The Casino Ballroom, above the movie theatreĪt the time of opening in 1929 the space was the largest circular ballroom in the world. While the vast majority of the organ is original it has not been maintained and it’s estimated by independent theatre organ experts that only 25% of it is currently functional. The theatre boasts a 4-manual, 16-rank organ built by the Page Organ Company which is played for special events. The acoustics of the theatre have often been praised, and it is said that acousticians journeyed from the US East Coast to analyze the acoustics of the theatre in preparation for their designs of Radio City Music Hall in New York. At the time it was hoped that Beckman and Keit would be able to collaborate further on the other eight murals at the Casino’s entrance. Keit devised and tested about 6,000 glaze formulas to come up with the 163 colors in the 398-tile mural.

Keit, of RTK Studios, spent two years working on the project, using the same technique of tile production as had been used 50 years earlier. According to an interview with Beckman in 1987, the murals were originally intended to be executed in Catalina Island tile however due to time and budget constraints were hurriedly painted onto the concrete exterior in the final weeks before the Casino opened in May 1929.įollowing the natural degradation of the central mural’s painted surface, the Catalina Island Company commissioned a tile version which was unveiled in the Summer of 1986. The exterior ticket lobby features nine massive (18ft 9in by 10ft / 5.7m by 3m) stylized Art Deco oceanscape murals designed by John Beckman. Art Deco murals are a major feature of the exterior ticket lobby and were designed by John Beckman

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