Paramount is an Art Deco theater with striking towers that shine brightly. Under the light of Paramount, historical stories are unfolding.
Text|Qiao Zhenyue
Paramount
On December 5, 1933, Paramount Ballroom opened, and the English newspaper Continental newspaper said that the project invested one million and may be the most luxurious ballroom in China or the Far East. One of the four major ballrooms in old Shanghai, Paramount is a Western-style building built by Chinese, invested by Zhejiang businessman Gu Lianzhang and others, and when it opened, it included a beautifully designed hotel with suites with balconies.
"The ballroom is modern and designed in beautiful colours, and the band, service and entertainment are wonderful. Paramount calls its Grand Ballroom the most beautiful nightclub on this side of the Pacific, and it lives up to its name. The Continental newspaper reported.
The report also revealed that Paramount is luxuriously decorated, and the management team strives to provide guests with the best entertainment enjoyment, and the main consideration when purchasing decorative fabrics and equipment is the effect, not the price.
Zhang Yaojun, a researcher at the Shanghai Archives, found that Paramount's ballroom is divided into two floors and can accommodate hundreds of people. The first floor has a spring-spring floor for dancing, while the upper floor is a "crystal floor" made of glass and lit by light bulbs. In 1936, Charlie Chaplin, a famous British actor who had just finished "Modern Times", danced with Paulette Goddard in this modern ballroom.
The Continental newspaper reported that this spring floor is excellent and very effective for expressing dance steps and theater. The lit "crystal floor" is intended for upstairs guests, who use private rooms and do not want to go downstairs to the grand ballroom. Paramount has two spacious large private rooms for large parties.
In January 1934, the magazine "Chinese Architecture" published an article entitled "The Rise of Paramount", revealing the reason for the design of the Paramount Ballroom with two floors. The article mentioned that if the ballroom is too large, the guests are full on holidays or banquets, and a few guests are placed in the huge and vast hall on weekdays, "there is a sense of loneliness." One example is the Majestic Hotel (demolished), where when the number of people attending the banquet on weekday evenings is small, "like entering the old palace and temple, it is much less joyful". According to statistics, every six nights of that year, the number of banqueters in the dance hall often increased by more than five times compared to the usual evenings.
Paramount's solution was ingenious: the ballroom was divided into several spaces, a floor was added, and two private rooms were added. Guests first sit downstairs in the Grand Ballroom, and when the downstairs is full, guests will naturally go upstairs to the seats. The building is full and then open the private room. In this way, 400 people can be seated downstairs, 250 people can be accommodated in the building, and 75 people in private rooms, from more than 100 people to 800 people.
Zhang Yaojun said that Paramount's Chinese and English name was conceived by investor Gu Lianzhang. Paramount Ballroom, where "Paramount" means "supreme", shows the owner's ambition to build the "First Ballroom of the Far East". And the Chinese name "Paramount" means to the world of joy and catchy. The name of Paramount Ballroom in both Chinese and English is very memorable, and it was also well received after the grand opening.
"The ballroom is softly lit, the walls are beautiful and there is a great floor for dancing and gliding. The band is fascinating, the star entertainers who provide entertainment are full of charm, and this place really is, as its Chinese name suggests, 'the door to a hundred kinds of joy'. All the luxurious and comfortable ways to attract modern men and women of high taste are pleasantly and harmoniously combined in the ballroom. I'm sure that many of you and many other friends who will visit here in the future will find this the best place to spend your leisure time and get the most out of it. The opening trailer published in the Continental newspaper in 1933 quoted a guest from commenting.
Paramount is not only invested by Chinese, but also the work of Chinese architect Yang Xili. In a lecture on the work of modern Chinese architects in Shanghai, Academician Zheng Shiling of Tongji University specifically mentioned Yang Xili, a graduate of the civil engineering department of Nanyang Public School (the predecessor of Shanghai Jiao Tong University), as a leader among locally trained architects.
