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Jean Navelle/Tiffany Company/Ralph M. Like
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On the set of "Lingerie" for The Tiffany Company, Jean Navelle Studios, July 1928 (Marc Wanamaker, Bison Archives) |
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After Charles Ray Productions closed, the studio was unused for a time. From 1924-26, the Bank of Italy turned the property into a rental lot for independent producers. Ralph M. Like, a 30-year old engineer with a system for recording sound on film, became a tenant at the Sunset Studio in 1926. The talking picture era was about to begin.
With the coming of sound to the movies, the lot was again reincarnated as a rental studio by retired actress Jean Navelle, who bought the Sunset Studio from the Bank of Italy in 1927. The stock market crash of 1929 forced Jean Navelle Productions into receivership to the Bank of Italy. Many other companies used this lot for their overflow productions or used the street on the back lot. The Tiffany Company was one of these.
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Street corner
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In 1932, the lot was leased by Ralph M. Like for his company International Recording Engineers. The studio had a number of standing sets, a "western street" and other facilities, and it thrived. After revamping the old Stage A for sound, Like erected a new stage, the present Stage B in 1932. In 1933, the studio was purchased from the Bank of Italy by Martha J. Like (Ralph's mother). She was appointed Assistant to the Executive of the Studio (her son). |
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| All sorts of films were made here in the early sound era. John Ford directed "Hurricane" here in 1937. Many of the movies were Westerns. One of the independent companies using the studio in the late 1930s was Sterling Pictures, founded by Trem Carr, a major stockholder of Monogram Pictures Corporation. The property steadily improved and by 1942 the land adjoining the studio was purchased and improved with scene docks, a metropolitan street set, offices and a third sound stage. In 1943 a building on Sunset Boulevard was acquired to house the costume department. Although Monogram was located at Tiffany Studios down the block, Monogram used this lot often. Eventually Monogram bought the property from Like in 1943. |
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Little Theatre
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| The Little Theatre is a small gem of Hollywood history, with an ornate stamped red brick interior, arched brick facade, pillars adorned with gargoyles around the inside perimeter, and "deco"-style ornamentation on the theatre seats.
Station archives show that Martha Like, Ralph Like's mother, obtained the permits for the construction of the Little Theatre and built it.
The Little Theatre has an interesting history of its own: sometime during the 1940s, a Monogram Pictures executive had the walls of the Little Theatre covered with wallboard to try to improve the acoustics. (Remember, it was built during the silent era.) In 1979, a KCET employee demonstrating a karate kick to a fellow employee, accidentally punched a hole in the wallboard with his foot. A few weeks later a maintenance manager, seeking to repair the hole, looked behind the wallboard and saw one of the pillars with the gargoyles looking back out at him. Eventually all the wallboard was removed, to reveal eight columns on two walls and the beautiful arched facade. The Los Angeles Times did a story on the discovery of the Little Theatre, and a subsequent grant from Hugh Hefner allowed the room to be restored. Today, KCET uses the Little Theatre for meetings; it's also one of the sets for the PBS Hollywood Presents' production of "The Old Settler."
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Monogram/Allied Artists
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Monogram Studios at the corner of Sunset Dr. and Commonwealth Ave., 1946 (Mark Wanamaker, Bison Archives) |
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The Monogram years were the most important ones in the pre-KCET history of the property. This is the studio where many of the "Charlie Chan" and "East Side Kids" series were produced. Johnny Mack Brown made more than 60 westerns for Monogram during this era; other westerns with cowboy trios, the "Rough Riders" and the "Trail Blazers," were also made by Monogram during World War II.
Many other genre films were produced in the Monogram years. Some were "A" films; however most fell into the "B" (or "C" or "D") category. But they all added to the rich history of the site.
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Allied Artists Studios,
Western Back Lot, 1958
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By 1946 Steve Broidy, the company president, announced the formation of Allied Artists, a subsidiary company to handle Monogram's better feature productions. The first production for Allied Artists was "It Happened On Fifth Avenue." In 1952, Allied Artists moved into the "big time" with European production deals. Two films were made in Cinemascope and there were multi-picture contracts with Billy Wilder and John Huston to produce and direct. With the decline of "B" features in the late 1960s, though, Allied Artists' profits began to diminish. |
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| During the 1950s, Allied Artists produced some memorable horror films including the classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," as well as "Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman" and "The Indestructible Man." "Wichita" was a western made here in the 1950s; "Screaming Eagles" and "Hold Back the Night" were war films.
From 1957-59, Allied Artists lost a lot of money and was saved from bankruptcy only by the success of the 1960 release "Al Capone." However, making fewer and fewer films and facing losses of several million dollars, Allied Artists all but abandoned its role as a producer and concentrated on distributing films made elsewhere. In 1964, Allied Artists moved to New York from the Hollywood lot. The studio became a rental lot once again.
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ColorVision
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ColorVision building |
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In 1967, Allied Artists sold the property to ColorVision, headed by Samuel Ray Calabrese. The lot was host to ABC Stage 67, Video Tape Enterprises, and Dial Effects Studio, presided over by Eugene L. Hilchey, a supplier of props, miniatures, and special effects to producers of television commercials. ColorVision did some remodeling of the studios and continued to rent out the property. |
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| ColorVision went into bankruptcy in 1969, and the property was put on the block for back taxes. Community Television of Southern California, the parent corporation of KCET, made a bid for the lot in 1970, and thanks to a loan from the Ford Foundation and a grant from the Michael Connell Foundation, was able to close the deal in 1971. |
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Conclusion
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| Hollywood historians tell us the KCET studios are significant for several reasons. They are part of the "historic corps of early studios in Hollywood," and one of the few facilities still in use for its original purpose today - making films. Film studios like the ones located on our property were part of the Hollywood "factory" that did more than just provide entertainment for Americans; they helped drive the influx of people from all over the world who settled in Southern California in the early 20th century, looking for jobs, for homes, for a better way of life. The filmmakers who worked on this property helped make Los Angeles what it is today. |
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