, the others being Grauman's Chinese Theatre (1927) a few blocks west of the Egyptian, and the Alex Theatre in Glendale. This feature was especially suited to the climate of Southern California and was appropriate to the exotic themes of the theaters Grauman built. The forecourt also provided space for a gauntlet of fans and press to congregate during the premieres which the studios used to generate excitement for new releases. The Egyptian was in fact Hollywood's "first major premiere theater," inaugurated with the premiere of "Robin Hood" in October of 1922.

At the Egyptian, every threshold crossed admitted the theater-goer to a world closer to the screen. The forecourt was a public invitation to the passerby, drawing him in among the furnishings set up which related to the film being screened within. These props also kept the forecourt lively and ever-changing. Drapery flanked the sidewalk entry, and giant glazed pots, portable signage, and fanciful light fixtures contributed to the effect. Exotic plants further carried the theme, in planters massed around the large, tiled fountain of the forecourt's west wall and sprouting from smaller pots set up on the stepped sidewalls and parapets. On the east wall, monumental heads flank an imposing wooden door which leads nowhere but still has the power to arouse curiosity as to what lies beyond.

Having moved through the 150-foot deep forecourt, one crossed the next threshold by passing between the massive, four-and-one-half-feet wide, Egyptian style columns. Within this portico one approached three ticket windows; to the west, a twice-life-sized Egyptian figure of a dog-headed man guarded the entrance doors to the lobby.

The bowed plan of the 25-foot deep inner lobby follows the 75-foot long curve of the auditorium's rear wall. Within this lobby are restrooms; for the first few years, a nursery here provided care for children while parents enjoyed the show.

A familiar device of compression and expansion of space added drama to the final threshold. Entering the auditorium from the lobby, one stood under a low, broad ceiling as if under a balcony; however, there was only a screening room and a few boxes above. As one approached the large, open volume of the auditorium, the proscenium became visible ahead. Emerging from under the low canopy of ceiling, the enormous sunburst of the ceiling revealed itself. This was the location of the organ loft, and the ceiling was pierced within the sunburst to allow the sound to flow into the auditorium.

While the Egyptian would not be considered among the largest theaters of its era (Chicago's currently dark and endangered Uptown Theater has three times the capacity of the Egyptian), it easily dwarfs any contemporary cinematic theater of our daily experience. The auditorium is 118 feet by 116 feet and seated 1,760 people. The space seems especially large when you consider that this was before the era of the giant, wide screens for which movies are now created. Ironically, movies themselves and the screes on which they are shown have only grown in their scale, effects, and expense, while the size of theaters themselves has shrunk dramatically.

Over the years, the historic character of the Egyptian eroded as it underwent changes in management, ownership and use. In the 1930s, the storefronts within the forecourt were closed and the space was converted to open off the sidewalk for the use of a single tenant. In the 1940s, a permanent canopy was constructed down the middle of the forecourt and a dramatically different marquee was added to form a sidewalk facade that functioned as a giant signpost to mark the theater, but eliminated the function that the forecourt had previously served: that of drawing in the curious passerby and setting the scene for the film being screened. A box office was now located at this threshold, limiting public access to the forecourt to ticket holders only.

The new tower-like marquee remained in place until late in 1996 when the process of dismantling later additions began. This marquee was like a giant scroll, unrolled from its side edges, sitting upright and bridging the sidewalk entrance. Horizontal stripes of neon followed its curving surface, and giant script letters spread the word "Egyptian" across it. This streamlined marquee, customized for each film, was devoid of the spirit of the exotic revivals of the 1920s which by then had fallen out of favor.

Ownership of the theater passed from Grauman to Fox West Coast Theaters to United Artists, and its use fluctuated between being a premiere house, a first-run house, and a second-run house. United Artists ran "South Pacific" and "My Fair Lady" at the Egyptian for one year, and "Ben Hur" for the extraordinary run of two years.

Changes in popular taste left their mark at the Egyptian, but so did changes in film technology. In 1968 the last premiere occurred there: Barbra Streisand's "Funny Girl." The format of films could no longer be bound by the pairs of fat, hieroglyphic-encrusted columns which framed the screen. This proscenium and the stage of the theater, which had been its most distinctive and wildly decorated elements, were demolished to make way for a new, wide, curved screen. After this last premiere, the Egyptian became a regular first-run house from 1970 to 1992 when it closed.