Paramount Theatre Abilene, Texas

Brief History: One of Abilene’s most interesting features is the historic Paramount Theatre, located in the heart of downtown. Opened in 1930, this magnificent movie palace is a monument to a by-gone time in America, when movie-going was a chief form of entertainment for people of all ages. In an attempt to revitalize it's downtown movies, the Interstate Theatre Company "re-muddled" the Paramount in the later part of the 1960s but, this had no impact on the sagging attendance and it fell into disrepair and was closed by Interstate. 

In the early 1980s and just in the nick of time, a group of volunteers, with mutual love for the historic structure banded together, to save the Paramount from destruction.  The theatre was purchased in 1984 by an anonymous generous benefactor who financed its restoration to its original appearance (completed in 1987).  The Paramount now offers a yearly Film Series, as well as live entertainment on its renovated stage.

Through the years, the Paramount has enjoyed an illustrious history. Construction began in 1928 when Horace O. Wooten, Abilene wholesale grocer and financier, financed (with cash) the magnificent showplace adjacent to his new 16 story Hotel Wooten. The Theatre was to be leased to Paramount Pictures Corp. Mr. Wooten choose as Architect the David S. Castle & Co., Abilene, Texas and their Spanish/Moorish design, similar to their design of the old Abilene High School on South 1st Street. In a rare twist of fate, Thomas LeSueur, father of Lucille Fay LeSueur, better know as actress Joan Crawford (top star of rival Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios) was hired to do most of the ornate plaster work, trademark of the Theatre's interior.

John Crawford

The opening night on May 18, 1930, featured “Safety In Numbers,”  a 1930 American Pre-Code musical comedy film starring Carole Lombard.  The entire town turned out to witness the social event of the decade when over 1,400 electric bulbs illuminated the 90 foot theatre marquee.

Safety in Numbers

Click here to hear of one of the film's hit songs, "My Future Just Passed"

Safety in Numbers (1930) Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, Carole Lombard

Soon after the Paramount Thearte's opening, independent film distributors sued Paramount Pictures and the major film producers and forced a separation of film production and its distribution. This lawsuit as well as the depression caused both RKO and Paramount Pictures to file bankruptcy. Karl Hoblitzelle (1879-1967) of Dallas, was able to form and very successfully run what became Interstate Theatres Corp. to handle film distribution and theatre management, of the part of the theatre chain located in and around Texas. Abilene's Queen, Majestic (sold in the mid 1950s), Paramount and Park Drive-In Theatres were a part of Interstate / Trans-Texas Theatres company.

Promotional stunts (such as people sitting on block of ice, out front on the sidewalk to demonstrate how cold the A/C was inside) were second nature for long-time manager Wally AKIN, in whose loving hands the Paramount progressed for over thirty years. Many locals still remember bringing milk bottle caps to get into “Uncle Wally’s Birthday Club” on Saturday mornings. The Paramount remained operating as a movie theater until the mid-seventies when reduced downtown traffic and newer forms of entertainment saw declining box office revenues. After closing for a brief period, the Paramount re-opened in 1979 as the Paramount Opry for a short lived career in the country music business, but was not successful in that format.

Paramount Theatre - guided video tour

Working as Paramount Theatre's Usher and Doorman from 1959 to 1960, during most of my Abilene High School years, gave me a unique opportunity; to freely explore almost every square foot of all 5 levels, inside and out of the Theatre,  learn its history, meet a few movie stars and to truly appreciate old buildings for their architectural beauty as well as mechanical function.

The Paramount was the venue of choice for Friday nights during our Junior and Senior high school years. Almost every classmate has memories centered around that period in our lives. Below are some of those memories shared in 2014 by some of my classmates from Abilene High Class of 1961.

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Note: Check back in later for newer posts which will be in blue.

