On the afternoon of Aug. 9, 1929, a disheveled aspiring dancer named Eunice Pringle, 17, ran from the Pantages movie theater, into the bustling streets of downtown Los Angeles.
Her stylish red dress was torn, and she was screaming bloody murder. "There's the beast, don't let him get away!" Pringle cried.
The man she was referring to was none other than the theater's namesake, the 54-year-old impresario Alexander Pantages. Handsome and austere, the Greek-born Pantages had risen from a theater manager (and possible drug runner) in the Yukon to the owner of the largest chain of independently owned movie houses in North America.
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