Paramount Theatre
3300 Washington Avenue,
Newport News,
VA
23607
3300 Washington Avenue,
Newport News,
VA
23607
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Last operated by ABC Southeast Theatres.
This opened on October 2nd, 1931. Grand opening ad in the photo section. article:
Found on Newspapers.com powered by Newspapers.com
I just posted a great shot of the Organ that Gladys Lyle played for so many years. A friend sent it to me. What a find.
I posted in the photo section a picture of the front of the theater when Elvis performed in 1956.
tjmonty, check out the photo page on this site for the Paramount and you will see an ad for the Paramount advertising Elvis. Check it out. Just go to the top of this page and click on the tab labeled Photos right above the picture.
My Mom, Jean Vanderlick, saw Elvis in Newport News February of 1956, but my Aunt said it was at the Palace, and not the Paramount. Does anyone have information on this?
According to local City Directories and historical books:
The Academy of Music operated from 1900 to 1927. It was demolished and rebuilt as the Paramount in 1931 and operated until 1978 when it closed due to a lack of business. A story about the opening of the Paramount in the Oct. 3, 1931 Daily Press states the seating as 1350.
The Paramount opened briefly for a short period but again business caused it to close it doors again. It operated from 1980 to 1981.
It was demolished in 1988. Elvis performed here in the 50’s. In the late 70s, it was a XXX theater.
From the NNHS65.com
From NNHS65.com
Barton Op. 350 of 10 ranks and three manuals was originally installed in the Paramount Theatre in Newport News, Virginia. It has the distinction of being the last instrument shipped from the Barton factory in 1931. It was later installed in a theatre in Alexandria, Virginia for a few years, moved to the Midwest where eventually the organ was purchased by the Granada Historical Society and installed in the Granada Theatre in Kansas City in 1986 and had 11 ranks added to it. The Granada Theatre closed, and in 1997 it was purchased by Phil Maloof and installed in his Music Room here in Las Vegas. About the same time the six-manual console from the Barton 55-rank organ in the Chicago Stadium (which was torn down to make way for the new United Center, the pipes of the instrument were never relocated to a new home, and while in storage, 75% of the organ was destroyed in a fire) was also purchased by Phil Maloof and was completely restored and connected to operate the Barton Op. 350. The original console has also been retained. Another 10 ranks were added making a total of 32 ranks. In addition the organ has some “classical” ranks added bringing the total to 43 ranks. Bob Maes was the principal technician responsible for the current installation.
Hello everyone. Can anyone please help me find An Elvis Presley concert poster from his show at the Paramount Theatre? The date was 2/13/1956. I am willing to pay top dollar. Or if you guys could help me contact someone who might know where I could find one of these? An original? My contact info is:
Its a shame that the paramount is no more. My dad used to see elvis movies there all the time. Thanks for your time.
-Heather
Mr.Memory,you never fail to amaze.How the heck would you ever stumble across a 1965 year book page?Sometimes you’re scary.Not retired from the NSA?I guess you’d have to kill me if you told me.
lost memory, where did you get that picture of the pass? I may have donated a pass like that to the Newport News Historical Society
righter40
Here is an old pic
View link
Sadly the location today
View link
Thanks lostmemory for the opportunity to look at those old pictures of the Paramount, but the interior shot is incorrect. The Paramount never had atrue balcony. It was a true stadium seat theatre much like all of the new megapalexes of today. It had a huge main level and two stadium levels.
When I was 17 and an usher at the Newmarket Rockingchair Theatre(another awesome theatre) I was told to clean out some old boxes that the fire marshall deemed a fire hazard. What I found in those boxes were old pictures from the collection of R.D. Stallings, Manager at the Paramount, then Newmarket Theatres. I found old pictures, articles, blueprints, and an old seating chart(1931) of the Paramount that Stallings had kept and never retrieved when he retired. I later managed several theatres along the east coast, including the Rockingchair, and posted these photos in my office. Now all of this collection has been donated to the City of Newport News Historical Society. I hope it is not just lying in a box.
About two years before the Paramount was razed, I had a chance to enter the building and retrieve the old ticket box. Like a dummy I am I left it at the Rockingchair after I was transferred out of state and I never saw it again(probably got thrown out)
I don’t know if that interior shot is the old Academy of music, but it’s not the Paramount. Too bad there were no shots of the interior of the Palace.
Downtown Newport News is a monument to the utter idiocy of “urban renewal"What a wasteland.There are 3 old theaters in NN being used as churches.One S.of the freeway,2 N.
Sadly, about 1/1000th of the Paramount still remains…there’s a sad little course of terra cotta still stuck to the building next door (which, years ago, was “Paramount Florist”) to the north. A sad end for one of Virginia’s great theatres.
The Barton organ still exists, though. When the Paramount closed it was moved to the Virginia Theatre in Alexandria, and when that closed in the early ‘80s it was moved to the Granada in Kansas City, Kansas. It was the last theatre organ that the Barton company built.
This theatre has been demolished for about 15 years. The Palace Theatre about 6 blocks down is the gospel church. The Paramount had been donated in the 80’s to the city to be a performing arts center, but it didn’t make the city’s downtown restoration plans and was razed. It was built on the site of the old Academy of Music.
Dan P – Frederick, MD born in Newport News Va