The Sun Theater was part of a “planetary” theme at the time in naming theaters in Omaha. There was the Sun Theater, the Moon Theater, and the World Theater (later renamed the Omaha Theater). Sorry that I haven’t found out much information about the Moon, perhaps it was renamed also.
Mary L,
My pleasure helping to figure out this mystery! I read through many long interviews with Styx from that point in time, and I guess it finally payed off! That’s what we are all here for, helping each other enjoy our favorite movie palaces, and try and answer those difficult questions about them that time has almost erased. Cheers!
From an interview with Chuck Panozzo from Styx: “I saw a serigraph of the Paradise Theatre in an art gallery, and I bought it and showed it to the art department of A&M, and they came up with the album cover. Jeff Ayeroff was a fan of the band’s, and he’s gone on to bigger and greater things. He was head of the art department at A&M at the time. He loved when I showed him the Paradise Theater picture, he just loved it. We were the biggest thing on A&M Records at that time, so you get the nice packaging at that time.”
From seeing the pictures posted on here by RobbKCity, from dec 31 2005, I thought it would be almost impossible to “restore” this theater, as opposed to gutting it and starting from scratch. Just way past the point of no return. I am happy that the building itself is at least going to be saved and used. Such a great facade. Also I’m not surprised that it’s interior used to look similar to Omaha’s Orpheum, since they were both designed by Rapp & Rapp, as pointed out by Mike Gallagher.
R,H.,
Don’t worry, a few of the people on here said the Paradise would never open again, but it did, and even if the venture fails, it is ready for another…people seem to paint the picture a little too bleak for the Kings…unless the theater has developed new leaks, the roof had been fixed in 1994……stage left has developed a new leak meanwhile, which you can see in the pics on the website that I posted…all is not hopeless
There are some pictures of the Kings interior that were taken in 2001, at http://www.silverscreens.com/thsa.php .The pics are halfway down the page. It really doesn’t look all that bad to me.
Scott,
I hate to say it, but I have a picture of the new vertical and marquee of the Paradise, and it seems to be in the same size of the original marquee…..anyone that would like to see this pic, write me at
Geo,
Sorry, it appears that the website recently lost it’s webspace… However I saved the picture with “State Street Sadie” on the marquee. E-mail me at , and I will send you the picture.
Retrogarde,
It’s a damn shame that the only old theater in Omaha still showing films is the Dundee…at least the Orpheum and the Astro were saved…and people are chomping at the bit to close the Dundee so they can have the space for retail because it is on Dodge St… the rest have been erased forever by the greed of the city, just like the Indian Hills…
The same thing happened when they were restoring The Rose theater in Omaha, NE. It was an atmospheric theater with tons of statuary. When the theater was remodeled in the early ‘60s, the workers were told to throw all of the statuary in the dumpster. But lo and behold, 30 years later when restoration began, all of the statuary was found in a hidden basement corridor…The workmen it seems could not bear to follow their instructions, and hid them all in the basement. All of the dozens of statues are back in place now. Thank goodness for some people’s good judgement!
Paul,
In an interview with Dennis DeYoung: “I saw a photograph of the Paradise about two years ago,” says De Young. “It was taken just before the building was torn down in 1958, and there was a sign on the front that said: ‘Paradise Closed.’ That meant something to me.”
I agree, gustavelifting, from the pictures previously posted of the interior, from 2001, it looks like the interior is in great shape….if anyone needs a refresher, those pics can be seen, as a previous post, at: http://www.silverscreens.com/thsa.php…towards the middle of the page
The Sun Theater was part of a “planetary” theme at the time in naming theaters in Omaha. There was the Sun Theater, the Moon Theater, and the World Theater (later renamed the Omaha Theater). Sorry that I haven’t found out much information about the Moon, perhaps it was renamed also.
