Paramount Theatre
1501 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1501 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 276 - 300 of 509 comments
I was on 44th Street last night, picking up tickets at the Shubert Theater, and had a chance to take a long look at the Paramount building and former stage door area of the theater. The ground floor space is now occupied by a small deli (as Bob mentions above), Carmine’s (an excellent family-style Italian restaurant and popular theater crowd destination) and a bagel store. There are two black doors located to the left (Broadway side) of the bagel store… one is a small single door and the other a large set of double doors. Peering through the crack between the double doors (which were locked) I could glimpse a wide and well lit stairwell ascending up and to the right (going up and over the bagel store)… Was this the original stage door? Bob mentions stairs going down, so I’m not sure if I have the right door. To the right of the double doors the address is shown as #200, but I’m not sure if that refers to the door or the bagel store. The smaller door to the left seems to have the address #200A (or it might have been “B” now that I think about it).
I’d love to see a vintage photo of this stretch before the theater was demolished. Looking up the facade of the theater building, it appears that the windows on the 2nd through 5th stories (the limestone portion of the building before it turns to brick) were constructed at a different date than those in the office tower. The black spandrels in the window columns between floors are plain and unadorned in the theater section, whereas those in the office tower feature some intricate relief work. I also found it interesting that at the western most edge of the property (abutting the NY Times building) the building rises a few additional stories in a mini-tower. As this was above the former theater space, I wonder what function was served by this feature.
There’s also a plaque at this edge of the building commemorating the old Stage Door Canteen, which was located in a basement space below the old 44th Street Theater – which was itself demolished in 1945 to make way for the expansion of the NY Times building. Lots of theatrical history on the block: The Sardi’s building adjacent to the Times, The Shubert, the Helen Hayes, The Broadhurst, the St. James, the Majestic. Only the Astor Plaza building (home of the former Loew’s Astor Plaza Theater) seems anachronistic.
Just for kicks, here’s a link to the IBDB site page for the 44th Street Theater with a link to photos… the place looked huge! http://ibdb.com/Venue.asp?Id=1384
The original backstage area was modified to match the existing office space in the Paramount building.
For instance, in newsreel footage, the stage door on 44th street opens to a level area backstage. Now, that very same door opens to a staircase going down to the basement. I was down in that area a few years ago (the deli next door had the original stage door open) and it was all new (1960’s vintage) construction. There appeared to be nothing intact from the theater.
I’ve tried poking around that building and can find nothing that appeared to be from the theater, except for some old (very old) stairwells.
Good luck in your search. Let us know what you find!
Has anyone thought to check the records of the Dept. of Building Inspection, where they almost certainly were required by law to submit the plans to convert the theatre? Some cities keep these plans (blueprints) on microfilm or in a warehouse for as long as the building stands. These modification drawings will show which, if any, dressing room floors were retained in the building. Contacting the architects/general contractor of the 1960s redo might also lead to copies of the blueprints.
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Tom, if they had 3600 people on 44th street, the entire street would have been jam-packed. But, the crowd outside the windows only went from 7th Avenue to a few hundred feet past the theater.
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It was indeed jam-packed, Bob. And the crowd spilled over from 44th Street onto Broadway. I’m not saying that the numbers are as high as Jerry’s estimate of 20,000 people, or even that every single person in the theater filed out onto 44th street. But I will say your numbers are low. When I get the Caddy screenshots developed I’ll post the pics. Even Conan O'Brien, commenting on the footage during his interview with Lewis last week, said: “It looked like Mussolini was giving a speech. The whole midtown was packed with thousands of kids.”
The only thing I would disagree with that statement is it wasn’t just kids. There were people of all ages, many of them older – most likely Times Square pedestrian traffic.
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In the outtakes of the footage, Dean and Jerry are shown at the table in that room signing the pictures and then walking to the window to throw them out. It was a very plain room with a table and an empty mirror. I’ve seen photos of their dressing rooms, and the mirrors were usually covered with family photos and telegrams. I can’t state for an absolute fact that it isn’t one of their dressing rooms, but I don’t think it is based on the photographic evidence. >>>>>>>>>>
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It seems you are basing this on information from Paramount outtake footage vs. separate dressing room photos. One doesn’t necessarily have to correspond with the other. And there could be a myriad of explanations for such a discrepancy.
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I feel they may have moved down a few floors to throw out the pictures so they would be closer to the ground.
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All available quotes and logistics suggest otherwise. There is no evidence showing that they had to move to a lower floor.
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Several years ago, I went searching in the building to try and find that window. But, the interior space was converted to offices and I didn’t feel comfortable poking around. I believe the guts of the building were totally ripped out when the theater was demolished anyway, so nothing would remain of the dressing rooms.
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I’ve done the same thing just a couple weeks ago. Went up to the sixth floor and estimated where I suspect the window would have been compared to the office space. Just as I reached what I believed to be the appropriate door, someone walked into the office and I was able to see the space.
It’s old. Very old (one might call it “a very plain room”). If it has been renovated I’d guess the renovations were minor. Either way, the window-well remains. And I’ll wager that the office space I saw was very likely Martin & Lewis' dressing room from 1951.
