The Paramount Theatre, 156 Tottenham Court Road
Later - Odeon Cinema
Above - A Perspective Sketch of the Paramount Theatre and Flats at Tottenham Court Road - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
The Paramount Theatre was situated on Tottenham Court Road at the corner of Grafton Way in London and was built as a large Cine Variety Theatre for Paramount Pictures who were already running the Plaza and Carlton Theatres when this Theatre was opened on the 10th of February 1936. The Paramount was designed by Verity and Beverly with a vast auditorium with seating for well over 2,500 people in its stalls and single circle levels. The Theatre was equipped with a fully equipped stage, 25 feet deep, for live productions along with 12 dressing rooms for artists, and had a Compton Theatre Organ, played by Reginald Foort for its opening, which was situated on a revolving lift in the orchestra pit. The Paramount also had a large Cafe / Restaurant which could seat 130 people, and next door there was a Ballroom situated underneath an apartment building which is still there today.
Right - The Main Entrance to the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, with its large cafe above, when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
The Stage Newspaper reported on the imminent opening of the Theatre in their 6th of February 1936 edition saying:- 'Next Monday evening the new Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road, W.1, will be opened by the Mayor of St. Pancras, who will attend a gala performance for the benefit of the University Hospital Extension Fund. The new Paramount Theatre has taken five months to build on the Shoolbread site. It embodies the latest improvements in modern kinema construction, and has a seating capacity of 3,000.
Under the direction of Earl St. John, the screen will show the most important British and American pictures. There will be stage presentations, musical and scenic spectacles, stage stars, and bands, and well-known radio artists.
The theatre will come under the supervision of Charles Penley, whose skill as a producer has often been displayed in other Paramount halls, and under the general managership of E. L. Dimmock. A. staff of over 100 will be employed.
Left - An Article on the opening of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road with Reginald Foort on the Theatre's Compton Organ - From the Kinematograph Weekly, 16th of January 1936.
The opening week's stage presentation will be entitled "Dazzle," and the company will include the 16 Paramount Tiller Girls, Leon and Lucette, the Magyar Troupe, and the Three Jades. The Paramount orchestra of 40 will be under the direction of Anton, and Reginald Foort will be at the organ.' - The Stage Newspaper, 6th of February 1936.
The Builder also reported on the new Paramount Theatre in their 28th of February 1936 edition, along with several images reproduced here, saying:- 'Externally a striking feature of this theatre is the cream trough-shaped marquise which extends the whole width of the Tottenham Court-road facade and returns down the side elevation in Grafton-street. Below this marquise the facade is of buff polished marble and black marble skirting.
The cafe windows, unobscured by signs and combined with the tall fluted columns in blue faience, mark the entrance corner with a distinctive note. At this higher level the general facing is in sand-faced multi-coloured brickwork, this being picked out in darker bricks to form a diaper pattern.
Right - The Cafe of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
In the broad sweeping entrance is the pay-box, executed in stainless steel with green glass panels, flanked on either side with three pairs of double entrance doors, single-panel glazed and painted green. The entrance foyer, two stories in height, is at a slightly higher level than the entrance vestibule. The balustraded stairway runs up one side. The carpet in the entrance foyer, designed by Mr. Philip Connard, R.A., was one of five chosen to be hung in the octagonal room at Burlington House for the Royal Academy Exhibition of British Art in January, 1935. It is called "The Thames at Richmond."
The cafe-lounge, situated over the entrance vestibule, is in tones of broken pink walls with a Marina green-and-grey carpet. Five windows light this cafe, rising to the full height of the room.
Above - The Auditorium and Stage of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
The auditorium is so planned that sitting in any part of the house a full view of the stage and screen is obtained undistorted. The proscenium is flanked on either side by organ grilles in gilt plaster, the transition from the side walls of the house to the proscenium itself being effected by plaster columns and a stepped treatment in the ceiling.
Right - The Auditorium of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
The colour scheme of the auditorium is in copper, Marina green and Italian blue. The ceiling is coved, there being one dome to the front and one larger cove to the rear of the house. The front ceiling cove is of deep gold with a silver surround, and the balcony ceiling cove is similar but deeper, rising from a silver grey surround.
The total seating capacity is 2,568 (1,676 in the stalls and 892 in the balcony), the seating being executed in crushed mohair velvet of Chinese orange colour.
A Compton organ (four manual, eleven ranks, 168 stop keys) has been installed, embodying the most up-to-date improvements, including the new electrone and melophone units. The console is in silver, mounted on the left of the orchestra pit, on a revolving lift.
