Exhibitors Herald (1927)

April 16, 1927 EXHIBITORS HERALD 39 A Description of Grauman s Chinese Theatre (Continued from page 18) through intricately wrought lacquered doors. This spacious vestibule is flanked on four corners by gigantic red lacquer * columns, four feet in diameter, reaching 30 feet to the ceiling. The amazing effect created by these gorgeous pillars is magnified by the walls themselves, which encompass the great foyer with a fairy world with gardens, cities, and iridescent human figures and animals, the master work of the painters’ artistry. * * 4: The flanking vestibules of the foyer, or rather its extension on each side, present an amazing reversal of the main vestibule. Here the ceilings are of the same gorgeous red lacquer as the columns paneled and decorated with silver flowers above plain walls of bright gold which transforms into old gold through the radiance shed by a marvelous ceiling chandelier. The main auditorium, which seats 2,200 on one floor, gives the impression of entering a gigantic shrine of the time of the Five Emperors or the dynasty of Hsia, when the world was very young. The massive effect is created through two rows of colossal stone columns on each side of the auditorium, octagonal in shape and seven feet in diameter, reaching the lofty ceiling. These columns with the side walls form great corridors as side entrances to the seats, producing the effect when first entered of gazing into interminable space, with the colossal pillars opposed by the towering walls, ornamented with silvered arborescence on deep red in titanic proportions. The infinite detail of the great auditorium and the massive but delicately wrought scale in which it has been executed produces an awe-inspiring effect. The center doily of the ceiling, 60 feet in diameter, is entwined with immense silver dragons in relief bordered with a circle of giant gold medallions. Extending to the side walls are a myriad of panels each presenting some fanciful scene of Chinese antiquity, with emperors, generals and domestic animals and birds incorporated in ingenious detail to hold the attention. * * * From the center is suspended a gigantic chandelier of bronze in the form of a colossal round lantern, giving an effect of consummate grandeur by its extreme simplicity, its only ornaments being rows of incandescent bulbs giving the effect of huge crystal strands. The interior of the chandelier is a solid mass of light bulbs, making possible a thousand different color combinations. Channon Equipped as Usual New ORPHEUM THEATRE SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS New PALACE THEATRE CICERO, ILLNOIS New ADMIRAL THEATRE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Fully Equipped By ga3-S33 W. ERIE STREET ROXY THEATRE The elaborate decorative features of the entire theatre come to a focus in the mighty proscenium arch over the stage, formed of gigantic beams, with a supreme sculptural composition occupying its central point. The central figure is a superb example of the sculptor’s creative genius, embodying in life size the Chinese ambassador of dramatic philosophy. Behind the figure is a gigantic bronze medallion incarnating the six immortal philosophers of dramatic genius. The stage is flanked by two gigantic gold lanterns, 30 feet high, cleverly wrought to suggest the effervescent shimmering of sunlight upon waterfalls. The entire decorative scheme of the thea Like All the Other Exclusive Broadway Houses Is Now Equipped with the RAVEN screen Raven Screen Corporation 1476 Broadway New Yorit, N. Y.