The Brooklyn Paramount Theater was located in the very center of Brooklyn. The old building stood at the intersection of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues, where in 1928, a theater was opened. But it did not last long. In 1954, the theater building was rebuilt to become Long Island University. It turned out to be very unusual. Students found professions and studied new disciplines under the coving with lavish stucco and theatrical splendor.
The history of the Brooklyn Paramount Theater is much deeper and longer than you might think at first. Find out more at brooklyn-trend.com.
Chicagoans in Brooklyn
A team of architects from Chicago was responsible for the Paramount construction. The Rapp and Rapp company was exclusively involved in designing future theaters. The well-known company Paramount Pictures was its building owner. They constructed more than one theater in the city. One of the chain’s largest theaters was located in Manhattan. Well, Brooklyn got the role of a popular movie theater and was home to jazz and rock and roll.
It was the Brooklyn Paramount Theater that introduced the borough to such prominent jazz names as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis.
The most famous person to ever appear on the Brooklyn stage was Russ Columbo. He performed in the early 1930s. No one has succeeded in surpassing the success of Columbo for many years, or at least getting closer to discovering his secret.
Paramount theater promoters compared the Brooklyn Theater and Columbo with the Manhattan Theatre and its star Bing Crosby. The owners thus tried to attract even more visitors, who would first go to one performance and then to another.
In the 1950s, jazz was replaced by rock and roll and new names appeared on the stage, including Alan Freed, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and others. Famous artists were performing at holiday shows, which were hosted in the Brooklyn Theater. It was always a full house. Spectacular shows with a star line-up were the highlight of the Brooklyn Paramount Theater. But at its peak, the theater was closed.
A little part of the Theater
Eugene Pleshette was the last General Manager of the theater. It is unknown why the company decided to sell the building to the university. Although the benefits of the university can be understood. No matter how hard they tried to remake the building for the needs of the university, it still had the spirit of the theater. The Wurlitzer organ university kept for itself. It was used for musical accompaniment at all sports events of the university.
The teaching staff honors the memory of the theater. They often mention some facts from its history or even combine credit business with rock and roll in their lectures.
By the mid-1950s, the auditorium gathered thousands of spectators, but after the arrival of a new owner, the magnificent hall was converted into a gym. Now, the applause there sounds in honor of another goal scored, and not as a tribute to the artist’s talent. The building also got a new name, Metcalfe Hall. Tristram Metcalfe, the first university president, was thus honored. He went down in history as a man with iron principles and a tough stance.Â
In 2015, the owners of Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets volunteered to restore the building to the former glory of the theater. According to the press, $50 was allocated for this venture. The gymnasium, which for years has been home to major sports teams, was once again to become a haven for theatergoers and musicians. But they could not complete this grand project. The construction was interrupted by the global pandemic in 2020. This ambitious endeavor gave Brooklynites hope of returning to one of the most famous theaters in the borough again.
