Carthay Circle Theatre

973 Carthay Circle, Corner of Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Boulevard (Disney California Adventure)

### Inhabitants

*Unknown*

The **Carthay Circle Theatre** was a real-world location which is affiliated with the world of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, having been one of the most famous venues in Hollywood's golden age. The theatre is notable in Disney history for having been where the first feature-length animated film *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* debuted in 1937 and for being te first theatre integrated with a *Fantasound* audio system for the debut of *Fantasia* (1940). In real-life, the theatre was demolished in 1969.

## Description

The Carthay Circle Theatre was a Los Angeles movie-theatre. The theatre was built in a Spanish Colonial Revival style with special features such as a large neon sign, bell-tower, blue trimming, and cylindric tower overtop of its main auditorium.

### Features

#### Interior

* **Auditorium**:
* **Bell Tower**:
* **Buena Vista Room**:
* **Hyperion Room**:
* **Premiere Room**:

## History

### Background

The theatre was constructed in the year 1926.

## Tower of Terror connections

### Buena Vista Street

The theatre serves as the border between Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Land while in-universe posters identify the circle as being geographically between Buena Vista Street and Hollywood Boulevard. Sometimes, posters advertising the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs are mounted in the area.

#### Carthay Circle Restaurant

Carthay Circle is a feature at the end of Buena Vista Street where it has the Carthay Circle Restaurant and Carthay Circle Lounge. Outside of this theatre is the, "Carthay Circle Fountain" which is an observable feature from the *Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe*.

#### The Buena Vista Bugle

The tower is also the logo for *The Buena Vista Bugle* newspaper which featured many stories on the structure.

#### Fiddler, Fifer & Practical Cafe

A poster in this cafe identified Dolly, Dottie and Ethel Bounds as having performed in the theatre on the July 15th, 16th and 17th of an unidentified year.

#### Mortimer's Market

Pete Corrigan mentions the Carthay Circle Theatre in a press-release for the Hollywood Tower Hotel's construction.

#### Red Car Trolley

The theatre appears on the poster for the Red Car Trolley, sometimes replaced by the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Inside the *Pacific Electric Railway*'s trollies are advertisements for the Carthay Circle Restaurant alongside ads for the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

### Sunset Boulevard

The shop *Once Upon a Time* is themed towards being the Carthay Circle Theatre, here located on Sunset Boulevard, adjacent to the entrance to the *Theatre of the Stars* and not far from the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

### Other connections

#### Disney's Hollywood Studios

In the Bas relief of the entrance to Disney's Hollywood Studios is a carving of the theatre.

##### Hollywood Boulevard

###### Hollywood & Vine

A mural of the theatre appears in this restaurant next to a map of Los Angeles landmarks.

###### Legends of Hollywood

The theatre appears on a mural of Hollywood locations in this Hollywood Boulevard shop, showing it alongside the *Legends of Hollywood* shop.

##### Streets of America

###### Writer's Stop

There was a photo of the theatre inside of this service.

## Trivia

* In Disney California Adventure, the design of the building's interior has a Snow White motif. This includes a ceiling mural of the forest scene, photos from the film's premiere, and an apple shaped chandelier in the Premiere Room.
* Other famous films which debuted in the Carthay Circle Theatre include: *Romeo and Juliet* (1936), *The Life of Emile Zola* (1937), *Marie Antoinette* (1938) and *Gone with the Wind* (1939).
	+ Incidentally, *Gone With the Wind* has been referenced in *Disney's Hollywood Studios*. Anti-hero protagonist Scarlet O'Hara's dress was on display in the queue for the Great Movie Ride along with a script for the film. Outside of *Min and Bill's Dockside Diner* in Echo Lake, there was a crate addressed to O'Hara's plantation in Georgia.
* Another photograph in Carthay Circle depicts Walt and Roy Disney alongside Margie Gay, an actress from their early cartoons the *Alice Comedies*.

## Gallery

On Sunset BoulevardOnce Upon a Time shopInterior of Carthay Circle Restaurant. Picture of Walt Disney and Shirley Temple at debut of Snow White in 1937.Mural in Legends of HollywoodOn the gateway of Disney's Hollywood StudiosMural in Hollywood & VinePhoto in the Writer's Stop60th anniversary overlay at Disney California AdventureBuena Vista Street decorDuring Oogie Boogie Bash
## References

1. ↑ https://dlrmaps.com/buena-vista-bugles/
2. ↑ https://www.micechat.com/159768-dca-photo-update-dropping-dropping/
3. ↑ https://a-land-of-shadow-and-substance.blogspot.com/2018/03/
4. ↑ https://www.yesterland.com/carthay.html
5. ↑ https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2019/02/look-closer-carthay-circle-restaurant-at-disney-california-adventure-park/
6. ↑ https://blog.disneygeek.com/2014/05/01/a-dress-from-gone-with-the-wind-in-the-queue-of-the-great-movie-ride-disneys-hollywood-studios/
7. ↑ https://wdwmousing.com/chapter-5---hollywood-studios---great-movie-ride---part-1.html
8. ↑ https://allears.net/2009/06/13/min-bills-dockside-diner-disneys-hollywood-studios/