The Marcal Theater (also written as Mar-Cal), on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard at 6025 just West of the Brokaw property, opened on May 15, 1926. The name was a combination of two of its owners’ names: Screen actress Alice Calhoun and theater operator Mark M. Hansen.

Marinus Mark Hansen was born in Aalborg, Denmark in 1892. He came to the USA by way of Liverpool in March 1910 aboard the doomed ocean liner Lusitania, and settled briefly in Lostwood, North Dakota where he had an older brother, Carl, who had immigrated a few years earlier, and worked as a laborer taking odd jobs.

As of 1914 he was working as a saloon keeper in Madoc, Montana. By 1915 he also had a half-interest in the Lyceum Theatre in Scobey, Montana with partner Charles Peterson; Hansen sold his half-interest in November 1915.

He married Ida R. Nelson in Plentywood, Montana on September 9, 1915. The couple’s first daughter was born at Madoc in 1916.

In May 1919 Hansen bought a former saloon in Scobey, which he converted into a bowling alley and cigar store.

In August 1919, Hansen bought the Lyric Theater in Williston, North Dakota. He soon joined with local businessmen to build a second theater there, the Orpheum.

Within two years, the couple had moved to Minnesota, where Mark also had theater interests, and their second daughter was born in August 1921. Hansen sold his theaters in Blue Earth, Minnesota in September 1921.

In June 1922, the Hansens relocated to the Coast when Mark bought 3 theaters in Oxnard, California.

A year and a half later, on March 19, 1924 it was announced that Hansen was moving to Los Angeles. It was here that he would finally settle permanently.

Hansen already owned three theaters in Los Angeles, including the Larchmont. At 149 N. Larchmont, it had opened in 1922 and was operated by Alice Calhoun. Hansen had become an owner by January 1924.

On July 10, 1925, the Hollywood Daily Citizen reported that Hansen and Calhoun had taken a 99 year lease on the Jewett property at 6025 Hollywood Boulevard where they would build an as-yet unnamed theater, to be designed by architect William Allen.

 

J.C. and Margaret O. Jewett had been living at this address, originally 541 Prospect Avenue, since circa 1906. Margaret Jewett was still living here through 1924 before relocating.

In August 1925, the Jewett ranch house and garage were moved from 6025 Hollywood Boulevard to 3090 St. George Street in the Los Feliz neighborhood. It appears to have survived at this location.

Although the July 10 report had stated construction was to begin within 60 days, ground breaking for the new theater did not happen until December 1, 1925- with Alice Calhoun operating the steam shovel herself.

The completed theater had a gala grand opening on May 14, 1926 with a showing of “Skinner’s Dress Suit.” The stars of the picture, Laura La Plante and Reginald Denny (who would later be on the Boulevard with his hobby shop) made a personal appearance.

 

The new theater was an independent theater, unaffiliated with any movie studio. Independents typically didn’t get to show first-run films made by the major studios until after they had finished their initial run at a studio-owned or affiliated theater.

The Marcal had barely been open six months when it closed for renovations. On January 1927, Hansen announced that effective January 27, 1927, it would change programs weekly and present only first-run films. It held another gala grand opening on that date to celebrate the post-renovation reopening with a premiere of “Remember” and the Lindsay Simons jazz orchestra

 

On September 30, 1927, Mark Hansen and employees of the Marcal were called to testify before the federal grand jury in its investigation of booking agent  T.R. Gardner, who was indicted on suspicion of having brought the Jack Dempsey/Gene Tunney fight film to Los Angeles from Chicago. The film had been showing at the Marcal.

It was illegal at the time to transport fight films across state lines. But everyone wanted to see the film of this fight- especially the 7th round and the infamous “long count.” The fight had taken place at Chicago’s Soldier Field on September 22, 1927, a rematch between the two fighters; Tunney had taken the heavyweight title away from Dempsey the year before (my post on that is here). Dempsey knocked Tunney down in the 7th round. It was a new rule that a fighter had until the count of 10 to get up after being knocked down and that the opponent was to retreat to a neutral corner. Dempsey stood over Tunney for several seconds; the referee did not begin the 10 second count until Dempsey went to a neutral corner, therefore giving Tunney that extra time to recover. At the end of the match, Tunney was declared the winner.

It was not illegal to show fight films in theaters, and despite the ad’s warning, there was no attempt to seize the film, which continued at the Marcal through October 3. For more information about fight films, see my post here.

In March 1928, Hansen announced that he was getting into the real estate business, with offices on the second floor of the Marcal (his theater company’s offices were also on the second floor). Hansen and his wife did for sure buy a number of Hollywood Boulevard properties, including 6028 and 6032 across the street and others in the 5800 block.

