'^M

Vestal Theatre Bldg.
Bought by Neighbor
BINGHAMTON. N.Y.—More than a
year after it showed its last film and almost
six weeks after a skateboard park it housed
closed, the Vestal Theatre building has been
sold, it was reported by Ronald Brownstein
in the business section of the Sun-Bulletin.
The man owning an adjoining plot of land
bought the theatre. Brownstein's report is
quoted, in part. here.
Pasquale "Patsy" Scarano purchased the
building for a price "over $130,000." Scarano's
lawyer. Darwin Wales of Binghamton.
said.
"As of right now." Wales said, "he (Scarano)
has no immediate plans for the property."
Wales said that a tenant has not yet been
lined up for the building. "I hope that sometime
this fall he will find a use for the
building." he said.
Purchase Had Been Planned
He added. "For a long time Mr. Scarano
had hoped to buy this (property)." since it
adjoined land that he owned.
Scarano owns the plot of land immediately
west of the theatre, which houses Auto
board.
Wales said he did not expect Scarano to
appear before the board "until we have a
use for the building."
A Vestal man heading a firm called Indoor
Recreation opened a skateboard park
in the theatre April 15. but it closed early
in July. The firm, which was headed by
Frank P. Petty, a Vestal accountant, remodeled
the theatre to include a series of banked
curves, ramps, mounds and other skateboarding
obstacles.
The theatre, which opened in August
1948 and screened its last movie May 23.
1977. was owned by Myron A. Melamed.
Binghamton; Howard Davis. Chenango
Bridge; Abraham A. Kaufman. New York
City; B. Norman Pearlman, Binghamton:
Ben Horowitz. Binghamton; Howard Barr.
Belmont. Mass.; Robert Risebery. Waltham.
Mass.; Leonard Kaufman. Binghamton. and
Michael Maseyko. Binghamton.
When the theatre closed last May. the
owners said it could not compete successfully
with the large circuits. At that time it
was showing "Network." a film about a
large, powerful TV network.
hVOO-Seat Downtown Paramount
Succumbs to Fate in
By MAURIE H. ORODENKER
WILKES-BARRE. PA.— It was a losing
battle for Paramount, the new owners of
the Paramount Theatre, which attempted
to provide the city's downtown area with
a movie house. And just as the central-city
shopping district has trouble attracting patrons,
the Paramount Theatre faced the
same problem with the result that the film
policy has been dropped. Hoping to keep
the theatre alive, the owners now are depending
entirely on live concerts, which
they had been bringing into the house since
they acquired the 1,700-seat theatre last
year.
While the Paramount now will rely on
live shows, there is a possibility that a movie
will be brought in from time to time, Martin
Saluck, vice-president for Paramount
Productions, who is in charge of booking
the live attractions at the local theatre, said
that what has happened to the Paramount
Theatre is what is happening to many other
downtown theatres which are being phased
out for thj more conventional shopping mall
Sport by Jiri, and the main office of Star theatres.
Dry Cleaners. Scarano owned the dry cleaning
operation for many years but the business
Tried Every Formula
Saluck said he has tried about every formula
now is run by other members of his
family. Wales said,
Scarano was in Florida and could not be he could in an effort to continue the
Paramount's image as a family theatre, but
reached for comment. Wales said he is not the public failed to respond. According to
expected to return to the area for three Saluck, those in charge of running the theatre
weeks.
here have offered second-run films at
Vestal officials said they had not been a low admission price and, when this didn't
work out, they offered first-run films at a
notified of the sale, but added that Scarano
would need approval before using the building
cheaper admission price than ether area
theatres were charging.
as anything other than a skateboard
He pointed out that the theatre brought
park.
"Irregardless of what goes in. though, he'll in "Thank God It's Friday" as a first-run
have to come before us." said Archie W. offering. As it turned out, the Paramoiml
here was the lowest grossing theatre in the
Stuart, chairman of the Vestal planning
entire state for a first-run production. He
said the theatre also lost money on two
first-run Walt Disney productions.
Saluck said they've tried every approach
to attract the puljlic to the movie house,
but the public just won't come out. To illustrate
the lack of attendance, Saluck pointed
out the biggest draw for one showing at the
1,700-seat theatre was approximately 350
people. In the movie end of the Paramount's
operation, Saluck said the corporation's
losses were 10 times greater than had been
expected.
Saluck and Jack Smith, president of Paramount
Productions, agreed that the theatre
is subsisting on its live concerts. The concerts,
whether rock, pop or middle-of-theroad,
are profitable as they attract large
crowds of diehard music fans, they said.
Saluck said Paramount Productions will
continue to promote concerts and live
shows. To generate income to keep the theatre
in operation, they will rent the building
to other concert promoters and civic organizations.
Hopefully, from time to time,
they will be able to offer special films for
limited engagements.
Wilkes-Barre
Saluck said that the days of 1,700-seat
movie houses are numbered. While city
officials have worked hard at making the
downtown shopping district more appealing
to the public, the people just didn't seem
interested in going to the movies. Moreover,
he added, the costs involved in maintaining
such a large theatre were astronomical.
While Paramount has terminated its motion
picture bcxikings, the public in northeastern
Pennsylvania has not abandoned
going to the movies. The five screens making
up the Cinema Center in the suburban
Wyoming Valley Mall, operated by General
Cinema Corp., and the local drive-ins, are
finding plenty people coming in night after
night.
Carl Fissk, manager of Cinema 1 and 2,
and Rich Salmons, manager of Cinemas 3,
4 and 5, report that business is good for the
wide variety of entertainment offered on
the five screens. Moreover, the theatre complex
in the shopping mall is easily accessible,
with the free parking helping to attract
customers at all times.
Salmons said the five GCC houses are
enjoying a "booming business" this year.
Fisk, who just came here a few weeks ago,
said that being in a shopping mall really
helps the movie business.
Hurt by Area Construction
Frank Scavo, manager and co-owner of
the Wilkes-Barre Drive-In, feels that the
Paramount's movie business was hurt by
the reconstruction work going on in central
city with so many of the streets torn up and
buildings in the midst of construction work.
He added that TV and the Home Box
Office movies provided for cable TV subsjribers
also cut into the Paramount's drawing
appeal despite the fact that it is a beautiful
theatre.
Harry Miller, Wilkes-Barre City administrator,
regarded the Paramount's decision
to discontinue presenting films as the trend
which has shifted movie operations, economically,
from the large, plush theatre to
the small, less elaborate cinema similar to
those at the Wyoming Valley Mall here. A
smaller seating capacity, he said, lowers the
cost of maintaining the theatre. Further
proof that the downtown theatre is becoming
a thing of the past also is evident in
neighboring Scranton, Pa.
At one time, central-city Scranton had
three theatres. Now that number has been
reduced to one. Of the three movie houses,
all that remains in Scranton is the Center
Theatre. The Strand Theatre is closed and
slated for demolition, while the Comerford
Theatre has been transformed into a minishopping
mall.
.Austin Burke, director of economic development
for the Scranton chamber of
commerce, said that the only difference between
Wilkes-Barre's Paramount and Scranton's
Center is that Center still is running
films. "How long this will continue, I don't
know," he added.
BOXOFFICE :: August 28, 1978
E-1