The architects were Messrs. Frank Verity and S. Beverley, F.R.I.B.A., collaborating with whom were Mr. E. H. Perkins, "Paramount" director of theatre construction, and Mr. S. W. Budd, consulting engineer for the steelwork. The quantity surveyor was Mr. J. Pritchard Williams, F.S.I. The general contractors were Messrs. Hall, Beddall and Co., Ltd., and the following firms were associated with the work:
Left - The Balcony Foyer of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
Moreland, Hayne and Co., Ltd., steelwork; F. Bradford and Co., Ltd., precast stone work and concrete work ; Enfield Red Brick Co., Ltd., bricks; Luxfer, Ltd., metal windows; Turner's Asbestos Cement Co., asbestos. roofing; Carrier Engineering Co., Ltd., heating and ventilation; Berkeley Electrical Eng. Co., electrical installation; Best and Lloyd, Ltd., electrical fittings; Hill's Patent Glazing Co., Ltd., lantern lights; Arthur L. Gibson, Ltd., rolling shutters; Sturtevant Engineering Co., Ltd., vacuum cleaning plant; Hoffman Sprinkler Co., Ltd., sprinkler installation and fire-fighting equipment; James Walker, Ltd., fibrous plaster; D. Sabel and Co., Ltd., iron staircases; Knight and Co. (Engineers), Ltd., safety curtain and organ consols lift; Haywards, Ltd., pavement lights; Gimson and Co. (Leicester), Ltd., counterweighting gear; Jennings, Ltd., Lambeth, terra cotta work; Carter and Co., Ltd., tiling and terrazzo; Garton and Thome, Ltd., ornamental metalwork; Mr. Joseph Nerini, decorative painting; Gray and Sons, Ltd., lightning conductor and flagstaffs; May Acoustics, Ltd., acoustic treatment; St. Pancras Electricity Dept., electrical sub-station work ; Pixton's, Ltd., seating; John Compton Organ Co., Ltd., organ; John Foster and Son, Ltd., furnishing fabrics; N. F. Ramsay and Co., Ltd., hardware; Art Pavements, Ltd., marble work; Western Electric Co., sound equipment; Hall, Beddall and Co., Ltd., joinery; Macfarlane and Co., marquise; Boro' Electrical, "Neon" signs; Claude General Electrical, "Neon" to marquise; John Crossley and Son, Ltd., carpets; Maple and Co., Ltd.. carpets; Electrical Construction Co., electrical transformers; Major Equipment Co., electrical switch boards; Leeds Fireclay Co., sanitary fittings; H. Twaddle and Sons, Ltd., plumbers.'
Above - An Archtects Plan of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road when it first opened in 1936 - From The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
The above text in quotes, and its accompanying images, was first published in The Builder, 28th of February 1936.
Above - A Google StreetView Image showing the Site of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road in September 2022, alongside which is the Apartment Building called Paramount Court and the former Basement Ballroom space constructed at the same time as the Theatre which still survives today - Click to Interact.
The Paramount Theatre had first opened on the 10th of February 1936 and was run by Paramount Pictures but in 1942 the Company's Theatres were purchased by Odeon Theatres Ltd., and it was later renamed Odeon in 1946.
Right - An Advertisement for the opening of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road in 1936 - From the Daily Mirror, 10th of February 1936.
In June 1953 Odeon installed a Cinemascope Screen in the Theatre some 35 feet wide by 21 feet tall as a demonstration for Twentieth Century Fox. The Theatre was equipped for Stereo Sound at the same time. A few months later it was revealed to the public too.
A few year later another innovation was installed at the Theatre, namely "Cinemiracle" which was a three projector process beamed onto a large Cinerama Screen some 71 feet wide by 28 feet tall. The first and only film to be shown like this was 'Windjammer' in May 1958 and the screen was removed in November the same year.
Left - A Google StreetView Image showing the Site of the Paramount Theatre, Tottenham Court Road in September 2008 - Click to Interact.
Odeon closed the Theatre on the 5th of March 1960, just 24 years after it had first opened as the Paramount Theatre in 1936. It was then immediately demolished, but the Theatre's site then remained empty and unused, other than for car parking, for the next 55 years until it was eventually redeveloped as a Cancer unit for the nearby University College Hospital. The Theatre's former Ballroom, situated beneath the Apartment Building next door which is called Paramount Court, was later put to use as a Gentlemen's Club called Spearmint Rhino but at the time of writing this is currently also being redeveloped.
Some of the later information for this Theatre was gleaned from the excellent Cinema Treasures Website.
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