Paramount Theatre

At the Paramount Theatre for VistaVision, they had to cut into the sides of the proscenium to make the screen larger. Remember the Paramount Theatre was a tall narrow theatre, compared to other RAPP theatre designs.

In the 1950s, one of the movie theaters on Broadway claimed to have the world’s largest indoor movie screen. Was it the Paramount? If not, which theater might it have been? I’m trying to flesh out my personal memoirs. Thanks. Jacques.

To clarify, Mr. Crawford told me he specified certain ranks for the New York Paramount organ. However, that is all he did. He did not design the entire organ. Mr. Craford did design the Publix #1 Wurlitzer organ at the request of the Pulix theatre chain.

The Bay Theatre’s organ was installed in a recording studio in the Paramount building. This organ was used for making records and for radio broadcasts. It was not the auditorium organ, that organ is in Witchita Kansas. The original console for the auditorium organ burned in a fire while in storage and a replica replacement was built. The theatre’s organ was not designed by Jesse Crawford, the organist. Jesse repeatedly denied designing the organ, he attributed it to one of the designers at Wurlitzer. The organ in the recording studio was designed by Jesse.

And yet the subsequent two editions retain the caption to those missing color plates, no doubt confusing to a great many people!

The Theatre Historical Soc. issued a 41-page ANNUAL titled: “Times Square Paramount” in 1976, but it is unfortunately out of print. Some libraries were/are subscribers to their “Marquee” magazine and therefore also received the ANNUAL for that year, so check nearby libraries; every library can also check for you the Union List of Serials to find out what other libraries have copies of it from that year that you might go to see. The Society retains all the original photos used in that publication as well as many more that they will reproduce for you for a fee. See their ARCHIVE link on the sidebar of their site at: www.HistoricTheatres.org It is possible that if enough interest is present, they will reprint that ANNUAL as they have done with other titles.

There was no color still photography in the 1920s, hence photos of that day are always black and white, but we are fortunate in the case of the NY PARAMOUNT to have had a color painting done of the proscenium to show the enormous Grand Drapery on it, and that painting is reproduced in color on page 255 of the 1927—1932 book: “Decorative Draperies and Upholsteries” by Edward Thorne. You could put that volume on any color copier and get an excellent copy suitable for framing. It is interesting that the 6-story-high draperies depicted there were made also by men from Chicago, as a commenter alludes to in a previous Comment. They and all the many other draperies in the theatre had their trimmings (giant pendants, tassles, fringes, gonfalons, etc.) made by the E.L. Mansure Co., formerly of Chicago. The portion of the proscenium ceiling dome shown there is depicted as merely painted clouds, but in reality, the cove-lit, long rectangular space had a mural of a winged goddess standing in front of the disk of the moon, with cupids aflight all around her, as revealed by the opening day photos in that ANNUAL.

That Annual also reveals that the Grand Lobby originaly had TWO enormous crystal chandeliers, which were removed during World War II in fear of their falling upon people during anticipated bombings during the war, which turned out to be an excess of caution. For the same reason, the eight auditorium chandeliers were also removed; it appears that none of them were ever replaced, so what one person commenting saw in later years were likely smaller, cheaper replacements in the lobby in later years.

There are also there photos of the unique Promenade in the dome of the auditorium as someone alludes to previously, and while it may have been closed off due to patron noises, it seems more likely to me that it was too difficult and expensive to ‘police’ with perhaps 15 more ushers needed to survey the 60-foot-long ellipse, the corridors leading to it, as well as the elevators serving it. When the Great Depression arrived just three years after opening, the PARAMOUNT no doubt began to feel the pressure to reduce costs as did everyone else; the grand decade of the extravagant was definitely over. It is also possible that the patrons were prone to toss little things down upon the audience —just for kicks, you know— and obviously the ushers couldn’t be at everyone’s side when something was tossed, and management couldn’t allow such goingson to continue! A novel idea, but too impractical given human nature, and glazing the 24 openings would have been prohibitively expensive at the time they closed the area. In Milwaukee, Rapp&Rapp also did two theatres that had the ‘Overview’ portals from the back wall of the mezzanine lobby looking down upon the orchestra seats below, and they quickly found that the patrons loved to toss items down upon the audience, and therefore in the case of the WISCONSIN the portals were glazed over, allowing views but nothing else. In the case of the MODJESKA, which is still standing, the portals are boarded over and not apparent except fromt the seats below.

Some other photos of the “Times Sq. Paramount” are also to be seen in that landmark book: “The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall, founder of the Theatre Historical Society. This 1961 opus is the seminal work in the field and not to be missed; copies of it are available on Inter-Library Loan, as well as for sale from www.Amazon.com .

Jim Rankin [email][/email

The Paramount’s auditorium had an unusual architectural feature that was closed to the public for most of the theatre’s existence. At the base of the ceiling’s huge central dome was a semi-enclosed promenade which connected to the balcony and enabled patrons to walk around it and get a full view of everything below. But the management soon got complaints of conversations drifting down and disturbing the audience, so the promenade was shuttered permanently. When the Paramount was demolished, the area was found to be still fully furnished and decorated exactly as it was in 1926.

According to a long article that Ben M. Hall wrote about the Paramount Theatre for the New York Herald-Tribune in August, 1964, the original Wurlitzer was still there, and why not? It was built to last, and the Paramount had only opened in November, 1926. Hall said that after the Paramount dropped stage shows in the early 1950s, the Wurltizer was used only intermittently, usually played by Bill Floyd and in the last years by Bob Mack, who also took care of its maintenance.

I remember “Thunderball” having a special engagement at the Paramount. I remember taking an 8mm movie of the marquee.

I doubt if any of the original Paramount staff was on hand for the “Thunderball” engagement during the 1964-5 Christmas booking. The WWF occupied the storefront behind the restored marquee and arched window. Since the entire theatre was gutted, WWF couldn’t have been operating in the “stage area” of the original theatre as mentioned several comments before. That would have meant occupying the whole ground level of that side of the building, which they didn’t. I hope the marquee and arch window remain intact for whatever use follows the WWF. The Paramount needs to be remembered and these two reminders will do just that even if they are not original.

This is an interesting peice of trivia. I wonder who they had handeling the day to day operations of the theatre during “Thunderball”.

For a theatre of its size (3,664 seats), the Paramount was one of the narrowest ever built because the auditorium had to be squeezed between two adjacent buildings— the Paramount office tower, which faced Broadway, and the headquarters of The New York Times (229 West 43rd Street). Consequently, the Paramount Theatre’s entrance and a short lobby were carved out of the Paramount Building. After you passed through that short lobby, the actual theatre building began with the Grand Lobby, where you found yourself at the rear of the auditorium, which ran parallel to Broadway with the stage wall backing on West 44th Street. The main floor had only four sections of seats. Above that was a separate and recessed mezzanine with boxed seats. And one level above the mezzanine was the steeped balcony, divided into five sections of seats across and four from front to back. Due to the narrowness of the auditorium, the Paramount also had a narrow stage opening that proved a problem throughout the theatre’s lifetime. Stage productions had to use the orchestra lift as part of the show or erect small platforms next to the pit. When the wide screen era arrived, some of the procscenium had to be removed to accommodate it…The Paramount finally closed forever on August 4th, 1964, following that evening’s last showing of “The Carpetbaggers.” As I recall, there were slight efforts to save the theatre, probably because The New York Times bought the site for demolition and conversion into office space for itself.

That picture is very interesting. It seems there were no cars at all and people are just milling around in the middle of the street. Odd isn’t it? Granted this was before cars were as common to own as they are today.