In December 1931, the Marcal celebrated its 5th birthday, with a cake from the Pig n’ Whistle cafe and in-person appearances by special guest stars. Hansen stated that the theater had hosted over 3 million patrons and had screened over 1200 feature films.

In December 1934, Hansen announced that he was leasing the operation of the Marcal Theater to Jay M. Sutton and Albert A. Galston of Galston & Sutton Theaters and retiring from the theater business, at least temporarily, to focus on running his new nightclubs.

 

In the Summer of 1933, with national Prohibition on the way out (beer and wine sales were legalized in March 1933; spirits and hard liquor remained forbidden until full Repeal in December), Hansen opened the Cabin Club at 2914-2916 S. Western Avenue. On Halloween night 1933, he opened a second club, the 3 Little Pigs, at 335 N. La Brea. The theme was inspired by the smash hit Disney cartoon released that year.

 

On November 9, 1933, Hansen was arrested for failure to take out a license to sell alcohol (beer) at his clubs as well as failure to pay sales tax on alcohol sales. In July 1934 he was back in court facing charges by the State Board of Equalization (SBE), which regulated implementation of new State liquor laws after repeal of Prohibition, that he had failed to report to the SBE that he was selling beverages with greater than 3.2% alcohol within 1-1/2 miles of the Sawtelle Soldier’s Home, as the law required. With the laws in flux, such charges were fairly typical at the time. Hansen said her was endeavoring to operate his places in a legal manner and was allowed to continue in business.

Nightclubs typically have a high turnover, however, and Hansen’s career as a nightclub man did not last long. Both clubs appear to have changed hands by the end of 1936. 335 N. La Brea later became the infamous Pirate’s Den club. See my post on this address here.

 

While Hansen was busy with his nightclubs, Galston & Sutton steered the Marcal through difficult times as the economy slowly began to recover from the Great Depression. Many Hollywood theaters were dark several nights a week, or were leasing them out for radio broadcasts as the Movie Town became a Radio City (I discussed the Westward progress of radio in previous posts here and here.).

In February 1935, the new management undertook another remodeling. It reopened February 24, 1935 with a 7 day celebratory “inaugural week” to usher in their new policy of lowered loge seat admission price for adults from 25 cents to 20 cents. Galston & Sutton would also institute a revival policy, showing films not seen in Hollywood theaters for several years- and always a double feature.

 

In the Spring of 1939, Mark Hansen Theaters, Inc. was thrown into involuntary bankruptcy by creditors. Being a corporation, however, this simply meant that he reorganized and carried on.

In April 1940, Hansen sued Galston & Sutton, seeking to forfeit renewal of their lease. Galston and Sutton argued that the theater’s gross profit had increased by 50% under their management. The duo prevailed and the lease was renewed for 10 years. In May, their second theater, the Hawaii, would open a few doors down at 5939-5941.

In January 1947, Hansen would enter the annals of true crime infamy. The horribly mutilated corpse of a young woman was discovered in a vacant lot on January 15, 1947. She was soon identified through fingerprints as 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who had been living in Hollywood on and off for several months. Police (and reporters) ran down hundreds of leads but no arrests were made. Just as the case seemed to go cold, someone mailed a package of Short’s belongings – the contents of her purse- to the Los Angeles Examiner.

One of the items was a small date book, known as a diary, that Short had been using as an address book. It was stamped on the cover with the name Mark M. Hansen and the year 1937. Questioned by police on January 25, Hansen said he knew Short “casually” through Ann Toth, a “friend.” Short and Toth assertedly rented rooms at Hansen’s home, 6024 Carlos Avenue, located on the block north of the Marcal. Toth, a bit player in the movies, had been questioned by police on January 17 and told them that Short had lived with her at 6024 Carlos Avenue for about 2 months starting in August 1946. Hansen told the authorities that the book had been black the last time he saw it and that Short must have taken it from his desk. He had last seen Short in November 1946, he said. He was eliminated as a suspect at the time. Amateur sleuths, with scant “evidence” have continued to speculate about his guilt in the case, which was never solved.

Hansen had occupied the Carlos Avenue residence since 1936 at least, along with his wife Ida and daughters though 1940 for sure, per the 1940 US Census. It was convenient to his offices in the Marcal Theater.

In the wee hours of June 25, 1948, the Marcal Theater caught fire. Hansen saw the flames from his Carlos Avenue home and called the fire department. The auditorium was extensively damage- $100,000 worth according to some papers, $75,000 in others.  Insurance covered the loss and the theater reopened- with a refurbishment and modernized projection and sound equipment- on March 31, 1949 with a revival of “San Francisco” starring Clark Gable and Jeanette McDonald, and the Marx Brothers comedy classic, “A Night at the Opera.” The gala event was broadcast on local television via Don Lee’s KTSL.

