Capitol Theatre

I believe that this is the Oscar Mayer Theater located at 211 State St. The Oscar Mayer Theater is/was a live performance theater. I'm not sure if its still open.

The Capitol theater is the Oscar Mayer Theater which is listed as closed for renovation. It is supposed to re-open in late 2005. The original Capitol theater opened in 1928 with seating for 2200 and the architects were Rapp & Rapp. The style is listed as Spanish Baroque.

The new plans for this theater include:
"Significant historic features will remain, including the Grand Barton Organ, ornate ceiling, wall niches, proscenium arch and chandelier lighting. The space will become a mid-size performance venue, providing seating for 400 at the orchestra level and up to 600 in the balcony.

The seats currently located on the first floor under the rear of the balcony as well as the marginal side seating on both floors, now seriously comprised by inadequate sound, sight lines, and handicap inaccessibility, will be removed. In this space a new lobby and a more intimate theater environment will be created, while preserving the important historic features and character of the original Rapp & Rapp theater".

The Capitol theatre became the Oscar Mayer Theatre in 1980.

The 1928 lobby was torn out in 1980...wasn't it?

Yes, the ornate 1927 lobby was torn out then and has been demolished again. The new lobby will be the former section under the balcony, which has had its ceiling restored, as seen in this photo.

http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2005/03/22/14062.jpg

Targeted opening date for the new theater is in November 2005. Many original movie house items - including two chandeliers, a Barton organ and elegant balcony - remain, and Overture officials have been careful to maintain the theater's vintage appearance.

Tattered and dusty curtains with loose tassels still hang from the theater stage's proscenium arch to help designers recreate a similar-looking item with identical placement.

"It'll be a new curtain," said a representative for Overture Development Corp., "but it will be in keeping with the idea that we want the theater to have an old, familiar feel."

Opened as the Capitol Theatre on 20th January 1928 with the movie "Her Wild Oats" starring Colleen Moore plus vaudeville acts. It was operated by Warner Bros. and later by RKO-Stanley Warner who sold it to the City of Madison for $650,000 in July 1974.

The firm Hardy, Holzman & Pfiefer designed the restoration when it became the Oscar Meyer Theatre.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has several photographs on its website of the Capitol/Oscar Mayer under construction in 1927, as well as other news and publicity photos from the 1930s.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has several photographs on its website of the Capitol/Oscar Mayer under construction in 1927, as well as other news and publicity photos from the 1930s.

This is a vintage photo of the Capitol Theater from the Wisconsin Historical Society. Click the photo to enlarge it.

The Capitol should now be shown as open. It is a performing arts cnter and movie theater. They have kept the old carbon arc lamp houses and use reel -to-reel projectors because the owners of the classic films that will be shown there do not want them put on a platter system. They will hosting a silent film series accompanied by the Barton organ, called Duck Soup Cinema.

I wish they all had carbons and reel to reel, then they would find out real quick just how many idiots they have in booths across the Country. Bring back the Real Projectionist.
Norelco

I urge everybody to see Duck Soup Cinema in the future. As the projectionist at this venue since 1982 I can honestly say this is the best way to see a silent movie. We get our prints from all the major archives and they are the best available. We also run our prints in the proper aspect ratio and speed. All prints are 35mm.

Here are the photos from the Wisconsin Historical Society, to augment the members' above contributions:
http://tinyurl.com/ma8rw
http://tinyurl.com/p35r7

Here is another photo from 1932:
http://tinyurl.com/f8rgy

This is a 1929 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/hc4ao

Here is another vintage photo (c)1937 of the Capitol Theater.

I saw the most recent in the Duck Soup Cinema series, with Dennis James accompanying at the Barton, and it was truly magical indeed, even though I was in a less than desirable seat in the balcony. I am planning on attending the next in the series coming up next month.

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.

At least this theatre was retained; original plans for Overture called for the complete demolition of the Capitol Theatre.

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.

Some photos of the Capitol Theater can be seen here. Click on each photo to expand it.

That's really about all that's left of the Capitol Theatre...the facade.

Looks like an old theatre to me:

http://www.overturecenter.com/venuect.htm

1974 Photo

Well, it sort of looks like an old theatre in the auditorium, but its not the old theatre. Its a new auditorium pretty much built to look like an old theatre based off the old theatre that was once there.

Its sad, but oh well, I guess it could have been worse, they could have gutted and gave it the bland look.