Sid Grauman

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Sidney Patrick Grauman (March 17, 1879 – March 5, 1950) was an American showman who created two of Hollywood's most recognizable and visited landmarks, the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian Theatre. He was the uncle of David Grauman (who died in 1921 in Los Angeles, California) and Rosa Goldsmith (1853-1936). Grauman's parents were theatrical actors on various show circuits.

Early years

Grauman was David Grauman's son (1890s). (1921) and Rosa Goldsmith (1853-1936) were both born in 1931. On show circuits, Grauman's parents were actors. They were both Jewish.

When he was a youth, Grauman and his father went to Dawson City, Yukon, for the Gold Rush. He began as a paperboy. Since newspapers were scarce, they could sell a dollar per piece. Grauman related to a tale about a store owner who bought a newspaper from him for $50. The shopkeeper read the paper aloud in his store, offering free admission to local miners. The young Grauman learned in Yukon what would be his lifelong: that people will gladly pay handsomely for entertainment. Sid and his father began arranging activities that paid them well. Grauman caught his first motion picture in Yukon, too. David Grauman, a failed prospector in the Klondike gold rush, was first carried his young son to the Klondike with the intention of building a theater there. Despite the fact that they did not win gold, the Graumans still earned a substantial sum by their Klondike entertainment ventures. When his father's sister died and he left the province to care for her, young Grauman stayed in Dawson City for a time. In 1900, his parents immigrated to San Francisco, and Grauman joined them there.

In San Francisco, David and Sidney Grauman decided to open a vaindeville theater. The Unique Theater, which was their first venture, was on Market Street near Mason. They added motion pictures to the vaindeville shows and another theater named Lyceum before long. Sid Grauman had seen just about every form of performance, but there were some that shocked and amazed him, turning down an invitation to learn how to swallow swords. The Graumens were also instrumental in the establishment of the Northwest Valiant Company, which extended from San Francisco to Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon. The company brought quality live entertainment to the Northwest area of the United States.

David Grauman tried to extend his theater company in New York City and the East Coast, where he was far from successful; for a brief period, Sid worked in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at one of the theaters he and his father were interested in. David Grauman had enough money to have the need to hire a business partner in his Lyceum Theater and refuse an invitation from the partner to buy him out in 1905. He later decided to purchase the Lyceum's lease, which would then evict his ex partner from the theater in 1907. The Graumans had lost their lease at the Unique Theater by early 1906. The building had been purchased by the new owner of the Orpheum Theater circuit, and Grauman's rent had been doubled by the new owner. Because Grauman had established one there before a fire ban prohibiting it was passed, it was only permitted to house a theater. Grauman employed a team of axes to demolish the interior of the Unique before his tenancy was complete, so it could not be re-built for use as a theater.

When the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 destroyed both the Unique Theater and Lyceum theaters, leaving the Unique Theater closed and the Lyceum unable to be used by the Graumans until 1907, father and son were effectively out of business. Sid was able to save one of the theater's movie projectors from the wreckage. In Oakland, he was able to buy a tent from an evangelist preacher. He assembled the Unique pieces from a demolished church along with some pews from a burned church. The Graumans displayed a sign outside their makeshift theater that read: "Nothing to fall on you but canvas if there is another earthquake." The family was given a Certificate by the City of San Francisco for their efforts in lifting citizens' morale in the midst of difficult times. They ran their tent theater for two years, but by that time, David Grauman had opened the New National Theatre. The Graumans grew their theaters in San Francisco in a short period of time, opening the Imperial and the Empress as a result of San Francisco's opening and expanding to other Northern California cities. The Graumans decided to move to Los Angeles and build theaters there by 1917. They approached Adolph Zukor, who would later be the owner and founder of Paraphrasedoutput, about a company merger. Zukor has agreed to purchase the San Francisco theaters from the Graumans and then help them with financing for opening their theater company in Los Angeles.

Sid Grauman introduced film shows to San Jose, California. Sid Grauman opened the Unique Theatre in San Jose on February 7, 1903. The theatre held films, stock theater companies, amateur nights, and vaudeville performances. Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, the most notable amateur to develop his skills there, was the most popular amateur to do so. The Unique Theatre was demolished in 1906, and Grauman and Grauman followed Grauman to Los Angeles, where the Princess Theatre and Grauman's Chinese Theatre were established.

The Million Dollar Theatre, the first of the three Grauman Los Angeles movie palaces, was open for business by 1918. David Grauman died in Los Angeles in 1921, but he was not able to see the Egyptian Theatre, which opened the year after his death, year after his death. Sid Grauman started the building of his last theater, the Chinese Theatre, in 1926, now working on his own. On May 18, 1927, it was announced for a premiere. Onlookers were eager to get a glimpse of both the actors and the building's splendor. Many of the fittings were imported from China and Chinese artisans, and sculptures of sculpture that were originally located in the theater's forecourt are now housed inside the theater.

The forecourt also has the celebrity hand and footprints in cement. The event began by accident, while finishing touches were being applied on the Chinese Theatre. Two versions of the tale have been published; one has Mary Pickford as the actress who stepped in the wet cement on her way to see Sid Grauman's new building, while the other has Norma Talmadge for the mistake. Grauman figured it was a brilliant way to get a permanent record of the actors, and he began requesting selected film stars to meet in concrete. Grauman himself made the picks; the practice continued after his death, using a mystery method for selecting celebrities.

And though Grauman's name appears, he is not the sole owner of the Chinese Theatre, even though it bears his name. Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and Howard Schenck were among his venture's coworkers. He sold his stake of the theater to Fox West Coast Theatres two years after it opened, but remained the theater's Managing Director for the remainder of his life. Every year, over four million people attend the Chinese Theatre.

Sid Grauman built the Hollywood Roller Bowl, which would make him one of the most influential people in roller skating's history, in addition to his theater and Hollywood resources.

Grauman's non-entertainment ventures turned out as poorly as his father's. In a gold mining operation near Deadwood, South Dakota, he formed the Black Hills Exploration Corporation. Grauman had persuaded others, including entertainer Al Jolson and several movie company executives, to join him in investing in the company. The company was not profitable, and Grauman advised everybody not to proceed with the purchase.

Grauman was well-known to Hollywood's top actors and was thought to be a close friend of many, including Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Arbuckle called the San Francisco police to turn himself in in Grauman's Million Dollar Theatre. R. C. Arbuckle began singing at Grauman's San Francisco Unique Theater as R. C. Arbuckle. The Graumans knew people like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, who appeared in one of the Grauman theaters when they were on their way up. Pickford's "America's Sweetheart" nickname was born by father and son.

Grauman, a non-married man, was devoted to his mother. Grauman was the only non-celebrity whose imprints were on display; after Rosa's death, she retained all of her personal possessions. Grauman was closely linked to the motion picture industry, appearing in several comedies that nodded to his celebrity in Hollywood and further afield in the Gold Rush. Grauman, a 35-year employee at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, spent the last six months of his life at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center but not due to illness. Grauman loved being in Cedars and would later go to dine at various top restaurants and then return to the hospital to sleep.

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