Hollywood History the Orton Way

I know a very nice man of my generation named Richard Orton. He lives not far from me in Santa Monica, and local history is his passion. He’s also a serious movie buff, the kind of guy who can tell you how many times the so-called Auntie Mame staircase has been repurposed for other Hollywood films. Since 2017 Dick has been emailing free newsletters that contain his research into what he calls “Ocean Park, Santa Monica, and Other Magic Places.” Now, as a service to a community he loves, he’s compiled his beautifully illustrated newsletters into a two-volume set that fans can purchase. Since the complete box-set is expensive, he has made copies available at a number of local libraries. This is highly fitting, because the project was partially financed through a 150^th anniversary micro-grant through the  City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs department.

 In reading through Dick’s volumes, I was struck by how much the history of our region owes to the rise of the motion picture industry. Within Santa Monica’s borders there still stand many structures that have a movie association. A small neighborhood movie house called the Aero Theater was built by aerospace icon Donald Douglas to entertain aircraft workers around the clock during the hectic days of World War II. An Ocean Avenue watering-hole called Chez Jay has been described by one wag as “where the stars go to slum.” It has hosted such celebrities as Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor, and most recently was used in a key flashback for George Clooney’s 2025 film, Jay Kelly. Unfortunately, the classroom building at Santa Monica High School that had a cameo in the James Dean classic, Rebel Without a Cause, was recently replaced by a more up-to-date structure.

 According to Dick Orton, the Jewish movie moguls of old (as well as those stars in unconventional living arrangements) were once not considered welcome in Beverly Hills. That’s why many built palatial homes on Santa Monica’s “gold coast,” close to the Pacific Ocean. Most are gone now, but Santa Monica still treasures the elaborate 1929 beach house once used for entertaining by actress Marion Davies and her beau, William Randolph Hearst. Given to the city by philanthropist Wallis Annenberg in 2005, it is now a treasured public playground on the sand.

 Old-timers will remember the Santa Monica Pier as the home of a post-Disneyland amusement park, Pacific Ocean Park. But even before that era, celebrities came to the pier for innocent merriment. One of Dick’s newsletters highlights a once-upon-a-time photo studio where celebs mixed with nobodies to have comic pictures taken. That particular newsletter is enlivened with  some of those photos: of Lucy and Desi, of the so-called Citizen Kane and Gilda (Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth), of Judy Garland and David Rose, of Alice Faye and Phil Harris.

 And then there are entries about the long-ago Santa Monica Canyon ranches where movies were once filmed. Like Hartville, founded in 1912, which boasted its own Indian settlement, and is considered the first modern movie studio. And the Clarence Brown ranch, which eventually ended up housing the standing set from TV’s M*A*S*H.

 Now that his book is done, has Dick Orton exhausted his subject? Not even close. I’m hoping he’ll look into the history of McCabe’s Guitar Shop, a Pico Boulevard performance venue that has launched the career of many a famous musical talent. It’s now owned by the son of screenwriter Robert Riskin and actress Fay Wray, and live albums recorded at McCabe’s are prized by collectors. So, Dick, what are you waiting for?