Paramount Theatre
1501 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
1501 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10036
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 201 - 225 of 508 comments
Warren—
That’s a superb photo of the screen and proscenium. I doubt that the movie projection was smaller than the tv projection— Since the Paramount did not have Magnascope, I can only imagine that the screen size and masking were not adjustable and hence remained the same for both formats.
The photo is terrific for the details in the orchestra pit. On the left and right sides we see the tops of the curtained portals through which, when the pit rose to stage level, the headline stars entered and exited for their numbers. To the left of the pit stands the mighty organ. Great stuff.
Hi all,
Does anyone know where I might find photos of the mirrors that hung in the Paramount?
—Emily
I wonder if Petrillo held any bitterness towards Eddie Deezen! Not that Deezen’s film career ever really “took off”, but his very Lewis-like persona led him from parts in movies like “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “1941” to long term voice-over animation gigs such as his run on the very amusing “Dexter’s Laboratory” as Dexter’s nemesis, Mandark.
Paramount didn’t sue, but Hal Wallis (who had M&L under contract) threatened to. Dean could have cared less, but Jerry was a bit annoyed. After all, he had spotted Petrillo on the street in New York and hired him to play his son in a Colgate Comedy Hour sketch!
In the early 80’s when he was promoting his auto-biography, Jerry appeared on the Today Show. Bryant Gumbel tells Jerry that “we dug into the vaults and have some vintage footage.” What’s the first clip you see? Eddie Cantor with…Sammy Petrillo! Jerry laughed and said that not only did he never do a comedy sketch with Cantor, but he was “never quite that good looking!”
I met Petrillo about ten years ago when he was doing a comedy act in New York. A nice man, although somewhat bitter that his career never quite took off.
Anyone remember that truly awful flick “Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla” that featured third-rate M&L impersonators Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo? It’s amazing to me that Paramount didn’t sue… or did they? The movie was made for all of about $15 bucks and $5 of that went to secure Lugosi (in the last film he made before hooking up with Z-movie icon Ed Wood).
Bob: “Why don’t these "tribute artists” ever impersonate a celebrity in their prime?“ I agree, as the Lucy impersonator for the Lucy Festival in Jamestown NY is a youthful Lucy from the I Love Lucy days. (www.lucy-desi.com)
I understand, I just couldn’t figure out the reason for links to a Dean Martin fan club as well as Dean Martin day in Steubenville.
By the way, what the heck happened to Steubenville? The parade photos are quite surprising: boarded up stores and a “celebrity” roster consisting of a really bad Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley impersonators. At least Dean’s daughter was there, but she was promoting a book.
And the Dean Martin look-a-like(?) performing in the high school auditorium is doing the older Dean with the large oversized Robert Mitchum glasses. Why don’t these “tribute artists” ever impersonate a celebrity in their prime?
Bob… I think it’s fair to say that Martin &Lewis have a very strong connection to the Paramount. Just as Sinatra does. Sure they played other stages in New York, but I think the image most of us have in our minds when thinking of M&L in New York is of their antics from the dressing room window and the mob scene below on W. 44th Street.
Ok, perhaps mention of M&L are on those CT theatre links, too. The Roxy is gone, but what about the Capitol and Loew’s State? The Loew’s in Atlanta is gone and that is where Gone With The Wind was premiered.
But they also played the Capitol, Roxy and Loew’s State in New York City…
Bob: It all started with my reading Dean and Me which mentioned that M&L performed on stage at the Paramount during the Martin & Lewis years. Subsequently, there have been previous posts that mention M&L at the Paramount Theatre.
Patsy; I enjoy Dean as much as the next person, but what does this have to do with the Paramount Theatre?
http://www.deanmartinsteubenville.com/index2.htm
http://www.deanmartinfancenter.com/ This site has many M&L photos/information. And for those who are fans of Dean Martin there is a Dean Martin Festival in Steubenville Ohio (June 16-18). His daughter, Deana Martin is involved with the festival and wrote a book entitled, Memories are Made of This.
Warren: Great photo! I can only imagine how beautiful the Paramount was in its heyday!
We seem to have some real theatre sleuths on CT, of late. It’s all very interesting to read and now it would be great to see a b/w photo of Dean and Jerry at that dressing room window with the crowd below!
