#universal lot

[mudwerks]

(via Film Noir Photos: Adventures in Androgyny: Mary Philbin)

Mary Philbin photographed with fan mail at a Universal lot in 1923

[maikai-diablo]

Part 2

[qupritsuvwix]

The Day the Music Burned

It was the biggest disaster in the history of the music business — and almost nobody knew. This is the story of the 2008 Universal fire.

Holy shit! According to this article maybe 60% of the masters and studio tapes and discs of all the music recorded in America since the beginnings of the record industry a hundred and seventeen years ago have been destroyed through fires and sloppy storage practices. There are also numerous instances of misplaced and lost recordings, possibly stolen and sometimes rerecoded over. There is no telling what is missing as there are only guesstimates and memories, no reliable detailed lists. What’s almost as bad are the recordings that were already lost or forgotten, thrown in with the more popular offerings through bad cataloging practices and lazy storage procedures. If you don’t care about them, an actual ton of used audio tape is just a ton of mylar on possibly recyclable metal reels. If you don’t care about them, a ton of lacquer discs are just taking up a lot of “expensive” storage space that has to be paid for on a monthly basis. The massive conglomerates that own the masters in America got insurance pay-outs on the burned heritage while we get third generation versions of safety copies...

[universalentertainment]

Did you know…

Universal Studios’ Stage 28 is considered by many to be the most historic sound stage in Hollywood?  The stage was constructed in 1924 for Universal’s blockbuster production, The Phantom of the Opera.  Legend has it that Universal’s founder, Carl Laemmle, fell in love with this story in 1922 while vacationing in Paris.  The Phantom’s author, Gaston Leroux, gave Laemmle a copy of his book after Laemmle visited the famous Paris Opera House.  After reading the book in one night, Laemmle decided Universal should make it into a movie.

Laemmle considered sending a cast and crew to Paris for filming, but later determined it was too expensive.  Instead, he decided to build a replica of the Paris Opera House at Universal City.  Completed in 1924, Stage 28 was the first sound stage constructed on a structural steel framework set in concrete foundations. 

Universal’s 1925 release of The Phantom of the Opera starred Lon Chaney as Erik, the disfigured genius who lived in the cellars of the Paris Opera House.  This role proved to be one of Chaney’s most famous and compelling performances.  Many other Universal films have been set in the replica Paris Opera House of Stage 28, but The Phantom of the Opera is by far the most famous.  To this day, the stage is still known as “The Phantom Stage,” and is believed to be haunted by Lon Chaney’s ghost!