After viewing Mr. Beheim's pictures from the Golden Age of the Cinema, Jimmy sent me these forlorn shots of a theater in his home town, Newport, Rhode Island. |
Monday, February 16, 2009
Paramount Theater 1973 (From Jim Cole)
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6 comments:
The Paramount Theater building in Newport has been converted into housing for the elderly.
Almost every city had at least one or two of these well decorated movie palaces. Most have either been destroyed or converted to other use. A few still do remain, the Al Ringling Theater in Baraboo is a good example.
There was also a Paramount Theatre in Long Branch , N. J. . The Building is still standing with the Ornate Ornimentation & all ; as a Warehouse for a Paint Company .
These Theatres were Grand Palaces & housed Vaudville shows also with there Shallow Stages & High Fly Lofts like shown in Jimmys Photo . The 1926 Count Basie Theatre ( Walter Reeds first movie house ) is quite Active in Red Bank , N. J. where I was Crew Cheif for its Updating / Restoration after my Circus Days .
They sure made the everyday folk feel like Royalty within there Grand Atmousphiers .
I have been told the Regent Theater in my home town,(Springfield,OH) is being restored. The second floor front of this building housed the Gus Sun Booking Agency.
Six or seven other Springfield theaters were bulldozed.
The Fargo Theater on Broadway was built in 1926, but was remodeled in 1937 to it's current art-deco style. Tom Mix and his Wonder Horse Tony appeared on stage there. In high school we had to drive 40 miles to the Fargo as it was the only theater close.
It still has the original organ in the balcony which was used during silent movies. Twice a year there is a silent movie night, in which classics like the "Phantom of the Opera", "Ella Cinders", "The Thief of Baghdad", and "The General" are accompanied by an original live score on the Fargo's mighty Wurlitzer pipe organ played by the incomparable Hildegarde Usselman Kraus. In 1978 Lillian Gish appeared live on stage. That folks, is frontier entertainment, and it doesn't get any better than that!!!!!
Wade Burck
San Diego's Fox Theater (1929)is still being used for concerts by the local symphony and also for touring attractions such as musicals.
There used to be a great bumper sticker which read:
"Let's tear down a new parking garage and build an old theater."
On May 28, 1926, on a former livery stable site, the magnificent Elsinore Theatre first opened its doors to the public in Salem Oregon.A capacity crowd attended the opening show, Cecil B. DeMille’s, “The Volga Boatman,” a silent movie accompanied by “Finlandia,” on a mighty Wurlitzer, 900-pipe, 13-rank organ.
For several years audiences enjoyed two weekly performances of “Fanchon & Marco,” a vaudeville circuit that started in Los Angeles and traveled north to Seattle. Many promising new performers, including Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Otis Skinner, Clark Gable and the John Phillip Sousa Marine Band also performed on the Elsinore stage.
Every Thursday during the 1930’s talented young people would line up at the Elsinore to audition for Zollie’s Mickey Mouse Club Matinee. The best singers, dancers, and musicians would be selected to perform the following Saturday. Created and hosted by teenage impresario Zollie Volchok, the show featured a group of “regulars”, including Salem’s own pianist Donnie Edwards and the talented young trumpeter, Doc Severinsen. Audiences were treated to a 45-minute live stage show, cartoons, movies, and pipe organ music from the mighty Wurlitzer.
The new millennium still brings major stars to the Elsinore. In February 2000 Gregory Peck presented the last performance of his career on the Historic Elsinore Theatre stage.The following years Broadway diva, Bernadette Peters and film star James Earl Jones appeared at the Elsinore, and a performance by world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman brought the theatre international attention.You can still go any night of the week and see silent films or live theatre..
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