[1] Below a 6,200-person ballroom in the Avalon Casino, one of the main venues for the festival, the 1,154-seat Avalon Theater started construction in February 1928 to become the first sound theater ever built in the world by William Wrigley, Jr.[2] After its opening on May 29, 1929, Hollywood pioneers like Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, and D. W. Griffith would come to Catalina to screen their first "Talkie films.
"[3] Marilyn Monroe lived in Catalina with her first husband during its World War II occupation.
The Chicago Cubs, owned by William Wrigley, Jr., who also owned the controlling interest in the Santa Catalina Island Company, held the Chicago Cubs spring training on the island for 30 years.
[5] Because of that history, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation honors his Hollywood legacy with an annual "Great Communicator" award at the festival, along with other industry tributes given by the festival with the cooperation of the families of Charles Spencer Chaplin, with the Charlie Chaplin ICON Award, Stanley Kramer, with the Stanley Kramer Social Artist Award, along with other industry trophies established by the festival.
Many names in the entertainment business vacationed, filmed, or lived on Catalina over the past 100 years, like Mack Sennett, Cary Grant, John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Rooney, Natalie Wood, Robert Wagner, John Wayne, so many more.