MAJESTIC a real theatre?
Many people have wondered if the theatre building shown in the MAJESTIC film were actual theatres dressed for the sake of the movie, and the answer to this is 'no'; both the exterior and the interiors were very elaborate sets actually crafted to "give homage" to Hollywood's EGYPTIAN theatre (hence the strange mixture of Art Deco, Baroque, and Egyptian decor) and because the director spent part of his youth as an usher in movie palaces. From the extraordinary details one can, when viewing stills on the DVD of the film, notice errors of commission or omission in the scene design, especially in the auditorium scenes. For example, there are no EXIT lights in the theatre, and we know that all theatres are required to have these. Likewise, there is no orchestra pit, and any movie palace of that day would have had such an unused pit, plus, the footlights shown on the stage are the type used in Vaudeville theatres back in the days of gas lights, not the recessed incandescent types typical of the day and age of the building depicted. 'Mushroom' ventilators under the seats were commonplace in movie palaces, but the refurbishing scene betrays that the seats are mounted on boards set into the floor, and there are no ventilators under them.
Actually we don't have to wonder about the authenticity of the sets, since the movie's web site's "Production Journal" for May 18th of 1999, describes it in some illuminating paragraphs by the movie's publicist: ( http://majesticmovie.warnerbros.com/journal/9-6.shtml )
" Once again, production designer Melton has done a magnificent job in recreating (inside) what he built (outside) on Ferndale’s Main Street.
Back in Ferndale, Melton’s crew erected a three-story facade for The Majestic movie palace which included a completely decorated lobby which could be seen from the street as one looked in. When you walked into the edifice beyond the lobby and concession stand, you entered a vacuous shell where various departments stored equipment and materials and where the guys from Heaven or Las Vegas actually blew their intricate neon glass tubes that adorned Melton's ornate marquee.
On our sound stage, Melton fashions just the opposite -- a completely decorated theater interior (whose design pays homage to Hollywood’s Egyptian and Chinese Theaters) and Lawson’s Main Street just beyond the entrance. Thus, when you look outside while standing in the theater lobby (an exact duplicate of that built in Ferndale), you see what actually existed on location."
The "Ferndale" mentioned is the actual California town where they constructed the facade set of the theatre, and they have a web site with a sequence of photos of it being built:
www.victorianferndale.org/chamber/parklot.htm
One must also note the debt that the screenplay, the casting, and the sets owe to the 1957 British film "The Smallest Show On Earth", right down to the scene of Jim Carey looking into the auditorium where only the janitor is viewing a vintage film, and the lobby with the skylight above the chandelier; the dog instead of the cat, the use of a projector from 1915 in close-ups as one would expect in the BIJOU of the '57 film, but not in the 1951 era movie palace of the MAJESTIC. The British film is at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050985/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxzZz0xfHR0PW9ufHBuPTB8cT1zbWFsbGVzdCBzaG93IG9uIGVhcnRofG14PTIwfGxtPTIwMHxodG1sPTE_;fc=1;ft=16
Lest one believe that this is the finest re-creation of a theatre interior on screen, one should first view "The Velvet Touch" of 1948 (at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040934/usercomments ), wherein is what the "Hollywood Reporter" and other fan magazines then described as the most elaborate set of the interior of a legit theatre ever constructed. The lavish drapings and furnishings there alone would convince you that you were inside a real theatre, much as does the "MAJESTIC" to its credit.