BROOKLYN — As the curtains closed over the screen on August 22, 1962, the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre at Flatbush & DeKalb Avenues was history. The last feature film at the famous movie palace was John Wayne in Hatari. Attendance on closing night in the 4,126 seat theatre was about 300. Its grand opening as the first movie theater built in America expressly for sound pictures was on November 24, 1928, with the feature Manhattan Cocktail starring Nancy Carroll and Richard Arlen.

Over 4,000 patrons came to gaze in awe at the theater’s vastness and baroque splendor; its $3 million collection of paintings, sculptures and antiques; and the assemblage of theatrical and political personalities who attended the opening. Gracing its ornate stage during its reign as the mecca of Brooklyn entertainment were such celebrities as Frank Sinatra, Liberace, Rudy Vallee, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, George Jessel, Mae West and most of the big band era orchestras. In later years the Paramount’s stage was the site of rock & roll shows such as Little Richard and Bill Haley and the Comets, emceed by popular disc jockey Alan Freed.

Long Island University took over the building and in 1950 converted the office tower to classrooms and administrative offices. When the theatre itself closed 12 years later, the grand lobby, a copy of the famous Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, became LIU’s student cafeteria; the orchestra seating area became a gymnasium where the LIU basketball team plays with spectators seated in bleachers where the balcony patrons once sat. The “Mighty Wurlitzer� pipe organ, second in size and sound only to the two in the Radio City Music Hall, has been lovingly restored by the Theatre Organ Enthusiasts group and was still played at the basketball games until recently. Now, with the opening of its new athletic center, LIU announced plans to use the space as a theater once again.

The sunburst proscenium, the side bays representing visions into the formal gardens of French royal palaces of the late 18th century, and the ornate ceiling are still visible and worth a look.

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008
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