CHARLIE ROOT – CITY MANAGER

INTERSTATE THEATRE CIRCUIT

1933 – 1975

100th Anniversary Countdown Paramount Theatre Continued!

Charlie Root, former city manager for Interstate Theatres in Austin, including the Paramount, was my first true supporter in 1971. I was 23 having just graduated from UT’s Radio, Television and Film Dept. The original idea for the Paramount came on a trip to LA which included a showing of “A Clockwork Orange” at the Pacifica Theatre. It was a magnificent theatre but I knew it was not just a movie house.

Upon my return to Austin, I made a bee line to the Paramount to buy a ticket so I could sneak backstage to see if there was a stage house. No stage house – no live shows. Eureka! There was. I ran up the stairs to ask for the manager and was introduced to Charlie. I told him my idea to save, restore and rejuvenate the Paramount as a performing arts theatre. He lit up! Charlie started at the Paramount as an usher at 19. He rose in the ranks to become manager of the then Queen Theatre on Congress. It saddened him, greatly, to see Interstate abandon the Paramount, letting it fall in to disrepair and resorting to showing Kung Fu movies with Bruce Lee.

He introduced me to Bobbie Crenshaw and the other Paramount heirs, helped us with American Bank to lower the lease from $3,600/month to $1,500/month and was instrumental in the transition between Interstate leaving and our taking over on April 15, 2015, almost 40 years ago next month. Charlie once played “burn out” in the alley with Cab Calloway. He was a great guy, a friend, kind, supportive and a wonderful golfer with Daryl Royal, Wally Scott, Sr. and others. He had a wicked short game. If Charlie doesn’t take me in like family in the beginning, we might not have ever got off the ground. Thanks a million, Charlie Root!!! Kung Fu out…millions of fans served hundreds of the finest entertainments in the world.

SHOW TIME!!