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| Paramount Theatre | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | 2025 Broadway Oakland, California, USA
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| Coordinates | |
| Type | Indoor theatre |
| Opened | 1931 |
| Owner | City of Oakland Nonprofit |
| Renovated | 1973 |
| Seating type | Orchestra, Balcony |
| Capacity | 3,040 |
The Paramount Theatre is a massive Art Deco movie theatre located in downtown Oakland, California, USA. Today, the Paramount is the home of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Oakland Ballet, it regularly plays host to R&B, jazz, blues, pop, rock, gospel, classical music, as well as ballets, plays, stand-up comedy, lecture series, special events, and re-runs of classical movies from Hollywood\'s Golden Era.
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The Paramount Theatre was built as a motion picture palace, during the rise of the motion picture industry in the late 1920s. Palace was both a common and an accurate term for the movie theaters of the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1925, Adolf Cukor\'s Paramount Publix Corporation, the theatre division of Paramount Pictures, one of the great studio-theater chains, began a construction program resulting in some of the finest theatres built. Publix assigned the design of the Oakland Paramount to 38 years old San Francisco architect Timothy L. Pflueger, of Miller and Pflueger. The Paramount opened at a cost of $3 million on December 16, 1931.Tours Rediscover Oakland Landmark (San Francisco Chronicle (Friday, November 20, 1998) Pflueger was also the designer of the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. The Art Deco design was a trend referred to the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris.Menten, Theodore, The Art Deco Style in Household Objects, Architecture, Sculpture, Graphics, Jewelry, Courier Dover, (1972), ISBN 048622824X The term Art Deco has been used only since the late 1960s, when there was a revival of interest in the art and fashion of the early 20th century.Mackrell, Alice. Art And Fashion, Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., page 116, (2005) - ISBN 0713488735
Its exterior with its 110-foot high tile mosaic of enormous figures by projecting Paramount sign, which can be seen up and down the street, but it is the interior that rises to unequal heights. A 58-foot high grand lobby, with side walls made of alternating vertical bands of warm green artificial light panels and muted red piers, and with both ends and ceiling decorated with an almost luminescent grillwork, forms a regal introduction. Rare and costly materials are everywhere: hand-adzed quartered oak, Hungarian ash crotch, birdseye maple, Balinese rosewood, Malaysian teak, and Italian marble. The auditorium is unmatched for its refulgent splendor. Its gilded galaxies of whorls, patterns, gold walls with sculpted motifs from the Bible and mythology. Outside and in, the Paramount radiates the dream-world escapism with which sought to beguile its customers.Smith, G. E. Kidder. Source Book of American Architecture: 500 Notable Buildings from the 10th Century to the Present, Princeton Architectural Press, page 372, (2000) - ISBN 1568982542 The Paramount organ was built by Wurlitzer for the Paramount Publix theaters: a four-manual, twenty-rank model called the Publix I (Opus 2164), which cost $20,000 in 1931.
The gala premiere December 16, 1931 was attended by Kay Francis, star of the opening film, "The False Madonna,"The False Madonna (1931) and cast members Conway Tearle, Charles D. Brown, Marjorie Gateson, and William Boyd (not yet known as Hopalong Cassidy). Notable guest included California\'s governor James Rolph and Oakland mayor Fred N. Morcom. Tickets were first-come first-served, sixty cents for the balcony seat and eighty-five cents for a seat in the orchestra.Stone, Susannah Harris. The Oakland Paramount, Lancaster-Miller Publishers, page 18, (1982) - ISBN 0895816075 The program also included a Fox Movietone newsreel, and a Silly Symphony animated cartoon "The Spider and the Fly", and heard the music of the Paramount\'s own 16-piece house orchestra, under the direction of Lew Kosloff. Last on the program was the stage show Fanchon & Marco\'s "Slavique Idea," a forty-minute revue featuring Sam Hearn, comedians Brock and Thompson, dancer LaVonne Sweet, the acrobatic Seven Arconis, Patsy Marr, and the Sunkist Beauties in a chorus-line finale.
