Image courtesy of Nori J. Muster from a 1956 souvenir program of the Hollywood Jr. Chamber of Commerce Sprint Car Races featuring the Disc Jockey DerbyI was the red carpet announcer for the many fans gathered standing on Vine Street at the official opening. I interviewed the stars and executives of Capitol.
I was with KMPC at the time but Capitol asked me to host. My job was to get the stars in. All of Capitol's stars were there.
Stan Chambers was also there. He was doing a show that went all over L.A. called "City at Night".
The opening was held over 3 or 4 days as people would come in to town. They would hold sessions in the studios that I'd also report on.
There were a lot of standout moments.
Frank Sinatra was there. I went to a few of his recording sessions which were the most cherished invitations in town. He liked to record on Sunset at Universal Recorders which was across the street from what's now the Spaghetti Factory. He liked the sound of that studio.
Nat "King" Cole was there as were Ray Anthony and Mamie Van Doren and Shelia and Gordon MacRae. Also there were Stan Kenton, Nelson Riddle, Kay Starr, Beryl Davis, Connie Haines, Jane Russell, and many others.
Capitol founders Johnny Mercer and Glenn Wallichs were there. Glenn was a quiet man and a very nice person. His brother Clyde, who operated Music City at Sunset and Vine, was the showman. Glenn started the first car radio shop in Hollywod. He may have invented, and certainly improved on, the car radio.
Ann Rutherford, who acted as one of the sisters in "Gone with the Wind" was there. At Ted Turner's Walk of Fame cermony, she said "I once owned the Tower". That probably was when she was married to Dave May [of the May Company -ed] and she got the land in the divorce.
Also in attendance that I remember were Capitol execs Dave Dexter, Jr. [producer and then head of Capitol's publicity dept. -ed] and Lloyd Dunn [then VP of advertising and marketing at Capitol and one of the founders of the Grammys -ed].
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