The Last Remaining Seats: Movie Palaces in Tinseltown [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Robert Berger (Author), Anne Conser (Photographer) "Considered architect G. Albert Lansburgh's most fully realized theater, the French Renaissance-styled Orpheum brought the Grand Manner to Los Angeles..." (more)
Key Phrases: ceiling detail, wall detail, Los Angeles, Albert Lansburgh, Million Dollar (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
An unsurprising number of these theaters went bankrupt not long after their klieg-lit opening nights. Berger and Conser spent six years documenting the surviving follies around Los Angeles, and selected 16 of the most extravagant for this collection. The architectural-style names alone are worth the admission price: "Zigzag Moderne," "Movie Palace Rococo," "Aquarium Decco, with a smattering of Botticelli." So are the amber-tone detail shots and sweeps of interior dreamwork, with pagodas rising over a snack stand and Egyptian scarabs crowning a proscenium. Fortunately, evidence of peeling, fading, and bad repair work has not been cropped out. The brief texts cover premieres of important movies like Citizen Kane and Charlie Chaplin's City Lights and equally prophetic debuts of live performers like Frances Gumm (later Judy Garland), followed by declines into abandonment with the rest of L.A.'s downtown. (Scholars, though, may be frustrated by the inconsistent details about the interior motifs, alterations, and current uses of buildings). A helpful addendum gives addresses for the 16 theaters highlighted, plus 4 more that behind unspoiled facades-have been ravaged into retail stores. -- Interiors

Enhanced with an informative and highly readable introduction by Stephen Silverman, The Last Remaining Seats is a photographical tour-de-force of classic motion picture theatres from the golden age of Hollywood and the silver screen, when going to the movies was an esthetic experience long before the lights went down and the screen lit up. These "movie palaces" were architectural wonders of art, decor, imagery to excite the visitor and give an almost "temple" or "cathedral" experience of worship, a feeling that transformed a mundane entertainment into a weekly pilgrimage. The Last Remaining Seats documents an era now gone -- but not forgotten in the memories of those of us who are old enough to remember how hard times were left outside while dreams were spun in the darkness for all who had the price of a ten cent ticket. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Description
One hundred vivid color images by architectural photographers Robert Berger and Anne Conser record in lavish detail the spectacular, sumptuous, and often whimsical interiors of 16 of Los Angeles's most important movie palaces built during the '20s and '30s. This breathtaking book will thrill anyone interested in Hollywood's rich past and become a treasured cornerstone in the library of every movie buff.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964311968
• ISBN-13: 978-0964311961
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,136,292 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THEATRE ARCHITECTURE BOOK EVER, October 21, 1999

By A Customer

The Last Remaining Seats is simply a feast for the eyes for anyone interested in movie palace architecture. The book includes color beautiful color photographs of the Million Dollar, Los Angeles,Palace, State, Tower and Orpheum Theatres on Broadway as well as the Mayan and Belasco on nearby Hill Street. The Wiltern on Wilshire Boulevard is also featured. The Hollywood theatres included are the Chinese, El Capitan, Egyptian and Hollywood Pacific. Three other theatres include the Rialto in South Pasadena, the Wrner Grand in San Pedro and the Avalon on Catalina Island. Unfortunately, the photographers could not obtain permission to photograph the United Artists, Pantages and Fox Wilshire Theatres. A history of Los Angeles theatres in included in the introductory chapter but the main focus of this book are the photographs which are wonderful. If you are a lover of old theatre architecture, this book is a must.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars LOS ANGELES MOVIE PALACES IN GLORIOUS COLOR, April 15, 1999

By	James H. Rankin (Milwaukee, Wis. USA) - See all my reviews

This 9x11-inch opus is essentially a picture book, but oh, such pictures! The real authors are the photographers who overcame many obstacles to capture the fine color photos which reveal the remaining Los Angeles area movie palaces to a generation accustomed to video games. This is a fine way to open eyes limited to those tiny screens to these elegant examples of the giant screens. The eighty-nine color plates are of high quality -- but such canot be said for the eleven pages of text and the captions which are minimalist. For some reason, neither an architectural historian nor even a movie palace buff was chosen for the writing; instead, the photographers chose a man whose breezy style is more flippant than illuminating. His knowledge of local history constitutes the majority of the words, but one learns little about the buildings themselves (a book may have a local target audience, but it need not be oblivious to the larger scope of its subject especially with so many previous books known to the authors). One could dismiss his Introduction as merely perfunctory, but we cannot dismiss his treatment of the captions, for he could there have told us much more in his 'I-love-white-space' captions layouts. For example: Why does their State Theatre on pages 32 and 34 appear very differently? We are not told within the ample space. Page 48 shows the glorious Crystal Fountain the Los Angeles Th. but we are not told whether it is also a water fountain, as its base makes it appear (a good caption tells what the illustration cannot.) A final example is the photo of the El Capitan Th. on page 85 where an ugly giant beam or steel track is shown directly in front of the proscenium, but the caption makes no mention of it -- as though no one would notice it and so they didn't ask the operator about it. It doesn't take great scholarship, just research to properly cover a subject -- picture book or not. See VIEW CAMERA magazine of Jan/Feb. 1995 for the fascinating story behind this book, but do buy the book before too long for the sake of its color photos; such print runs are short and it is not likely to be available again. Incidentally, it is not mentioned in the book, but its title is a play on: THE BEST REMAINING SEATS: The Golden Age Of The Movie Palace (1961 and later printings available here at Amazon) by the late Ben M. Hall, the prime seminal work in the field, and not to be missed for there resides true writing and scholarship.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love letter to LA's Movie Palaces, November 3, 1998

By	Kayla Rigney (USA) - See all my reviews

I really enjoyed the Last Remaining Seats, because it preserves (in photographs) my beloved Movie Palaces of the Mind. The text could be better; but when it comes to magic, pictures speak a thousand words. The memories I have of the Los Angeles Theater belong to my sister -- but this book makes those memories something I, too, can hold. This isn't history; this is pure joy. Buy Last Remaining Seats. Fall in love with movies the way GOD intended for them to be seen. :)