Hollywood Professional School
Hollywood Professional School was a private school in Hollywood, California. Initially established as a music conservatory by pianist Gladys T. Littell in 1921 under the name Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts,[1] the school quickly expanded its offerings into theater and dance as well as music. In 1929 the Hollywood Professional School (HPS) was established by Viola Foss Lawler as a companion private school to the conservatory, with both schools operating legally as a single institution under the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts name. In 1944 the school was purchased by Bertha Keller Mann and it ceased teaching the arts and became solely a private school teaching traditional academic subjects in grades K-12 to mostly children working in the entertainment business or competitive athletics in Los Angeles. Many famous individuals attended the school including John Drew Barrymore, Gloria DeHaven, Annette Funicello, Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Melanie Griffith, Val Kilmer, Peggy Lipton, Ann Miller, Mickey Rooney, and Natalie Wood.
History
The Hollywood Professional School (HPS) was established in 1921 by pianist Gladys T. Littell under the name the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts (HCMA).[1] The HCMA taught both children in a pre-professional program and young adults on a pre-professional conservatory track of development.[1] Originally the school only offered instruction in string instruments, piano, and vocal music, with instruction in singing initially being led by Louis Graveure, and Frances Kendig teaching piano and music theory, and string instruction by Zoellner.[1] For the Fall of 1924 bandmaster, clarinetist, and composer, Albert Perfect joined the faculty of the school when it expanded its offering to include woodwinds and brass instruments.[1] At the same time Modest Altschuler was a visiting lecturer at the institution, and Russian pianist Alexander Kosloff joined the piano faculty.[2] Soon after, Bruno David Ussher was hired to teach music history for the school, Arthur Kachel was hired to teach acting in the tradition of Leland T. Powers, Roy Harris was hired as an instructor in ear training, and Jean Galeron taught French and diction for singers.[3]
Several important appointments were made in December 1924 for the beginning of the Spring 1925 academic semester, including the appointment of the HCMA's first official administrative director, its founder Gladys T. Littell.[3] Hugo Kirchhofer was appointed as the head of the vocal music department, and Lizeta Kalova taking over the strings department.[3] In 1925 the HCMA moved into new premises at 5400 Hollywood Boulevard at Serrano Avenue with a recital on November 17, 1925.[4] Opera singer Alma Stetzler taught singing at the school in the late 1920s.[5] German concert pianist and composer Georg Liebling was a member of the piano faculty in the early 1930s.[6] The school presented numerous student recitals and productions during the 1920s and early 1930s, as well as hosting concerts given by established professionals. During the late 1930s and early 1940s the conservatory portion of school reduced steadily.
In 1929 Viola Foss Lawler established the Hollywood Professional School (HPS) at 5402 Hollywood Boulevard as a private school addition to the HCMA.[7] This allowed students at the conservatory to attend grammar school and secondary school classes while studying subjects like music and drama. Lawler's school focused on catering to children in the entertainment business, following a similar model pioneered by the Professional Children's School in New York City. By 1930 there were close to 300 students enrolled in the first through 12th grades at HPS.[7] Lawler parted ways with the HCMA in 1937 to establish her own independent school, the Lawler Professional School which was later known as the Mar-Ken School. The HPS continued to operate at the HCMA under Littell.