In June 1932 the Paramount closed it doors, unable to meet operating expenses of more than $27,000 per week. Competing with Paramount was the Fox Oakland Theatre, which had opened in 1928. The Paramount stayed closed for nearly a year. The days when movie theaters could support not just the showing of movies, but entire orchestras and stage shows and uniformed attendants, were over just as the Paramount was being completed. When it reopened in May 1933, it was under the management of Frank Burhans, the manager of the Warfield in San Francisco. He was commissioned to get the Paramount out of debt, and his method for achieving this was to operate without either a stage show or an orchestra, and to unscrew lightbulbs. The Paramount showed the best of the new motion pictures, including such features as "Dancing Lady" (1933) with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, "Dames" (1934) with Dick Powell, and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in "The Gay Divorcee" (1934). The Great Depression gave way to the war years, and the Port of Oakland became a major departure and arrival point for servicemen. The Paramount\'s comfortable chairs and spacious lounges was a favorite place. In the 1950\'s popcorn machines and candy counters were installed, and on the lobby walls the incandescent lights were taken out and replaced by neon tubing in red and blue. In 1953, it played the first CinemaScope movie "The Robe," with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons. The 1957 Elvis Presley\'s Jailhouse Rock attracted a thousand young people. At the end of the 1950\'s theaters were losing patrons to television, but the Paramount management responded with talent shows, prize nights, and advertising campaigns.
For a second time the Paramount closed on September 15, 1970, because it no longer was able to compete with smaller movie theaters in the suburbs. Its last film was the Beatles\' "Let It Be" in (1970).Now playing -- grand nostalgia In 1971, a Warner Bros. movie, "The Candidate," starring Robert Redford, was filmed using the interior of the Paramount as one of the principal locations. Hope surfaced in October 1972 when the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, in need of a new home, purchased the Paramount for $1 million, half of which was donated by the seller, National General Theatres--the Old Fox-West Coast--with the other half coming from generous private donors. The popcorn machines and candy counters were removed. With the help of restoration project manager Peter Botto, new, wider seats were installed, the distance between rows was increased to provide more leg room, as was a replica of the original carpet throughout the theatre. Two bars, one is on the mezzanine and one is in the lower level, and a new box office were added. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill were consultants for the restoration, with Milton Pflueger & Associates assisting. The Paramount reopened on September 22, 1973 in its original 1931 splendor.
Two years later, the Oakland Symphony Orchestra went bankrupt and gave the Paramount to the City of Oakland for $1, with the stipulation of guaranteed bookings for the next forty years. Seeing an opportunity, a group of seven private citizens banded together and approached city officials with the idea of managing and operating the Paramount on behalf of the city as a nonprofit organization. They agreed, and the structure has remained to this day.
Walking into the main lobby, with its gold ornamentations along the walls, curving staircase and glowing light fixtures is like taking a trip back through Old Hollywood. Public tours of the Paramount Theatre are given on the first and third Saturdays of each month, excluding holidays and holiday weekends.Paramount Theatre Tours Documented in 1972 by the Historic American Buildings Survey, the theatre was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973, became a California Registered Historical Landmark in 1976California State Historic Landmark #884 and a U.S. National Historical Landmark in 1977.National Register of Historic Places
Paramount.jpg
2005 view of marquee listing Elvis Costello |
1975 photograph by Jack E. Boucher showing the four-story Grand Lobby |
Grand Lobby interior, Fountain of Light over entrance and marquee |
Fountain of Light over seven double doors at entrance |
Grand Lobby north wall showing dancing figures |
1932 image of auditorium ceiling and balcony soffit. Round holes in balcony edge are for stage lighting instruments. Dark windows in far wall are for film projectors and spotlights. |
1932 view looking down from the balcony at the ceiling, proscenium, curtain, seating and hydraulic orchestra pit |
Basement lounge showing stylized couches and benches. Note the bold wall and ceiling designs |
Mezzanine level foyer |
Men\'s Lounge, mezzanine level |
Women\'s Lounge, basement level |
Women\'s Smoking Room, basement level |
Architect\'s basement plan |
Architect\'s first floor plan |
Architect\'s mezzanine plan |
Architect\'s longitudinal section (cutaway side view) |
Oakland East Bay Symphony (OEBS) was founded in July 1988, when musicians from the former Oakland Symphony and the Oakland Symphony League joined together to form a new orchestra. Since September, 1990, Michael Morgan has been Music Director. Under Maestro Morgan\'s direction, the Symphony has become a leader in music education for young people, bringing orchestral music into schools throughout Oakland and the East Bay. More than 60,000 people attend the Symphony\'s performances at the Paramount Theatre, at churches and senior centers, and at other community sites each year.Oakland East Bay Symphony History With its May 18, 2007, performance of George Gershwin\'s "Porgy and Bess" was sold out, the Oakland East Bay Symphony opened its final rehearsal to the public.Oakland East Bay Symphony
December 2007, the Oakland Ballet celebrated the 35th Anniversary of Ronn Guidi’s famous "Nutcracker" at the Paramount Theatre, with Maestro Michael Morgan conducting the music of Tchaikovsky.
