4 Havens of Film & TV History
A guide to Film and TV History Museums in Los Angeles.
Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library
For film and TV buffs, there is no place like Los Angeles. You may spy a celebrity at the local farmer’s market, or be shooed away from your neighborhood park by a production assistant protecting a “hot set.” But if you want to experience meaningful connections to the stories and characters you hold dear, dig deep into film history with the following resources .
- The Hollywood Heritage Museum contains the largest public display of early Hollywood photographs and memorabilia, and takes you back (literally) inside the birthplace of the feature film. The museum is housed within the old Lasky-DeMille barn. In this same structure, way back in 1914, Cecil B. DeMille shot The Squaw Man, the first feature film made in Hollywood. On a vast picturesque timeline that adorns the wall, and in a cozy screening room around the corner, the story of the early motion picture industry comes to life. Buster Keaton’s movie camera stands stalwart. Rudolph Valentino’s unsmoked cigars rest among old photographs of the smoldering, silent star. The famed director’s megaphone and riding crop are showcased in De Mille’s actual office. Step right in and consider how the old man got through his day. Emoting with Gloria Swanson, writing frantically at the typewriter for his latest spectacle, or taking a slug from the whisky bottle.
Through their all-volunteer staff, Hollywood Heritage also works with communities and agencies to present regular programs on historical film topics. In summer, the Annual Silents Under the Stars returns to Paramount Ranch with screenings of silent classics. You are invited to show up early, bring a picnic and take a guided tour. Stroll down western town streets that have appeared in countless movies since 1927. Gary Cooper, Bob Hope and the Marx Brothers had memories here, and so can you. Pack a flashlight, because after dark you may need it to find your place under and among the stars.
www.hollywoodheritage.org/
2100 North Highland Avenue Hollywood, California
2. The Hollywood Museum is housed in the old Max Factor building, just across the street from the huge Hollywood and Highland complex. Its three floors are a massive jumble of memorabilia, ranging from an old silent movie projector, to Bruce Willis’ bloodied t-shirt from “Die Hard,” to Roddy McDowell’s fully restored bathroom. Would Laurence Oliver and John Huston really have appreciated their pictures in there? Also authentically creepy, the basement floor has restored several of the jail cells from “Silence of the Lambs.” Step inside Hannibal Lecter’s aged and stained padded cell, then notice how quickly your eyes seek the reassurance of the open door.
The museum is big enough to park a shiny Rolls Royce from “Guys and Dolls,” and charming enough to place a mannequin in a glass case, dress her in Claudette Colbert’s “Cleopatra” gown, and leave the jewel crown askew across her royal brow. Several items in the museum are not labeled, and some are so iconic they needn’t be. (Cue the Imperial March.) Ponder autograph hound Joe Ackerman’s exhaustive collection, or gaze into Tom Cruise’s fake eyeballs from ‘Minority Report.”
Max Factor opened his factory in this art deco building in 1935, and much of the collection is dedicated to his work. Industrial color mixing machinery rests in the hallway, which branches off into the restored makeup rooms that once served stars like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland and Lucille Ball. A talented inventor and cosmetician, Max Factor originally escaped the clutches of Tsarist Russia by using his own cosmetics to make himself look sick, then arrived in America just in time to shape the nascent moving picture industry. He went on to invent the products (lipstick and the mascara wand, among others) and the look that would define Hollywood and influence the masses for decades to come.
http://thehollywoodmuseum.com/
1660 N. Highland Ave Hollywood, California 90028
3. The Paley Center for Media is a television history fan’s wonderland that offers over 160,000 video and audio treasures at on demand computer kiosks. When it opened in the 1990’s, Robert Redford mined the archives researching his film, “Quiz Show.” The public leapt at the opportunity to watch old episodes of “Ed Sullivan” and “Starsky and Hutch.” In addition to anthologies, game shows, political conventions, local news and variety shows that aired only once, the collection includes compilation reels of commercials sent over by ad agencies, and unaired specials and pilots. Broadcasts and recordings (http://www.paleycenter.org/collection) are complete with original commercials, news broadcasts, celebrity endorsements and other assorted interstitials. Unlike many of today’s online video sources, the Paley Center’s copies are true to the copyright holder, and offer a viewing experience more like a time capsule than a rerun.
