Found on EBay – Symphony Theater

A photograph of what appears to be the opening of Harold Lloyd’s 1921 “Never Weaken” has been listed on EBay. The vendor erroneously says that the theater is the Mason Opera House, but The Times shows that the film premiered at the Symphony, at 6th Street and Broadway, and a few letters of the word “Symphony” are  visible  behind Lloyd’s picture. I don’t encounter the Symphony Theater very often in the old clips. It opened Aug. 29, 1914, “on the east side of Broadway near Sixth,” The Times said.  The theater was apparently demolished in 1923. Bidding on the photo starts at $9.99.

Comments

[Mary mallory]

The poster didn't understand or realize that the photographer had his studio at the Mason Theatre, not that the film was playing there.

[John Bengtson]

Never Weaken was Lloyd's final short film, and his third stunt-climbing film, to be followed two years later by his masterpiece Safety Last . If you want to see how Lloyd created these stunt sequences, my new book about Harold Lloyd, Silent Visions, is now available on Amazon. The LA Conservancy is screening Safety Last on June 29 at the Orpheum Theater.

[Stan Taffel]

Theater premieres were as important and lavish back in the early years as they are today. In the case of Harold Lloyd, Buster Keaton, Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, when they had a short subject opening, it was often billed above the main feature. This premiere simply had to display a giant likeness of Lloyd to attract audiences. What class, what style, what taste. Studios today can learn from the work of the pioneers.

[Arye Michael Bender]

Especially love reminders of how vital a place downtown Los Angeles was in times past.