This is a photo I took of a photo I saw during a recent visit to the Academy Museum. It was taken during the premiere of “Giant” that took place at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on October 17, 1956. I love the dramatic way those searchlights were lined up behind the bleachers where movie fans had gathered to see the parade of stars attending the big event ahead of an impressive 10-week run. And what a parade of stars it was. Go to GraumansChinese.org and scroll down to October and check the loooong list of Hollywood A-listers who were there that night.
Torr L said: “Giant was a huge box-office success. The film earned $35 million in ticket sales during its original studio release in 1956, a record for a Warner Brothers film until that time. This record was not surpassed until the Warner film Superman in the late 1970s.”
This photo must be taken from the southeast corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Orange Drive, as there’s a car at right in the photo.
Could the white patches be ice remnants on the roadway? Those people are wearing fall coats and it’s not even Halloween yet.
It looks like the road’s dug up to me. Because of the photo of the tearing down of the Hollywood Hotel that Martin posted the day before this one, I was thinking that if we could look past the Chinese Theatre premiere of Giant, above, to the right of this photo, we’d be seeing that huge empty space, as this photo was only several weeks after that one from August of 1956.