The+history+of+the+Paramount

=**The History of the Paramount**=

This undated photo taken from the Paramount Theatre Blog shows the original vertical marquee that is in the process of being restored. The theatre across the street is no longer in existence, but the [|State Theatre] two blocks south is still standing. A sign in its window indicates an effort is being made to renovate and reopen the State. If it were not for the efforts of Anderson citizens, The Paramount could have had a similar fate.

The Paramount first opened on August 20, 1929. Generations of Anderson residents have watched movies, listened to the symphony, had a good laugh and even gone to prom at the Paramount. Phil and Pat Storm of Anderson recalled going to the Paramount for their first real date. Pat said it must have been 1966 since she was 16 at the time. When asked what movie they saw, Phil said "I wasn't paying attention to that." MaDonna Hinton told me of her memories of spending a Saturday afternoon at the Paramount when she was a kid. Her mom would give her and her siblings each a quarter and that got them into the movie, a box of popcorn and a coke. As a kid, the theatre was beautiful and elegant, but the more recent renovations "put it to shame." She and her husband Bob both remembered specials in which the admission price was a penny from a certain year. For example, they would announce a year like 1948 and if you found a penny from that year, it paid for your movie. MaDonna also said in those days, if you came into the movie and it already had started, you could sit through the next showing if you wanted. They both also recalled going to special viewings of movies with groups from school. Amy Pierce remembers seeing E.T. at the Paramount when she was very young.

//An inside view from the balcony after the 1995 restoration courtesy of [|Andersonparamount.org]//

The Paramount Theatre Centre is a John Ebersole designed "Atmospheric" theatre. It was designed to make the theatre patron feel like they were sitting in an outdoor courtyard, surrounded by balconies and a starry night sky. Presently only 12 Ebersole designed theatres remain and the Paramount is only barely one of them. In 1984 the theatre, like the town of Anderson had fallen on hard times. It closed and in 1989 it was saved from demolition by a group later known as the Paramount Heritage Foundation. This group of citizens spearheaded an effort to restore this theatre to its former glory and in 1995, the Paramount finally reopened, fully restored. The theatre also contains a [|Grand Page Theatre Pipe Organ]. There are only three of these organs still operating in their original theatres.

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