Loew's Capitol Theatre
1645 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1645 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
47 people
favorited this theater
Showing 801 - 825 of 1,085 comments
Man, Bill Huelbig… You just reminded me of the old World Almanac’s that used to come out yearly. I remember having the 1976 edition as a kid. I loved that movie section! There was a recap of all the movies issued in the previous year (so all of 1975 in my case) and the star ratings as per the Daily News reviews. Plus I remember in the back of the book a listing of nearly every celebrity you could imagine with dates of birth, birthplaces and – if appropriate – dates of death! I wonder if I held onto that almanac anywhere. I have to dig around my Mom’s house and see!
Anyway… lots of critics missed the boat on “2001”… only to offer reappraisals in the months and years following its initial release. Most famous of these is probably the venerated Pauline Kael of the New Yorker.
Wanda did like it! She wrote about it in the 1969 World Almanac’s Movies section and called it a “grand spectacle”. There was also a Daily News editorial written soon after the premiere which praised the movie. I looked for it today at the New York Public Library, but I didn’t know the exact date and was unable to find it.
No doubt, we needed Wanda Hale of the New York Daily News to review “2001”.
The day after Carroll’s review appeared, this ad made me feel a little better. MGM even managed to include some of the good things Carroll said about the picture:
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Our dear, sweet Kathleen Carroll sounds like Miss Manners in that woefully begotten review, no?
From the 4/4/68 New York Daily News: Kathleen Carroll’s pan of “2001”, which traumatized me at age 13. She was disappointed in the film, I was disappointed in her:
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“Grand Prix” & “2001” were both shot in SuperPanavision 65mm and through a deal with Cinerama Corp. for presentation were rectfied in the lab for Cinerama 70MM theatres. Their was a dual inventory of 70MM prints for those titles, because of theatres that were not curved screen equipped when the film left Roadshow engagements. In that deal the theatre could advertise “In Cinerama” and present the film on the larger Cinerama screen. A similar deal went with the D-150 theatre screen process. All the studio had to do was pay a royalities to Cinerama for the use of the name.
I wonder how much (if anything) was shot with the three lens process. Or did they switch processes before photography began? Anyway, even if the footage ever existed, it is doubtful any of it survives – particularly when one thinks of all the difficulties Bob Harris has encountered trying to track down the trims from IAMMMMW’s original 70mm road show engagements. Didn’t production on George Stevens' “The Greatest Story Ever Told” also begin in three lens Cinerama before the format was abandoned for the single lens Ultra Panavision process? I believe photography had actually begun on that biblical epic before the switch was made.
Early production used the three lense process (you could look it up) the cost propably would be negligible, so Mr. Kramer opted to film it in 70mm and rectify the film so it could be projected on the large curved screen. In my opinion a bad decision, since the three lense system looked a lot more impressive. To me the only Cinerama films, shot in 70mm, that came close to looking like Cinerama films were “Grand Prix”, “2001” and the short lived, and not very good “Song Of Norway"
Marty Cooper
“Mad World” may have been shown at a preview at the Capitol. But it would have been a 70MM showing since it was filmed in Ultra-Panavision 65MM and presented in Cinerama. The film was not a three panel Cinerama film. In very early production it was but changed to the Ultra-Panavision format.
“It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World” opened at the Warner Cinerama on November 17th 1963, the premier was a benefit for the Joseph Kennedy Memorial Library, every Kennedy was there except the president and the first lady, they were on their way to Texas.A three lens preview of “Mad World” was shown at the Capitol, previously.
Marty Cooper
“It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World” opened at the Warner Cinerama on November 17th 1963, the premier was a benefit for the Joseph Kennedy Memorial Library, every Kennedy was there except the president and the first lady, they were on their way to Texas.A three lens preview of “Mad World” was shown at the Capitol, previously.
Marty Cooper
Thanks, Ed. I have a good/bad memory of “Mad World” at the Warner in November 1963. I was 9 years old. My dad took us to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade that year, and we stood right in front of the Warner. It was about 20 degrees, and I begged my dad to take us to see that big new Cinerama comedy movie instead – it would be much more comfortable. But he said no, we were there to see the parade, etc. He finally did take my sister and I to New York to see “Mad World”, but more than a year later!
No, Bill. I have an actual full edition of the paper. My grandfather had decided to hold on to a number of newspapers around the time of the Kennedy assassination and when he passed, I was given custody. They’re very fragile so I try not to take them out of their storage to handle them too often, but I wanted to capture some vintage movie ads to post on CT. I took a whole slew of images (and there’s more yet to come from this period as well as 1978 and 1985-86) and posted them in my photobucket album. I’ll link to them where appropriate on CT as I’m able.
I will have a full review of “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” that I’ll post on the Strand Theater aka Warner Cinerama (where the film opened just before the assassination) page when I get around to digitizing it.
Sorry for the double post – the first one didn’t show up for some reason, until now.
Ed: Did you get the Daily News ads from the New York Public Library? I’d love to re-read the half-column, **½ dismissal of “2001: A Space Odyssey” in the News during the first week of April 1968. I was positive it would be one of the rare sci-fi movies to rate 4 stars.
Ed: did you get the Daily News ad from the New York Public Library? I’d love to re-read the half-column **½ dismissal of “2001: A Space Odyssey” from the News in the first week of April 1968. I was positive that would be one of the rare sci-fi movies to rate 4 stars.
Here’s a an ad from November of 1963 just days after the assassination of JFK, by which time “HTWWW” had been running for some 9 months at the former Capitol:
Daily News 11/25/63
“Cleopatra” – also seen in this clipping – had been running some 5 months down the block at the Rivoli.
I have another “HTWWW” ad from the same week with a quote from one critic saying “It deserves to run forever!”… I’ve been digitizing a number of newspapers from a several different eras (‘60’s, '70’s and '80’s) and have a lot of ads to post. When I come across that one, I’ll include it here.
I’m posting nice movie material that are also mostly for sale.
http://s110.photobucket.com/albums/n94/irajoel/
you can also view my entire inventory at
www.cinemagebooks.com
I have over 5,000 items including many books in non-film such as
gay and lesbian, African American, posters, graphic design, fiction, poetry and much more.
posted by ij on Jul 23, 2006 at 1:52pm
Warren didn’t you or somebody recently post an ad for an aquatic revue at the Loew’s State? Do you have any idea how they worked in a proscenium theater? Was there a huge glass enclosed tank on stage?
Unusual indeed. I wonder if there was a swimming pool on stage for the dynamic Johnny Weissmuller?
Believe me, if I was around in 1932 I would have enjoyed such a show.
I noticed that the movie “Letty Lynton” with Joan Crawford was the next attraction at the Capitol, a rare film that is constantly requested on Turner Classic Movies.
Look at all the roadshows
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Seems like The Cardinal moved over to the Cinerama after it’s Demille roadshow
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Bill -
Thanks for the details – when I think about it – the theaters, the movies, the live shows! – makes my head spin !!
Compared to what we have now? – ah well…
Just to let you know that Turner Classic Movies has a close to pristine print of “The Stork Club” that they show occasionally on their wonderful station.