Paramount Theatre
110 West Second Street,
Plainfield,
NJ
07060
110 West Second Street,
Plainfield,
NJ
07060
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Information would be appreciated about this theatre, which was known as the Plainfield Theatre before Paramount-Publix took over circa 1929-30. A beautiful color photograph in the first edition of Ben Hall’s “The Best Remaining Seats” shows the Paramount’s stage curtain, with the caption: “The Paramount was Thomas Lamb’s answer to Sid Grauman. The dragon motif on the curtain was repeated on the ceiling and lobby walls; the facade was Spanish.”
Contributed by
Warren G. Harris
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Recent comments (view all 10 comments)
I believe this Paramount has been torn down. While touring the Loew’s Jersey Theatre three or four years ago, I talked to a staff member about a “lost Paramount” I saw 20 years ago but couldn’t remember where. He told me about a Paramount in Plainfield which had recently been torn down. Anyway, it was not the Paramount I am trying to find again. I’m hoping one of the Cinema Treasure fans can help me. The new owner at that time (approx 23 years ago) told me this particular Paramount was the second to last Paramount built and the theatre had no balcony. I believe the theatre was in New Jersey or possibly one of the New England states. It’s marquee was identical in style to the Paramount in Peekskill.
Hi, Richard! You may be looking for the Paramount Theatre in Long Branch. It was operated by the Walter Reade Organization, and now houses Siperstein’s Paints. The auditorium is still pretty much intact,however minus the seats, and is used primaily as a warehouse. The lobbies house Siperstein’s retail operation. The owners of Sipersteins have recently announced that they are interested in restoring the Paramount and would welcome outside input.Hope this helps!
Go to this link and type in “Paramount” for two opening night photographs:
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In the 1960s the Paramount in Plainfield, NJ was operating as an “art house” showing foreign films. I remember it as having a balcony, and the entire interior, lobbies as well, was a fabulous Chinese rococco fantasy. It was demolished about 10 years later as I remember. I heard that someone had taken photos of the interior for a coffeetable book, but I don’t know if that was ever produced.
This theater was purchased by Walter Reade in the 1920s. It was indeed the old Plainfield Theater, which goes back to 1889. WJ Counihan made a contract with the Elks in 1905 to use their building as a theater. He put $18,000 in renovations into the building. Opening night featuree The Country Chairman, starring George Thatcher, a native Plainfielder.
source Plainfield: 300 years, 1684-1984, pages 115-119.
Old 1909 postcard:
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I remember the Plainfield Paramount theater very well. Back in 1960 when I was a young girl, sometimes my mother would take me there to see old Jeanette MacDonald, Nelson Eddy movies. The theatre was a sea of deep red velvet, yellow-gold sculptures and edgings, and heavily emphasized a by-gone era. I thought it might have once been a place for live acts and first-run movies. How magical it all looked. I remember feeling so sad that entire area was torn down to make way for the “Madison-Park” renewal project, a euphemism for parking lots, then some sort of “mini-park-like” setting in a now-unsafe neighborhood.
1942 progam:
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My father (80+ years old) who grew up in Plainfield, remembers the Paramount on W. Second very well. Shortly before the Paramount’s demolition, my mom was able to make contact with the appropriate party and get into the Paramount where she purchased some of the theatre wall sconces and a hanging fixture. Though she never used them, she still has them stored and they are spectacular. I was never in the Paramount myself, but just based on those dusty lighting fixtures, the place must have been absolutely spectacular!
The theaters page of the Plainfield Library’s online exhibit Plainfield: Lost But not Forgotten says that this house began as the Amphion Theatre, and then was known as Elkwood Hall and Washington Hall before becoming the Plainfield Theatre.
According to Andrew Craig Morrison’s book Theaters, the house reopened as the Plainfield Theatre on August 24, 1905, and the architect for the project was Fuller Claflin.
Pictured and mentioned in this 1952 trade article: boxoffice