GaryMrMets
02-21-2005, 09:39 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/282508p-242120c.html
Taking a final bow
LIU set to play its last hoop game at storied theater
By SEAN BRENNAN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
The reminders of a glorious past surround you as you enter the Brooklyn Paramount's grand main room.
The large gold columns on each side frame a pair of four-tiered golden fountains, each adorned with a golden goddess. The original lights that once illuminated the Paramount's great stage are still in place. That stage hosted shows from Bing Crosby to Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, from Jim Morrison to Ethel Merman and Rudy Valle and from Jerry Lee Lewis to Ginger Rogers (before she met Fred Astaire).
The ceiling, a splash of opulent golden fixtures, still dominates the room, while a handful of the old theater chairs can still be found in the far reaches of the dusty balcony.
"You could sit in those seats, close your eyes and feel like you were back in the vaudeville era," says Joe Dorinson, a professor of history at Long Island University in Brooklyn and a historian of the Paramount.
When the Brooklyn Paramount opened its doors on Nov. 24, 1928, it was considered the crown jewel of downtown Brooklyn. Standing nine stories high, with its spectacular architecture and 4,200 seats, it rivaled the lavish theaters of Times Square. It was also the home to the famous Wurlitzer organ which provided music to the theater's early silent films and entertained movie enthusiasts between features.
But when the Paramount turned down its lights for the final time in August 1962, after a showing of the John Wayne movie, "Hatari," the former movie showplace became the new basketball home of the LIU Blackbirds. Since that first game, an 85-56 victory over Pace on Nov. 30, 1963, one week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, LIU basketball has lived on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues.
But like the vaudeville acts and entertainment greats who preceded them, the Blackbirds, too, will now take their final bows at the Paramount. Their curtain call will come Thursday night when they host Northeast Conference foe Robert Morris at 7 p.m. in what is their last regularly scheduled game at the historic site.
LIU will move into its new $40 million arena down the block next season.
"When I first took the job here, my dad said to me, 'You know, your gym is where I used to go to shows and dances and all that stuff," says LIU coach Jim Ferry. "This was the place. There was Broadway and then there was the Brooklyn Paramount."
Framed movie posters from films of the 1940s and 50s still decorate the walls of the building, which LIU bought in 1950 and converted into classrooms in the 1960s. And even though it's been over 40 years since its last link to the entertainment world - Duke Ellington was the last to perform at the Paramount in March 1971 - it still draws historians and curiosity seekers by the score.
"We get practices disturbed all the time," says Ferry, now in his third year at LIU.
"We have historians coming in to look over the place, or someone from the math department wants to show a friend the building. We have camera flashes going off all the time and we're trying to run a practice. For the players and coaches, we just look at it as our home court. It's where we go to work every day. But when you take a step back from it, and see what it used to be, it really does have a significant history to it."v
Mike Hittman, a professor of anthropology at LIU and noted historian of the Brooklyn Paramount, remembers the day after the final show.
"August 22, 1962," Hittman says. "They started taking the letters down off the marquee and the conversion began. It was sad to see. This had been the first movie theater wired exclusively for sound. They used to pair vaudeville acts with talking movies and there were also many great jazz performers who played the Paramount. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie played there. There was even a great blues concert with Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding on July 4, 1963. All that for $5. The Paramount was a New York theater at Brooklyn prices."
The Paramount has also seen its share of great basketball theater in the four decades LIU has called it home. There have been four NIT appearances and three NCAA invitations, the last coming in 1998 with a team anchored by Charles Jones, who led the nation in scoring with a 30.1 per game scoring average. It was during that season that the mighty Wurlitzer organ, now sitting in the Paramount basement and in need of approximately $100,000 in repairs, was resurrected for the Blackbirds' NCAA run with the late Yankee organist Eddie Layton working the keyboard.
But after 42 seasons at the Paramount, the time has just come for LIU to move on.
"We have to be the only Division I program in the country that has just two baskets on its campus," Ferry says. "That's it. We're competing for a conference championship and we've got two baskets in our gym. Even high school gyms have eight baskets."
They are the original baskets from the 1963 renovation.
"It's just time to move," LIU A.D. John Suarez says of the court, which may be converted into a student union or a cyber cafe. "We have a lot of alumni who come back here to support the program and it's funny when you talk to those guys. They'll say, 'This is the place I went on a date to one of the rock 'n roll shows and met my wife.' So not only did they go to school here, but they met their wives in this building.
"But it's old, there's no heat and oh, does it get cold in there," Suarez says. "Our kids are great. They've done a great job putting up with inadequate facilities and done the best job they can. But now they're going to have one of the best if not the best facility in New York City. I really believe the best days are ahead for LIU basketball."
Still, it will seem strange not to see the Blackbirds playing under the backdrop of so much history. And even Ferry admits he might allow himself some long last looks come Thursday night.
"There are times I'm like, 'Wow, that's such a beautiful fountain' or 'Man, look at that balcony. Some pretty famous people used to be sitting up there.' It's just such a neat place. Hey, I'm still finding things here."
Originally published on February 19, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/353-paramount_theater.JPG
Since 1963, the Brooklyn Paramount Theater has been the home to the LIU baskeball team.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/790-liu_basketball.JPG
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/370-LIU_bell.JPG
The Blackbirds play their final game at the Paramount Thursday vs. Robert Morris.