Later in 1949, Hansen became a part owner of the Florentine Gardens, just east of the Marcal, which reopened under his management on July 1. Two weeks later, on July 15, 1949, a young woman named Lola Titus shot Hansen at the Carlos Avenue home. He survived, telling police that Titus was mad because he wouldn’t hire her for a show at the Florentine Gardens. Titus’ explanation of a romantic entanglement seems more plausible. Florentine Gardens would be sold to the Hollywood Canteen Foundation by the end of 1950.

Newspaper reports of the incident stated that Hansen and Ida had been estranged for 20 years. If so, they had been living together at the Carlos Avenue home in 1940, at least. They would live together again, at 2274 Canyon Drive (Ida’s address in 1949) per the 1950 US Census. She may have been used to his dalliances with other women (see notes below).

Television In May to June 1950, the television show “Hollywood Amateur Hour” was broadcast from the Marcal on Saturday mornings over KIEV.

 

In September 1951, the Marcal Theater joined the Hawaii and Beverly Hills Music Hall theaters in filing an anti-trust lawsuit against 20th Century Fox Corp., National Theaters Corp., Loew’s Inc., Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., Warner Brothers Pictures Distributing Company, Universal Film Exchanges, Inc., Paramount Pictures Corp., Columbia Pictures Corp., United Artists Corp., Fox West Coast Theater Corp., and the Fox West Coast Agency Corp., charging them with unfair distribution and exhibition practices. The suit mirrored an earlier federal lawsuit, which had ultimately prevailed after going all the way to the US Supreme Court, but was still in the process of finalizing its terms.

The Marcal struggled as a film venue, however and for a time ceased showing movies.

In April 1952 FilmCraft Productions used the Marcal Theater for television filming. A pilot for a new Mark Goodson-Bill Todman produced game show, “Two for the Money” was filmed there on June 5, 1952. Allen turned down the job of emcee but the show was picked up using a different host.  Excerpts of the pilot, with glimpses of the live audience in the Marcal auditorium, can be viewed here:

In December 1952, Hansen had a full stage constructed in the auditorium so that the theater could host legitimate theater. It’s first production, “The Merry Widow,” debuted on December 4, 1952 but was not well received. The French Postcard Review, an old Earl Carroll “girl review” style show opened on October 2, 1953. It was followed on November 24 by “Brooklyn USA,” a play about the mob’s Murder, Inc. It was poorly reviewed as well.

Films returned in early 1954. In February it screened the Billy Wilder hit Stalag 17. This was followed by the controversial film “Salt of the Earth.”

In November 1957, the theater was rented out to the People’s Church of Hollywood led by Nate Perry. In January 1958 through June 1958 it continued as a religious venue with evangelist Paul Cain conducting services here.

In July 1958, the theater returned to hosting occasional live stage shows and the odd special-interest film. In 1959 it began showing films regularly again. In April 1960 it was reported that Hansen was mulling turning it into a legitimate playhouse but that didn’t happen.

The last shows screened at the Marcal were “Splendor in the Grass” on a double bill with Elvis in “Girls! Girls! Girls!” The fare opened June 5, 1963. The final show was June 9, 1963.

Hansen sold the Marcal to Pacific Theaters, who had it renovated inside and out by architect Carl Mohler. The facade of the theater was encapsulated by a modern screened effect and new signage was added. It reopened as The World Theater on July 3, 1963 with a screening of “Captain Sinbad” and “The Slave.” The Hawaii Theater was closing around this same time and became the new Hollywood headquarters of the Salvation Army.

Mark Hansen died in June 1964.

The World Theater operated into the 1980s. The facade was damaged in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake and while the building is extant, it has been significantly altered.

Notes:

Different sources (including his own crypt) cite different years for Hansen’s birth date. July 25, 1892, is what he used on his naturalization papers. He applied for citizenship in 1916.

“Used to his dalliances with other women”: In July 1936, an actress named Faith Norton sued Hansen for breach of promise; the case was decided in her favor in January 1937 but the court only awarded her $100 of the $125,000 she sought.

Carlos Avenue was a short street, north of Hollywood Boulevard between Argyle and Bronson. Originally it was even shorter and did not extend east of Gower except for a short stump for the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood at Gower and Carlos until later. In 1947, newspapers sometimes referred to 6024 Carlos as an apartment, other times a bungalow. It was a small, 1-story, 7-room single-family residence designed by architect C.S. Albright in February 1915. It was demolished in 1973.

On November 14, 1947, gossip columnist May Mann reported that Nils T. Granlund (NTG), formerly of the Florentine Gardens,  and Mark Hansen were going to open a 12-story hotel on Hollywood Boulevard near Gower, with a cabaret on the roof. Construction was to begin “shortly.” This project never happened.