Paramount Center
549-59 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
549-59 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
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How often does it need to be said that the Paramount project 10 years ago was not a restoration. Only the facade and marquee were restored; the remainder of the building was demolished. The theatre is new-construction, and the auditorium today looks nothing like the original. It definitely was not “restored to its former glory”, to use a cliche. I write this because I just today read a newspaper article which states that the Paramount has been “beautifully restored”. No, I don’t think so.
Yes, Direspaul is correct. Some people today are under the impression that the Paramount they see is the original building. The only parts of the building today which are original are the facade, including the marquee and vertical sign, plus several feet of the sidewalls and roof leading from the facade wall. All of the remainder was removed. The interior was in very poor condition after many years closed and not maintained.
The interior was not restorable because the roof was almost non existent and most of the ceiling had fallen onto the floor. There was 3-4 feet of water in the basement and the asbestos removal was an excuse to demolish the rest of the interior that was still intact after years of vandalism and neglect. We were lucky the building was saved at all.
1977 and 2015 photos added.
1950’s photo courtesy of the Old School Boston Facebook page.
My dad managed the Paramount for several years in the late 40’s and 50’s. I found this photo from 1953 taken in the lobby of the Paramount:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/b6s1kulptegki0j/IMG_1787%20%281%29.jpg?dl=0
He’s the guy with his right hand on the plaque. You’ll notice the typo calling the event the “50th Anniversary of Supersonic Flight” rather than the “50th Anniversary of Flight” as the Wright Brothers flew in December 1903. The wall poster in the background on the right is for John Wayne’s 1953 movie “Island in the Sky.”
Dad also participated in the rededication of the Paramount Center in March 2010 at the age of 90. Here he is being interviewed at the event:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7p8crlbt0217em/Misc04%20375.jpg?dl=0
Cheers!
The ABC-TV outlet in Boston, WCVB, Ch 5,has a long-time early evening program called “Chronical” which visits various places and areas in New England. On Monday Jan. 12, there was a 30-minute visit to the Boston Theatre District. However, they only covered one section of the district, centered on the Opera House on Washington Street. And somehow, after 15 minutes, the show wandered off-topic, and I actually fell asleep out of boredom during the last 5 minutes. Hey, “Chronical” staff, if you want viewers to come back, you’ve gotta do a better job than this! Some misinformation on the program: ### The Modern Theater was THE place to go for movies in Boston ### No, hardly. ### Your grandparents went to the Paramount to see the likes of Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman perform ### No, there were no stage shows there. ### There is a secret passageway from the Paramount to the Opera House ###. Pure claptrap. The only passageway between the two theaters is the sidewalk out front. Who makes up these foolish stories??
Grand opening ad from February 25th, 1932 uploaded here.
Video showing Psycho at the Paramount (shortly before 6 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DjRzj_Ufiew
There appears to be a way to project film on the Paramount mainstage. Last night on New Year’s Eve (aka First Night 2011), the Paramount presented this event, which featured a live band accompanying thirteen Andy Warhol ‘Screen Test’ films. The films were black-and-white silents, shot in 16mm in Academy ratio (4x3).
A photo from September 2010:
View link
Regarding “the faux box office/ticket booth out on the sidewalk, centered underneath the marquee”
This appears to be solely decorative right now, as there are no openable windows from it to the sidewalk. The windows are frosted so you can’t see inside. It is not a separate structure but is part of the theatre building. A locked door leads from the vestibule lobby (between the inner and outer doors) to this structure.
Perhaps they’ll find a use for it eventually.
Ron Newman- the front-to-back distance in the new Paramount auditorium is shorter than the original. (from the proscenium to the rear auditorium wall). The stage and the foyers are larger in this theater than those in the original.
The Paramount and neighboring Modern will be used as venues for First Night on New Year’s Eve, according to HubArts.com.
Is the front-to-back distance longer or shorter in the new theatre?
The Sept 2010 issue of Live Design magazine has a feature article on the Paramount Center. There is a great deal of tech information on the lighting and sound systems. There are some color photos. The article states “This was a historically-informed renovation, not an actual restoration.” It points out that the blue or green grillwork fan which is canted over the orchestra pit is original to the old theater. Also states that the wing space at stage-right is limited; that there are 27 counterweight lines on the stage plus an old-fashioned hemp pin-rail. Some of the light and sound features are cleverly hidden from view. There is also a set of traps in the stage floor. The side-to-side distance in the new auditorium is about the same as in the old. Same with the floor-to-ceiling distance (probably as measured down front by the orchestra pit.) The front-to-back distance is not the same.
Another item of interest in the new Paramount “Mainstage” (Theatre) is the faux box office/ticket booth out on the sidewalk, centered underneath the marquee. It’s slightly larger than the original ticket booth out there. I didn’t examine it closely, but I believe that it’s totally fake and cannot be used. Inside, on the right side of the lobby there is a spacious box office with 2 ticket windows. Nearby, at the point where one’s tickets are taken there is a large ancient steel safe on display. It was found in the basement of the Arcade Building next door.
One of the Emerson students at the Open House asked me where one purchased movie tickets in the original Paramount and was quite surprised to hear that they were purchased from the booth on the sidewalk and not inside. This was a common practice in the old movie theaters.
Upstairs in the lower balcony foyer there is a sofa in the center of the floor and this supposedly came from the Paramount’s balcony foyer. Someone who got into the building around 2005 told me that he saw it up there.
Perhaps the capacity had been reduced to 1500 by the time it closed in 1976? Just a guess.
Emerson College produced a very nice, informative color folder about the Paramount Center which was given out at the recent open houses. It makes the point that the Paramount “could not be restored due to extensive deterioration.” (That’s for sure.) A minor error is that the seating for the Paramount is listed as 1,500 when there actually were almost 1,800 seats (1,797). It also mentions that the granite facade for the old Arcade Building (a.k.a. Bijou Building) next door has been restored, while the surviving remnants of the building itself “have been taken down and replaced (with a new building)”. The new Paramount Center complex is well worth visiting.
Robert Orchard wants Emerson to be where theatre is done – a long article in today’s Boston Sunday Globe.
When I visited Saturday, there was no set on the stage, which was completely dark and bare except for the large movie screen-like item hanging upstage. On another matter, when this project got underway, Emerson College began calling the proposed complex the “Paramount Center” but continued referring to the new theater as the “Paramount Theatre”. Now that it’s finished and open, their brochures continue to call the complex the Paramount Center, but the larger live theater is now called the “Paramount Mainstage”.
When I visited on Thursday, I think the mainstage curtain was closed, to conceal the set of Fraulein Maria which is playing this weekend.
The Paramount marquee and vertical sign are a real beauty. I love watching them when they are lit.
Also today, the marquee was lit. It’s full of leds which are electronically controlled, so you have the sight of a traditional large movie marquee with the fast-moving cartoon-like colors and words on it.
An Emerson student there today also noticed that the Wilbur and Shubert were on the map incorrectly. But there are other errors as well, such as placing the 19th century Globe too far north on Washington Street. The rake of the auditorium is indeed much steeper than the original, which did not have stadium seating on the main floor. When you were there was the house curtain up and did you notice what looks like a big movie screen hanging upstage? It may be a “cyc” intended for projecting colors during shows, and not a movie screen at all. As for “3 screens” and “Triplex”, let’s get real here; I just don’t buy using those terms for this theater!
Ahh, someone else who noticed the Shubert/Wilbur error on that wall. I wonder if they plan to fix it eventually?
I suggested changing the ‘Screens’ to 3 because the new seat count is the sum of all three performance spaces.
The raking of the new mainstage is much steeper than in the original movie theatre.