Hollywood Heritage's Celebration of REPUBLIC PICTURES at their DeMille Barn

FYI--THIS EVENT UNEXPECTEDLY SOLD OUT SOONER THAN EXPECTECD, SO IF YOU DID NOT PRE-PURCHASE YOUR TICKET YOU WILL LIKELY NOT GET IN (and Jono also did not get his ticket so our 5 attending group members will need to look for one another)....http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/6/f/4/event_235970932.jpegRepublic Pictures was an American indie production-distribution company with studio facilities, operating from 1935 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery, action and comedy.

The studio was also responsible for financing and distributing one Shakespeare film, Orson Welles Macbeth (1948), and several of the films of John Ford during the 1940s and early 1950s. It was also notable for developing the careers of John Wayne, Gene Autry and Roy Rogers.

Attending this tribute celebration (subject to availability) will be actors Anne Jeffreys, Marjorie Lord, Ben Cooper, Peggy Stewart, Dickie Jones, Julietta "Tweeny" Canova, Mary Carlisle and Faye MacKenzie who worked for the studio from 1935-1959.

The night will include a screening of rare film clips and displays of historic Republic Pictures memorabilia. Also on hand will be Jeffrey Richardson, associate curator of the Autry Museum who will talk about some of the famous Western actors who came from Republic Pictures.

The DeMille Barn is a relatively small meeting space, so you are strongly encouraged to buy your tickets in advance online because tickets might not end up being available at the door. Tickets are $15 or $5 for Hollywood Heritage members...

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/382050

Created in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates, a longtime investor in film and music properties and founder and president of film processing laboratory Consolidated Film Industries, Republic was the result of a union of six smaller "Poverty Row" studios.

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In the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, Yates' laboratory was servicing many Poverty Row studios. In 1935 Yates saw a chance to become a studio head himself. Six established Poverty Row companies (Monogram Pictures, Mascot Pictures, Liberty Pictures, Majestic Pictures, Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures) were all in debt to Yates' lab. He prevailed upon these studios to merge under his leadership (or otherwise face foreclosure on their outstanding lab bills). Yates' new company, Republic Pictures Corporation, was established as a collaborative enterprise focused on low-budget product.

The largest of Republic's components was Monogram Pictures, run by producers Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston, which specialized in "B" films and operated a nationwide distribution system. (Monogram was revived in 1937.) Their studio was located in Silverlake at the former KCET public television studios on Sunset Boulevard next to the Vista Theatre (and infamous little Tiki Ti bar) which was recently acquired by the Church of Scientology. Jono worked at these KCET studios when he graduated from college and gave historic tours of this lot which were once used for some of the early Charlie Chan films, the Dorothy Lamour film "Hurricane" (the west side soundstage still has a giant covered over swimming pool beneath its current floor) and the camp classic Joan Crawford western "Johnny Guitar." In the early 80's KCET threw and employee party at the lot's famed Western street on its last day of existence before it had to be torn down to make way for a multi-story parking structure which can now be seen from Sunset Boulvevard. http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/b/0/e/event_235971982.jpeg

The most technically advanced of the studios that now comprised Republic was Nat Levine's Mascot Pictures, which had been making serials almost exclusively since the mid-1920s and had a first-class production facility, the former Mack Sennett-Keystone lot in Studio City. Mascot also had just discovered Gene Autry and signed him to a contract as a singing cowboy star. Larry Darmour's Majestic Pictures had developed a following, with big-name stars and rented sets giving his humble productions a polished look. Republic took its original "Liberty Bell" logo from M. H. Hoffman's Liberty Pictures (not to be confused with Frank Capra's short-lived Liberty Films that produced his IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, ironically now owned by Republic). Chesterfield Pictures and Invincible Pictures, two sister companies under the same ownership, were skilled in producing low-budget melodramas and mysteries. http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/8/d/e/event_235971422.jpeg

Acquiring and integrating these six companies allowed Republic to begin life with an experienced production staff, a company of veteran B-film supporting players and at least one very promising star, a complete distribution system and a functioning and modern studio. In exchange for merging, the principals were promised independence in their productions under the Republic aegis, and higher budgets with which to improve the quality of the films. In recent years, the Republic library was acquired by Paramount Pictures who has started to restore some of its more interesting Republic film titles such as CASANOVA OR BURLESQUE featuring a pre-Roy Rogers Dale Evans straight from Broadway that TCM screened at its 2011 Hollywood film festival.

PARKING IS FREE adjacent to the Hollywood Heritage's historic DeMille Barn which is literally across the street from the Hollywood Bowl in the Bowl's parking lot SOUTH of Highland Avenue. The Barn was recently repainted from light yellow to an army-like putty gray color which might make it hard to find, so use your GPS device if you have one.