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Logan, you are the greatest - an astounding piece on the Paramount. Thank you for putting it together. I notice you lack comments from any of the cashiers. Enter Cuz Jesensky - 1961-1962. I was a senior at Cooper High in the Distributive Education Program and hired by the Paramount Manager, Don Furman. Before my "tour of duty" was over, I had cashiered at the Queen Theatre a couple blocks from the Paramount and at the Park Drive-In and worked the concession stands when help was needed. Loved the Paramount cashier booth, sitting out watching the traffic on the street and everyone as they approached. We had a buzzer to ring for the doorman if we needed anything because we could not get up and leave the booth unattended.

Experiment in Terror

Memories - Stefanie Powers came the Paramount when her movie “Experiment in Terror” was released in 1962 (OMG! her skin was not perfect; she had freckles) - doing the twist in the aisles in the balcony - and my favorite - My entire graduation class of Cooper 1962 dressed in formal attire came to the Paramount instead of having a prom. I was in the cashier's booth selling them all tickets.

TheTwist1962

Some of the staff at the time were Joe Fortin, an airman who worked as the doorman, James Cain, Manager of the drive-in, Frank Sheffield, who was manager of all the theatres, and of course, Billy Don Turner, Manager of the Queen. Billy Don had an amazing voice and also worked in radio. Hugs to you as one of the ushers in those blue uniforms. I remember you well.

Cuz

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Logan, this is great!   Brought back so many memories.  So we'll done!!!!!

Oh my sweet Lord, WALLY AKIN!!!!(long time Paramount manager)  He gave me a job---when I was at South Junior!

I had worked at the Crescent Drive-in cleaning up during the daytime and running the kid's rides at night, and so I went to big Wally and asked if I could play the piano during shows and intermissions on Saturday and he did it.  The pay was free
passes to the movies, and I can still see them in my head (like business card size and turquoise and blue).  He introduced me one Saturday morning and said I was from South Junior High and there were many BOOs!!!!  So I guess I appeared and performed at the Paramount Theatre in Abilene, Texas USA and that oughta be on my bio!!!!  In addition to being a bus boy at he Dixie Pig (50 cents an hour), of course!

Giant thanks, Joe Armstrong

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Following graduation from Texas A&M with a degree in Architectural Engineering, I was hired by a construction firm there in Abilene.  It was a filler type employment because I had orders to active duty US Army Corps of Engineers, Troop Unit Command as a brand new lieutenant, active date 8 October 1965.  So from June 1 through October 1, I was assigned as Project Engineer on the expansion of the SW Bell Telephone building next door to the Paramount Theater.  About a month later, I was assigned as Project Superintendent of the Paramount Theater Remodeling Project.

In that time, from July through September, I got really acquainted with the 1929 Paramount Theater from below the orchestra floor to above the ceiling, the "back-of-house" was laid bare to my explorations.  I was particularly surprised about the return air plenum beneath the main floor.  An antiquated air conditioning system depended on floor grilles open to that plenum, grilles beneath the seating on the main floor.  Within the dirt floored plenum, where those grilles were, you could see mounds of about 3- to 4-feet high piles of old pop-corn, stuck together by cola syrup and whatever the audience above might cast on that sticky floor and which, as luck would have it, would find their way to and through one of those floor grilles.  Oddly, those piles of refuge didn't smell nor were there any insects participating in the disposal of any.  They were just there along with dust everywhere, but it was a dirt floor after all.

I was also surprised to find that the stage rigging for 5 flies (that's stage jargon of cable-lifted curtain and scenery pipe stanchions) still intact, though not used since Tex Ritter and his horse made a stage appearance there when I was 8 years old.  I also saw a walled up door on stage right, walled up with structural ceramic tiles covered in a light coat of plaster.  I later discovered where that door led.  Not to hold you in suspense, but here's that bit of the story.

