Mrs. Fényes and the Movies (Part 1 of 4): Los Angeles

Eva Fényes came to Pasadena in 1896, attracted by the temperate climate, the beautiful landscape, and the quality of light which is so unique to Southern California. Eva was a watercolor artist and a patron of the arts, commissioning and collecting work to be hung in the mansion she built at 170 North Orange Grove Avenue. Her eclectic, creative interests also encompassed the new art of movie making. An entry from a 1906 travel journal describes a theatrical production of the Pirates of Penzance which Eva attended in San Antonio, Texas. She wrote, “Between the acts, biographic pictures were shown of San Francisco after the fire. The most depressing thing! One could see the poor sufferers moving about the ruined streets and looking dazed. The most pathetic sight was the bread line. Really, one could not have seen more if one had really been in the auto, from which the moving pictures were taken. Street after street of desolation!” (1) Viewed today, motion pictures from 1906 may seem relatively primitive. But these early films impressed Eva with the stark reality of their images and perhaps inspired her interest in the art of movie making.

In the early days of filmmaking, the major studios were located on the East Coast where Thomas Edison pioneered the technology at his studio in Menlo Park, New Jersey. Soon, however, the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company of New York emerged as one of Edison’s biggest competitors. In 1907 the company hired D. W. Griffith, an aspiring actor and playwright, as a member of its acting company, and Griffith soon began directing for them. In 1910 he brought his company of actors from New York to California for seasonal filming. Griffith wasn’t the only filmmaker to take advantage of Southern California’s abundant sunshine and diverse landscape. A number of studios came to film during the winter months. Many eventually relocated, and Los Angeles emerged as the center of the motion picture industry.

Eva Fényes welcomed the industry, and in March of 1912, D. W. Griffith made a short film on the grounds of the Fényes estate. The Queen’s Necklace, starring Wilfred Lucas and Dorothy Bernard, opened later that year as When Kings Were the Law. Eva, obviously delighted and a bit star-struck, documented the experience in a photograph album. (2)

Shown here are two sketches Eva made of actors from another D. W. Griffith movie filmed in her grounds in 1918, The Girl Who Stayed at Home.

William H. Clune (Billy) was a pioneer filmmaker who produced many films.  He built one of the first motion picture stages in Los Angeles on forty acres of land at Bronson and Melrose (the current location of Raleigh Studios). (3) He also accumulated a substantial personal fortune through real estate, beginning with a penny arcade and later branching out into motion picture houses. Ultimately, he owned and/or managed a number of movie theaters in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, including one in Pasadena. (4) But before the Pasadena project, Billy Clune built a movie theater on property Eva Fényes owned at 528 South Broadway in Los Angeles. Perhaps that theater’s success, Clune’s association with Eva, and his relationship with D. W. Griffith led to the building of Clune’s Pasadena Theater. Clune’s Pasadena opened in March of 1911, but Clune’s Broadway had opened several months earlier in October of 1910.

The Los Angeles Sunday Times of July 17, 1910 ran an article with details and illustrations of the future Clune’s Broadway. The main lobby was going to be 24 feet wide with a vaulted ceiling and white marble and stucco walls. The marquee was to be of steel and copper. The auditorium would be fifty-seven feet wide by 100 feet long with thirty foot beam and paneled ceilings and a large skylight in the center. It would seat 900. The heating and ventilation systems would be “perfect.” The proscenium opening would be over-sized to accommodate a larger projection screen. A. F. Rosenheim was the architect, and John F. Jacobs and Son was the general contractor. The projected cost for this marvelous structure was $50,000. (5)

When Clune’s Broadway opened it was considered “state of the art.” The projection booth contained “…three Motiograph machines, two being in use, alternating to avoid any wait between pictures.” (6) By 1916, the trade periodical, Moving Picture World, proclaimed that “Clune’s Broadway…is now considered one of the finest motion picture houses on the Pacific Coast.” (7) Its marquee quickly became a local landmark. It was 30 feet high and 50 feet wide with “Clune’s Broadway” in more than 3,000 electric lights. The time of day (or night) was updated every minute, both on the sign and in the auditorium. (8)

The success of Clune’s Los Angeles and Pasadena theaters was touted in a 1912 newspaper advertisement. “When one speaks of low-priced theater attractions the name CLUNE comes first to the mind because it is an uncontested fact that the CLUNE THEATERS in Los Angeles and Pasadena set the pace in these popular public attractions.” (9)

Clune’s Broadway closed in 1924 but was remodeled and reopened that same year as the Cameo Theater. The Los Angeles Times described the “chaos of wreckage” from which the new theater emerged “to take its place alongside Broadway’s best.” (10) Its seating capacity was increased. The orchestra pit was enlarged to make room for sixteen musicians. The projection room was widened, and a Ladies’ Retiring Area was tastefully furnished. The article declared the Cameo Theater “…the best and most luxuriously appointed ‘small’ theater on Broadway…” (11)

Eva Fényes was a woman of many talents. Her creativity was not limited to artistic pursuits but also manifested itself in shrewdly managed business enterprises. At the turn of the 20th century Eva purchased a piece of investment property in downtown Los Angeles. Within ten years her first motion picture house opened in what was to become the Broadway Theater District. There would be a movie theater at this address for more than 80 years. The Cameo Theater closed in December of 1991 and is thought to have been the oldest continuously running movie theater in California and some say the country. The theaters Eva helped create were visually distinctive. They were equipped with the best technology and they were successful commercially. Eva would have tolerated nothing less. 

- Sheryl Peters

This article was originally published on the Hometown Pasadena website in 2013. Sheryl Peters is a former PMH docent, researcher, and educator.  

Many thanks to Julie Stires, Project Archivist at Pasadena Museum of History, for her invaluable assistance in navigating the PMH Archives and for the countless other ways she supported this project.

Many thanks to Bob Bennett, Pasadena Museum of History volunteer, for sharing his expert knowledge of Southern California’s filmmaking history.