DeMille’s Lair

It is a monument to movies and to pioneer movie maker Cecil B. DeMille. The office remains as it was when he died in 1959. There’s a projection booth for private screenings; a personal telephone book with unlisted numbers for Samuel Goldwyn and Charlton Heston; a Golden Corncob Award from popcorn manufacturers, who prospered due to his films. And there are two Academy Awards, one for special achievement as a “distinguished motion picture pioneer” in 1949 and another for “The Greatest Show on Earth,” the best picture of 1952. The office, on the ground floor of DeMille’s 50-room Hollywood Hills estate, is preserved down to the last detail; each day, the calendar is turned and a red rose is placed in a bud vase on his desk. Some of the legendary producer-director’s work will be featured in the DeMille Dynasty exhibit, opening Wednesday at the Century City Shopping Center.