I recently saw the blueprints for the theater and made some interesting discoveries! On the original plans the theater was referred to as “Saxe’s Kenosha Theater”. The original plans called for the front sign to say that as well, a rather large vertical sign. Also, though the site just credits George Rapp with the design (for years, we thought it was just George Rapp as well!), the blueprints themselves actually credit both George Rapp and C.W. Rapp for the design on the theater. However, the blueprints don’t seem to include the “gentleman’s entrance”. Perhaps since it wasn’t part of the finished building those plans were not kept. Too bad the design firm itself is long since gone as its very possible copies of those blueprints would have been kept by the design firm itself!
The most exciting thing currently going on in the building is a total renovation of the heating and cooling systems that will utilize the original plenum chambers and basic heating/cooling design of the theater with modern energy-efficient equipment being used. That should all be finished and in place by the end of Sept. 2007. Best part of the whole thing is the building will not need to be damaged in any way for this to occur as original elements of the original system (existing ductwork, etc.) will be used.
Very sad day when I heard this theater was going away. It was a great place to catch a movie downtown without having to go out to either the far west side or far east side to catch a first-run movie. However, isn’t the Orpheum on State St. still doing first-run movies? The college campus needs a movie theater like this again, more entertainment options for the college students that don’t involve going to bars!
I’m not sure if I’d consider Eastgate Cinemas a “Cinema Treasure”. Its a relatively new multiplex. Not exactly something that isn’t repeated a million times over in every other multiplex in the country.
Well, if no one else is doing it. What’s the big deal? From the sounds of it, no one is being charged to see these movies. These are mostly movies no one is showing in any theaters (and highly unlikely to be showing any time soon. Sure, the legality of the whole thing is cloudy at best. Like I said before, there is obviously a market for this type of thing and since it isn’t being filled by normal means. Others are taking it into their own hands.
I don’t know, sounds like a great idea for movies that don’t get shown at your local cineplex. Hard to find theaters that show older movies, which this sounds perfect for. If there is a market for it and its not being filled, someone is going to fill it.
Well, on the subject of Flash Gordon. There is going to be a new TV series made of it on the Sci-Fi network so, we shall see what happens there. If its of any merit it might make a jump to the big screen, who knows?
Well, I don’t have a problem with sequels. Especially with movies that are open-ended (such as “Spider Man', "X-Men', "Transformers”) as they lend themselves to telling new stories with the same characters. There are others (like the previously mentioned “Caddyshack II”) that just shouldn’t have a sequel because the story that needed to be told was told. It had a very obvious beginning, middle and end. As for “Bourne Ultimatum”, isn’t that from a series of books and therefore logical to conclude the whole series of books would be made into movies if it was successful and not just 1?
I think the big beef being discussed here is Hollywood’s obsession with remakes. Sequels, for the most part, have their place and I get those. I just don’t get retelling the same story over and over. I could see it for something where limitations of technology (such as in a Sci-Fi movie) or censorship might have made the story difficult to tell properly. However, most of these sequels just seem to be for the sake of a fast buck, not because the story could be done any better now.
Well, the trend seems to be to remake everything. I’m scared by the fact that in 10-15 years someone will probably want to remake all the 80s John Hughes movies. However, it does seem that Hollywood doesn’t seem to like original ideas anymore. They are all “hey! this made a ton of money the first time! let’s do it again!”. At least with sequels you get a new story. But with remakes, you already know what’s going to happen, you saw it before!
I saw a commercial for “The Invasion” and its like “wait, I saw this movie before, wasn’t it called ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ then?” Guess they are trying to be clever to hide the fact its a remake, like with Poseidon instead of Poseidon Adventure.
But yes, all the remakes are beyond annoying, I don’t plan to see any of them as I saw them already!
This is rediculous. However, coming from Disney it doesn’t surprise me. First smoking, then drug-use, then sex, then violence, then language.
Can you imagine an action movie with the hero walking into the room after the ummm bad guy of nondescript origin does something “bad” and saying “golly gee, that guy really steams me, but maybe we should sit down and discuss the problem!”. Yeah, that would make for a GREAT movie. rolls eyes
Actually, I don’t think it would be hard to overturn the raze or repair order, just someone would have to get in there and do something with it. Problem is, no one has wanted to. That’s some prime real estate there and the city doesn’t like huge empty buildings. If you want to blame anybody, blame the current owner for just letting it sit.
