Earl Carroll Theatre, 6230 Sunset Blvd
In 1938, after getting his start in New York, Earl Carroll would move his dinner theatre business to Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, California. A show at the Earl Carroll Theatre, according to an early advertisement, included a chance to dance to "two famous orchestras, watch a CBS broadcast, and dine on superb dishes created by world-renowned chefs." For $3.50 you could enjoy all of the evening's entertainment plus a full-course dinner or for $1.65 without dinner.
During the 1940s, Hollywood was the nightspot destination for visiting servicemen. Like the Hollywood Canteen or the Florentine Gardens, the Earl Carroll Theatre welcomed many servicemen. You can imagine at the price of $3.50 you got more bang for your buck than you would have visiting some of the Sunset Strip nightclubs.
The Earl Carroll Theatre would continue to be a popular nightspot until June 17, 1948, when Carroll died in a plane crash. Afterwards the club would struggle for a few years. In 1953, Frank Sennes changed the club into the "Moulin Rouge." Still a theatre and restaurant, the Moulin Rouge featured more Vegas Style shows and would last into the 1960s.
6320 Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, Ca
Above is an image of the Earl Carroll Theatre building as it appears today. The building is now occupied by Nickelodeon studios.
"Wall of Fame" Earl Carroll Theatre
Grauman's Chinese Theatre had celebrity hand prints, footprints and signatures in the sidewalk in front of the theatre. The Earl Carroll Theatre had celebrity signatures on plaques on their "Wall of Fame" next to the entrance of the theatre. Some of the names on the plaques include Don Ameche, Rosalind Russell, Joan Bennett, Ray Milland, and Myrna Loy. Does anyone know where these plaques are today?
Beryl Wallace
One of the stars of the Earl Carroll Theatre shows was the beautiful Beryl Wallace who also happened to be Earl Carroll's wife. Wallace also died in the same plane crash as her husband.
Earl Carroll Theatre Glasses
If you went to the Earl Carroll Theatre one of the souvenirs you could purchase was a set of "Hollywood Star Autograph Glasses." The set included eight different glasses with color embossed autographs of many of the popular actors and actresses of the time. The colors came in Red, Blue, Green, Orange, White, Maroon, Yellow and Black and each color had different celebrity signatures. Fred Astaire was on the green set, Humphrey Bogart on the orange, and Rita Hayworth on the red set for example. To purchase a set of these eight glasses would put you back $3.00. Does anyone still have a set of these glasses in their home? If you do, I hope they're on display and not being used!
Frank Sennes Moulin Rouge on Sunset Blvd
Above is an image of Frank Sennes Moulin Rouge. As you can see, the Wall of Fame is still on display outside the theatre. From the outside, the building did not change much from the change over from being the Earl Carroll Theatre to the Moulin Rouge, other than the signage. You can still go by the theatre today but now you will see all the Nickelodeon signage displayed on the building - and no Wall of Fame.
As I mentioned before, I always like reading the messages on the back of old postcards. On the backside of the very first Earl Carroll Theatre postcard displayed at the top of this post it reads, "We are about ready to start our long trip back - this place is pretty but we haven't seen any movie stars." Postmarked in 1947 to a Mrs. Rose Kellerman & Sister in Memphis, Tenn. Even back then tourists were disappointed to not have any star sightings.
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