Paramount News is the name on the newsreels produced by Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

 (1927-1957).

History

The Paramount Newsreel began operation in 1927 and distributed roughly two movie theater issues per week until their closing in 1957. Movie theaters across the country would run these issues, usually on 35mm nitrate film stock. The Paramount News weekly issues typically ran from seven to nine minutes, with the average story running from forty to ninety seconds. At first, the newsreels ran silent, its action only listed via a title card. By the early 1930s, sound had been introduced to Paramount News, and a handful of voice over talent had been hired to now narrate the events over the filmed action (see below). Bill Slater

Bill Slater (broadcaster)

Bill Slater was an educator, sports announcer, and radio/television personality from the 1920s through the 1950s. He was perhaps best known for hosting the radio shows Twenty Questions and Luncheon at Sardi's...

 (1903-1965) was the narrator for Paramount News for many years.

When the news warranted, the entire issue was devoted to one major story, as for the bombing of Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 (1941), the historic inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

's third-term as president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

 (1941), a presentation of a Mid-Century Sports Poll (1950) where sports figures such as Jim Thorpe

Jim Thorpe

Jacobus Franciscus "Jim" Thorpe * Gerasimo and Whiteley. pg. 28 * americaslibrary.gov, accessed April 23, 2007. was an American athlete of mixed ancestry...

, Babe Ruth

Babe Ruth

George Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...

, Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the sprints and the long jump. He participated in the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he achieved international fame by winning four gold medals: one each in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, the...

, Jack Dempsey

Jack Dempsey

William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey was an American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926. Dempsey's aggressive style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first...

, and Babe Didrikson (among others) were highlighted, or a recap of the All-America

All-America

An All-America team is an honorary sports team composed of outstanding amateur players—those considered the best players of a specific season for each team position—who in turn are given the honorific "All-America" and typically referred to as "All-American athletes", or simply...

n college football team of the previous year.

A typical issue began with a "hard" news item, which eventually wound its way down to "softer" news items as the issue progressed, usually ending with a recap of recent sports events.

Paramount cameramen shot some rare footage in its day, putting Paramount News near the forefront of the competition of the other newsreel divisions such as Pathé News

Pathe News

Pathé Newsreels were produced from 1910 until the 1970s, when production of newsreels was in general stopped. Pathé News today is known as British Pathé and its archive of over 90,000 reels is fully digitised and online.-History:...

 (1910-1956), Fox Movietone News (1928-1963), Hearst Metrotone News/News of the Day

Hearst Metrotone News

Hearst Metrotone News was a newsreel series produced by the Hearst Corporation, founded by William Randolph Hearst.-History:...

 (1914-1967), Universal Newsreel

Universal Newsreel

Universal Newsreel was a series of 7- to 10-minute newsreels that were released twice a week between 1929 and 1967 by Universal Studios. A Universal publicity official, Sam B. Jacobson, was involved in originating and producing the newsreels...

 (1929-1967), and The March of Time

The March of Time

The March of Time is a radio series, and companion newsreel series, that was broadcast on CBS from 1931 to 1945 and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was created by Time, Inc. executive Roy Edward Larsen, and was produced and written by Louis de Rochemont and his brother Richard de...

 (1935-1951).

A Paramount News exclusive was the 1937 Republic Steel

Republic Steel

Republic Steel was once the third largest steel producer in the United States.The Republic Iron and Steel Company was founded in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899....

 strike in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. On Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...

, May 26, 1937, a strike escalated into a massacre, documented by the 1937 film Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage

Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage

Republic Steel Strike Riot Newsreel Footage is a 1937 documentary film which tells the story of a strike at Republic Steel on Memorial Day, May 26, 1937, which escalated into a massacre in which 10 workers were killed, documented by this film....

.

Highlights of Paramount News include basketball player Wilt Chamberlain

Wilt Chamberlain

Wilton Norman "Wilt" Chamberlain was an American professional NBA basketball player for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers; he also played for the Harlem Globetrotters prior to playing in the NBA...

 being introduced to the sports world at the age of seventeen, playing high school basketball and countless special coverage of Paramount movie premieres and stars, including Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Bing Crosby

Bing Crosby

Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby was an American singer and actor. Crosby's trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century, with over half a billion records in circulation....