Another picture of the Brandeis Theater from the 1930’s can be found at View link
All of the little circles that you see on the facade in the pictures are actually light bulb sockets.
rlvjr,
You can find The Rose theater on this site at /theaters/906/
A photo of the Cinema Center marquee can be found here View link
Mary L,
My pleasure helping to figure out this mystery! I read through many long interviews with Styx from that point in time, and I guess it finally payed off! That’s what we are all here for, helping each other enjoy our favorite movie palaces, and try and answer those difficult questions about them that time has almost erased. Cheers!
From an interview with Chuck Panozzo from Styx: “I saw a serigraph of the Paradise Theatre in an art gallery, and I bought it and showed it to the art department of A&M, and they came up with the album cover. Jeff Ayeroff was a fan of the band’s, and he’s gone on to bigger and greater things. He was head of the art department at A&M at the time. He loved when I showed him the Paradise Theater picture, he just loved it. We were the biggest thing on A&M Records at that time, so you get the nice packaging at that time.”
From seeing the pictures posted on here by RobbKCity, from dec 31 2005, I thought it would be almost impossible to “restore” this theater, as opposed to gutting it and starting from scratch. Just way past the point of no return. I am happy that the building itself is at least going to be saved and used. Such a great facade. Also I’m not surprised that it’s interior used to look similar to Omaha’s Orpheum, since they were both designed by Rapp & Rapp, as pointed out by Mike Gallagher.
R,H.,
Don’t worry, a few of the people on here said the Paradise would never open again, but it did, and even if the venture fails, it is ready for another…people seem to paint the picture a little too bleak for the Kings…unless the theater has developed new leaks, the roof had been fixed in 1994……stage left has developed a new leak meanwhile, which you can see in the pics on the website that I posted…all is not hopeless
There are some pictures of the Kings interior that were taken in 2001, at http://www.silverscreens.com/thsa.php .The pics are halfway down the page. It really doesn’t look all that bad to me.
Scott,
I hate to say it, but I have a picture of the new vertical and marquee of the Paradise, and it seems to be in the same size of the original marquee…..anyone that would like to see this pic, write me at
Geo,
Sorry, it appears that the website recently lost it’s webspace… However I saved the picture with “State Street Sadie” on the marquee. E-mail me at , and I will send you the picture.
another view of the Adams Theater can be seen at http://detroityes.com/downtown/34adams.htm
There are some good interior and exterior pictures of the Quo Vadis at View link towards the bottom of the page.
Retrogarde,
It’s a damn shame that the only old theater in Omaha still showing films is the Dundee…at least the Orpheum and the Astro were saved…and people are chomping at the bit to close the Dundee so they can have the space for retail because it is on Dodge St… the rest have been erased forever by the greed of the city, just like the Indian Hills…
Tivoli,
That would be the Oakland Square Theater..
The same thing happened when they were restoring The Rose theater in Omaha, NE. It was an atmospheric theater with tons of statuary. When the theater was remodeled in the early ‘60s, the workers were told to throw all of the statuary in the dumpster. But lo and behold, 30 years later when restoration began, all of the statuary was found in a hidden basement corridor…The workmen it seems could not bear to follow their instructions, and hid them all in the basement. All of the dozens of statues are back in place now. Thank goodness for some people’s good judgement!
BTW, The interview was from April 1981.
Paul,
In an interview with Dennis DeYoung: “I saw a photograph of the Paradise about two years ago,” says De Young. “It was taken just before the building was torn down in 1958, and there was a sign on the front that said: ‘Paradise Closed.’ That meant something to me.”
oh no! it looks like they will have to gut most of the theater. It’s strange what 20 years of neglect can do…..
Kind of looks like something Darren Stevens from Bewitched designed…
excuse me for calling them “those nice signs” I didn’t know this site was that acedemic, I just love old movie palaces.
I saw “Casablanca” there in the early 90’s…The film was not in focus, and also was not centered on the screen :–(
I agree, gustavelifting, from the pictures previously posted of the interior, from 2001, it looks like the interior is in great shape….if anyone needs a refresher, those pics can be seen, as a previous post, at: http://www.silverscreens.com/thsa.php…towards the middle of the page
One of Eberson’s original drawings for the interior of the Paradise can be found at View link