The Paramount Theatre, also known as the Paramount Arts Center, opened in

Aurora, Illinois Aurora is a city in the Chicago metropolitan area located partially in DuPage, Kane, Kendall, and Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located primarily in DuPage and Kane counties, it is the second most populous city in Illinois, a ...

in 1931. It was designed by

Rapp and Rapp C. W. & George L. Rapp, commonly known as Rapp & Rapp, was an American architectural firm famed for the design of movie palaces and other theatres. Active from 1906 to 1965 and based in Chicago, the office designed over 400 theatres, inclu ...

in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

style with

Venetian Venetian often means from or related to: * Venice, a city in Italy * Veneto, a region of Italy * Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area Venetian and the like may also refer to: * Venetian language, a Romance language s ...

elements. Over the years, it has hosted films, plays, musicals, concerts, comedy shows, and other acts. The structure was restored in the 1970s and added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1980. It is part of the Stolp Island Historic District.

History

In the 1920s,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

began to construct theaters that could accompany their latest films. Talkies had just begun to appear in theaters, and Paramount executives predicted exponential growth in the industry. Older theaters had acoustics and audience accommodations ideal for live theater, but advances in film technology required new trends in these areas. However, since all new theaters showed the same performances, theater design could streamline by having similar visual design.

Vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

was now only shown on weekends and was no longer a medium for nationally recognized talent. The Paramount Theatre in Aurora was commissioned in 1931 by J. J. Rubens for one million dollars. It was designed by esteemed theater architects C. W. and George Leslie Rapp. It was the first

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

building built outside of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

. Paramount intended to bring such large theaters to all large cities across the country, but the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

effectively ended these plans. The theater opened in September 1931 with appearances from Paramount film stars including The Marx Brothers,

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...

Jeanette MacDonald Jeanette Anna MacDonald (June 18, 1903 – January 14, 1965) was an American singer and actress best remembered for her musical films of the 1930s with Maurice Chevalier (''The Love Parade'', '' Love Me Tonight'', ''The Merry Widow'' and '' On ...

and Burns and Allen. It is capable of holding 1,885 people; originally it held 2,125, but capacity had to be reduced to conform to fire codes. In 1976, the theater closed for renovation following its sale to the Aurora Civic Center Authority. It re-opened on April 19, 1978. On September 10, 1986, it was recognized as a Historic Place by the United States

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

, and was simultaneously recognized as contributing property of the Stolp Island Historic District. A lobby was added in 2006, and it remains an important part of the downtown Aurora economy.

Notable productions

In March 2020 '' The Secret of My Success,'' based on the 1987 movie of the same name, was mid-run for its world premiere and pre-Broadway tryout with

Sydney Morton Sydney Morton (born 1985) is an American stage and television actress, singer and dancer. Early life and education According to Morton, her maternal grandfather appeared on Broadway in 1933 in ''Run, Little Chillun'', an all-Black revue, and ...

(Christy Lockhart) and Billy Harrigan Tighe (Brantley Foster/Carlton Whitfield) as leads and

Gordon Greenberg Gordon Greenberg (born 1969) is a stage director, a theater and television writer, and an Artistic Associate at The New Group. Education Greenberg attended Stanford University and NYU Film School Tisch School of the Arts, as well as The Lincoln ...

directing when production was shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. It had been scheduled to run from February 21 – March 29, and the final performance was March 12, as Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker shut down all performance venues starting March 13.

References

External links

Paramount Theater official website
{{Music venues of Illinois , state=collapsed Theatres completed in 1931 Theatres in Illinois Buildings and structures in Aurora, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Kane County, Illinois Art Deco architecture in Illinois Tourist attractions in Aurora, Illinois Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Illinois