In 1944 Littell sold the HCMA to Bertha Keller Mann and it ceased teaching the arts. The HPS private school became the sole focus of the institution. In 1948 the school was enrolling students K-12 and operating under the name the Hollywood Professional School while legally still existing under its former name, the Hollywood Conservatory of Music and Arts, on paper.[8] Many of the pupils who attended the school were children working in show business, operating mornings only so that the children could work in the afternoon.[9] It closed down in June 1985 due to insufficient enrollment and the death of the owner that same year. The school's building and many of its assets were auctioned in August 1985.[10]
Notable alumni
- Beverly Aadland, actress[11]
- Dick Addrisi of "The Addrisi Brothers"[12]
- Donna Atwood, figure skater[13]
- John Drew Barrymore, actor[14][15]
- Molly Bee, singer[16][13]
- Valerie Bertinelli, actress[17]
- Barbara Bouchet, actress[18]
- Jimmy Boyd, actor, singer[13][19]
- Todd Bridges, actor[20]
- Lonnie Burr, actor, dancer[10]
- Tony Butala, singer (member of The Lettermen)[13][21]
- John Hope Bryant, entrepreneur and actor[20]
- Charles L. Campbell, sound editor[22]
- Roger Campbell, ice skater and Olympic medalist[23]
- Jo Ann Castle, pianist[24]
- Cyd Charisse, dancer and actress[25]
- Tommy Cole, actor, makeup artist[26][10]
- Larry Collins, singer[13][27]
- Lorrie Collins, singer[13][27]
- The Cowsills, singing group[28][29]
- Martha Crawford Cantarini, actress[30]
- Joan Davis, actress, comedian[13]
- Gloria DeHaven, actress[13][31]
- Bobby Driscoll, actor[13][32]
- Edith Fellows, actress[33]
- Peggy Fleming, Olympic figure skater, television sports commentator[10][13]
- Annette Funicello, actress[34]
- Judy Garland, singer, actress[35][36][10]
- Leif Garrett, actor, singer[37]
- John Gary, singer[38]
- Lisa Gaye, actress[13][39]
- Wally George, talk-show host[40][13]
- Barry Gordon, actor, former Screen Actors Guild President[13]
- Peter Gowland, photographer[41]
- Betty Grable, actress, singer, dancer[10][36][42]
- Urbie Green, trombonist[43]
- Melanie Griffith, actress[13][28][44]
- Arthur Hamilton, song writer[45]
- Sherry Jackson, actress[13][46]
- Larry Kert, actor, singer[13][47]
- Val Kilmer, actor[48]
- Tommy Kirk, actor[13][49]
- Christopher Knight, actor (The Brady Bunch)[15]
- Marta Kristen, actress[13][50]
- Piper Laurie, actress[40][51]
- Brenda Lee, singer[35][10][27]
- Roberta Linn, singer[52]
- Peggy Lipton, actress[13][53]
- Michael Lloyd, musician, producer, screen composer[54]
- Julie London, actress, singer[13][10]
- Mike Lookinland, actor (The Brady Bunch)[55]
- Skip E. Lowe, actor[56]
- Susan Luckey, actress[57]
- Sue Lyon, actress[10]
- Eddy Medora, guitarist (member of The Sunrays)[58]
- David Marks guitarist, singer (member of The Beach Boys[59]
- Maureen McCormick, actress (The Brady Bunch)[15]
- Ann Miller, actress, dancer, singer[60]
- Shirley Mills, actress[61]
- Yvette Mimieux, actress[10][46]
- Marrian Murray, Canadian figure skating champion[28]
- Donald O'Connor, actor, dancer[36][13]
- Susan Olsen, actress (The Brady Bunch)[62]
- Cubby O'Brien, actor, drummer[10]
- Griffin O'Neal, actor[20]
- Ryan O'Neal, actor[13][10]
- Tatum O'Neal, actress[20]
- Annette O'Toole, actress[63]
- Debra Paget, actress[10][13][64]
- Butch Patrick, actor[65]
- Melody Patterson, actress[13][66]
- Mackenzie Phillips, actress[28]
- Tommy Rall, dancer[13]
- Angel Romero, guitarist[67]
- Mickey Rooney, actor[35][10]
- Peggy Ryan, actress, dancer[68]
- Lugene Sanders, actress[69]
- Jill St. John, actress[13][70]
- Karen Sharpe, actress[13][71]
- The Steiner Brothers (tap-dancing trio)[46]
- Connie Stevens, actress[10][72]
- Matthew Ward, singer[15]
- Tone Loc, rapper[73]
- Tuesday Weld, actress[13][74][10]
- Virginia Weidler, actress[13][75]
- Andy Williams, singer[76]
- Carl Wilson, singer, guitarist (member of The Beach Boys)[13][77]
- Lana Wood, actress[13][10]
- Natalie Wood, actress[10][36][35][46]
References
- ^ a b c d e WIND INSTRUMENTS HIS SPECIALTY. August 17, 1924. p. B28.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Russian Piano Concertos Are Well Received. October 28, 1924. p. A11.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c Hollywood Conservatory. December 21, 1924. p. C39.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Recital Opens New Hollywood Music School. November 17, 1925. p. A11.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ DEATHS in the PROFESSION: Alma Stetzler. Vol. 41. September 28, 1929. p. 92.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Liebling Pupils. September 25, 1932. p. 22.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b Rockwell Dennis Hunt (1930). Mrs. Viola Foss Lawler. Vol. 4. Lewis Publishing Company. p. 162.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Hollywood Professional School. p. 6.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ American Film Institute, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation (1977). "Hollywood Professional School". BPI Communications. p. 59.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Hollywood Pro School to Be Auctioned. August 11, 1985.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Paul G. Roberts (2 October 2014). Style Icons Vol 1 Golden Boys. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 81. ISBN 9781627760324.