In light of the uber-availability of the internet age, the Paley Center has broadened its scope in recent years and also offers an array of exhibits. The Soboroff Typewriter Collection gave a close up look at twenty-eight of these tools of genius, the original typewriters from famous (and infamous) authors and personalities. Orson Welles left his autograph on his Underwood Standard, and Hemingway wrote on a 1932 Royal. Some claim blood spatters from his suicide are still visible on the keys.
Members of the public can also attend live experiences with TV stars and legends via Paleyfest and PaleyLive, events featuring discussions with the actors and writers behind such hits as “Seinfeld,” “Scandal,” and Mad Men.”
https://media.paleycenter.org/
465 N. Beverly Dr., Beverly Hills, CA
COMING ATTRACTION
4. The Academy of Motion Pictures Museum is scheduled to open in 2019 as a grand showpiece to the history and future of the art and science of film. Just down the block from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, architect Renzo Piano’s bold plans will transform and expand the old May Company building into a 290,000 square foot wonder and enchantment complex that will include a 1,000 seat theater inside a giant glass enclosed dome, a 12,000 square foot “making of” exhibit which re-creates the experience of real life filmmaking, and an entire floor devoted to media literacy and K-12 education.
The resources and archival holdings of the Academy are vast, venerable, and always growing. Academy director Kerry Brougher and his staff will have over 10 million photographs and 165,000 film and video shorts to choose from, as well as the special collections and personal files of legends like Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock. The Academy recently spent over $300,000 on a rare space shuttle prop from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A “Space Odyssey.” Brougher also plans “R” Rated exhibits and installation-based projects that will help expand the very definition of movies.
Imagine what the masters of the spectator experience will be able to do with a hundred years of carefully curated and preserved artifacts and memorabilia. Might visitors be able to race through virtual hyperspace, crank the camera for Chaplin, or lick Willy Wonka’s fruit flavored wallpaper? What behind the scenes exploits will be revealed? The plan is to balance historical silver screen splendor with an understanding of the craftsmanship of filmmaking. The visitor who enters knowing they like movies will leave knowing film is a real art form, one that continues to map the trajectories of our inner and collective dreams.
MORE FILM & TV HISTORY RESOURCES
Libraries and Museums
Margaret Herrick Library: http://www.oscars.org/library
Walt Disney’s Carolwood Barn: http://carolwood.org/
Gordon R. Howard Museum: http://www.burbankhistoricalsoc.org/
Classic Film Screenings:
American Cinematheque: http://www.americancinematheque.com/
Cinefamily (Silent Movie Theater): www.cinefamily.org
Cinespia: http://cinespia.org/
Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum: https://theautry.org/programs/film
LA Conservancy — Last Remaining Seats: https://www.laconservancy.org/
LA County Museum of Art: http://www.lacma.org/film
UCLA Film Archives at Hammer Museum: www.cinema.ucla.edu/calendar
Studio Tours
Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio and Museum: http://www.melodyranchstudio.com/museum.html
Paramount Pictures: http://www.paramountstudiotour.com/
Sony Pictures: http://www.sonypicturesstudiostours.com/
Universal Studios Theme Park: http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/
Warner Brothers: http://www.wbstudiotour.com/
Silents under the stars: http://www.hollywoodheritage.org/#!museum/c1bhu
Eve Hill is a native San Franciscan who has lived in Los Angeles since getting her B.A. in Film & Television History from USC. In addition to The Culture Trip, she has written for network TV, community newspapers, press releases, grants & nonprofits, and in education, travel and sports.
