Posts Tagged ‘times square’

New York: Then & Now…

Friday, June 6th, 2008

— NEW YORK SPECIAL —

The Paramount Theatre

Then & Now

TOP: The Paramount Theatre on Times Square (1933)

BOTTOM: The former Paramount Building (2008)

1501 Broadway @ West 43rd Street

Manhattan, New York

On Times Square, on November 19, 1926, the New York Paramount Theatre opened its doors to a full 3,364 seat house and rave reviews. The New York Times ran the first ad, describing “an acre of seats in a palace of splendor.” The flagship house of the Paramount-Publix chain, spearheaded by Adolph Zukor, was an architectural triumph.

Cornerstone of the Paramount Building

NOTE: The “Then” photo shows the Paramount Theater in 1933. The film showing is Pick-up starring Sylvia Sydney and George Raft. The building to the right of the Paramount is the Astor Hotel, which was demolished in 1966. In the bottom “Now” photo, the former Paramount building looks virtually the same except that it is no longer a theater but a Hard Rock Cafe restaurant.

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Tags:new york, Paramount building, then & now, times square
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Allan Does New York…

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

New York City Highlights

Times Square

by Allan R. Ellenberger

Recently I returned from a trip to New York City where I did research for my Miriam Hopkins biography. I also spent time with some good friends who showed me the greatest hospitality. Thanks again to Adam, Steve, Joe and Arlene.

During my stay, I accessed information from the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the Museum of the City of New York and had a charming visit with media legend, Joe Franklin.

The Billy Rose Collection at the NYPL is a great resource especially for the theatre. Miriam Hopkins was exclusive to Broadway from 1921 to 1931 and returned on occasion for the next thirty years. In future postings I will document her stage appearances. At the library, I also perused the papers of Chamberlain and Lyman Brown who served as theatrical agents for Hopkins for more than twenty years. The Cheryl Crawford papers gave me information on the making of the Broadway play, The Perfect Marriage, that starred Hopkins and Victor Jory and was produced by Crawford.

The Museum of the City of New York has archives that cover the entire history of Broadway. I was able to go through files for every play that Hopkins appeared in.

In future posts I will concentrate on a few New York film related landmarks. For now, here are photos from my visit of some popular New York sites. Please “click” on image to enlarge.