Oh, I’m sure someone is after it. Its a case of a large empty building doing nothing, developers see $$$. Since no one else is jumping at making it a theater, it probably will meet the wrecking ball.
I just doubt that will happen. As unless people get the ability to put movie theater sized screens in their house with a nice 7.1 surround sound setup, people will still go out to movie theaters. You just can’t replace seeing a movie in a theater with a widescreen TV and a regular 5.1 surround system. I also don’t think the illegal downloads will hurt, as I feel these are people that weren’t going to go see the movie anyhow. You can’t lose a sale you were never going to get in the first place!
That is such great news to hear. Though it may not look the same, they are going to rebuild, which means some of the “spirit” of the old building will live on. Also, it sounds like they are using the opportunity to make the building better that before, making lemonade out of lemons.
Wow, does that mean you’re going to try to make it more of a live music/movie venue again? That would be nice. I was so bummed when I found out the place was being turned into a dance club, I never set foot in it after it was converted. I just didn’t want to see what this “conversion” did to the place. Yeah it was beat up with some of the seats not quite attached to the floor but it had a lot of character which I fear was probably lost with that “renovation”. Keep this site up to date on the changes you are making on it!
I honestly don’t think it would have mattered. There really is nothing left of the Capitol Theatre anyhow. Heck, I had gone to the Civic Center for years before I found out that there was actually another theatre in that spot previous to it being the Civic Center! There was nothing to really indicate it was an old theatre, to be honest. I’ve not been in it since becoming the Overture but I’m guessing it looks even less so now.
How tragic, not only was there a fire but its believed that someone intentionally set it. Who in the world would do such a thing? That saddens me greatly to think someone would want to destroy something like as there are so few of the big movie palaces left in this country. most of them fade into memory by neglect, renovations, accidents. They sure don’t need any help.
The odd thing I notice is all the damage seems to be centered around the stage area and the auditorium closest the stage. The front of the building seems very much intact and undamaged. I hope it can be saved, it makes it doubly tragic that all this time, energy and money had just been spent to renovate the theatre and then this happens.
Good luck to Owosso Community Players and hope they can rebuild and would love to follow this story. See where it goes.
Wow, how sad. It looks like a theatre that was once a beautiful space and now a rundown mess. Its a miracle the city hasn’t condemned it yet. I’m sure it will only be a matter of time until it is. So many theatres in the area that could use the work, so little interest/money to do any of them.
I’m not sure how this could still be called the Capitol Theatre. After first being heavily modified when it became part of the Madison Civic Center and then further mangling as it was turned into part of the Madison Overture Center. The only way you can really tell it was ever the Capitol Theatre is from the interior of the auditorium and from the mangling they did converting it into part of the Overture, ripping out the seats under the balcony and turning it into a lobby, I’m not even sure you can tell it from that.
Ahhh, I know this theatre well. My grandfather, Floyd Smith, managed both that and the Ripon Outdoor Theatre sometime in the early to mid 60s. I really don’t know the exact time period he managed it but I heard his daily schedule in the summer went like this. Open and start up the indoor theatre, then run out, open the outdoor, come back to the indoor between showings, check things over, do the 2nd showing, close the indoor, then go to the outdoor and close that up for the night. Crazy schedule!
I’ve been told for years the main reason its still operational is due to its historical significance to the Marcus theatre chain (The first one built)
I lived in Ottumwa for about a year or so and my girlfriend grew up there. From what she has told me. It was a 2 screen theatre, but then they chopped the huge theatre into 4 pieces with the side theatre left alone. I only saw movies there a couple times and the place looked like it was very neglected, run-down. I would suspect, the way Ottumwa is, that the theatre will sit there empty for years, like many other buildings downtown.
There is another building nearby, perhaps that was the theatre known as the Zephyr? Its white in front, looked very ornate,last I knew it was converted into a bar.
There is a new performance space that was built in the last couple years by the river where the old Armory stood. The Armory was used for years for stage performances and such.
Any news on what is currently going on with this theater? Not heard anything in quite a long time.
