1943 was my first trip to NYC. I was staying with my sister in an apartment on 43rd St. (Hard to believe now). She dragged me around the corner to the Paramount but I had no idea who was on the bill. When Benny Goodman & his orchestra started raising out of the pit, the place was alive. They were dancing in the aisles. Just spectacular.
The Martin & Lewis stage shows were incredible. The audience was falling out of their seats laughing. We caught them at the Paramount & then later up Broadway at the Capital theatre. I never saw anything like this before or since, just electric & ecstatic.
You never knew who you might run into around the Paramount. One day I was waiting backstage for my sister & decided to step outside. It was daytime and almost no one was on 44th street. A tall thin lady, all dressed in black, started walking towards me from the Sardi’s restaurant. As she got closer I could see that it was Eleanor Roosevelt. She said hello as she passed & I remember there was almost no one on the street. No secret service or anything. Is this a great country or what?
The day world war II ended, my sister was on stage at the Paramount. She was the soprano (Jeannie) with Phil Spitalny’s all girl orchestra. Imogene Coca was also on the bill.
They suspended shows that afternoon so that everyone could get out of the theater. A number of the girls decided the best way out was through a kind of underground passageway to the front of the theater opening on Broadway. We all joined hands & once on the street, snaked our way through the crowd to the subway. A very memorable experience for a boy of 15.
1943 was my first trip to NYC. I was staying with my sister in an apartment on 43rd St. (Hard to believe now). She dragged me around the corner to the Paramount but I had no idea who was on the bill. When Benny Goodman & his orchestra started raising out of the pit, the place was alive. They were dancing in the aisles. Just spectacular.
The Martin & Lewis stage shows were incredible. The audience was falling out of their seats laughing. We caught them at the Paramount & then later up Broadway at the Capital theatre. I never saw anything like this before or since, just electric & ecstatic.
You never knew who you might run into around the Paramount. One day I was waiting backstage for my sister & decided to step outside. It was daytime and almost no one was on 44th street. A tall thin lady, all dressed in black, started walking towards me from the Sardi’s restaurant. As she got closer I could see that it was Eleanor Roosevelt. She said hello as she passed & I remember there was almost no one on the street. No secret service or anything. Is this a great country or what?
The day world war II ended, my sister was on stage at the Paramount. She was the soprano (Jeannie) with Phil Spitalny’s all girl orchestra. Imogene Coca was also on the bill.
They suspended shows that afternoon so that everyone could get out of the theater. A number of the girls decided the best way out was through a kind of underground passageway to the front of the theater opening on Broadway. We all joined hands & once on the street, snaked our way through the crowd to the subway. A very memorable experience for a boy of 15.