Paramount Theater
195 Market Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
195 Market Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
8 people
favorited this theater
Opened on October 11, 1886 as H.C. Miner’s Newark Theater. It was originally a vaudeville house managed by Hyde & Behman Amusement Co., a Brooklyn based theater management company. After H.C. Miner’s death in 1900, his surviving relatives retained ownership of the theater for several years until its sale in 1916 to Edward Speigel, the owner of the nearby Strand Theater. Speigel also purchased the building next to the theater with intent to use the space to expand the theater. To accomplish this he hired famed theater architect Thomas W. Lamb to do the alterations. In 1917, Thomas Lamb remodeled the theatre in an Adam style.
The former Paramount Theater still boasts the vertical ‘Paramount’ sign, as well as the ‘Newark’ marquee. The Paramount Theater was closed on April 1, 1986.
Although a retail store operated out of the former lobby until around April 2011, a store employee confirmed that behind the drop ceilings and walls remains much of the old theater, complete with stage area and balcony seating intact.
Contributed by
Marty Nartinez
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 66 comments)
From 1948 to 1952 there were four first run movie theaters in downtown Newark.
They were Loews State, Paramount, Branford, and Proctors. The Adams was not in
their league during this time. I was head usher at Loews State in 49&50 and later
asst mgr there. I read somewhere about “Ben Hur” shown at the Adams in the late
fifties. Not likely as this was MGM and Loews was still open then.
Also, the local wisdom them was that Jerry Lewis had worked at the Paramount in
the early forties as an usher. About 10 years ago Jerry mentioned, during a TV interview, that
he worked at Loews State around 1941, and was fired for trying to unionize his
fellow ushers. I am hazy on the Adams, but believe it became a burlesque house
in the late forties. There was also a burlesque on Washington called the Empire, and
perhaps I am confusing these two. Loews State on Broad st was to my mind the most
beautiful of these old movie palaces. by gallion 6/13/10
From the early 1900s a postcard view of the Paramount Theater in Newark.
Thanks gallion.Jerry Lewis writes about his theatre days in “DEAN and ME” he even writes about his failed twin cinemas.
The 1900s postcard view of the Paramount and the 2009 view are two different Paramount theaters. The 1900s Paramount is located on Broad St right across from city hall the 2009 theater is located on Market St near the Prudential/ Rock arena.
Well, it looks like Don Lewis and Ayers have discovered another long lost theater! I searched the database to see if there was another Paramount listed in Newark as a former name and there is not. This theater looks rather substantial. What we don;t know is if it actually showed movies. If this photo is accurately from the early 1900’s it is possible that it was solely a vaudeville house and never actually showed films, but it looks like it was a beautiful theater nonetheless.
Nowadays I work just down the block from the Paramount. It really is horrible to see how awful it, and all of Market Street, looks, especially with the new Prudential Center on the next block.
Back in the mid-1960s, when I was little, I was a big Jerry Lewis fan. As a Paramount star, they were always showing revivals of his films at the Paramount in Newark. I remember making my poor mother (who was NOT a Lewis fan) take me to the Paramount to see “The Errand Boy,†“The Bell Boy†and “Cinderfella.†I only have a vague memory of the interior, just of sitting in the balcony and marveling at the vast, elegant space. It was probably the largest theatre I was ever in (except possibly the Lowe’s in Newark) until finally went to Radio City Music Hall.
Any word on what is happening at this theatre?
Has the new owner done anythning with it?
Thanks Alex and AlbanyGregg.
I walked by the Paramount on 5/9/11. It is completely boarded up. Whatever store was there is gone. No notice that any future construction or renovation was planned.
This theater actually opened in 1886 as H.C. Miner’s Newark Theatre, not 1895. For more information check out my blog post After the Final Curtain