Managed several Pittsburgh movie houses
Paul Fleming was a relic of an era when slipping out for a matinee was a cherished delight and a night out at the movies was a rare treat.
“Everybody came in coats and ties and all dressed up,” Mr. Fleming recalled in the Pittsburgh Press in February 1984. “It was pleasant and classy.”
In those post-World War II days, when he worked as a manager of several of the city’s biggest cinemas, it wasn’t unusual for thousands of people to flock to movie premieres, with spotlights aimed at the skies and appearances from the stars themselves.
“In the early days, they had the big premieres,” said his niece Catherine Straka, of Morrisville, N.C. “Some of the stars would come to attend the openings.”
Mr. Fleming’s favorite brush with stardom was provided by actress Jane Wyman, who came to Pittsburgh in 1960 to promote the movie “Pollyanna.”
“I took her material for a press conference to her room at the Carlton House,” Mr. Fleming said in the Press article. “She invited me and the usherette who was with me in for coffee. That night, after she’d made her appearances, she made a point of looking for us at the theater and saying goodbye.”
Mr. Fleming, of Pittsburgh’s Elliott neighborhood, died from complications of a brain bleed on Feb. 8. He was 88.
He grew up in Elliott as the younger brother of four sisters and got his start working at theaters as a teen.
“I started as a doorman at the Warner in 1952,” he told the Press about the wellknown cinema on Fifth Avenue, Downtown. “One day, Kirk Douglas came in. I guess he was in town for something. I said, ‘Are you - -?’ He said, ‘Shhh. I just want to see the movie.’”
He joined the theater’s staff at the time of a 1950s world premiere of a U.S. Steel short called “Rhapsody of Steel,” according to the 1984 Press story by former drama editor Ed Blank.
“They brought in Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh and Robert Cummings. U.S. Steel was spelled in ice, which was nice until it started to melt,” Mr. Fleming said in the story. “Then I was asked to be relief manager at the Strand while the regular manager took a honeymoon. It was a long honeymoon. I stayed six years.”
His career was interrupted in 1957, when Mr. Fleming joined the Army and served in Germany for two years.
He toiled at a couple of East Liberty landmarks, the Sheridan Square and the Enright, where Mr. Fleming worked his way up the ladder to assistant manager, wrote Mr. Blank, who enjoyed an enduring friendship as well as a professional relationship with Mr. Fleming.
“He was probably one of the best friends I made among the theater managers,” said Mr. Blank, who retired after 39 years with the Press and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “He was a very, very nice guy.”
Mr. Fleming also helped rescue a family Christmas gathering for Mr. Blank -- a favor he never forgot.
“Something really unusual happened…For whatever reason there wasn’t a (press) screening for ‘The Exorcist,’” said Mr. Blank, who usually wrote his movie reviews after a special prescreening for the media.
“I don’t think Warner Brothers was deliberately withholding it -- maybe they were late making prints or had a late change. It was going to open on Christmas day in 1973 and it would go on to be the blockbuster of that season, along with ‘The Sting.’ I even read the novel and was looking forward to seeing it, but I didn’t want to miss Christmas with my family.
“Paul said the print came in and they would have to run it through the machinery anyway to make sure it’s OK, because this was going to be a huge opening. He told me I could come on Christmas Eve and bring anyone I wanted to watch with me…I was able to get the review written by the afternoon. That was the biggest favor I think anyone ever did for me on the beat, so to speak.”
After three years managing a couple of theaters in Downtown Cincinnati, Mr. Fleming returned to Pittsburgh in 1976 to become the first Bank Cinemas manager.
He retired after about 40 years in the theater business, though Mr. Fleming didn’t stop working completely, his niece said.
“He worked at a Kaufmann’s warehouse on the North Side and also worked for the city as a 911 operator for a couple of years. That was a different job,” she said.
She will remember him as a sweet and fun uncle who also served as her godfather.
“I remember him doing so many special things for me when I was little, like when my family was struggling he would buy me my Communion dress or dresses for special occasions. And, whenever he came to family dinner he’d always sneak a couple of quarters under everyone’s plate just for a special treat,” she said.
Mr. Blank kept in touch with his old friend over the years.
“He was just a very kind and gracious man whose friendship I appreciated,” he said. “I will miss him.”
Mr. Fleming was preceded in death by his sisters Bea Fleming, Marjorie Swearingen, Mary “Honey” Fischer and Rosanne Fleming.
Services were private.
“I started as a doorman at the Warner in 1952. One day, Kirk Douglas came in. I guess he was in town for something. I said, ‘Are you --?’ He said, ‘Shhh. I just want to see the movie.’ ” Paul Fleming in a 1984 interview with the Pittsburgh Press