eomaha, stop “rolling your eyes” before they freeze like that :)when I did my listing, they HAD removed the link from their webpage, it was added back on recently……and as for the “rolling eyes” comment, the “typical Omaha Nebraska fashion” has to do with ripping down the Indian Hills Theater, just for a hospital parking lot, which, by the way, is used by few, if any……and also The Rose, which was on the wrecking ball ever since it was closed, if not for Rose Blumpkin in her final days, buying it and saving it from demolition, would have been certainly ripped down also.
A pdf file of Omaha’s theme song, as written for “Arthur Hayes on the great World Theatre Organ”, also with drawings of the theater, can be seen at: http://www.historicomaha.com/Omaha.pdf
It’s just Omaha NE politics…I’m sure Methodist just saw the Indian Hills as some kind of “eyesore”… much like Con Agra saw the downtown warehouse district, which is still the largest registered historic district in the United States to be demolished….
It wouldn’t be so sad, if theater companies built wonderful, inviting places like this now…all of the new ones are like walking into some cheap school multi-purpose room, not a very inviting atmosphere in the age of DVDs when theaters should be making the movie experience more appealing, to draw more people to the theater before the movie comes out on DVD, and to keep ticket prices down for all of us.
The drawing of the Paradise Theater for the Styx album cover was NOT taken from a picture of the Granada….. it was taken from a picture of the actual Paradise Theater..the picture even had the name of the movie, “State Street Sadie” on the marquee, which was a song on the album…also the taxi on the album cover is there…. this picture can be found at: http://www.moviepalaces.net/paradise-ext1.htm….and the woman with the outstreached arms, on top of the marquee on the album cover, is actually part of the interior decor, which can also be found further on this website..
The drawing of the Paradise Theater for the Styx album cover was NOT taken from a picture of the Granada….. it was taken from a picture of the actual Paradise Theater..the picture even had the name of the movie, “State Street Sadie” on the marquee, which was a song on the album…also the taxi on the album cover is there…. this picture can be found at: http://www.moviepalaces.net/paradise-ext1.htm….and the woman with the outstreached arms, on top of the marquee on the album cover, is actually part of the interior decor, which can also be found further on this website..
Some more info on the Rose…..There was a grand parade up Farnam St. to celebrate the grand opening in 1927. The city was so impressed with this new theater, that there was talk of renaming Farnam St. Riviera Avenue. During the depression, after it became the Paramount, one of the money making ideas that the owners tried was installing a miniature golf course! After the Paramount closed, it was briefly home to a local pro bowling league, who installed a bowling alley across the orchestra pit, and broadcasted live television broadcasts of bowling tourniments. After that, the theater was extensively remodeled and opened as the Astro. At that point, most of the lavish interior decor, was covered in a large blue and white striped fabric, as was the old marquee. The new owners instructed the remodeling crew to remove all of the extensive statuary, and dispose of it all. Thank goodness the crew realized the importance of the statuary, and instead hid all of it in a basement alcove instead. All of the statues were happily discovered during the restoration in the ‘90’s, and returned to their rightful places. Also, the “artificial fleecy clouds” described, was actually a projector like cloud machine, which was also discovered during the restoration. The last time I was in the theater, in 1997, it was on display off of the lobby. The plans at the time was to eventually either restore it, or find some other way to project clouds onto the ceiling. But, in typical Omaha Nebraska fashion, it seems that the Omaha Theater Company, which owns the Rose now, has removed all of the historical information about the theater from it’s website. How typical and sad….
Great link, TC! Looking at those photos of them raising the restored dragon with a crane, makes me wonder how someone could have stolen the dragon from the Loew’s Paradise clock…..
Great news, Divinity!! Now we should concentrate on the only “Wonder Theatre” that isn’t being saved, the Loew’s Kings. Let’s try and keep all 5 of these incredible theatres standing for future generations.
Bryan,
The letters on the lower marquee do indeed look like they have been removed from the old one! I wouldn’t doubt that, being the financial condition of the theatre at the time, that perhaps they cut a few corners when erecting the new marquees. And by the look of it, it doesn’t look like they put a lot of extra money into it. :–)
A video tape of the Nebraska Public Television documentary on the history and restoration of this theater, titled “From Ruin, to the Rose” can be bought at http://gpn.unl.edu/static_catalog/203_051.html
A few photos can be found at http://www.swankpad.org/places/ftlaud/ftlaud.htm
A few photos of the Calhoun can be found toward the bottom of the page at http://www.swankpad.org/places/bama/us431.htm
A recent photo of the old Skyway marquee can be found at View link
A recent picture of the facade can be found at View link
1977
eomaha, stop “rolling your eyes” before they freeze like that :)when I did my listing, they HAD removed the link from their webpage, it was added back on recently……and as for the “rolling eyes” comment, the “typical Omaha Nebraska fashion” has to do with ripping down the Indian Hills Theater, just for a hospital parking lot, which, by the way, is used by few, if any……and also The Rose, which was on the wrecking ball ever since it was closed, if not for Rose Blumpkin in her final days, buying it and saving it from demolition, would have been certainly ripped down also.
so, have any of you shutterbugs out there snapped any pictures of the restored exterior of the Paradise yet?