Down stairs in the Rest Room Lobby, which we re-floored and repainted as sort of army green, to the right of the south stair was a door which was a closet.  But there wasn't a companion, symetrically located door to the left of the south stair.  So the Interstate Theaters guy from Fort Worth instructed us to cut in a door, make it a fake one just to look good.  So we commenced to cut into that plaster covered wall so as to install that faux door, and voila when we got through the plaster to the actual wall, we found that same ceramic tile, removing which proved to be quite a chore even with sledge hammers and chipping chisels.  Once some of that wall was removed, we found a whole new space---another room!!?!  It wasn't on the old drawings, but there it was.  With old actors' dressing vanities, beveled mirrors, wrought iron lamp holders, very old light bulbs and cloth covered wiring, all covered with years of dust.  On one of those dressers---I call them "dressers", maybe "vanities" is the proper word---was a 1941 newspaper.  Apparently, this room had not seen use in who knew how long.  Further exploration around a corner of the room was another opening which had been sealed up.  It looked to have been at one time connected to the Wooten Hotel next door and possibly the basement of that hotel.   Thinking about it, we came to the idea that perhaps visiting vaudeville actors and drama troups were housed in the hotel and came to the dressing room in preparation for their entrance through that other door previously described and at the top of a dark stairway eventually arriving at stage right for a glorious entry to perform.

We also found traces of ticketed top class entries on the main floor access to the Wooten for those patrons who perhaps attended a show performance and, without going outdoors, simply meandered from the Paramount through an arched doorway to the Wooten lobby.  There seemed to be a real connection between these two structures, more than just sharing a common wall, ground floor up through balcony level, attic and roof of the Paramount itself.  The south edge of the roof abutted the north wall of the hotel even.

In retrospect though, this remodeling made a mess of the old entrance, I think.  I am so glad they decided to restore the facade and reinstall the old ticket booth.  I do remember removing that booth top portion (from about waste high on up to the top), loading it on my pick-up along with a couple of my men, carrying it over to the Community Playhouse over across the street from the old Fair Park Stadium.  It was thought that they might could use it for a ticket booth there, as opposed to our simply trashing the thing.  I didn't like how we had to install the movie bulletin marquees either, surrounded by all that wall tile.  And cutting in a hole for ticket sales where the old concession store once was---darn.  And behind that just off the north exit hall, we had to cut in another door to make an office right behind the "new" ticket booth.  I didn't like that at all, but only Interstate Theaters had say in the matter.  And those aluminum doors?!!!  Give me a break; we were making a mess of the old lady.  Like I say:  I am so glad they restored it back (close) to what it once was when I first saw Hop-along Cassidy and Gene Autry picture shows and Bugs Bunny cartoons.

So there you go.  My adventure with the lovely lady, the Paramount Theater of Abilene, Texas, circa 1965 . . .and much earlier beginning in 1946.

JON B. KING
AHS '60
Texas Aggie '64

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Jon, thanks so much for your great addition to the "Paramount Story."  Not that it is needed but, I can attest to almost everything you encountered in 1964.  Hope you don't mind if I post it on the Class website and add an experience of mine which is related.

I became intimately knowledgeable of this area during one 1960 Christmas holiday period matinee.  Working as a matinee Usher, I was startled by a teenage girl's shrieks coming from just inside the South downstairs entrance to the theatre auditorium.  Based on the pitch of her shrieks and the commotion, I assumed that she had been accosted and rushed to her aid.  I quickly discovered that a lost contact lens was her only problem.  At that point in my life experiences, my only knowledge of those early glass contact lens came from observing the lens difficulties of Dale Tharp at Abilene High.  So, I had some slight knowledge of how easily these lens could pop out.

The young lady explained that just after entering the auditorium, her lens just went flying and with the light coming from the still opened door she saw it shoot straight into the floor grille in the South aisle.  Shining my flashlight down into the trash heap you describe, revealed nothing but trash.  After telling Judy (as I learned) that it appeared her lens was lost forever, she became very distraught and started crying.  As I tried to physically comfort her, some of her tears fell on the shoulder of my blue usher's uniform and her tears somehow released a torrent of Chivalry within me.  After getting her seated on the lounge couch, I promised her that I would locate her lens and retrieve it at any cost.   

