Gower Theater
The Gower Theater is a small screening room on the 2nd floor of the W.C. Fields Building. It’s believed that Howard Hughes used the screening room for a period. As a former part of the RKO lot, the first screenings of such classics as King Kong (1933) and Citizen Kane (1941) took place here.
It seats 124, and has screen dimensions of 10′ x 19’11” wide.
As well as standard 35mm film, the Theater has VistaVision projection equipment, as well as a range of video equipment.
Paramount Theater
Built in 1993, this is the flagship screening theater where a number of Paramount movies have been premiered. The comfortable seating was designed by an airline company.
It can seat 516 guests.
It also featured in Clear and Present Danger (1994) as the hotel lobby.
Sherry Lansing Theater
Originally known as the Paramount Theater, this screening room was named after the former head of Paramount Pictures in 2005. It was the largest screening room on the Paramount lot until the construction of the Paramount Theater in 1993. It’s still used for staff screenings, and has some beautiful 1920s murals behind the modern acoustic treatment.
Back in the RKO days, this theatre was the home to an acting workshop run by Lela Rogers (Ginger’s mother), which Lucille Ball was a part of. In 1959, after Desilu took over RKO, Lucy turned the theatre into the Desilu Workshop. She mentored young actors like Star Trek’s Majel Barrett, TCM’s Robert Osborne, and Lucy’s protege and future co-star Carol Cook (who did a bunch of movies like “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”).
There was an epsiode of The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse called the Desilu Revue that was filmed in part in the theatre (parts of it were also done on one of the stages).
Seats: 284
Film projection: 70mm, 35mm
Source: Data, DVD, Projector (Christie 2K), HD (D5), DVCam
Sound: SRD, DTS, SDDS, MAG 6 Trk, EX, 5.1, Red Readers, Stereo Optical
Screen size: 12’6″ x 24′ / 12′ x 28′
(Thanks to William French Jr. for historical information)
