See the Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum website for more information and photos of this stage.
Stage 6 at MGM was the tallest stage ever built in Southern California. It was built in 1929.
80 feet wide, and 80 feet long, it was 97 feet tall. The reason for this is probably so that it could operate in the same was as a theatre stage does, with a fly tower allowing backdrops to be flown up out of view of the camera, even on a wide angle shot.
A huge removable door between Stage 5 and Stage 6, forming a proscenium arch shape, meant that the two stages were perfect for the large number of theatrical musicals that were filmed there. Stage 6 became a single huge stage, and Stage 5 became the auditorium of the theatre. High in the corner of Stage 6 was a suspended platform for the director to control the action whilst being out of view of the cameras.
Stage 6 was also equipped with a removable-sectioned floor covering a large tank.
In 2006, Sony unveiled a plan to remodel the historic stage interior into a 5 storey office building and theaters.
Seen on Screen: Sony Pictures Studios [Stage_06]
| Title | Released | Director | IMDB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Applause [Feature Film] | 1929 | Rouben Mamoulian |  |
| Stage 06 | |||
| Broadway Melody of 1938 [Feature Film] | 1937 | Roy Del Ruth | |
| Stage 06 | |||
| Ziegfield Follies [Feature Film] | 1945 | Lemuel Ayers, Roy Del Ruth | |
| Stage 06 | |||
| Easter Parade [Feature Film] | 1948 | Charles Walters | |
| Stage 06 | |||
| On The Town [Feature Film] | 1949 | Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | |
| Stage 06 | |||
| Take Me Out To The Ball Game [Feature Film] | 1949 | Busby Berkeley | |
| Stage 06 | |||
| Singin' in the Rain [Feature Film] | 1952 | Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly | |
| The exterior scene of Gene Kelly on the rainy street was shot on Lot #2 at MGM, under a black tarpaulin during the daytime. The sequence was filmed over 2 days. On the first day Kelly had a fever with a high temperature, not helped by the mix of milk and water (to make the rain drops show up on film) causing his wool suit to shrink. Stage 06 was also used. | |||
| Les Girls [Feature Film] | 1957 | George Cukor | |
| Stage 06 | |||
See the Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum website for more information and photos of this stage.