The size of the floor grille opening prevented a direct mission assault but, my earlier explorations of the bowels of the theatre gave me hope of a possible entry.  Going behind the stage and then climbing down the stairs into the mechanical room, I found a large entry point in the air handling system.  After shutting down the heating and air handling system, I entered the sheet metal access door and found that I could squeeze past the air handler and gain entrance to the labyrinth of cement tunnels which composed the return air plenum.  Trudging through the evenly spaced trash piles, I soon arrived at the pile directly underneath the offending floor grille and shinning my flashlight into the heap immediately revealed the light prism created by the lost lens.

After delivering the lens back to Judy and without much regard for sanitation, she rinsed off the lens, re-inserted it into her right eye then reentered the auditorium, to see the movie without much, if any, thank you.  The life lesson here: Chivalry is often like the Paramount Theatre location, Cypress Street - one way.

...... Logan

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Michael Grant’s contribution, from his book “Warbirds.”

In fact, the 1950s were themselves tumultuous with change.  The media and consumer driven world of the late 20th century could trace its roots directly to events of the 1950s.  The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and author David Halberstam saw so much happening in the 1950s that he wrote a complete book, titled, simply, “The ‘50s.”

            It is true that at the time, in Abilene, much of that change occurred with the force of a pebble dropping unheard into a distant pond, such as the unanimous Supreme Court decision of May 17, 1954, that ended the “separate but equal” doctrine of educational facilities for whites and blacks.  That ripple would not reach Abilene for another decade.

Other changes, like television, advertising, and longer, sleeker cars, were more apparent.  But there was one change that more or less blew the others away.  It occurred on a Friday night in April, at the Paramount Theater downtown.  Friday night was the traditional movie night for high school and junior high students.  Admission was a quarter, Milk Duds were a nickel, cokes and popcorn a dime.  Each teen group had its chosen area, its turf, in which to sit in the large theater, built in the popular fashion that suggested an ornate outdoor playhouse under a dark blue sky.  In the sky were “stars,” and across it moved floodlight-generated “clouds.”  It could get noisy, and ushers with their flashlights were on constant patrol.

            The movie this Friday night was “Blackboard Jungle,” starring Glenn Ford and Anne Francis. Also in the cast were two young actors, Vic Morrow and Sidney Poitier.  None of the kids in the theater knew anything about the movie; they were there because it was Friday night.  First there was the black-and-white newsreel, then the cartoon, then the curtain fell in preamble to the feature.  The effect was to set up anticipation, and in fact the crowd became quiet.  There were two or three moments of relative calm.  Then:

            “One two three o’clock four o’clock ROCK!

            “Five six seven o’clock eight o’clock ROCK!

            “Nine ten eleven o’clock twelve o’clock ROCK!

            “We’re gonna ROCK around the CLOCK tonight!”

            It was music, very loud and urgent, and it thundered on into its first verse – “When the clock strikes one, join me hon” – but the kids in the Paramount Theater sat rock-still, stunned, staring at the rising curtain, transfixed by the energy blasting at them from Bill Haley and the Comets.

            These young people knew there was something happening to music out there somewhere.  They could catch snatches of it on local stations KRBC and KWKC, but they had better luck if they searched for stations in New Orleans, Oklahoma City and Nashville, that came in sometimes with remarkable clarity through a still-uncluttered sky.  This was high-energy music that came from people with exotic names like Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, and it didn’t sound at all like what they were accustomed to hearing from Gisele MacKenzie, Mitch Miller, Les Baxter, Perry Como, Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.

            They were intrigued by the new music, but it had come from somewhere else far away across the sky.  Now they sat in their very own Paramount, with its big speakers and this high-speed music rocketing at them, and for several seconds they were frozen by it.  Then they reacted.  They jumped up and yelled and the cooler ones got into the aisles and danced in frenzy.  It was a before-and-after moment that no one there would ever forget.

            The title of the song was “Rock Around the Clock,” and it came to Abilene and all the other cities as a nice example of cross-media marketing.  The recording industry’s principal marketing outlet was radio.  Listeners who heard a song on the radio might then go buy it at a record store.

