The Artist Filmed around LA, and John Bengston Has the Details

John Bengston, who's written three books on silent movie locations in Los Angeles (I have the one on Chaplin), has been posting on his blog about LA locations used in The Artist.

Turns out--whether in homage or just because these places had the right feel--that the Oscar-nominated movie was shot all over our city.

The Los Angeles Theater on Broadway, where Chaplin's City Lights premiered in 1931, is also the theater where George's film flops. The proscenium arch is pretty unmistakable, as you can see in the pictures below right--the then and now views.

The lobby staircase, with its ornate railing, is in the movie too--George carries Uggie down it after seeing Peppy's hit movie.

And according to an LA Times article by Richard Verrier, a scene from a Muppets movie was also shot here--Kermit gave a speech on that staircase!

And the Justin Timberlake scifi/thriller movie In Time used the Los Angeles Theater lobby as its casino.

This undated picture is from the Los Angeles Public Library collection, btw. (you may have to spell it 'theatre' to find the photos.)

Read about scenes and Los Angeles Theater history here at Bengston's blog. He's got pictures of the place during Chaplin's premier, and several shots from The Artist.

Or go to this post about the Orpheum Theater. There were several Orpheum's in LA's early days, but only one holds the name now.

Here's another post about Los Angeles homes and street scenes used in The Artist and in the Chaplin film The Kid.

You want Buster Keaton's connection to The Artist? Bengston's got a post on that too, about the studio in the new movie (actually shot at Keaton's old studio home) with a Roger Rabbit connection.

Harold Lloyd? Covered. The site common to both is the stage of the Orpheum Theater downtown, in the beginning of The Artist. The exterior and signage of the Orpheum can be seen in Lloyd's Safety Last! and Feet First.

Then, of course, there is the Bradbury Building. That's in The Artist as well, and Bengston has a post on it. That post has a great mini-history of the Bradbury, too.

Thank you, Mr. Bengston. I sure hope I caught all my misspellings of your name.