, Martin and Lewis

Martin and Lewis

Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....

 and Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...

 solo, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 at New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

's Paramount Theater

Paramount Theater

Paramount Theater or Paramount Theatre may refer to:In China*Paramount or Paramount Theatre, Shanghai, ChinaIn the United States *Paramount Theater on the U.S...

 in 1944, with throngs of bobby soxers swooning, and W.C. Fields on a Paramount set (filming International House

International House (1933 film)

International House is a comedy film, directed by A. Edward Sutherland and released by Paramount Pictures. The tagline of the film was "the Grand Hotel of comedy".-Actors:*Peggy Hopkins Joyce as herself*W. C. Fields as Prof. Henry R...

) when the 1933 Long Beach earthquake

1933 Long Beach earthquake

The Long Beach earthquake of 1933 took place on March 10, 1933 at 17:55 PST , with a magnitude of 6.4, causing widespread damage to buildings throughout Southern California. The epicenter was offshore, southeast of Long Beach on the Newport-Inglewood Fault. An estimated fifty million dollars worth...

 hit.

Paramount mogul Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor

Adolph Zukor , born Adolph Cukor, was a film mogul and founder of Paramount Pictures.-Early life:...

 "presented" (produced) Paramount News and appeared in many of its newsreels throughout the years.

Voiceover talent

Voiceover talent included Gregory Abbott (1900-1981), Paramount News' lead voice for its presentation of news and the only narrator to stay for the entire run. Paramount News incorporated sound into the newsreels during the early 1930s and Abbott was hired during its inception of sound and remained until the series ended in 1957), Gabriel Heatter

Gabriel Heatter

Gabriel Heatter was an American radio commentator whose World War II-era sign-on became both his catchphrase and his caricature...

 (who introduced the voiceover talent in a special issue release of Paramount News during the early '30s, Gregory Abbott being among those introduced), Vincent Connoly, Maurice Joyce

Maurice Joyce

Maurice Joyce is an Irish director and animator. Joye was born in Dublin, Ireland and was formerly based in New York. He has worked on television shows and movies including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Beavis and Butt-head Do America....

, Dennis James

Dennis James

Dennis James was an American television personality, actor, and announcer. He is credited as the host of television's first network game show, the DuMont Network's Cash and Carry in 1946...

 (later a TV game show

Game show

A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

 and variety show host), Gilbert Martyn, and Frank Gallop

Frank Gallop

Frank Gallop was an American radio and television personality.-Radio:Frank Gallop went into broadcasting by chance...

 among others.

The sports voiceover talent was handled by Bill Slater in the early years and from 1948 to the end of the Paramount run in 1957 was handled by the ex-athlete and football player Marty Glickman

Marty Glickman

Martin "Marty" Glickman was a Jewish American track and field athlete and sports announcer, born in The Bronx, New York. His parents, Harry and Molly Glickmann, immigrated to the United States from Jassy, Romania....

, who later became known as the voice of New York sports and renowned in sports broadcasting. Other broadcasters like Johnny Most

Johnny Most

John M. "Johnny" Most was an American sports announcer, known primarily as the raspy radio voice of the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association from 1953 to 1990....

, Don Dunphy

Don Dunphy

Don Dunphy was a United States television and radio sports announcer specializing in boxing broadcasts. Dunphy was noted for his fast paced delivery and enthusiasm for the sport. It is estimated that he did "blow-by-blow" action for over 2,000 fights. The Friday Night Fights were broadcast every...

 and Jackson Beck

Jackson Beck

Jackson Beck was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's The Adventures of Superman and the voice of Bluto in the Famous era Popeye theatrical shorts.-Career:...

 who lent their hand doing sports voiceover for a few Paramount News releases (Jackson Beck also did a few "hard news" stories as well); Gregory Abbott

Gregory Abbott

Gregory Abbott is an American soul musician , singer, composer and producer. He currently lives in both New York and the San Francisco Bay Area.- Biography :...

, Gilbert Martyn, and Maurice Joyce

Maurice Joyce

Maurice Joyce is an Irish director and animator. Joye was born in Dublin, Ireland and was formerly based in New York. He has worked on television shows and movies including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Beavis and Butt-head Do America....

 also handled some sports stories.

Awards

Paramount News Issue #37 (1946) was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short

Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject

This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...

.