Now I’m just searching for confirmation.
Tom, if they had 3600 people on 44th street, the entire street would have been jam-packed. But, the crowd outside the windows only went from 7th Avenue to a few hundred feet past the theater.
In the outtakes of the footage, Dean and Jerry are shown at the table in that room signing the pictures and then walking to the window to throw them out. It was a very plain room with a table and an empty mirror. I’ve seen photos of their dressing rooms, and the mirrors were usually covered with family photos and telegrams. I can’t state for an absolute fact that it isn’t one of their dressing rooms, but I don’t think it is based on the photographic evidence. I feel they may have moved down a few floors to throw out the pictures so they would be closer to the ground.
Several years ago, I went searching in the building to try and find that window. But, the interior space was converted to offices and I didn’t feel comfortable poking around. I believe the guts of the building were totally ripped out when the theater was demolished anyway, so nothing would remain of the dressing rooms.
My error, Bob. My orientation was all wrong looking at that newsreel footage. I thought it was 43rd Street. Makes sense to me now, although I still think of dressing rooms as these small rooms in the bowels of a theater. I guess the Paramount had the luxury of being constructed along with the adjacent office tower for superior facilities.
Bob,
You mentioned that the window M&L were hanging out of wasn’t their dressing room, but all the historical information I’ve seen shows that it was. How did you come to that conclusion?
Also, I think you lowballed the crowd number on 44th street.
There’s clearly a few thousand people in that newsreel footage. And Lewis said recently the only way they could empty the theater for the next shows was to tell the audience they were giving out photos at their dressing room window.
Capacity at the Paramount Theater was 3664. That number looks a lot closer to what was in the street that day. And this tactic of performing from their window wasn’t done just once, but spanned their two week engagement. All things considered, that’s way more people than “750-1000.”
But my real question is how you came to believe that the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room.
I’m trying to document history over here and not chase windmills, so your insights would be valuable.
Thanks.
The stage door and dressing room windows were on 44th street.
I recall that newsreel footage of M&L hanging out the window — but wasn’t it on 43rd Street? Also, I seem to recall that the window was in the office tower of the Paramount Building just off the corner of Broadway and 43rd, meaning that the room was several stories above the theater lobby and foyer. Isn’t that an odd location for a dressing room? I’m not 100% sure how the theater itself was situated, but I always thought that the immense grand foyer ran straight back from the iconic arched entrance on Broadway (which has since been replicated) through the Paramount building and that the auditorium was a lower-rise building that ran along 43rd Street and abutted the New York Times building on the 8th Ave half of the block. That configuration would place the stage area pretty far away from the dressing room.
Unless I’m mistaken and the window was on 44th Street and the auditroium ran parallel to Broadway but behind the office tower. That would place the room on the same end of the building as the stage, assuming the 43rd Street facade was the back of the auditorium. Were all the dressing rooms located in the office tower? I always thought of dressing rooms as being literally “backstage.”
Very interesting Bob. I would love to get a hold of this footage.
I went to the Paramount Theater on Friday to check out the scene.
Everything looks different of course, but those windows are still there.
How do you know the window they were hanging out of was not their dressing room? I don’t think that’s true. Every quote I’ve ever seen has stated that it WAS their dressing room. And since they spent so much time hanging out that window between performances, it would make sense – especially when taking into account that after one of their shows Jerry Lewis literally said “The next show will be done from Dean’s and my dressing room window.”
Also this recent Lewis quote pretty much confirms that it was their dressing room:
“Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd. The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows.”
I’ve also got quotes of them throwing down their wardrobe to the crowd, so common sense would dictate they were indeed in their own dressing room.
I reviewed The Caddy the other day where newsreel footage is spliced into the film and just as the camera pans up to their window it cuts to the studio-filmed scene of M&L. But just before it cuts off, you can barely make out M&L in the window (had to pause the VCR to be sure). The window they are in is the first level above the cement architecture and it is the first window level to be surrounded by brickface. When you are at the building in person, you can clearly see that level is indeed the sixth floor. I’m pretty positive about this. The only thing I’m not sure of is which window along the sixth floor was actually the one they were in.
I’d also like to pinpoint this window so I can confirm where their dressing room actually was (If I could ask Jerry Lewis one question, this would probably be it).
I took photographs of the window area and later that day when I got home I cued up the scenes in The Caddy on my television and literally took photographs of the TV screen. When I get all of these pictures developed I will compare and contrast and hopefully identify the window precisely.
This is something I’ve wanted to do for about 25 years. I’m finally getting around to it and hopefully when I’m done with this little project it will be confirmed where Martin & Lewis' dressing room window indeed was. Perhaps when all is said and done I’ll put up a web page with all the photographic information available to anyone interested in the historical documentation of this event at the Paramount Theater in 1951.
Any help you can offer would be most appreciated, Bob.
Thanks very much.
TP
Tom; the exact window can be determined from the raw newsreel footage which Mr. Lewis has in his archive. Paramount shot about 20 minutes of footage, and I remember several shots of them in the window. The camera slowly pans down to the street level, and you get a good view of the building in relation to the Times building behind it. I can try to look at that footage next time I’m in California and let you know.
