Paramount Theatre Summer Movie Series

Back in the 1930s and 40s, going to the movies was a real experience. Not only would you see the feature movie, but you'd also see a cartoon, a serial (such as Batman or Superman), and a newsreel before the main feature. People didn't have much money then, so the movies were a real bargain, and an event. People would dress up for the movies. Often they were shown in palaces. Usually the local movie theatre was the first building in town with air conditioning. Seats were plush, ushers wore uniforms, the food was actually...edible. Radio City Music Hall, Graumann's Chinese Theatre, the Chicago Theatre, the Fox Theatre (Atlanta), the Saenger Theatre (New Orleans). The list goes on. It includes the 100 year old Paramount Theatre in Austin. Located in the center of town on Congress Avenue, everyone who's anyone (including Kimberly, and Katharine Hepburn) has played there at some point, and movies have shown there its entire existence.

The longer I live in Austin, the more the things that made it unique are fading away. Liberty Lunch, Steamboat, Les Amis, Inner Sanctum Records, the Varsity Theatre, Les Amis, Quack's, Raul's, the Night Hawk, the Uranium Savages, the Leroi Brothers, Doug Sahm, the Judy's, Joe King Carrasco, available parking, affordable housing, lack of traffic, and going out without being surrounded by hipster douchebags and fake breasted bleached blonde stick figure women.

But one thing that still remains, and makes life in Austin more livable, is the annual Paramount Theatre Summer Movie Festival, which began tonight. I don't spend much time talking about things I like, but this is something I really like. Started in the mid-70s, every summer the Paramount plays classic movies. Since the theatre restoration in the late 70s, the building is exquisite. Uniformed ushers direct you to your seats. Where else can you sit in the balcony? Nearly every night, they have a double feature of classic movies, preceded by a cartoon (usually Bugs Bunny), and a serial episode (last summer it was the original Shadow serial from the 1940s). In the years I've been going, I've seen so many classics for the first time, such as My Fair Lady, Sabrina, The Godfather, the Godfather Part II, Lawrence of Arabia, Citizen Kane, The Way We Were, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Blade Runner, Duck Soup, Annie Hall, All About Eve, The Last Picture Show, Vertigo, and An American In Paris. I know summer is when Hollywood releases its "blockbusters," but frankly, I'd rather see Casablanca for the 100th time at the Paramount than see senior citizen Harrison Ford creak around in the new Indiana Jones movie while surrounded by people talking on their cell phones and while dodging sticky substances on the floor and seats for the first.

Highlights this year include: Casablanca, Gone With the Wind, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Chinatown, Moonstruck, Hud, Planet of the Apes, 2001, Bridge on the River Kwai, and Lawrence of Arabia.

I'll see you at the Paramount. Just wave though; no talking at the movies.