            But there were only 24 hours available in a day, and not many radio stations.  In 1955, Abilene had only two, meaning there were only 48 music marketing hours available in any given day.  Worse, the stations used much of their time to broadcast soap operas, news, and shows like “Farm Roundup,” “Mixing Bowl,” and “Arthur Godfrey.”  Their music playlists leaned to proven artists and songs like “Hard to Get,” “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” and “Love is a Many Splendored Thing.”  It would be years before enough radio stations existed to develop what came to be called “narrowcasting.”  In 1955, on KRBC and KWKC, you took what you got, in a very mixed bag.

            So “Rock Around the Clock” rode a movie into town, and the results were instructive to future students of cross-media marketing.  “Rock Around the Clock” became the first example of this new music to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Magazine rating charts, and it did so very quickly, reaching No. 1 in June.

            The movie was electrifying, too, about gangs in schools not only challenging, but intimidating and literally attacking authority.  The teacher, Richard Dadier, played by Glenn Ford, wins in the end, the punk Vic Morrow is hauled away, and Sidney Poitier (a black kid!) leaves the bad guys and becomes a good one.  The movie was so controversial that many communities would not allow it to be shown, including, of all places, Memphis, Tennessee.

            But Abilene did, and kids who came out of the Paramount that night weren’t the same kids who went in.  They came out in possession of a new kind of music, and they knew a new word:  “daddio.”  It was the first night in Abilene of a new extension of culture that would become a culture unto itself.  It can only be imagined what the parents thought on Saturday morning, encountering this change for the first time.

Michael Grant

www.michaelgrant.com

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The fall of our senior year, three of us captured an armadillo and turned it loose in front of the Paramount as the show was changing.  It ran into the dark theater and up and down the aisles.  We fled and laughed for hours.  Reports from the attendees was better than being there.  Fortunately we were not caught or identified to the authorities.

Phil Davis

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Jack Sprouse wrote:
What a grand theater it was. I saw the first Titanic movie there (A Night to Remember) and fell in love with Nyoka the Jungle girl every Saturday when I was in Junior High.

Once, along with a couple of my co-idiots, I took a can of vegetable soup into the balcony and dumped it over the railing, pretending to be throwing up. They made us leave the theater.


To my credit I did have enough sense not to dump it on any people, choosing to pour it onto the aisle below instead. Lucky for me they didn't beat me to a pulp or call my parents, who would have beaten me to a pulp as well.

That was about 57 years ago. I'm assuming the statute of limitations on teenage lunacy has expired by now or I wouldn't be confessing this.

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From Suzanne Morrison Daniel
 

when i was just a little girl before my brothers  started arriving, my mother and i used to go to the movies quite regularly. my first movie was lassie come home followed by gone with the wind, little women and all of the margaret o brien pictures.  i saw them all at the paramount theater.  everytime those movies come on tcm, i just have to stop and watch them.  i distinctly remember looking up at the ceiling of the paramount and watching those twinkling stars and the drifting clouds.  i always wondered who might be behind those castle like doors on the balconies on either side of the stage.  later on, as junior high students, we used to sit in the balcony.  andy henson used to sneak in those big texas style dill pickles and those big texas sized cigars.  during the love scenes in the movie when everything got very quiet, he would start to make big slurping and sucking sounds on those pickles.  he also used to blow smoke from those cigars in feather eppler's hair.  she would get so mad at him that she would start wacking him over the head with this little purse of hers.  from time to time the usher would have to come up and quieten everybody down. i guess that was one of your jobs!.  i also remember when we got in high school, the paramount showed a movie about teenaged unwed pregnancy(not summer place).  i think that it was called blue denim or something like that.  very controversial stuff.  i remember that brandon de wilde played the part of the teenaged father to be.  i don't know if mr. akin made the boys do this but, he wouldn't let the girls in without a note from out parents saying it was okay.  i guess he was afraid of being accused of corrupting our morals!  the last time that i was in the paramount theater was with my mom and stepfather to see don mc clean(american pie). i surely do miss the old place.  there have been a number of people that have tried to retore the old texas theater here in san angelo but, have been unsuccessful.  i am so glad that the city of abilene did not let the paramount theater go down the tubes of history.  there is nothing like seeing a movie at the paramount!  thanks for all the interesting background.  by the way, my dad knew the lasours.  charles, the son, was a mailman there in abilene for a number of years and was a patient of dad's.  according to dad, he was kind of a horses' behind.  he said that when the daddy died, they sent a telegram to joan crawford, but, that she never responded.  from what i have heard about her over the years, the acorn didn't fall to far from the tree!!  anyway, thanks again.  great job!  suzanne morrison daniel

