The Paramount Theater in the Times Square district of New York City was a noted movie theatre and live performance venue before it was gutted and converted to office and retail space in 1965. Times Square is a major intersection in Manhattan, New York City at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West The City of New York Cinemaaustraliajpg|thumb|A movie theater in Australia ]]A movie theater, movie theatre, picture theatre or cinema is a venue The office building housing it, known as the Paramount Building, remains a Times Square landmark.
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The building
Paramount Pictures, already one of the major American motion picture companies in the 1920s, built its headquarters building in Times Square in 1926, and built this theatre of over 3600 seats behind it to serve as the company's flagship venue, where its major films would be premiered. Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American motion picture production and Distribution company, based in Hollywood California. Company president Adolph Zukor had acquired a controlling interest in the Chicago-based Balaban and Katz theater chain, and with it the services of Sam Katz, who became the head of Paramount's theatre division. Adolf Zukor, born Adolph Cukor, ( January 7, 1873 &ndash June 10, 1976) was a film mogul and founder of Paramount The first incarnation of the Balaban and Katz Theatre corporation appeared in 1916 in Chicago by A Samuel (Sam Michael Katz, OM, BA (born August 20, 1951 in Rehovot, Israel) is the 42nd mayor of Winnipeg
Balaban and Katz had a long working relationship with Chicago architectural firm Rapp and Rapp, which had designed numerous theaters for his company in the Midwest. The architectural firm Rapp and Rapp was active in Chicago during the early 20th century Paramount hired the Chicago firm to design their new Manhattan flagship and office tower. The Rapps created a thirty-three story office tower which was influenced by the Art Deco style,[1] and a theatre in the palatial Neo-Renaissance style. Art Deco was a popular international design movement from 1925 until 1939 affecting the decorative arts such as Architecture, Interior design, and Industrial "Neo-Renaissance" is an all encompassing style designation that covers many aspects of those 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither
The theater entrance was marked by a five story arch on Broadway, and a long gallery passed from there through the office building to reach the theater itself, which occupied a lower building extending through the middle of the block from 43rd to 44th street. Broadway, as the name implies is a wide avenue in New York City. This structure included both a grand lobby at the north end and a stage at the south end. A large orchestra pit could be raised and lowered from the basement.
To this day, the Paramount Building is known for its large four-faced clock near the top of the pyramidial structure, and an ornamental globe at the very top of the building.
History
The New York Paramount opened in November of 1926, setting a box office record for the city of $80,000 in one week, and then continued in operation for only four decades. [2] During that time it was the site of numerous movie premiers, but it was also one of the city's most popular locations for live performances, presenting such performers as Benny Goodman, Jack Benny, Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974) was an American Comedian, vaudevillian Tommy Dorsey ( November 19 1905 &ndash November 26 1956) was an American Jazz Trombonist, Trumpeter Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor During the 1950s, along with the Brooklyn Paramount Theater, it was the site of popular live Rock'n'Roll shows presented by promoter Alan Freed. The Brooklyn Paramount Theater is a former Movie palace located at 385 Flatbush Avenue on the corner of DeKalb Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African Alan Freed (December 15 1921 &ndash January 20 1965 also known as Moondog, was an American Disc-jockey who became It was also the site of the world premier of Love Me Tender, Elvis Presley's first movie. Love Me Tender is an American Motion picture directed by Robert D
In 1964, the Paramount closed. The theater was gutted and turned into retail space and office space for The New York Times. The entrance arch was closed in and the marquee removed. There was no trace of the theater remaining, but in 2000, a large section of the Broadway office building was leased by World Wrestling Federation, which recreated the famous arch and marquee (with the Paramount logo restored) and developed the space into WWF New York, a themed club and restaurant. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. World Wrestling Entertainment Inc ( WWE) is a publicly traded privately controlled integrated media (focusing in Television, Internet, The World ( formerly WWF New York) was a WWE -themed restaurant/nightclub in Times Square in New York City, in the Paramount The WWF operation closed some years later, and the location is now home to the Hard Rock Cafe, which relocated from its home on 57th Street. Hard Rock Cafe was founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, and their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London,
The theater's original Wurlitzer organ now resides in the Century II Convention Hall in Wichita, Kansas. The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, is an American company formerly a producer of stringed instruments woodwind brass instruments A theatre organ is a Pipe organ originally designed specifically for imitation of an orchestra but in latter years new designs have tended to be around some of the sounds and The Century II Convention Hall, or Century II Convention Center is a 5244-seat multi-purpose Arena in Wichita Kansas, USA. Wichita (ˈwɪtʃɪtaː is the most populous City in the US state of Kansas, and the county seat of Sedgwick County.
The Paramount Building was added to the National Register of Historic Places many years after the theater was gutted. The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP is the United States government's official list of districts sites buildings structures and objects deemed worthy of
See also
- Madison Square Garden. Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG, and known colloquially as The Garden, has been the name of four Arenas in New York City. For a short while in the late 1980s early 1990s, The Theater At Madison Square Garden was called The New Paramount Theater after a corporate merger. Before it was called the Paramount, it was known as the Felt Forum.
External links
- NYC Architecture
- Very long Cinema Treasures page for the Paramount, with many comments by people familiar with the theater
- The official website for the New York Paramount organ in Wichita, Kansas
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