This rare promotional prospectus was produced to entice members of Hollywood’s upper-echelon to join the exclusive “Inner Circle” club at the glamorous Earl Carroll Theatre in Los Angeles. It was published prior to the project’s construction and contains effusive descriptions and dynamic reproductions of original designs because, as text declares, “mere words are inadequate to describe the beauty and magnitude of this undertaking.”

The cost of membership to the Inner Circle was $1000.00, which included access to the club, free seats, and ten shares in the Inner Circle Corporation. The present copy was given to the noted film star Basil Rathbone and his wife, actor and screenwriter Ouida Bergere. It was sent by the Earl Carroll’s Board of Governors, which included Darryl Zucker, Walt Disney, Cecil B. De Mille, Harold Lloyd, Bing Cosby, and Earl Carroll.

Built by Hollywood showman and songwriter Earl Carroll and designed in the Streamline Moderne style by Gordon Kauffman, the Earl Carroll Theatre opened at 630 Sunset Boulevard in December of 1938. The exterior featured a massive, 20-foot neon portrait of actress Beryl Wallace, Carroll’s longtime companion. Inside there were two revolving stages and three floating stages. The stage restaurant could accommodate up to 1200 diners. It fell into decline after Carroll died in a plane crash in 1948, changing hands several times.