Editor's note:  mr. akin that Suzanne speaks of, was the long time manager of the Paramount and meet Joan Crawford's dad in 1932 in the lobby of the Paramount.  Joan's Dad told Wally Akin about his relationship and Wally later took, and paid, for Thomas to visit his movie star daughter in Hollywood just before he died and was buried in Abilene.  Thomas has not seen or heard from his daughter in 20 years.  (as told to me personally by Wally Akin and researched to the extend that I am sure it is true.) ... Logan

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WHILE ATTENDING FANNIN ELEMENTARY, I EXPERIENCED MY VERY FIRST DATE. IT WAS TO THE PARAMOUNT THEATER. KIRBY AND I FINISHED MOWING AND TRIMMING OUR TEACHER'S, MRS RENFRO, YARD IS SHORT ORDER. WE USED A BRAND NEW FANGLED MOWER, POWERED BY GASOLINE, OF ALL THINGS. KIRBY'S DAD HAD RECENTLY PURCHASED THE MOWED AND WE WERE BREAKING IT IN. AFTER WE WERE THROUGH WITH THE YARD, WE WENT TO THE FRONT DOOR AND GOT THE FIFTY CENTS THAT WE HAD BARGAINED FOR TO DO THE JOB. MRS RENFRO WAS MY OTHER GIRLFRIEND, BOY WAS SHE PRETTY....I WAS AFRAID OF HER HUSBAND, HE WAS A GREAT BIG COP WITH A BIG OL' GUN.
AFTER WE WENT HOME AND CLEANED UP, SUE PROFFITT'S MOM CAME BY TO PICK US UP. SUE'S MOM WAS NEARLY AS PRETTY AS SUE. MRS PROFFITT DROPPED THE THREE OF US OFF IN FRONT OF THE PARAMOUNT. IN WE WENT. WE CAME TO SOME EMPTY SEATS ON THE SOUTH CENTRAL PART OF THE THEATER. SUE GOES IN FIRST, FOLLOWED BY KIRBY, THEN THE ODD MAN OUT. THERE I WAS ON MY FIRST DATE AND I DON'T EVEN GET TO SIT NEXT TO THAT PRETTY LITTLE GIRL. PLUS, I HAD TO SHARE HER WITH MY PAL AS WELL AS BLOWING MY ENTIRE SATURDAY EARNINGS. MRS. PRIFFITT PICKED US UP AND DROPPED US OFF AT KIRKY'S HOUSE WHERE WE PLAYED BASKETBALL UNTIL DARK.SUE SHED US LIKE A BAD PENNY AND FELL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE ELSE. THE PARAMONT ENDED MY DATING UNTIL I WAS IN THE 8TH GRADE.
IF I HAD IT ALL TO DO OVER, I'D GO INTO THE EMPTY SEAT AREA FIRST AND TAKE A CHANCE ON WHO WOULD FOLLOW.....I'LL NEVER KNOW.
THERE WAS THIS GUY NAMED LASH LARUE WHO CAME OUT ONTO THE STAGE AND PERFORMED SOME TRICKS WITH HIS WHIP....EVEN SLAPPED A CIGARETTE OUT OF THIS LADY'S MOUTH. KIRBY NEVER ALLOWED ME TO TRY THAT TRICK ON HIM. THE END

Jerry Grider
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The Clouds and Stars

