Paramount Theater
827 S. White Station Road,
Memphis,
TN
38138
827 S. White Station Road,
Memphis,
TN
38138
2 people
favorited this theater
Opened in 1964 as an 858 single screen cinema in the Eastgate Shopping Center.
Contributed by
eS
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater
Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
Update: the one I mention above as the “Colonial” may actually have been the Whitehaven Twin, a 1950s-era free-standing single screen, later twinned. It was on the East side of Elvis Presley Blvd but a mile or two North of Graceland. There was also the Bristol on Summer Avenue a little bit West of Highland, just North of I-40, demolished in the late 1970s. It was said to have been built when Summer Avenue was still called the “Bristol Highway.”
The Paramount opened early 60s I believe. I do know that it was specially fitted with a curved screen for the pseudo Cinerama road showing of “2001 A Space Odyssey”
I saw the “Sound of Music” in the early ‘60s at the Paramount. Later, I stood in a long line to see “The Exorcist” in 1973. I was too young to get in without a parent. My mother and I had nightmares for years…
The widescreen, large-format cinematography,70mm TODD-AO, 6 track sterephonic sound, music filled soundtrack, presentation of “The Sound of Music” was shown as a reseved seat “roadshow” engagemement at this theater. It started on April 7, 1965 and played for 79 WEEKS! That’s over a year and a half!
“The hills are alive with the sound of music.” Oscar Hammerstein II 1895-1960
I could have sworn that I saw “The Empire Strikes Back” there in 1980, on a single large screen. It was the largest screen showing the film.
According to Boxoffice Magazine, November 30, 1964, the opening of the Paramount in Eastgate Shopping Center had taken place on November 19. The new ABC-Paramount showplace began as single-screener with 858 seats in its gold-draped, curtain wall auditorium. Like most ABC theaters of the period, it was designed by architect Henry G. Greene, who attended the opening.
Another PARAMOUNT check out the PARAMOUNT Nashville, Tennessee on C.T.
I spoke with my friend who attended “The Empire Strikes Back” premiere back in May of 1980, at the Paramount, and he agrees that it was a single screen at that time. Also, there WAS some 60s uniqueness to its design, and it had a great sign.
I saw “The Empire Strikes Back” at the Park Theatre during it’s original run. It was in 70 MM and the film kept breaking. I was given a pass to return…management attributed the breakage to a mis-aligned film gate.
Like most Memphians in the 60s, this was where we saw “The Sound of Music.” “Ice Station Zebra” played there a long time also. Two buddies and I snuck out of Central High to go to the first showing of “The Exorcist.” David forged a note from his mom about a doctor’s appointment. He then ran to a pay phone by the Methodist Hospital. Bruce and I then went separately to the principle’s office and told them we were sick. We called the payphone and David passed himself off as our mothers to the lady in the office. We caught a bus out east and got into the first showing. My last memory of the Paramount was seeing the lousy Led Zeppelin concert movie “The Song Remains the Same.” There was a Shoney’s next to the theater I remember seeing a group of old diners looking on in horror at all of us “long haired hippies” lined up to see the movie.