Paramount Pictures constructed the venue in 1928 and selected the Chicago theater architect team
Rapp and Rapp as designers. The studio constructed a sister
Paramount Theatre in
Times Square,
Manhattan. The
rococo-designed theater had 4,084 seats covered in burgundy velvet, with a ceiling painted with clouds. The auditorium featured a stage curtain decorated with satin-embroidered pheasants and huge chandeliers and fountains with goldfish adorned the lobby space. According to anthropology professor Michael Hittman, "while the Brooklyn Paramount is remembered as a popular movie house and early home of rock ‘n’ roll, it is a little known fact that it helped introduce Brooklyn to
jazz, with artists like
Dizzy Gillespie,
Ella Fitzgerald and
Miles Davis."
Duke Ellington first played at the Paramount in 1931. The most famous star connected with the theater was composer and radio personality, Russ Columbo, who performed at the theater during the early 1930s. Columbo had the most sold-out performances on record at the theater that would not be broken for quarter of a century, during the promoter created Battle of The Baritones. The theater promoters pitted Bing Crosby and Columbo against each other at two different Paramount Theaters, encouraging audience members to compare the two. According to the Dutch biography
De Keizer van het Jiddische Lied it was in 1943 that singer
Leo Fuld introduced Yiddish music on this stage. In the 1950s,
Alan Freed’s rock ‘n’ roll shows played at the theater, with acts including
Chuck Berry and
Fats Domino.
Buddy Holly played a show in September 1957. When Freed fell victim of the
payola scandal, TV host
Clay Cole continued the ten-day holiday show tradition, in shows produced by
Sid Bernstein. The first, Clay Cole's Christmas Show broke all existing attendance records with a show featuring
Ray Charles,
Bobby Rydell,
Brenda Lee,
Neil Sedaka,
Johnny Burnett,
The Delicates,
Kathy Young,
Dion,
Bobby Vinton,
Bo Diddley,
Chubby Checker,
Bobby Vee and groups, the
Drifters,
Coasters,
Shirelles, the
Supremes, and
Little Anthony & The Imperials. The last live rock 'n' roll stage show at The Brooklyn Paramount was "Clay Cole's Easter Parade of Stars" headlining
Jackie Wilson and an all-star cast. Then the theater was shuttered. The General Manager of the theater was Eugene Pleshette, father of the actress
Suzanne Pleshette.
Long Island University purchased the structure for part of its Brooklyn Campus in 1960 and converted into a gymnasium for LIU in 1962. The
Wurlitzer organ in the Brooklyn Paramount, Opus 1984, is a four-manual, 26-rank instrument with 1,838 pipes and continued to be used at LIU sporting events. Anthropology/Sociology Professor Dr. Michael Hittman presented an all-day seminar, a one-credit cross-linked course with emphasis on rock 'n' roll on March 27, 2009, at the LIU Brooklyn campus library.
Clay Cole was the keynote speaker and hosted panel discussions on the connections between rock 'n' roll and the historic Paramount Theater. The seminar concluded with a 90-minute
doo wop show, with artists. == Use as sports venue ==