Hundreds of people, many sporting “The Blade” pins, crowded in front of the Paramount Theater December 15 for the finishing touch in the refurbishment of the 1931 historic venue: the lighting of the blade.
Margie Shepherd remembers going to the Paramount shortly before it closed in 1974 for a double-bill, a midnight screening of Reefer Madness and Fantasia. For her party of four, “It was hard to find four seats in a row that weren’t broken,” she says.
She has seen many Steve Trumbull exhibits of historic Ed Roseberry photographs and realized the Paramount “was such an integral part of downtown” in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s. Once the switch flipped on the 600 LED bulbs in the blade Tuesday night, “It was just glorious,” says Shepherd.
Shepherd had another reason besides nostalgia to be at the lighting. She’s the proud mom of Rosemary Miller, who works for the Paramount and spent the past year raising money for the blade.
“We actually exceeded our goal of $175,000,” says Katherine Davis, Paramount director of marketing. When the blade arrived in town December 3, the theater had raised around $160,000. Then the local Perry Foundation called and said it would like to finish off the fundraising, says Davis.
“We incurred more costs than we anticipated with the construction, move and installation,” she says. “Everyone was making their best guesses, but it cost a little bit more than anticipated.”
The lighting went smoothly, starting with the P and a deliberate delay in the sequence of lighting the rest of the letters in the sign. “People were going, ‘Will it come on?’” says Davis. “That was planned.”
No one is sure quite what happened to the original blade, says Davis. In 1992, a group of citizens bought the by-then-decrepit Paramount, and a multi-year fundraising and restoration began, culminating in a gala opening December 15, 2004—exactly 11 years before the new blade sign was lit.
Says Davis: “It was good to see it all come together.”