I recently saw the blueprints for the theater and made some interesting discoveries! On the original plans the theater was referred to as “Saxe’s Kenosha Theater”. The original plans called for the front sign to say that as well, a rather large vertical sign. Also, though the site just credits George Rapp with the design (for years, we thought it was just George Rapp as well!), the blueprints themselves actually credit both George Rapp and C.W. Rapp for the design on the theater. However, the blueprints don’t seem to include the “gentleman’s entrance”. Perhaps since it wasn’t part of the finished building those plans were not kept. Too bad the design firm itself is long since gone as its very possible copies of those blueprints would have been kept by the design firm itself!
The most exciting thing currently going on in the building is a total renovation of the heating and cooling systems that will utilize the original plenum chambers and basic heating/cooling design of the theater with modern energy-efficient equipment being used. That should all be finished and in place by the end of Sept. 2007. Best part of the whole thing is the building will not need to be damaged in any way for this to occur as original elements of the original system (existing ductwork, etc.) will be used.
It’s an exciting time at the theater right now.
That is such great news for them! Glad to see them bouncing back from such a tragedy.
Very sad day when I heard this theater was going away. It was a great place to catch a movie downtown without having to go out to either the far west side or far east side to catch a first-run movie. However, isn’t the Orpheum on State St. still doing first-run movies? The college campus needs a movie theater like this again, more entertainment options for the college students that don’t involve going to bars!
I’m not sure if I’d consider Eastgate Cinemas a “Cinema Treasure”. Its a relatively new multiplex. Not exactly something that isn’t repeated a million times over in every other multiplex in the country.
Well, if no one else is doing it. What’s the big deal? From the sounds of it, no one is being charged to see these movies. These are mostly movies no one is showing in any theaters (and highly unlikely to be showing any time soon. Sure, the legality of the whole thing is cloudy at best. Like I said before, there is obviously a market for this type of thing and since it isn’t being filled by normal means. Others are taking it into their own hands.
I don’t know, sounds like a great idea for movies that don’t get shown at your local cineplex. Hard to find theaters that show older movies, which this sounds perfect for. If there is a market for it and its not being filled, someone is going to fill it.
Well, on the subject of Flash Gordon. There is going to be a new TV series made of it on the Sci-Fi network so, we shall see what happens there. If its of any merit it might make a jump to the big screen, who knows?
Well, I don’t have a problem with sequels. Especially with movies that are open-ended (such as “Spider Man', "X-Men', "Transformers”) as they lend themselves to telling new stories with the same characters. There are others (like the previously mentioned “Caddyshack II”) that just shouldn’t have a sequel because the story that needed to be told was told. It had a very obvious beginning, middle and end. As for “Bourne Ultimatum”, isn’t that from a series of books and therefore logical to conclude the whole series of books would be made into movies if it was successful and not just 1?
I think the big beef being discussed here is Hollywood’s obsession with remakes. Sequels, for the most part, have their place and I get those. I just don’t get retelling the same story over and over. I could see it for something where limitations of technology (such as in a Sci-Fi movie) or censorship might have made the story difficult to tell properly. However, most of these sequels just seem to be for the sake of a fast buck, not because the story could be done any better now.
Well, the trend seems to be to remake everything. I’m scared by the fact that in 10-15 years someone will probably want to remake all the 80s John Hughes movies. However, it does seem that Hollywood doesn’t seem to like original ideas anymore. They are all “hey! this made a ton of money the first time! let’s do it again!”. At least with sequels you get a new story. But with remakes, you already know what’s going to happen, you saw it before!
I saw a commercial for “The Invasion” and its like “wait, I saw this movie before, wasn’t it called ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ then?” Guess they are trying to be clever to hide the fact its a remake, like with Poseidon instead of Poseidon Adventure.
But yes, all the remakes are beyond annoying, I don’t plan to see any of them as I saw them already!
This is rediculous. However, coming from Disney it doesn’t surprise me. First smoking, then drug-use, then sex, then violence, then language.
Can you imagine an action movie with the hero walking into the room after the ummm bad guy of nondescript origin does something “bad” and saying “golly gee, that guy really steams me, but maybe we should sit down and discuss the problem!”. Yeah, that would make for a GREAT movie. rolls eyes
This is the movies people, not real life!
Actually, I don’t think it would be hard to overturn the raze or repair order, just someone would have to get in there and do something with it. Problem is, no one has wanted to. That’s some prime real estate there and the city doesn’t like huge empty buildings. If you want to blame anybody, blame the current owner for just letting it sit.
