We take an exclusive tour of Hollywood's restored Egyptian Theatre, opening this fall
LOS ANGELES — A hundred and one years ago, Hollywood rolled out the red carpet for the very first movie premiere. Men, dressed as Egyptian sentries, patrolled the roof of the theater, carrying rifles that were probably fake — but, given this was a Sid Grauman-staged event, you never know. Everybody who was anybody in L.A. attended, including Charlie Chaplin, who spoke, albeit reluctantly and concisely.
"I pray you that we go on with the picture!" Chaplin said, practically running off the stage right after uttering those few words.
When the Egyptian Theatre opened in 1922 with the extravagant premiere of Douglas Fairbanks' "Robin Hood," it marked a number of beginnings. First movie theater in Hollywood. First red carpet. First film premiere with all the attendant bright lights, flashbulbs and breathless hoopla, a scene that set the stage for every movie opening of the subsequent century.
A master showman, Grauman didn't do anything small,