During my time (1959-1961) at the Paramount, I was, among other things, the self appointed cloud and star man - the clouds had stopped projecting and almost all the star lights had burned out when I first started working there and nobody was interested or knew anything about the system. There was a full-time maintenance man, "Kit," but he only worked on things that were important like the huge old A/C system (the rest of the time he worked on the liquor bottle he kept hidden in the basement). So, first I cleaned up the cloud projector and added oil to it's gearbox and got it rotating again. Next I figured out how to get in the area above Paramount's "false ceiling" where the stars were. Noticing a hotel fire escape above the Paramount's roof, I rode up the elevator to the 5th floor of the Wooten Hotel and climbed out the fire escape onto the Paramount's flat roof. Then, located the "dog house" which was an opening in the roof with steep stairs down into the false ceiling area. But first, had to pick the dog house door lock because no one knew where the key was.

Sunday Matinees were generally slow with plenty of staff time to do lots of things (other than hitting unruly teenage boys on the head with flashlights) to do. Sunday Matinee soon became my star work days. During, my second Sunday of star work, I was busily changing stars and I heard something behind me. Getting of my stomach (required to reach this set of lights through the insulation), I turn to see that Cathy Clair, also AHS student and part-time "candy girl" from the snack bar who had brought me up a large Coke and package of Sugar Babies from the Snack Bar. This was a total surprise to me... Cathy was my age but, a year behind me at AHS, and engaged to an airman from Dyess AFB named Rennie. Maybe I should not have been surprised because, during other slow Sunday Paramount Matinees, while volunteering to pop corn in the very large basement popper, in a room under the front sidewall. Cathy had made it her habit to come downstairs into the Popcorn room and be very friendly. I really did mind Cathy's visits as she reminded me, so much, of the young star, Connie Stevens, whom I had met when she and Troy Donahue were on a promotional tour in Abilene a few months earlier.

After drinking the Coke, we recreated the Popcorn room scenes, among the stars. When her 20 minute break was over, Cathy said that she had to get back to work. I walked with her to the stairs and she climbed to the top and tried to open the door but, the brass knob came off in her hand. As she attempted to re-insert the knob, she pushed the outside knob with the turning rod, out onto the roof, leaving us locked tightly in the theatre ceiling.

Attempting to open the locked door for over an hour, with no available resources or luck, I decided that I had to climb down the steep back part of the plastered false ceiling, behind the stage, which was slick and had no hand holds. After climbing down the first 25 feet, I jumped, to prevent falling, the last 15 feet, rolling I then crashed into the back of the movie screen. Got up, exited stage left, went through the theater auditorium, through the lobby, out the front door, over to the Wooten elevator, rode back up and found the door knob, inserted in its place, opened the door and freed the damsel in distress. However, our attempts to free ourselves, Cathy felt that her yellow snack bar uniform was too messed up to be seen in the lobby of the Wooten Hotel. So, I climbed down the outside roof ladder to the balcony fire escape, lowered the fire escape stairs and encouraged Cathy to follow - which she did. By this time, the matinee shift was well over and her finance, Rennie, had arrived on the scene, to pick her up. Cathy explains to Rennie what had happened. Rennie's only question or comment was: "Who climbed down the roof ladder first." After saying that I did, there was a whole lot of "splain'n" left to do. Note: I believe Cathy and Rennie have been happily married now for 50+ years.

Logan

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When I moved to Abilene and went to the Paramount the first time, I actually thought it was open on the top! The clouds were moving over us and the stars were twinkling just like outside! I was amazed! I'm amazed again--remembering this significant element of my youth. What a difference from the movie theaters today that are so stark. My teenage granddaughters can't even imagine the Paramount. Thank you for sharing. And thank Jerry for encouraging you.

sunny stephens
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Secret of the twinkling stars revealed!

