Paradise Theater

Geo 1, I’m confused by this as well, but I e-mailed Chris Hopkins Art Galleries and if they answer me, I will pass on any information I receive.
Thanks also for the link to the Indiana Theater. We don’t get out to Indiana much, (I don’t know why, since we are in Illinois), but the next time we get out there, I’ll have to go check the Indiana out. It looks beautiful in the pictures, but I’d like to see it first-hand.
Jim Rankin, thanks for the info on the protectors for the annuals, once I receive the annuals, I’ll have to order the book.

That ANNUAL is No.2, from 1975, and is “THE Paradise, Bronx, NY” and is listed on their site’s Link on their front page at: www.historictheatres.org under either ANNUALS or BACK ISSUES. You may find in that back issues list other theatres of interest. Some of the ANNUALS and Marquees do have latter day color photos, but they usually are of ‘restorations’ of a sort, rarely including the lavish draperies, unfortunately, such as you will see in black and white in the original Paradise photos. A suggeston to all: if any title on that list sounds interesting, don’t hesistate to order it, since once they go Out-of-Print, it is seldom that they are reprinted due to the high costs involved. Some titles, such as “Grand Drapes, Tormentors, and Teasers” (types of stage draperies) (#10 from 1983) and “Pictorial History of Marquees” (#7, 1980) contain photos of dozens of theatres across the nation, and are therefore a good way tomlearn if you want to know more about an individual place. The “Grand Drapes” one even comes with a fold-out professional Drawing showing how these 3,000-pound extravaganzas were planned. The photos in this ANNUAL are not just of draperies, but of entire auditoriums.

For those who would like to make a collection of ANNUALS there are Albums to store them archivally (acid-free) from such as www,lightimpressionsdirect.com Their “Panoramic Albumn” #9236 is of the proper ‘Long’ format: View link
Their “Scrapbook Page” for this Albumn, #9216, will enclose one or two entire ANNUALS away from air, light and dust:
View link

The Society has many thousands of photos that have never been published and virtually all their photos are available as 8x10 prints for you; write or E-mail them with your subject of interest and eventually a volunteer there will get back to you with what is available. See the details on their site under ARCHIVE— “Photograph and Slide Reproduction.”

Hello MARY L.

I received the source of that information based on a auction of Robert Addison’s creations. One of them is clearly the art work used for the Paradise Theatre album cover. Now since you referred to Chris Hopkins, Willardson and White INC (the keyword being the INC). It very may well be possible that that Addison could have worked for them. There are alot of misconceptions about the album, for one is the use of artwork that resembles another Chicago theatre…The Granada. I am a Styx fan myself as you probably followed along and I even went to the extent of trying to contact Dennis DeYoung to get some answers regarding the album and the artwork used (emails and calls went unanswered). My questions though were not originally geared to who created the artwork for the album, but why was the backdrop of a very different theatre used. If you see the references to the pictures I made of the Granada…and I mean the old pictures with the original marquee, you can see that almost the entire Styx album art inspiration draws from the Granada Theatre rather than the Paradise Theatre—including the Marquee (to an extent). Why the Granda and not the Marbro? Well, what you don’t see on the album cover is the full layout of the original drawing. I have seen the full layout and the top crest of the building matches that of the Granada Theatre. While similar but slightly larger, the Marbro has a much different crest on it’s facade. But the two buildings are very close in design and are sister theatres. So why was this artwork chosen and not artwork of the original Paradise? I really do not know. However, one good guess is that since the drawing DID exist a few years before the conception of the Paradise Theatre album, I started to think that Dennis DeYoung saw this drawing of the Granada first and probably that became the initial trigger for the concept of the Paradise Theatre album, given that at the time, the Granada Theatre was still standing…it would seem more dramatic to do a cover on a theatre that was maliciously destroyed. The only hitch to this theory is that the Marbro theatre was torn down a few years AFTER the Paradise. So it could be that Styx didn’t know about the Marbro (highly unlikely)…or perhaps they liked the sound “Paradise” better (highly likely) and did the cover on that theatre yet. Using a pre-existing drawing and having it altered to the use of the album would certainly be cheaper than having a drawing made from scratch. Remember we are talking about pre-computer age here, so many printers didn’t have the luxury that we have today with computers. Ok, so another poser…why not just use a picture of the original Paradise? Well, in the 20’s there were no color photographs. So the bottom line is that the artworks is very attractive and it does bring across the Golden Era of theatres very well. The album cover is appealing to the masses. Apparently Styx perhaps didn’t into account that their fans may also be classic theatre fans and might to research on the real theatre as we all have here. Since these fans would be so few in comparison to the masses, the flak they would take from those people would be minimal. It also seems like the solution is effective too…ignore them rather then explain it. Again this is all speculation on the real reason why artwork representing the Granada Theatre was used and not an acurate representation of the real Paradise Theatre was used. I see that you have taken Jim’s advice and ordered the annuals on the Paradise, Marbro, and Granada theatres. I have these documents myself and you will NOT be disappointed. While the pictures are B&W, they are of astounding quality. The proscenium in the Paradise Theatre is and probably will always be my favorite. Nothing compares to it. Also The Paradise is a prime example of an Atmospheric Theatre at it’s best. The Paradise does share a relative that still stands here in NY. It is of the same creator (John Eberson) and also the same name. While an Atomospheric itself, it is very different inside. However, it has been recently restored and is breathtaking. The theatre is the Loew’s Paradise right here in the Bronx (NY). You should get the annual for that theatre too. Unlike the Chicago Paradise, Marbro, and Granada…this one you can still visit and see in all it’s glory.

