Arts & Entertainment

Relive the Glory Days of the Paramount Theater

LIU is hosting a day-long extravaganza featuring showbiz legends and lots of nostalgia next Friday.

Next Friday is your chance to relive the glory days of the Paramount Theater.

A star-studded panel of showbiz legends will take a trip down memory lane in the former home of the legendary theater, which was the first of its kind built for “talkie” movies.

"Paramount had all the movies, all the performers,” said Michael Hittman, a professor of Anthropology at Long Island University. “Charlie Parker! John Coltrane! Bing Crosby would play Times Square and then play here! Chuck Berry’s first performance was at the Paramount!”

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Hittman organized the day-long event, “When Theater was Paramount in Brooklyn,” as a way to revisit the glory days of Brooklyn’s theater district, which was meant to rival Times Square.

In addition to the Paramount at Flatbush and DeKalb avenues, there was the Albee Theater, the Strand Theater nearby. The event will also examine more far-flung theaters in Brooklyn.

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But Hittman confessed that he’s always had a soft spot for the Paramount, and that one of the day’s highlights will certainly be when a professional plays the “Mighty Wurlitzer” organ, which still boasts its 2,000 pipes and 257 stops.

“This is a theater organ! It’s a freak, like seeing a dinosaur!” Hittman said. “It’s quite a thrill to hear it.”

But the organ is only just one attraction.

Joe Franklin, the so-called King of Nostalgia, will reminisce about the theater’s glory days as a landmark destination for early rock and rollers, jazz legends and classic entertainers. 

Billie Dawn Smith, who wrote loads of hits like “Sixteen Candles,” “To the Aisle,” “Please Mr. Disc Jockey,” and even “Like a Natural Woman” will also speak.

“I took him to dinner at Junior's and every song they played he was saying, 'Oh, that’s my song,'” said Hittman.

Even one of the screenwriters of the Mel Brooks classic, “Blazing Saddles” will take the podium.

Hittman will also show for the first time never before seen Vitaphone footage of Rudy Vallee — known for performing with a megaphone — putting on a show at the Paramount.

Still, Hittman couldn’t help but lament that the Paramount — once a glorious, rococo-designed space with over 4,000 plush velvet seats — had been converted into a basketball arena in 1962.

“The religion of basketball has taken over religion of vaudeville and entertainment,” he said, adding with a laugh, “Thank God they left the ceiling alone.”

“When Theater was Paramount in Brooklyn” on Friday, April 15 at Long Island University at 1 University Plaza at DeKalb and Flatbush avenues from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Email michael.hittman@liu.edu or call (718) 488-1185 for info.


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