Taking a final bow
LIU set to play its last hoop game at storied theater
By SEAN BRENNAN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
The reminders of a glorious past surround you as you enter the Brooklyn Paramount's grand main room.
The large gold columns on each side frame a pair of four-tiered golden fountains, each adorned with a golden goddess. The original lights that once illuminated the Paramount's great stage are still in place. That stage hosted shows from Bing Crosby to Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker, from Jim Morrison to Ethel Merman and Rudy Valle and from Jerry Lee Lewis to Ginger Rogers (before she met Fred Astaire).
The ceiling, a splash of opulent golden fixtures, still dominates the room, while a handful of the old theater chairs can still be found in the far reaches of the dusty balcony.
"You could sit in those seats, close your eyes and feel like you were back in the vaudeville era," says Joe Dorinson, a professor of history at Long Island University in Brooklyn and a historian of the Paramount.
When the Brooklyn Paramount opened its doors on Nov. 24, 1928, it was considered the crown jewel of downtown Brooklyn. Standing nine stories high, with its spectacular architecture and 4,200 seats, it rivaled the lavish theaters of Times Square. It was also the home to the famous Wurlitzer organ which provided music to the theater's early silent films and entertained movie enthusiasts between features.
But when the Paramount turned down its lights for the final time in August 1962, after a showing of the John Wayne movie, "Hatari," the former movie showplace became the new basketball home of the LIU Blackbirds. Since that first game, an 85-56 victory over Pace on Nov. 30, 1963, one week after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, LIU basketball has lived on the corner of Flatbush and DeKalb Avenues.
But like the vaudeville acts and entertainment greats who preceded them, the Blackbirds, too, will now take their final bows at the Paramount. Their curtain call will come Thursday night when they host Northeast Conference foe Robert Morris at 7 p.m. in what is their last regularly scheduled game at the historic site.
LIU will move into its new $40 million arena down the block next season.
"When I first took the job here, my dad said to me, 'You know, your gym is where I used to go to shows and dances and all that stuff," says LIU coach Jim Ferry. "This was the place. There was Broadway and then there was the Brooklyn Paramount."
Framed movie posters from films of the 1940s and 50s still decorate the walls of the building, which LIU bought in 1950 and converted into classrooms in the 1960s. And even though it's been over 40 years since its last link to the entertainment world - Duke Ellington was the last to perform at the Paramount in March 1971 - it still draws historians and curiosity seekers by the score.
"We get practices disturbed all the time," says Ferry, now in his third year at LIU.
"We have historians coming in to look over the place, or someone from the math department wants to show a friend the building. We have camera flashes going off all the time and we're trying to run a practice. For the players and coaches, we just look at it as our home court. It's where we go to work every day. But when you take a step back from it, and see what it used to be, it really does have a significant history to it."v
Mike Hittman, a professor of anthropology at LIU and noted historian of the Brooklyn Paramount, remembers the day after the final show.
"August 22, 1962," Hittman says. "They started taking the letters down off the marquee and the conversion began. It was sad to see. This had been the first movie theater wired exclusively for sound. They used to pair vaudeville acts with talking movies and there were also many great jazz performers who played the Paramount. Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie played there. There was even a great blues concert with Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding on July 4, 1963. All that for $5. The Paramount was a New York theater at Brooklyn prices."
The Paramount has also seen its share of great basketball theater in the four decades LIU has called it home. There have been four NIT appearances and three NCAA invitations, the last coming in 1998 with a team anchored by Charles Jones, who led the nation in scoring with a 30.1 per game scoring average. It was during that season that the mighty Wurlitzer organ, now sitting in the Paramount basement and in need of approximately $100,000 in repairs, was resurrected for the Blackbirds' NCAA run with the late Yankee organist Eddie Layton working the keyboard.
But after 42 seasons at the Paramount, the time has just come for LIU to move on.
"We have to be the only Division I program in the country that has just two baskets on its campus," Ferry says. "That's it. We're competing for a conference championship and we've got two baskets in our gym. Even high school gyms have eight baskets."
They are the original baskets from the 1963 renovation.
"It's just time to move," LIU A.D. John Suarez says of the court, which may be converted into a student union or a cyber cafe. "We have a lot of alumni who come back here to support the program and it's funny when you talk to those guys. They'll say, 'This is the place I went on a date to one of the rock 'n roll shows and met my wife.' So not only did they go to school here, but they met their wives in this building.
"But it's old, there's no heat and oh, does it get cold in there," Suarez says. "Our kids are great. They've done a great job putting up with inadequate facilities and done the best job they can. But now they're going to have one of the best if not the best facility in New York City. I really believe the best days are ahead for LIU basketball."
Still, it will seem strange not to see the Blackbirds playing under the backdrop of so much history. And even Ferry admits he might allow himself some long last looks come Thursday night.
"There are times I'm like, 'Wow, that's such a beautiful fountain' or 'Man, look at that balcony. Some pretty famous people used to be sitting up there.' It's just such a neat place. Hey, I'm still finding things here."
Originally published on February 19, 2005
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/353-paramount_theater.JPG
Since 1963, the Brooklyn Paramount Theater has been the home to the LIU baskeball team.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/790-liu_basketball.JPG
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/370-LIU_bell.JPG
The Blackbirds play their final game at the Paramount Thursday vs. Robert Morris.