SUE McBEE – AUSTIN HERITAGE SOCIETY
100th Anniversary Countdown Paramount Theatre Continued!
Sue McBee was one of the first five true believers in the project to restore, save and rejuvenate the Paramount in 1975. That same year, she rallied her colleagues to make a $20,000 grant to the project. We were able to convince the Texas Historical […]
ROBERTA REED CRENSHAW
“Bobbie”, as she was known to her friends and family, was the single most important friend we ever had. She believed in 1976, hosting our first ever board of directors meeting at Reed Manor with Les Gage as our first president. Bobbie, on her own, raised money for the restoration of each of […]
LIZ CARPENTER – PARAMOUNT THEATRE BOARD MEMBER
100th Anniversary Countdown Paramount Theatre – In early 1982, I had a brainstorm to have the world premiere of the motion picture, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” at the Paramount as a fund raiser. I had learned that the then CEO of Universal/MCA, Lew Wasserman, was a close […]
GEORGE CHRISTIAN – PARAMOUNT THEATRE
George Christian, former White House press secretary for President Lyndon Johnson, served on our board of directors for many years. He was solely responsible for securing a $25,000 grant from the Curtis Meadows Foundation that enabled the Paramount to purchase its first backstage lighting system. George’s kindness, warmth and joyful exuberance […]
100th Anniversary Countdown Paramount Theatre Continued!
Karl Hoblitzelle – Creator of the Interstate Theatre Chain – 1915-1975
“In his own way Karl Hoblitzelle has been an empire-builder-and his is a prouder achievement than the empires that have risen and fallen since 1906 for his is built not on the forces that divide men, but on the ideals […]
BY JOHN M. BERNARDONI – 2/15/2010©
This was the official program cover for the world premiere of the film on July 11, 1982 at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. The film starred Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Charles Durning, Dom DeLuise, Jim Nabors and Robert Mandan and Lois Nettleton among others. Burt, Dolly, Charles, Jim attended. […]
“The Bishop’s Rook and The Balinese,” currently under development, is an historical fiction novel set during the Maceo gambling era of 1927 to 1957 in Galveston, the raids and shutdown of 65 illegal gaming clubs on the island on June 17, 1957, the connection to the early development of Las Vegas and the migration of […]
A few years ago, we were hired to produce Roy Firestone as the headliner entertainment for a gala benefiting the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Women and Children in Orlando, Florida. We actually ended up reprising our role as producer for Mr. Palmer three years running. But that’s not the story.
I had just arrived at the […]