During the 1920s, particularly before the first sound films, or "talkies", were invented in 1927, vaudeville and silent movies were the dominant form of national and local entertainment. Seattle alone had more than 50 movie palaces, the finest grouped together on 2nd Avenue. To achieve the broadest possible distribution of its films, Hollywood-based
Paramount Pictures constructed a grand movie palace in practically every major city in the country, many erected between 1926 and 1928. In late 1926 or early 1927, Paramount Pictures decided to build in Seattle. Led by its president, movie magnate
Adolph Zukor, Paramount Pictures invested nearly $3 million for construction. The Paramount Theatre has an original installation of the Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. The organ is a 4 manual/21 rank Publix 1 style organ and is one of only three remaining original organs of this style. Jim Riggs has been the house organist for the Paramount, accompanying the Trader Joe's Silent Movie Mondays series. The organ is presently maintained by a group of volunteers from the Puget Sound
Theatre Organ Society. On December 2, 1972, Black Oak Arkansas recorded a concert here that provided four of the seven songs on the band's 1973 album, "Raunch 'N' Roll Live." On October 31, 1991,
Nirvana (band) played a concert at the Paramount that would later become the bands highest quality show, recorded in
16 mm film and the live album
Live at the Paramount (video). As of 2009, the Paramount has a new sign out front. The 1940s
Paramount sign originally used 1,970
incandescent bulbs, which were eventually replaced by 11-watt
fluorescents. The new sign is a replica of the original iconic sign, but uses
LED lights. The Paramount Theatre was also used to hold televised auditions for the
sixth season of ''
America's Got Talent''. ==See also==