Before there was an Arclight

"Original blogger" Army Archerd compares the recent "Entourage" premiere party in the dome at the Arclight to the theater's 1963 unveiling as the Cinerama Dome. The Cinerama's super-wide curved screen on Sunset Boulevard was a huge deal in its time, as well as the first movie house built in Hollywood in decades. Archerd:

Screened in the giant movie palace were two, new half hour segs of the TV'er starring Hollywood hopefuls. My thoughts wandered back to the Nov. 3, 1963, gala premiere of the Cinerama Dome--the first new theater in Hollywood in 33 years. And the two-and-a-half-hour-long film chosen to launch the new movie showplace was Stanley Kramer's all-star "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," starring the creme de la creme of comedy. That cast included Milton Berle, Phil Silvers, Buddy Hackett, Ethel Merman, Edie Adams, Dick Shawn, Jonathan Winters, Terry Thomas, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney--headed by Spencer Tracy and Peter Falk.

The theater was packed for both preems. The audience in '63 was your elite Hollywood first-niter. The crowd at "Entourage" were 20-somethings. The dress codes matched the eras. The "Entourage" cast and crew in the theater were introduced by HBO's president of entertainment Carolyn Strauss with each name greeted by enthusiastic applause from the hip crowd. The party for "Mad World" goers was at the BevHilton, where guests were entertained with performances by the cast--m.c.'d by Milton Berle. The party for the "Entourage" guests--900 strong--was held in a spacious multi-roomed venue up the street on Ivar where the cast mingled with guests who feasted on Along Came Mary's multi-varied groaning boards. They also feasted their eyes on the scantily-clad go-go dancers and others in tubs (heated, I hope).

Some guests took advantage of the offered beauty treatments (you know who you are), while others were treated to visual delights. Exec producer Mark Wahlberg, whose life may have encouraged "Entourage," was the top star name attraction.

Photo: Herald Examiner collection/LAPL.org.