Concerts at the Paramount — which are responsible for the bulk of the theater\'s revenue — tend to serve an older clientele. For every young act, such as Nelly Furtado, there are many older acts, such as Diana Ross, Bonnie Raitt, Al Green, Jeff Beck, Lionel Richie, B. B. King, Anita Baker, Brian Wilson, Gladys Knight, or Lucinda Williams. Since 2005, Another Planet Entertainment has booked five concerts on average per year. Those shows tend to be among the Paramount\'s more lucrative events. Other past performer included Britney Spears, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Mary J. Blige, James Brown, Alicia Keys, Enrique Iglesias, just to name a few.
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Black Comedy Explosion:
1997 The musical play The Wiz was at the Paramount in 1997, with Grace Jones, Peabo Bryson and CeCe Peniston that provide the big draw this time around.The Wiz
2001 The Diary of Black Men, director Clarence Whitmore, a play that had been touring the country since 1983.Long-running \'Diary of Black Men\' returns to Paramount Fans appreciate show\'s message about relationships
2006 Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail to a packed seven-date stint at the Paramount.Perry\'s \'Family\' Matters
It wasn\'t until 1987 that the Paramount returned to its true calling as a movie house, showing Buster Keaton\'s "The General (1927)," a silent film accompanied by the Wurlitzer. In 1988, "Casablanca" (1942), starring Humphrey Bogart Ingrid Bergman, launched the first movie series. The 2002 feature was Peter Sellers "Dr. Strangelove" (1964).Now playing -- grand nostalgia: Oakland\'s Paramount film series evokes an era of reel glamour
In 2002 it showed "Wizard of Oz" (1939), with Judy Garland, and in 2004 the Paramount showed several classic movies, "Harvey" (1950), starring James Stewart, "Viva Las Vegas" (1964) starring Elvis Presley, Ann-Margaret, "The Graduate" (1964)" with Dustin Hoffman Anne Bancroft, and "The Bad and the Beautiful" (1952) starring Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner.
The Fall, 2007 Paramount Movie Classics series was not scheduled, based on the reduced attendance over the past few years. However, the Paramount Theatre is committed to continuing their Movie Classics series in the future.
The Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame was founded in 1973 in Oakland. They held elegant events that honored such screen legends as Clarence Muse, Hattie McDaniel, Billy Dee Williams, Melvin Van Peebles, and Danny Glover with the Oscar Micheaux Awards. Some of the events were hosted at Oakland\'s Paramount Threatre. In 2001 Harry Belafonte, Eubie Blake and Diahann Carroll was inducted in the Filmmakers Hall of Fame at the Paramount.Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame inductions 2001
1995 - Poet Maya Angelou read from her work at a benefit at Paramount for the St. Paul\'s Episcopal School.Tour Honors Blacks in Bay\'s History
1999 - Actress Halle Berry was at the Paramount for the premiere of "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," an HBO docudrama.Halle Berry: Starlet exudes aura of actress Dorothy Dandridge
| Oakland, California Attractions | |
|---|---|
| Landmarks | Alameda County Courthouse · Children\'s Fairyland · Dunsmuir House · Jack London Square · Pardee Home · Rockridge Market Hall · USS Potomac (AG-25) · Tribune Tower |
| Museums | African American Museum and Library at Oakland · Chabot Space and Science Center · Oakland Museum of California · Museum of Children\'s Art |
| Zoos & Parks | Anthony Chabot Regional Park · Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve · Joaquin Miller Park · Knowland Park · Lake Merritt · Lake Temescal · Leona Canyon Regional Open Space Preserve · Oakland Zoo · Redwood Regional Park · Robert Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve · Temescal Regional Park |
| Entertainment | Oakland Metropolitan Opera House · Grand Lake Theater · Paramount Theater |
| Sports | Oakland Athletics · Oakland Raiders · Golden State Warriors · McAfee Coliseum · Oracle Arena |
| Shopping Centers | Oakland City Center · Chinatown · Rockridge, Oakland, California |
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