JG

I bought the Styx Paradise Theater album when I was in 8th grade, in the early 80’s and I remember being very interested in the finding information on the Theater. However, since we didn’t have the internet yet, and I hated the library at the time, I never followed up on it.
However, I’ve kept this and other albums with me all these years and just bought a new record player in the last week. I’ve pulled out all my old albums and now my kids are asking about the Paradise Theater.
Thanks to the internet, I found this site and thanks to all of your posts, I have now found out a lot of information I can pass to my kids, the oldest is which in 7th grade.
Geo 1, you commented that the artwork for the album are done by Robert Addison. Looking at my album cover, it credits the illistrations to Chris Hopkins, Willardson and White, Inc.
Jim Rankin, thanks for your information on the Annuals from THS and your link. As soon as I can, I’m going to get the Paradise Annual as well as the one with the information on the Marbro and Granada. Since most of the links with pictures to the Paradise are under construction and you cannot pull up the pictures, this will be very interesting to see.
Thanks again everybody for posting.

Hello CH174

Well, I believe if you read through this post, it will give you a good idea of the full history behind the Paradise. I believe after the building was razed a retail outlet was built on it’s site and that too didn’t do too well and shut down. Just about everything that went on that spot had bad luck. I think that building was razed too and it is as you see it now, and empty lot. I am not sure if it used for parking. It could be. What would be funny is that I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the basement structure of the Paradise still exists. The retail store was built right on top of it.

The theatre I am looking into just happens to be a John Eberson creation as well, but it is not a Golden Era theatre (A theatre built in the 20’s), but more along the lines of an Art Deco or Art Moderne. Still it is a classic.

JG

Hello Rick-

Yes I am a big Styx fan and as stated above, I ended up doing so much research on the paradise theatre and other theatres here in this forum that I realized my old dreams of actually owing/running and old theatre…primarily for live acts. But I decided it is time to stop dreaming and actually do something. I am hoping to buy a classic theatre as we speak :). I owe most of this dream to this very album. But moreover I hope to save just one more classic theatre for those to enjoy now and for time to come. Enjoy old theatres, enjoy classic rock and welcome to Cinema Treasures.

JG

Hello JIM,

Thank you for the info. Also it is nice to hear the UPTOWN is still standing. I originally wrote a longer reply to your answer above…but because it was related to the UPTOWN and the not the Paradise…I moved it there. Take a look see.

JG

Hello—

JIM—I skimmed through the others as well, but last night I started reading the 1999 Annual first, which is the Levy and Klein theatres. The pictures are beautiful and the documentation is absolutely fantastic. I really WISH there was something like this for antique carousels (another interest of mine). But from what I saw in the Paradise annual, I must say, for anyone that has the slightest interest in this theatre or wants to do a research project on it…this is a must. Good call JIM!!! Oh, Jim, one last thing…as I mentioned before. Do you or the THSA have any information on the Beaver Falls Granada?

BRYAN—That is something I didn’t know. I always thought it would be a cool idea to have a small rec room for kids when waiting for show to start, or during intermissions and low and behold I was amazed to see that it has been done already and in the very theatre I am always singing praises about. With the exception of the Uptown I have not heard about the other theatres…well not in detail anyway. I didn’t know the Uptown had a playroom either. I remember the Uptown was used for concerts. Does the Uptown still exist or did they release the Chrome Breasted Silver Back Theatre Eater on it?

JG

Hello—

JIM—I received my package from the THSA today. I just want to tip my hat off to you for directing my attention to these. I just skimmed through the one on the Paradise and I am totally impressed! The pictures are unbelieveable. Very extensive documentation. So if there is anyone out there hesitant on buying these…DON’T! These are a MUST! They are well worth the price just for the pictures alone!

Get a load of this! The Paradise actually had a playroom for children with a mini carousel!! The book has an awesome spread in the middle showing off the theatre’s prescenium. It is FAN-TAS-TIC! The books have building layouts and cross sections. Architectual concept drawings…If one would want to rebuild the Paradise, this would be the first book to get!

As Jim pointed out to me earlier, and it is very true in every word, if you really want to ‘See’ the Paradise in all it’s glory, you must get this book. I concur!

Now it is time to get to some heavy reading :).

I CAN REMEMBER ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE THEATER ALL PART OF THE SAME BLDG THAT HOUSED THE PARADISE WAS A DRY CLEANERS BY THE NAME OF CARL STOCKHOLM. HE WAS A FAMOUS BOARD TRACK BIKE RACER SO I WAS TOLD. THEIR NEON SIGN INCLUDED A BICYLE AND RIDER. ALSO REMEMBER SPIKES ON THE WINDOW LEDGES TO DETER PIDGEONS FROM ROOSTING.
COMMENTS ANYONE?

Hello Jim,

Nevermind…I found what I was looking for here:

http://www.overturecenter.com/history.htm

YUP, it still stands…and is in use. But the beautiful marquee is GONE! Grrrrrrr.

Hello

JIM—Yep that would be a good thing to do. Anyway, do you have information on that Capitol Theatre I mentioned above? Would you know if it still stands? I tried doing a theatre search here at CT, but about half the things on this site are working and the search engine isn’t one of them. The site is very slow too.

JG

Ahhhh, what I would do to go back in time to check out all these wonderful theatres. The Paradise would be #1 on my list. Anyone have a flux capacitor and a Delorean laying around?

JG