I’ve been thinking about this and I agree with Ian and Brian’s take that this is a photo taken from the former stage housing on the north end of the building (with W. 44th street at our backs) and looking south into the house. That would make sense with the incoming streams of sunlight, which, in New York City, would likely signify a southern exposure. I know the southern exterior facade had those vertical windows from a photo Warren had posted a while back. Those windows would be along the left side of the Grand Foyer photo – but were they covered over anyway by the interior plasterwork? A similar situation might have existed on the stage side of the building along W. 44th street. A look at that footage of Martin and Lewis leaning out of the dressing room window would reveal if that was the case. If so, the windows(at least the first 5 floors or so) on both sides of the building were merely for decorative and non-functional purposes. If you were to look at an exterior photo of either facade, it was almost as if the design was to convey the illusion of a standard office building and protect the secret that, in fact, a vast and glorious theatrical space was contained within.
I don’t know the layout of the building or anything, but it seems to me that it wouldn’t make sense to have windows like that in the stage section. Does the angle the sunlight is hitting at tell us anything about the orientation of the photo? It’s hard to get a sense of perspective.
I would guess that the demolition photo under discussion is taken from the perspective of near the stage facing the house; I guess this because one can almost make out the line of the balcony along the left wall, with descending exit door openings from the top rear (center near the top of photo) towards the lower/left foreground of the picture. Never having stepped foot in the building, this is merely an educated guess.
Jim… Perhaps if it were possible to enlarge the demolition photo enough to make out the buildings across the street that were facing those windows, we might be able to determine which view it is. Across W. 44th street would have been the side facade of the Hotel Astor. I’m less sure of what would have been across W. 43rd except for maybe the rear facade of the Victory Theater.
Patsy… I haven’t seen a really great view of the old auditorium. That shot of the VistaVision screen is about the best I’ve seen. There is a color image of an artist’s rendering of the full proscenium that was posted back on December 15th by Jim Rankin.
Can anyone provide some auditorium photos or did I overlook them?
Ed: I finally got my computer to enlarge that demolition photo, and now I must agree that it is not looking out upon Times Square as I had thought. My apology is extended to any who may have been misled. The photo may well be of the areas you posit, but I guess we will never be able to prove which, since I doubt the photographer is still around to advise us, if indeed he could recal.
You are also quite right about the “circular lobby” view except that it was actually semi-circular, which I have a hunch is what you meant. They referred to it as the “Ticket Lobby.” In the 1976 Annual about the theatre, published by the Theatre Historical Society ( www.historictheatres.org ) are floor plans and many photos which make all areas clear, but they show no demolition photos. In 2001 two issues of their MARQUEE magazine show photos of the original facade and its lesser reproduction, as well as other changes to the interior. Columbia Univ. library as well as N.Y. Public should have copies of these that you may enjoy.
Vincent… I hear you on the smug nature of some of the writing, but I can’t pick up the News or Post because there’s little coherency in the writing – it’s all tabloid style with no stimulation of my intellect. Newsday is well written, but the features are too specific to Long Island to suit my needs. I also love William Safire’s “On Language” column and the crossword in the Sunday magazine. And, I must admit, my politics do lean to the left, though I rarely read the editorials.
Jim… I always thought that the view in that demolition photo was from the 43rd street side of the theater structure – from approximately where the grand foyer was – looking towards the 44th street – or stage side – wall. The wall on the left – with floor and interior wall structures exposed, might be where offices and dressing rooms were located. Of course, the view may also be precisely the opposite – looking from the stage end at 44th street towards the 44th street side. I know the vertical windows shown in the photo match what I’ve seen of the exterior 43rd street side of that structure – not sure if there were similar windows behind the stage area on 44th. If you look through those windows where light is streaming in, the view outside definitely seems to be one of the side streets and not Broadway. If the light pouring through was wear the great facade window was, we’d be looking out onto Times Square – not to mention that the extent of the gutting would seem to reach deep into the office tower, which was not the case. The office tower that fronts Broadway is either out of frame towards the right of that photo or behind the exposed wall depicted on the left, depending on whether the view is towards the north or south.
The 1926 circular lobby photo appears to be of the vestibule corridor that ran through the Paramount office tower connecting the entrance on Broadway (which would be on the lower left side of the photo) with the grand foyer, as described by Warren when he first posted the image. This image seems to be looking north with the chandelier hanging in front of that grand arched facade window we’ve been talking about (just out of frame to the right) and behind those “lunettes” would be regular office space within the tower.
Does that make sense?
Ed just like you I was addicted to those sections including Travel. Now I find it all just about unreadable. Smug overly assured just like that guy in the commercial"It’s the when where to to how to"-pretty annoying.