By the way, that window was not their dressing room, but was a few floors closer to street level. Jerry does have a tendency to exaggerate. The footage shows a packed 44th street, but there were probably more like 750-1000 people packed in that small area. They were screaming and making a lot of noise though!
Another interesting angle in the un-used footage shows the crowd waiting to enter the theater. The line extends from the boxoffice and goes all the way down 43rd street to 8th Avenue.
Bob
Here’s a related article on the Martin & Lewis chaos at the Paramount:
We Had That ‘X’ Factor
Published: October 23, 2005
View link
<snip> By 1951, five years after we began, fans still could not get enough. We played the Paramount Theater on Broadway for the first time that summer. (The same Paramount where fans had fainted for Frank Sinatra in the ’40s.) Arriving for our first show, our cab was stopped by a huge mob of fans filling Times Square, waiting to get into the theater. Most of them, we later learned, had been there since 6 a.m.
Between shows we were literally prisoners, because six stories down was a crowd of at least 20,000 people waiting to catch a glimpse of us. Since we were stuck there, we threw open the window, sat on the ledge and basked in the excitement. We yelled jokes, sang, threw stuff down to the crowd.
The crowd filled the street and spilled around the corner onto Broadway. The mayor himself, the honorable Vincent Impellitteri, came to personally welcome us to New Yorkâ€"and to personally plead with us to cut out the dressing-room shows. His cops couldn’t handle the traffic!<snip>
View link
Hello folks,
Just found this site.
I’m on a mission and I’m hoping someone here can help.
I’m trying to locate the exact window that Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were hanging out of in the 1951 newsreel footage that was included in The Caddy (1953).
I believe the window is on 44th Street, sixth floor level, but beyond that I’m not sure.
I plan on photographing the window and surrounding area for historical purposes.
Any insights would be much appreciated.
Perhaps Mr. Furmanek would know?
TIA
Bryan, thanks for that photo, I never saw that one before, wonderful memories.
ActorGuy has not contacted me, and since he gives no contact information, it appears that he does not want anyone to contact him.
So… I wonder what ActorGuy ever decided to do with those documents he had fished out of the dumpster… Did he ever contact you, Warren? Or Jim?
Hal Wallis produced movies from 1931 to 1975! That is some output, as evidenced by his credit list from IMDB. Link here: http://imdb.com/name/nm0909259/
Warren – Thank you for the correction on Hal Wallis.
I also wanted to note that while Wallis seemed to limited in his view of what Martin & Lewis and Elvis were capable of, he had a lustrous career for many years as a producer with Warner Bros. Casablanca, I Am A Fugitve From a Chain Gang, The Roaring Twenties, Captain Blood are just the tip of the iceberg. Perhaps the M&L and Elvis pictures were just for economic reasons and gave him the ability to do more prestigious films like The Rose Tattoo and Becket.
Just finished reading Jerry Lewis’s recent memoir “Dean & Me.” Jerry paints a wonderful portrait of the nightclub era of late 1940’s and early 1950’s. He also gives a vivid description of the first time Martin & Lewis appeared at the Paramount doing 6 to 7 shows a day. The book is an interesting read, however like his films tends to go overboard sometimes. He continually extols Dean’s comedic talent, and rightly so, and how Paramount’s studio heads (mainly Hal Wallis) played down Dean in their movies while playing up Jerry’s. Of course, Mr Wallis was also responsible in the 1960’s for many of Elvis' films, who along with the Colonel, would not give him a chance either to stretch his abilities.
I recall reading somewhere that they simply built the sets on the forestage in front of the portal (the stage opening) and of course they would then fly in whatever drop or even the house curtain that would suit their purposes in the background. There was no new rigging in the house (auditorium) itself, thus it was a limited arrangement.
AS to the seats, these were replaced across the country after the War ended when materials and manpower again became available. After all, the old wood-framed seats from the 1920s were getting quite worn by that time, so the seat makers advertised this obvious fact to their profit, and theatre owners were looking to keep their audiences, so they replaced their seats —probably before they realized that the new ‘fad’ of television was going to be more permanent and would soon obviate the use of the new seats, sad to say. By the post-war era, it was all Modernism as the decorative vogue, and we could not expect the seat makers to furnish the original ornate end standards at the same lower cost as the newly mass produced ‘modern’ standards, though the owners could have retained the old ones had they wanted to.
We must learn every detail!
The decorative seat ends look less ornate than I would have expected in the Paramount. Did they install new seats in the 40’s or 50’s?
Since the stage opening was more narrow than producers liked, was stage sets and scenery abandoned and a curtain used for a backdrop during the stage shows?
It certainly did; it was a fully equiped theatre in every sense, but as some have noted, the stage opening was more narrow than many producers liked, so they used the orchestra pit elevator as a forestage and later built out to the sides so as to get more space, according to the book “The Best Remaining Seats, The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace” by the late Ben M. Hall. The book is at many libraries and can be ordered as used through such as Amazon.com
As the I remember, when I went to the NY Paramount, the stage shows were always done in front of the curtain. Did the theatre have a back stage area & fly for scenery, etc?