The Paramount Theatre Snack Bar, 1955
Motion Picture Herald, July 2, 1955, p.52.
Hey Kids! Drinks and Snacks at the Paramount Theatre, Summer 1955
Does anyone know their names?
In my research I’ve come across a couple of images of the snack bar at the Paramount Theatre in 1955. They appeared in the U.S. trade magazine, Motion Picture Herald, published out of New York (though it originated in Chicago). The first, “Drink Sales Doubled,” is July 2, 1955, and the other, “Theatre Stunt,” is Oct. 8, 1955.
I would dearly love to know the names of the women in the two photos. So if you have any ideas or suggestions, please notify me through the Contacts page of this website.
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The Paramount snack bar, in the lobby, 1949. Library and Archives Canada (LAC), 4443.
The Paramount Theatre, at 286 George St. N. (where The Venue is today) opened in December 1948, about a year after its equally modern next-door neighbor, the Odeon (now the site of Showplace), made its debut.
For the following decades the Paramount and Odeon were the prime sites for moviegoing in Peterborough, showing the latest and biggest motion pictures. Their only rivals, the Centre (at 346 George N., demolished in the 1970s and replaced by Peterborough Square) and Capitol (at 306-308 George N.), were closed in 1956 and 1961 respectively.
Motion Picture Herald, March 12, 1955, p.33. Yet another Peterborough Paramount soft drink promotion hits the U.S. business press.
An Examiner retrospective in July 1950 commented: “Yes, the movie industry certainly has changed. Movie-making many now be called an art, and it is a modern miracle that Peterborough’s four theatres can bring local audiences the best, and the rest, of that art from the studios of Hollywood, London and the world.”
By the middle of the 1950s television, suburban living, and the mobility offered by the automobile were having an effect on movie attendance. Paramount manager Arthur Cauley had come to Peterborough from Cobourg in 1936 to take over management of the Capitol; in 1953 he had moved over to the Paramount. Cauley did everything he could to lure in the customers – as apparent in these promotional gimmicks that captured the attention of the New York–based trade magazine Motion Picture Herald.