Yang Xili served as secretary of the Architectural Society of China and was also in charge of the publication committee. If we want to understand the modern architecture of Shanghai now, we often look up a magazine "Chinese Architecture", which he edited. He is also a faculty member of architecture at the Business School of Hujiang University. Zheng Shiling introduced.
Zheng Shiling believes that Yang Xili has the characteristics of Chinese architects at that time, not only doing design, but also teaching and teaching at universities, so he has both theoretical research and design practice. Yang Xihua's representative works include Hongde Hall, Nanjing Hotel, Shanghai First Special Administrative Region Court, National Business School and Paramount Ballroom, the most famous of which is Paramount Ballroom.
"He used 'sound, light, electricity' to design, very gorgeous, and used spring flooring to make dancing feel different, which is an entertainment building designed earlier by Chinese architects." However, Paramount has undergone a lot of historical changes, and the renovated style is no longer the same as before. He said.
Yang Xili's career continued a long time, and after 1949, he also participated in the design of the top ten buildings in New China. The Paramount Ballroom, which made him famous for its architecture, became a high-end ballroom after its opening.
"Paramount is a 'gold cave'. A cup of tea cost 5 cents, and at that time you could buy 9 pounds of flour. A steak costs 1 yuan, a bottle of champagne costs 16 yuan, and the working class cannot afford to spend. Paramount guests are either rich or expensive, and Flying Tigers generals Chennault and Chen Xiangmei held an engagement ceremony at Paramount. Zhang Yaojun said.
He mentioned that Paramount is best known for the assassination of dancer Chen Manli. Chen Manli was once Paramount's most popular dancer, once married Liu Huanzhi, general manager of China Industrial Bank, and later returned to Paramount dancer life.
According to the English edition of the Beihua Jie News on February 28, 1940, the case occurred late one night a few days earlier. At that time, Chen Manli and two male guests were sitting at a table near the Paramount when they were suddenly attacked by an assassin with five bullets. Chen Manli and one of the guests were killed, while the other was slightly injured. The band was playing the latest waltz, the lights were dimmed, and the dance partners entered the dance floor. A man in Western-style clothing sneaked up on the beautiful Chen Manli, and he took out a military pistol hidden in his clothes and shot at the young girl. Screams rang out in the ballroom, bottles and glasses hit the ground, and people on one side of the ballroom fled, while the dancers on the other side were still waltzing, unaware of the tragedy that had just happened. Suddenly, the music stopped abruptly. The killer later fled the scene. Police officers from the Jing'an Temple Road Police Station came to the scene of the crime.
The reason for Chen Manli's assassination remains a mystery and has different theories.
In the spring of 2017, Paramount was renovated for three years and became a luxurious and intricate ballroom, open to the public. It is said that many guests who re-enter Paramount have a deep relationship with Shanghai.
About the author
Joe Zhengyue
Shanghai Poster Group Shanghai Daily Urban and Architectural History Columnist, Chief Reporter, Chief Planner of Qiao Shanghai Media Studio, Deputy Secretary-General of the Historical Building Protection Committee of Shanghai Architectural Society, Distinguished Industry Tutor of Master of International Communication at School of Journalism, Fudan University, Master of International Journalism at School of Journalism and Communication, Shanghai Overseas Chinese University, Editorial Board Member of Built Heritage in English, Standing Director of Shanghai Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese Youth Federation, Shanghai Architectural Science Culture Pacesetter".
Architectural Map of West Nanjing Road (please view horizontally)
Editor's note:
This column is derived from the supplement "Paramount" of Jing'an News launched on February 8, 1994. On the WeChat platform, "Paramount" will be presented to readers in a new form. Push regularly every week to read Jing'an from a different angle. Submissions can be sent to [email protected]
Author: Qiao Zhenyue
Image: Source "Reading Nanjing West Road"
Editor: Stani
Editor-in-chief: Stani
Source: Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore publishes "Reading Nanjing West Road"
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