Paramount Theatre

50sSNIPES on May 25, 2022 at 8:04 pm

The Eltinge Theatre actually started life a week prior, on February 1, 1920 with Norma Talmadge in “A Daughter Of Two Worlds” with no sign of attraction listed.

As of the Eltinge, information about the theater goes as follows: The Eltinge’s proprietor was E.A. Hughes, and was operated by E.E. Vesperman. The interior of the main auditorium measures 61x98ft with the installation of green-colored leather seats which were placed 32 inches from back to back being in accordance with city ordinance in Minneapolis. Despite the original auditorium being small, the walls were dipped in ivory gray with blue and gold stripes with handwork decorations with painting done by Carl Olson who has also done art work with Harold Hiberg of Minneapolis. There is storage across the rear of the auditorium making them much more advantageous for motion picture patrons. The theater itself was fireproof and contains Motiograph 35mm projectors being installed by Vesperman himself. The restrooms were located at at the left of the foyer for both genders, as well as a drinking fountain between each door. Lastly, there is a conditioner tunnel running around the basement of the theater, which provided for safeguarding the health of patrons for weather usage.

The Eltinge was the first theater in Bismarck to have the installation of sound with Vitaphone, with “The Singing Fool” being the first sound film on April 29, 1929. But shortly right after sound installation, it was announced on September 16, 1929 that the Eltinge Theatre will become the Paramount Theatre, which it did.

Publix reopened the theater as the Paramount Theatre on October 4, 1929 with Evelyn Brent in “Fast Company”, along with the following: an intermission overture, a local merchant reel on the appreciation to the people all across Bismarck, a Paramount newsreel, a short with Ruth Etting in “Favorite Melodies”, and a Max Fleischer Screen Song cartoon “Daisy Bell” (the fifth of its series).

This actually closed as the Paramount in early 1938 in connection to the opening of the Bismarck Theatre a few buildings away.

Chris1982 on July 2, 2014 at 9:50 pm

This theatre was the Eltinge Theatre prior to the Paramount name.

Joe Vogel on February 23, 2010 at 2:19 am

Chuck, can you find any listings from the 1930s or later for either a State Theatre or a Capitol Theatre in Bismarck? Those two and the Bismarck are the only theaters in the town that are mentioned in Boxoffice during the 1930s and 1940s.

I’m wondering if the State might have been the Paramount renamed (the Capitol was an older theater on Main Avenue and had only 300 seats.) After being mentioned three times in Movie Age in 1929, the Paramount vanishes, and the only explanation I can think of for a house built for a major chain vanishing from the magazine without a trace is that the name was changed. Had it been destroyed in some disaster I’m sure the magazine would have mentioned it.

I also came across two references to an Eltinge Theatre in Bismarck. It was having Gennett talking picture equipment installed according to Movie Age of June 8, 1929. A second reference to the Eltinge appeared in Boxoffice of October 28, 1950. I find this gap puzzling. The Eltinge then vanishes too.

Another mystery is a single-line item in Boxoffice of September 24, 1949, datelined Bismarck, N.D., saying “The new Krieger Theatre has been opened here by Frederic and Albert Krieger.” Neither the theater nor the Kriegers ever get mentioned again.

By 1954, Boxoffice is making reference to the Bismarck and the Dakota as the town’s only indoor theaters, though a 1956 item said that the Capitol was being reopened following extensive remodeling. There’s never a hint of what became of the State or the mysterious Eltinge or Krieger theaters.