Loew's Capitol Theatre

1645 Broadway,
New York, NY 10019

Unfavorite 47 people favorited this theater

Showing 651 - 675 of 1,086 comments

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on November 20, 2008 at 6:51 am

The ad was dated 8/11/65. The paper: the New York Journal-American.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on November 20, 2008 at 6:50 am

In this ad you can see two Cinerama pictures from United Artists within 4 blocks of each other, one great (“Greatest Story”) and one lousy (“Hallelujah Trail” at the Capitol – I never liked that movie. Maybe it was better in Cinerama …) Whatever you or I may think of the movies, though … what a choice to have!

View link

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on November 20, 2008 at 6:14 am

And between the Warner and the Victoria, “How to Marry a Millionaire” is showing in CinemaScope at the Globe. And I’ll bet those are red marquee letters too.

William
William on November 19, 2008 at 5:42 pm

You can see “This is Cinerama” is at the Warner Theatre in it’s 9th. month. The Victoria Theatre is playing “Forever Female” with William Holden and Pat Crowley.

kencmcintyre
kencmcintyre on November 19, 2008 at 5:07 pm

This February 1954 view of the Capitol signage is from a new collection of Life Magazine images on Google. Apologies if I missed this photo anywhere in the above posts.
http://tinyurl.com/5bbdr8

markp
markp on September 11, 2008 at 10:02 am

Marble staircases, ornate ceilings made of marble and plaster, now thats a movie palace. It beats any of these sheetrock multiplexes they build today.

Rory
Rory on August 17, 2008 at 9:45 am

That marble staircase originally had no escalators in the middle of it, and I think a lot of elegance was lost when they were put in. If I’d owned the place I’d never have done it, but it’s all moot now anyway and it’s still a damn shame the theatre is no more.

Goodheart
Goodheart on August 16, 2008 at 10:55 am

Rory, you hit the nail on the head!

JoeB

Rory
Rory on August 16, 2008 at 10:39 am

Going to the movies at a theatre today just isn’t the same as it was, even as recently as the late 70s. It’ll never be the same. Theatres no longer have the kind of lobbies they used to, nor the poster displays, and just looking at what’s now being asked for popcorn and sodas is enough to make you cry. Even though I like the new stadium seating of some newer theatres, it still kind of sucks going to the movies these days — plus most movies suck!

PGlenat
PGlenat on August 16, 2008 at 9:11 am

Now that is sad. It might be any mallplex theatre rather than the once grand NY Capitol theatre. There is absolutely no hint of its original splendor.

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on August 15, 2008 at 9:29 am

Also, was the vast backstage area just sitting vacant after the Cinerama installation?

mrchangeover
mrchangeover on August 15, 2008 at 9:21 am

Warren:

Do you know what happened to the projection equipment from Cinerama and the old upstairs booth? Was it sent to other theatres or did it all become part of the demolition wreckage?

BobFurmanek
BobFurmanek on August 15, 2008 at 9:10 am

Thanks for that post Warren, but how depressing!

edblank
edblank on May 29, 2008 at 7:54 pm

Leon, A small point, but you may be confusing two films by the title “See No Evil.” The that played at RCMH in 1971 was the GP-rated (now PG) thriller in which Mia Farrow played a blind girl terrorized by a killer. It wasn’t especially good, but it was an inoffensive variation on the Audrey Hepburn blind-lady thriller, “Wait Until Dark,” which had a successful 1967 run at RCMH.

A later, unrelated movie called “See No Evil” was a graphically violent R-rated exploitation film; it did not play the Music Hall.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 5:03 pm

As far as I know, Wanda was also the first Daily News critic to give 4 stars to a science fiction film, “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” (1962):

View link

The films that came before it which we now consider sci-fi classics could never get beyond ½ (“The Time Machine”, “The Thing”, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) or (“The Day the Earth Stood Still”, “The War of the Worlds”, “Journey to the Center of the Earth”). “Forbidden Planet” got **.

I could be all wrong here: “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” may have gotten ****. Gotta check up on that at the New York Public Library.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 4:33 pm

I always had a special respect for Wanda Hale because she was one of the few New York daily critics who appreciated “2001”.

roxy1927
roxy1927 on May 29, 2008 at 3:50 pm

I thought Hale lasted into the 70’s. I seem to remember her lamenting the state of the Music Hall movies when See No Evil opened there(truly a bottom bill of a drive-in blood fest) and happy that a Christmas movie like 1776 was playing there.
In fact I am truly surprised that they went back to the 30’s.
Wow, what a change they saw in movies and theaters.

edblank
edblank on May 29, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Vis a vis the women film critics for the New York Daily News: I once read that the name Kate Cameron was a nom de plume, just as Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren were.

Whatever her real name, Kate Cameron’s surname reportedly was an in-joke: Camera On.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 1:29 pm

You’re very welcome, Joe.

Wanda Hale must’ve been with the paper for more than 30 years – I can recall reading her reviews up until the late 1960s.

In the Movie Time Table (on the review page), you can see that the last showing of “Oz” at the Capitol started at 1 AM. Wow. No Judy and Mickey stage show for those patrons, though.

Goodheart
Goodheart on May 29, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Bill, thanks for the great New York Daily News reviews of “Gone With the Wind”. Four stars **** from both critics.
Growing up in Brooklyn I read the Daily News reviews of Wanda Hale and Kate Cameron. Those were the days.

Joe B.

roxy1927
roxy1927 on May 29, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Pre opening ad of WOO has Four Feather on it’s final day. What a great time to be going to the movies.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 4:25 am

Not one, but two 4-star reviews for the same picture on the same page, 12/20/1939. Has this ever happened before or since?

View link

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 4:18 am

4-star Daily News review of “The Wizard of Oz”, 8/18/1939:

View link

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 29, 2008 at 4:03 am

Lots of information (some of it inaccurate – we never do get to see Emerald City from the stratosphere) in this New York Daily News ad for “The Wizard of Oz”:

View link