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Cats Don’t Dance Original Production Background: Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

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12.5 x 26 inches

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This Cats Don't Dance original production background of Grauman's Chinese Theatre captures classic old Hollywood and its stars perfectly.

You can read about Cats Don't Dance on our blog about it HERE.

About Grauman's Chinese Theatre:

The grand opening of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on May 18, 1927, was the most spectacular theatre opening in motion picture history. Thousands of people lined Hollywood Boulevard and a riot broke out as fans tried to catch a glimpse of the movie stars and other celebrities as they arrived for the opening. The film being premiered that night was Cecil B. DeMille’s “The King of Kings,” which was preceded by “Glories of the Scriptures,” a live prologue devised by master showman Sid Grauman. A Wurlitzer organ and 65-piece orchestra provided music for the prologue. The theatre opened to the public the following day, May 19, 1927.

Previously, Grauman built the Million Dollar Theatre in downtown Los Angeles and the lavish Egyptian Theatre a few blocks from the Chinese, but he wanted to build his dream theatre. Real estate mogul C.E. Toberman helped him secure a long-term lease on a piece of property on the boulevard and Grauman developed the plans for the theatre with architect Raymond Kennedy. Norma Talmadge turned the first spade full of dirt in January 1926 and beautiful Chinese actress Anna May Wong drove the first rivet in the steel girders. The build cost $2,000,000, and eighteen months later the Chinese Theatre opened.

Here's a movie premiere at the theatre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbBWsYxhl0

Cats Don't Dance is a 1997 American animated musical comedy film distributed by Warner Bros. under their Warner Bros. Family Entertainment label. It is the only fully animated feature produced by Turner Feature Animation, which was merged during the post-production of Cats Don't Dance into Warner Bros. Animation after the merger of Time Warner with Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. Turner Feature Animation had also produced the animated portions of Turner's The Pagemaster (1994).

The film was the directorial debut of former Disney animator Mark Dindal, and stars the voices of Scott Bakula, Jasmine Guy, Matthew Herried, Ashley Peldon, John Rhys-Davies, Kathy Najimy, Don Knotts, Hal Holbrook, Betty Lou Gerson (in her final film role), René Auberjonois, George Kennedy, and Dindal. Its musical numbers were written by Randy Newman and includes Gene Kelly's contributions as choreographer, before his death in 1996. The film was Kelly's final film project and is dedicated to his memory.

The film became a box-office failure by grossing around $3 million domestically due to lack of marketing and promotion at the time of its release. Despite this, it generally received some positive reviews with praise from critics and audiences toward its colorful animation, humor, voice performances, and musical numbers.