Paramount Theatre
299 Washington Street,
Newton,
MA
02458
299 Washington Street,
Newton,
MA
02458
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Paramount Pictures Inc.
Architects: George Henri Desmond
Firms: Desmond & Lord
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The Paramount Theatre was opened in 1922. A local movie theatre in the 1950’s. It was ornate and big. It was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. thru their subsidiary Mullins & Pinanski The balcony was converted in the 1970’s to a second auditorium. The Paramount Theatre was closed on October 30, 1982 with Ben Cross in “Chariots of Fire” & Steve Guttenberg in “Diner”. It was demolished.
Contributed by
robert arria
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
does anyone have any knowledge or information an an event at the Paramount in the early 1950s? At the opening of the movie Cinderella, there was a contest to find a local “Miss Cinderella”. The winner and her date was escorted to a Mercury convertible to be chauffered around for the evening. Ed Sullivan made appearance at the Lincoln-Mercury dealership either that evening or soon after. I’m specifically looking for an article about the event but any info you might have would be appreciated. (Researching it for my father, Rodd Exelbert, who was involved in the event.) Thanks!
The Paramount was part of the M&P chain. When they diversed after the war to American Theatres Corp.(ATC) and New England Theatres Corp. (NETCO) Netco took the Paramount and ATC took the West Newton theatre.
jimmo, when you say that the Paramount was “in the tradition of moviehouses that resembled their dramatic-programmed kin,” do you mean that it looked like a performing arts center (opera house or Broadway-type theatre)? If so, Do you think it could conceivably have been converted into one?
funnydave—Yes, my remembrance of the Paramount is that it was more opulent than even the Embassy in Waltham, though in my mind either could have been a Broadway-type theater with a little sprucing up. I’ve actually never been to a Broadway theater, only an off-Broadway venue in the Village and the Beacon Theater in NY, but I am basing this perspective on my attendance at theaters in Boston’s theater district—the Colonial, Shubert and Wilbur Theaters, also the Orpheum (for concerts). Also, I think I’ve seen enough films and TV video of NYC theaters to have an awareness of their appearances, at least superficially. Suffice to say the Paramount was a classier venue than any of these cineplexes one will find today, all so generic looking.
The heading above says that the Paramount had 1,268 seats. There are 2 movie theaters listed under Newton MA in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook. One of them, the Community Theatre, also has 1,268 seats. It was open 6 days per week. Was the Community a prior name for the Paramount?? The other movie theater was the Newton Opera House, with 1,200 seats, also open 6 days/week.
The Paramount was most likely this theater project noted in the September 22, 1921, issue of Engineering News-Record
“Beacon” was an obvious typo for Bacon Street. An item in the July 28 issue of the same publication had said that plans for a theater on Washington Street for the Newton Theater Company were begin prepared by the Boston firm of Desmond & Lord. George Henri Desmond was also the architect of the Portland Theatre in Portland, Maine. The firm also drew plans for a large theater in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1922, but I haven’t yet been able to identify it, assuming it was completed.Cinema Treasures says the Paramount Theatre seated 1,268. Ron Salters commented (on April 2, 2006 at 8:59 am) that the Paramount seated 1,212 — 760 on the main floor and 452 in the balcony. Does anyone know for sure who is correct? Also, when did the Paramount close and when was it demolished?
1,268 most likely comes from a Film Daily Yearbook listing. The FDY was not always accurate, but sometimes it was. The MGM reports were probably more accurate, but the one Ron cited was from 1941, and during the war many large, old theaters covered over their disused orchestra pits and added a couple more rows of seats because business was booming and it was very difficult for chains to get new theaters built due to restrictions on new construction, so it was a cheap way to add new capacity.
Seating capacities tended to fluctuate over the years, anyway (re-seating with larger seats and maybe wider rows, part or all of a balcony being closed off as business declined, seats from the front rows being removed to replace broken seats farther back in the house in theaters that couldn’t afford new replacements, etc.,) and theater operators, for various reasons (such as the union regulation that once required two projectionists in houses with more than 1,000 seats, leading managers to sometimes undercount,) didn’t always give accurate counts, so the exact number of seats in any given theater at any given time is often moot. For these reasons I look at the seat counts at Cinema Treasures as usually being no more than ballpark figures.
As for the demolition date, Ron Newman’s comment of March 28, 2006, cites a September 6, 1982, newspaper article saying that the entire block was slated for demolition to make way for an office building, and the Paramount was the last business on the block that was still open, so the closing and demolition most likely took place in late 1982 or early 1983. The 3-story brick office block on the site now has a very 1980s look.
Growing up in neighboring Watertown, back in the 50’s 60’s, most of my movie experiences were at The Coolidge theatre in East Watertown on Mt. Auburn St. However there were many times when I went to The Paramount. It was a single screen in those days, a really beautiful theatre. Some of the movies I remember seeing there, “Dementia 13” (Francis Ford Coppola first film) “I Saw What You Did” (William Castle classic) “Shaft” (Gordon Parks classic) and “In the Heat of the Night” (Academy Award winner, I’ll never forget it!) GREAT memories at The Paramount in Newton.
The Paramount Theatre closed on October 30, 1982 with “Chariots Of Fire” in Screen 1 and “Diner” in Screen 2.