Look Back: The Molly Maguires premiered at the Paramount Theater in 1970

Crowds gathered outside the Paramount Theater on Public Square, Wilkes-Barre, hours before the premiere of The Molly Maguires, a movie staring the late Sean Connery filmed mostly in Eckley near Hazleton.

“All the fanfare and excitement that marks a first-night performance were prevalent in and around the central-city theater,” reported the Evening News on Jan. 28, 1970.

Those gathered got a glimpse of three of the movie’s stars, Frances Heflin, Malachy McCourt and Susan Goodman, a script writer and a co-producer of the film.

Connery sent a telegram to the theater expressing his regret for not attending the film’s first showing as he was in Spain.

The event at the Paramount Theater was a fundraiser for the Kiwanis Club of Wilkes-Barre and Wheelchair Club. The first ticket was sold to the late Con. Daniel Flood, who lobbied Paramount to host the movie’s first showing.

The Molly Maguires was a secret group of Irish Catholic coal miners who fought for better working conditions and wages in the anthracite coal field of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The Molly Maguires were responsible for 142 murders and 162 felonious assaults during a long reign of terror in Schuylkill and Carbon counties from 1854 to 1877.

Although filming mostly took place in Eckley, some parts of the movie were filmed in Sugar Notch, Hanover Township and Bloomsburg. Filming began in April 1968.

“Members of the cast and production and technical crews of The Molly Maguires today were shooting scenes at the burning culm bank in the Preston section of Hanover Township. Ashley Police Chief Frank McGowan said the cast and crews arrived at the bank early this morning. He said the filming of the scenes took place on top of the unburned part of the bank located off No. 10 Road between Sugar Notch and Hanover Township,” the Evening News reported July 1, 1968.

Actors, actresses and production crews stayed at the Host Motel, located at today’s Denny’s Restaurant, in Wilkes-Barre, and were transported to Eckley by helicopter each day of filming.

Those living in the area had the chance to be extras in the movie.

“The chance of a lifetime awaits some of the tougher guys from this region who have a desire to make it in the movies,” a Times Leader story published April 23, 1968, seeking extras needed for a Gaelic football game.

“You must be no shorter than 5 feet, 11 inches tall, harbor a love for tough body contact and must be physically capable of administering as well as absorbing a good licking,” the newspaper reported.

Gaelic football or an early version of soccer was a rough game played by rough people back in the 1870s, an era of organized gangs and coal barons being depicted in the picture, the Times Leader reported. Each man accepted for a role in the movie’s football scene was paid $15 per day plus a lunch.

“Athletes lucky enough to make the scene will have some fringe benefits awaiting them. They will be working closely with noted actor, Sean Connery, who will portray the role of Jack Kehoe, tough leader of the Molly Maguires,” the Times Leader reported.

As filming was taking place, businesses advertised in the Times Leader and Evening News welcoming Connery to the area. Fort Durkee Lounge on Public Square boasted Connery visited their pub during filming.

With filming completed, the Kiwanis Club announced on Oct. 16, 1970, they secured the rights for the movie’s first showing at the Paramount Theater, which premiered Jan. 27, 1970.

The Molly Maguires played exclusively at the Paramount Theater for more than one month before the movie was released to other theaters, including the American Theater in Pittston, Wyoming Theater in Wyoming and the Forty Fort Theater in Forty Fort on March 4, 1970.

When drive-ins opened for the 1970 season, the Moonlite in West Wyoming, Sunset in Mountain Top and Garden in Hunlock Township hosted the movie charging full carloads $2.