Lights, Camera, Action!

Lights, Camera, Action!. . , Movie-Making History , The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts stands within the Kaufman Astoria Studios complex (formerly Paramount Studios) , a bustling center of movie-making with roots in the early 20th century. The complex is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in the early motion picture industry in the United States. Many original buildings remain, including Building No. 1 , the monumental concrete structure across 35th Avenue which is a designated New York City landmark. It is still one of the largest operating sound stages in the world., Among the nine buildings contributing to this National Register Historic District was the building that formerly stood on this site , Building No. 24. It was erected in 1953 by the U.S. Army to support the Signal Corps Pictorial Center which was located here between 1942 and 1970., Paramount Studios , During its heyday in the 1920s, about forty percent of Paramount Studios' production took place in Astoria. Rudolph Valentino, Claudette Colbert, W.C. Fields, The Marx Brothers, and Gloria Swanson were among the many actors who made movies here. Then in 1932, studio operations moved to southern California for a more suitable climate. By the end of the decade, the Astoria studio was vacant., U.S. Army Signal Corps Pictorial Center , At the beginning of the U.S. involvement in World War II, the vacant studio was turned over to the War Department and Army film production started almost immediately. The complex served as the Army's Signal Corps Pictorial Center (S.C.P.C.) for the production of educational training and propaganda films, which was integral to the U.S. war effort. At the time, the S.C.P.C. was one of the largest producers of films in the world, producing an average of 300 films per year in 28 years. Hollywood directors Frank Capra, George Cukor, John Huston, and Daryl Zanuck were all commissioned in the Army and produced films here during World War II., Though it had only a supporting role in the complex's movie-making history , serving as a barracks and dining hall , Building No. 24's facilities were crucial to the Army's filmmaking activities., In 1970, the S.C.P.C. moved out, leaving the studio vacant again. For most of the 1970s, the studio was vacant or partially leased out for independent production. Then in 1977, the Astoria Motion Picture and Television Center Foundation, a nonprofit corporation, took over and rejuvenated the facility, which has been operated by Kaufman Astoria Studios since 1982., In 2009, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts opened to serve students from Queens and New York City at-large, offering performing arts education and real-life opportunities with the lively movie studio across the street. The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the National Park Service determined that the school's design would be compatible with the historic district and requested that this plaque be erected to commemorate the property's historic significance., Sources: , Historical Perspectives, Inc. , Kaufman Astoria Studios , George Kotuby , Museum of the Moving Image , National Register - Nomination Form 1978 , Parsons Brinckerhoff, Inc.