- ^ Addrisi, Don.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae Sylvia Stoddard (2019). Hollywood Professional School history.
- ^ Thomas R. Whissen (1998). Guide to American cinema, 1930-1965. Greenwood Press. p. 128.
- ^ a b c d Matthew Ward (2010). My Second Chapter The Matthew Ward Story. Crown Publishing Group. p. 63-67. ISBN 9780307550569.
- ^ Sheree Homer (2010). Catch That Rockabilly Fever. McFarland & Company. p. 132. ISBN 9780786458110.
- ^ Valerie Bertinelli (2008). Losing It: And Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time. Atria Books. p. 67.
- ^ Tom Lisanti, Louis Paul (2002). Film Fatales: Women in Espionage Films and Television, 1962-1973. McFarland & Company. p. 80. ISBN 9780786411948.
- ^ Boyd Becomes Showbiz Gift Via Col Disk. December 20, 1952. p. 19.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d John Hope Bryant (2010). Love Leadership: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World. Wiley. p. 26-27.
- ^ Paul Willistein. PROUD LADY' COULD REFOCUS SPOTLIGHT ON THE LETTERMEN.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Obituary: Charles Lincoln Campbell. August 11, 2013.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Nikki Nichols (2008). Frozen in Time: The Enduring Legacy of the 1961 U.S. Figure Skating Team. AdventureKEEN. p. 231. ISBN 9781578603343.
- ^ Cowboy Rex Allen, Jo Ann Castle At SA Stock Show. November 16, 1967. p. 2.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ John Willis, ed. (1969). Screen World. Vol. 20. Crown Publishers. p. 221. ISBN 9780819603104.
- ^ Erika Burch (April 5, 2021). Traveling Through Time With Disney's Mouseketeers.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c Brenda Lee, Robert K. Oermann, Julie Clay (2002). Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee. Hachette Books. p. 117.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d Jo Ann Schneider Farris (2016). My Skating Life: Fifty Plus Years of Skating. Lulu. ISBN 9781312754782.
- ^ RetroFan #8. TwoMorrows Publishing. April 2020. p. 13.
- ^ Martha Crawford Cantarini, Chrystopher J. Spicer (2010). Fall Girl: My Life as a Western Stunt Double. McFarland & Company. p. 31.
- ^ Leonard Maltin (2018). Hooked on Hollywood: Discoveries from a Lifetime of Film Fandom. Paladin Communications. ISBN 9781732273504.
- ^ Michael Duncan, Kristine McKenna, Wallace Berman (2005). Semina Culture: Wallace Berman & His Circle. Distributed Art Publishers. p. 324.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Dick Moore (1984). Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star: But Don't Have Sex Or Take the Car. Harper & Row. p. 136.
- ^ Sidney Blumenthal (1990). Our Long National Daydream: A Political Pageant of the Reagan Era. HarperCollins. p. 204.
- ^ a b c d James Gavin (2015). Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of Peggy Lee. Atria Books. p. 187.
- ^ a b c d Jon Provost, Laurie Jacobson (2007). Timmy's in the Well: The Jon Provost Story. Cumberland House. p. 62. ISBN 9781581826197.
- ^ Leif Garrett, Chris Epting (2019). Idol Truth: A Memoir. Post Hill Press. ISBN 9781642932379.
- ^ Laurie E. Jasinski, ed. (2012). Handbook of Texas Music. Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 9780876112977.
- ^ Obituary: Lisa Gaye, dancer and actress in TV Westerns. August 5, 2016.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b Wally George (1999). Wally George: The Father of Combat TV. Clarendon House. p. 31.
- ^ Careers in Photography. Pennsylvania State University Press. 1992. p. 149.
- ^ John Willis, ed. (June 1983). Screen World. Biblo & Tannen. p. 220. ISBN 9780819603098.
