Paragon Studios

 place with historical importance, film/video production studio/facility, historical layer / disappeared object

Located on a large piece of land west of the corner of John and Catherine streets, Paragon Films, Inc. was incorporated on March 31, 1915, and was the last studio to be built in Fort Lee. It was completed in 1916.

Jules Brulatour, who had a financial interest in nearly every Fort Lee studio, owned this one all by himself. As distinct from the property, Brulatour partnered with Maurice Tourneur (the distinguished director) and William Brady (who ran Peerless into the ground) in the production arm of the business. They distributed the product through World. This completed a triad of businesses for the team with Peerless producing standard fare, Paragon producing upscale movies,and World providing distribution.

The studio stood on a large tract of land and had 20,000 square feet of studio, offices, dressing rooms, etc. under a large glass-roofed structure. The 200x200' foot structure was 75 feet high and two rotating stages. Shooting could take place on one side, which construction crews worked on the other getting ready for the next scene. This led to an increased efficiency in production time.

By the end of 1916, Tourneur was looking for a new distribution partner, turning away from World. He turned to Paramount who was the distribution arm for Adolf Zukor's Famous Player-Lasky production company. Eventually, Zukor would take over the entire studio, needing more studio space to supplement his New York studio until his new studio in Astoria was completed in 1920. The studio took the name of it's new controlling interest: Famous Players-Lasky Studios. All the studio signs were changed.

As June of 1920, Lewis Selznick took control, giving him control of about 2/3 of all the studio space in Fort Lee.

Meanwhile, Broulatour, who occupied a small corner of the building launched Hope Hampton Productions (named for his girlfriend), a low-end production company. It didn't last long.

In 1925 control passed to Henri Diamont-Berger who attracted independent production and did some low budget direction. Eventually, the studio became warehousing for stage and television sets, costumes and props. In March of 1952, while under control of Kaj Velden Company, it caught fire and burned to the ground.

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