Friday, August 7, 2026

A Road Comedy Once Titled ‘Route 66′ Reaches Colorado Boulevard

Hollywood or Bust, Paramount Pictures/Photofest, © Paramount Pictures

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made their last film together in 1956; the Norton Simon shows it Saturday in a four-film series marking the highway’s centennial

The 1956 road comedy screening at the Norton Simon Museum on Saturday, August 8, was very nearly called Route 66.

It reached theaters as Hollywood or Bust, but Route 66 was its working title, according to Turner Classic Movies. The picture is the second of four in On Route 66, a series the museum scheduled across August to mark the highway’s 100th year. The screenings happen at 411 West Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, the street that carries Route 66 through the city, according to Visit Pasadena, the city’s convention and visitors bureau.

Frank Tashlin directed. Dean Martin plays Steve Wiley, a gambler on the run from a debt, and Jerry Lewis plays Malcolm Smith, a film fanatic trying to meet the actress Anita Ekberg. They drive to California with Smith’s Great Dane, Mr. Bascom, and pick up a singer, Terry Roberts, played by Pat Crowley.

It was the last picture Martin and Lewis made together. The two had stopped speaking to each other during production except in character, and the act had broken up before the film reached theaters, according to accounts cited by Turner Classic Movies.

Joe Petricca introduces each screening. The museum describes him as a filmmaker, educator and the organizer of the series. He is an adjunct professor of film and graduate film at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena and has curated a number of film series for Norton Simon, according to the college.

Each of the four films features the California section of the highway, and the museum describes them as a range of journeys along the road between Los Angeles and Chicago, from a grueling migration to radical soul searching. The series opened August 1 with Easy Rider (1969), rated R, which contains depictions of drug use, sex and violence, according to the museum. The Grapes of Wrath (1940), not rated, follows August 15, and Cars (2006), rated G, closes the series August 22. Hollywood or Bust is also unrated.

Route 66 was established in 1926 and ran from Chicago to Santa Monica, according to Visit Pasadena. Colorado Boulevard traces its origins to 1876 at Fair Oaks Avenue, the bureau says, making 2026 the road’s centennial and the street’s 150th year at once.

Doors to the Norton Simon Theater open at 4:00 p.m., and the film runs from 4:30 p.m. to 6:25 p.m. Seating is first come, first served, and the museum takes no reservations. The screening is free with museum admission — $20 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 62 and above, and free for students with valid identification, visitors 18 and under, and members. Parking in the museum lot is free. Pasadena Transit lines 10 and 33 and Metro line 180 stop in front of the building. The theater has two wheelchair spaces, and assisted listening devices are available; ASL interpretation can be requested from the Tours and Education department at least two weeks in advance. Call (626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.

The partnership did not survive the picture. The title they dropped is the reason it is playing at all.

NEED TO KNOW

The Norton Simon Museum screens Hollywood or Bust (1956), not rated, as part of its film series On Route 66 on Saturday, August 8, 2026. Doors to the Norton Simon Theater open at 4:00 p.m., and the film runs from 4:30 p.m. to 6:25 p.m., with an introduction by Joe Petricca. The screening is free with museum admission, which is $20 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 62 and above, and free for students with valid identification, visitors 18 and under, and museum members; seating is first come, first served, and the museum takes no reservations. The museum is at 411 West Colorado Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91105. Parking in the museum lot is free, with limited free parking on adjacent streets; Pasadena Transit lines 10 and 33 and Metro line 180 stop in front of the building, and Memorial Park Station on the Metro A Line, at 125 East Holly Street at Arroyo Parkway, is the nearest rail stop. For more, call (626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.