- ^ American School Band Directors Association, Phi Beta Mu (Newark, Ohio) (1970). The School Musician Director and Teacher. Ammark Publishing Company. p. 56.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ James Monaco, James Pallot (1992). Griffith, Melanie. Virgin Books. p. 237. ISBN 9781852273842.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (1968). Arthur Hamilton. Vol. 2–5. University of Virginia Press. p. 3.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d John Einarson (December 4, 2016). "Winnipeg's Steiner Brothers didn't seek celebrity but made it big". Winnipeg Free Press.
- ^ Larry Kert; 'West Side Story' Star. June 7, 1991.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ "Val Kilmer Biography: Film Actor (1959–)". Biography.com (FYI / A&E Networks). Archived from the original on May 5, 2016. Retrieved October 31, 2016.
- ^ Torchy Smith (2018). Shooting the Breeze with Baby Boomer Stars!: Surprising Celebrity Conversations for the Retro Generation. Archway Publishing.
- ^ Tom Lisanti (2003). Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-movie Starlets of the Sixties. McFarland & Company. p. 271. ISBN 9780786493425.
- ^ Script Changes. October 18, 1992.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Eric Meeks, Roberta Linn (2005). Not Now, Lord, I've Got Too Much to Do. p. 10. ISBN 9780595354344.
- ^ Peggy Lipton, David Dalton, Coco Dalton (2007). Breathing Out: A Memoir. St. Martin's Press. pp. 43–44. ISBN 9781429906616.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ The Smoke. Canongate Books. 2007. p. 148. ISBN 9781847676436.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Mike Lookinland. February 17, 1974. p. 40.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ TV News Desk (September 23, 2014). TV Host and Comic Skip E. Lowe Dies at 85.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Hollywood Professional Honors Trio. August 10, 1958. p. 62.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Eddy Medora, Guitarist with the Sunrays. November 16, 2006.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Steven Gaines (1995). Heroes And Villains: The True Story Of The Beach Boys. Hachette Books. p. 98. ISBN 9780306806476.
- ^ Peter Shelley (2020). Ann Miller: Her Life and Career. McFarland & Company. pp. 10–11. ISBN 9781476679259.
- ^ Tom Goldrup, Jim Goldrup (2015). Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Classic Film and Television. McFarland & Company. p. 206.
- ^ Susan Olsen: Brady Bunch star opens up about drugs, feuds and pashing Bobby. June 12, 2015.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ American Film Institute, Arthur M. Sackler Foundation (1977). American Film. BPI Communications. p. 59.
- ^ Boyd Magers, Michael G. Fitzgerald (2004). Westerns Women Interviews with 50 Leading Ladies of Movie and Television Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s. McFarland & Company. p. 176. ISBN 9780786420285.
- ^ From Ballplayer To Actor, Ten-year-old Butch Patrick. December 28, 1964. p. 21.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Tom Lisanti (2003). Drive-in Dream Girls: A Galaxy of B-movie Starlets of the Sixties. McFarland & Company. p. 140-141. ISBN 9780786415755.
- ^ Mikel Kelly (January 14, 2011). You don't look like an angel!.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. p. 983. ISBN 9780415938532.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Ann Higginbotham, ed. (December 1954). Riley's Daughter (PDF). Vol. 43. p. 8.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Jill St. John. Vol. 3. Hartford Publications. October 1963.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ Everett Aaker (2017). Sharpe, Karen. McFarland & Company. p. 379. ISBN 9781476628561.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ John Willis, ed. (June 1983). Screen World. Biblo & Tannen. p. 226. ISBN 9780819603098.
- ^ Tone Loc. Gale Research Inc. 1989. p. 234. ISBN 9780810322134.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help) - ^ John Willis, ed. (June 1983). Screen World. Biblo & Tannen. p. 227. ISBN 9780819603098.
- ^ Thomas S. Hischak (2008). "Weidler, Virginia". The Oxford Companion to the American Musical. Oxford University Press. p. 785. ISBN 9780195335330.
- ^ David Wallace (2003). Hollywoodland. Thorndike Press. p. 264.
- ^ Linda G. Mcveigh (November 30, 1965). Surf's Out for the Beach Boys.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
External links
- HPS Alumni Association
- Reed v. Hollywood Professional School (1959) Anti-discrimination lawsuit against the school by a black child denied admission.