A pdf file of Omaha’s theme song, as written for “Arthur Hayes on the great World Theatre Organ”, also with drawings of the theater, can be seen at: http://www.historicomaha.com/Omaha.pdf
It’s just Omaha NE politics…I’m sure Methodist just saw the Indian Hills as some kind of “eyesore”… much like Con Agra saw the downtown warehouse district, which is still the largest registered historic district in the United States to be demolished….
It wouldn’t be so sad, if theater companies built wonderful, inviting places like this now…all of the new ones are like walking into some cheap school multi-purpose room, not a very inviting atmosphere in the age of DVDs when theaters should be making the movie experience more appealing, to draw more people to the theater before the movie comes out on DVD, and to keep ticket prices down for all of us.
Has anyone taken any pictures of the restored sign yet? I have some spare webspace if someone needs a place to post them….
The drawing of the Paradise Theater for the Styx album cover was NOT taken from a picture of the Granada….. it was taken from a picture of the actual Paradise Theater..the picture even had the name of the movie, “State Street Sadie” on the marquee, which was a song on the album…also the taxi on the album cover is there…. this picture can be found at: http://www.moviepalaces.net/paradise-ext1.htm….and the woman with the outstreached arms, on top of the marquee on the album cover, is actually part of the interior decor, which can also be found further on this website..
The drawing of the Paradise Theater for the Styx album cover was NOT taken from a picture of the Granada….. it was taken from a picture of the actual Paradise Theater..the picture even had the name of the movie, “State Street Sadie” on the marquee, which was a song on the album…also the taxi on the album cover is there…. this picture can be found at: http://www.moviepalaces.net/paradise-ext1.htm….and the woman with the outstreached arms, on top of the marquee on the album cover, is actually part of the interior decor, which can also be found further on this website..
Some more info on the Rose…..There was a grand parade up Farnam St. to celebrate the grand opening in 1927. The city was so impressed with this new theater, that there was talk of renaming Farnam St. Riviera Avenue. During the depression, after it became the Paramount, one of the money making ideas that the owners tried was installing a miniature golf course! After the Paramount closed, it was briefly home to a local pro bowling league, who installed a bowling alley across the orchestra pit, and broadcasted live television broadcasts of bowling tourniments. After that, the theater was extensively remodeled and opened as the Astro. At that point, most of the lavish interior decor, was covered in a large blue and white striped fabric, as was the old marquee. The new owners instructed the remodeling crew to remove all of the extensive statuary, and dispose of it all. Thank goodness the crew realized the importance of the statuary, and instead hid all of it in a basement alcove instead. All of the statues were happily discovered during the restoration in the ‘90’s, and returned to their rightful places. Also, the “artificial fleecy clouds” described, was actually a projector like cloud machine, which was also discovered during the restoration. The last time I was in the theater, in 1997, it was on display off of the lobby. The plans at the time was to eventually either restore it, or find some other way to project clouds onto the ceiling. But, in typical Omaha Nebraska fashion, it seems that the Omaha Theater Company, which owns the Rose now, has removed all of the historical information about the theater from it’s website. How typical and sad….
Thank you Divinity, that always puzzled me….I am speachless now about that….
A 1929 view of the Kings stage can be found towards the bottom of the page at this website View link
Great link, TC! Looking at those photos of them raising the restored dragon with a crane, makes me wonder how someone could have stolen the dragon from the Loew’s Paradise clock…..
There is a color photo of Gloria Swanson, in a red boa, standing in the rubble of the Roxy at View link
Leave no stone unturned :)
A picture of the Kings under construction, and a picture of it’s “cosmetic room” can be seen at http://www2.hawaii.edu/~angell/thsa/gl-loews.html
Well I suppose the hole could represent the hole in the ozone layer….. :–)
Great news, Divinity!! Now we should concentrate on the only “Wonder Theatre” that isn’t being saved, the Loew’s Kings. Let’s try and keep all 5 of these incredible theatres standing for future generations.
Bryan,
The letters on the lower marquee do indeed look like they have been removed from the old one! I wouldn’t doubt that, being the financial condition of the theatre at the time, that perhaps they cut a few corners when erecting the new marquees. And by the look of it, it doesn’t look like they put a lot of extra money into it. :–)
You can see some great interior and exterior shots of the Paradise here: http://www.moviepalaces.net/chicagotheaters.htm
A video tape of the Nebraska Public Television documentary on the history and restoration of this theater, titled “From Ruin, to the Rose” can be bought at http://gpn.unl.edu/static_catalog/203_051.html