BTW I know those stars twinkled.....how did that happen? Peggy Johnson Moon

OK, now let's get to the good part - the twinkling stars.  In the socket, under the small but bright "star bulbs," there was a little device about the size and shape of nickel.   As the bulbs "burned", there was a little strip of bi-metallic material inside the device.  As the current flowed through this bi-metallic material, the metal would heat up and bent away from its contact point.  As it moved away from the contact point, the connection would be weaker and thus the "twinkle" was produced by this poor connection.  After a second of total disconnect, the metal would cool down and return to its original shape re-establishing a good connection which would start the twinkling process all over again. ..... Logan
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I continue to believe The Metro had the tastiest popcorn. Perhaps because I worked right-across the street @ Piggly Wiggly, and went directly to the movies, after work, on Saturday nights.
Russell Adams

-- Russ, I have to agree about the popcorn.  The Paramount's was popped in the basement and brought up, reheated sometimes several days later - I know because I popped a ton of it myself. Logan

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i GREW UP IN THIS PLACE. i HAVE EVEN DREAMED OF BEING THERE AS WELL.

Arwil Smith
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I believe I went to work at the Queen theatre in the Summer of 1959 and then to the Paramount in the Spring or Summer of 1960. I know I reminded you recently that I met Keith while working at the Queen. He was an airman stationed at Dyess and came to a matinee and spent most of the movie in the lobby talking to me using the excuse of taking a smoke. He had already gone overseas when I started work at the Paramount and he left in Spring 1960. We got engaged by mail....he sent me an engagement ring at Christmas time 1960. Odd way to begin a relationship, but it has lasted almost 52 years. Funny, it seems like I worked at the Paramount a lot longer than a year, probably because of all the fond memories.

I did meet Wally Akin (30+ year Paramount manager) after Keith and I were married a year or so.  He owned the skating rink that had an events room/dance hall on one end and Keith was working for Caldwell Music and playing in a rock and roll band on weekends.  The band performed there a couple of times.  I never heard any news about Truman or Don (later managers) after leaving the Paramount.   Also I remember Dale Winkles (brother of our classmate and quarterback David Winkles), who was manager of the Park Drive-in.  My friend (AHS Class '1961), Anita Horton, also worked at the Paramount.

I need to conjure up more memories before I forget them.

Peggy Johnson Moon

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Thanks for the memories. Last night, I went to see an Elvis Tribute at the Arlington Music Hall with 3 friends that grew up in Arlington. They were telling me how they use to go to the movies in the same theatre we were in. So, I had to tell them about The Paramount. Could not have timed this any better. I am forwarding this to them so they can see why I am so proud of my Abilene heritage.

Thanks again for keeping our memories alive.

Barbara Flaugher

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Thanks for bringing back many old memories of the Paramount. Before I could drive, my mom had to drop me off and pick me up. I had a trick to save money. Even though the pay phone was only 5 cents, I would call home, let it ring once, get my coin back and repeat it. This was the signal for Mom to come get me. Worked every time. 
Mick McIlwain  

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Amazing memories of friends sitting all together. I even had a flood of fear from sitting near the back watching my first horror film!

I am struck by how these images look so much like the old Music Hall in Cincinnati where the symphony performs. Might be fun for you to see the similarities if you can look it up.

Thanks for sharing!

Carol Hall
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I lived on Fannin Street when in elementary school (also at Fannin). I lived down the street from a girl named Darlene Ballou (sp) who I thought was absolutely beautiful but never had the nerve to tell her.
I was friends with LC Baird, Walter Childress and Robert Bridwell. Several of my friends sneaked into the Drive-In theater, down at the end of Fannin Street, in the trunk of the car. The cops caught us and made go back through the gate and pay.
Jack Sprouse

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L.C. Baird wrote:
This is great! Thanks for sharing! I am sure that this brings back a lot of memories for many of us. very best regards.
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Abilene's complete movie history is yet to be written:

"Dummy" (2005) This 50-minute film about a technical director at a historic theater who finds himself trapped in the building with a ventriloquist's dummy who seems to have a life of its own. The film was shot in the Paramount Theatre in Abilene.

"Midnight Cowboy" (1969), starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Footage of Interstate Interstate 20 was supposedly shot near Abilene, as Voight's character leaves small-town Texas for the Big Apple.

When I see this 1969 classic, I cannot help but to be reminded (however, with a totally different plot, of course) of another Texas who left West Texas for the Big Apple about that time and daily wears his cowboy boots, on or near Park Avenue.