Oh, I’m sure someone is after it. Its a case of a large empty building doing nothing, developers see $$$. Since no one else is jumping at making it a theater, it probably will meet the wrecking ball.
I doubt its some rich developer trying to build condos, not the right area.
I just doubt that will happen. As unless people get the ability to put movie theater sized screens in their house with a nice 7.1 surround sound setup, people will still go out to movie theaters. You just can’t replace seeing a movie in a theater with a widescreen TV and a regular 5.1 surround system. I also don’t think the illegal downloads will hurt, as I feel these are people that weren’t going to go see the movie anyhow. You can’t lose a sale you were never going to get in the first place!
Guess the city is itching to tear it down for something else. I never thought the structure looked in THAT bad of shape! Very strange.
That is such great news to hear. Though it may not look the same, they are going to rebuild, which means some of the “spirit” of the old building will live on. Also, it sounds like they are using the opportunity to make the building better that before, making lemonade out of lemons.
Wow, does that mean you’re going to try to make it more of a live music/movie venue again? That would be nice. I was so bummed when I found out the place was being turned into a dance club, I never set foot in it after it was converted. I just didn’t want to see what this “conversion” did to the place. Yeah it was beat up with some of the seats not quite attached to the floor but it had a lot of character which I fear was probably lost with that “renovation”. Keep this site up to date on the changes you are making on it!
I honestly don’t think it would have mattered. There really is nothing left of the Capitol Theatre anyhow. Heck, I had gone to the Civic Center for years before I found out that there was actually another theatre in that spot previous to it being the Civic Center! There was nothing to really indicate it was an old theatre, to be honest. I’ve not been in it since becoming the Overture but I’m guessing it looks even less so now.
How is that marquee relighting fundraiser going?
How tragic, not only was there a fire but its believed that someone intentionally set it. Who in the world would do such a thing? That saddens me greatly to think someone would want to destroy something like as there are so few of the big movie palaces left in this country. most of them fade into memory by neglect, renovations, accidents. They sure don’t need any help.
The odd thing I notice is all the damage seems to be centered around the stage area and the auditorium closest the stage. The front of the building seems very much intact and undamaged. I hope it can be saved, it makes it doubly tragic that all this time, energy and money had just been spent to renovate the theatre and then this happens.
Good luck to Owosso Community Players and hope they can rebuild and would love to follow this story. See where it goes.
Wow, how sad. It looks like a theatre that was once a beautiful space and now a rundown mess. Its a miracle the city hasn’t condemned it yet. I’m sure it will only be a matter of time until it is. So many theatres in the area that could use the work, so little interest/money to do any of them.
I’m not sure how this could still be called the Capitol Theatre. After first being heavily modified when it became part of the Madison Civic Center and then further mangling as it was turned into part of the Madison Overture Center. The only way you can really tell it was ever the Capitol Theatre is from the interior of the auditorium and from the mangling they did converting it into part of the Overture, ripping out the seats under the balcony and turning it into a lobby, I’m not even sure you can tell it from that.
Very sad indeed.
Ahhh, I know this theatre well. My grandfather, Floyd Smith, managed both that and the Ripon Outdoor Theatre sometime in the early to mid 60s. I really don’t know the exact time period he managed it but I heard his daily schedule in the summer went like this. Open and start up the indoor theatre, then run out, open the outdoor, come back to the indoor between showings, check things over, do the 2nd showing, close the indoor, then go to the outdoor and close that up for the night. Crazy schedule!
I’ve been told for years the main reason its still operational is due to its historical significance to the Marcus theatre chain (The first one built)
I lived in Ottumwa for about a year or so and my girlfriend grew up there. From what she has told me. It was a 2 screen theatre, but then they chopped the huge theatre into 4 pieces with the side theatre left alone. I only saw movies there a couple times and the place looked like it was very neglected, run-down. I would suspect, the way Ottumwa is, that the theatre will sit there empty for years, like many other buildings downtown.
There is another building nearby, perhaps that was the theatre known as the Zephyr? Its white in front, looked very ornate,last I knew it was converted into a bar.
There is a new performance space that was built in the last couple years by the river where the old Armory stood. The Armory was used for years for stage performances and such.