Capitol Theatre

Main Street,
South River, NJ 08882

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Snaper Circuit

Architects: Hyman Rosensohn

Nearby Theaters

Capitol Theater South River, New Jersey

The Capitol Theatre on Main Street was opened January 20, 1928 with vaudeville and the movie “The Cat and the Canary” starring Laura La Plante. By 1957 it was operated by the Snaper Circuit. It was closed in the late-1960’s or very early-1970’s. It was a single screen, which never went porn, never went art house, and never twinned.

I remember hearing stories of live events being staged there in the 1930’s. In the 1970’s it was converted to house a millinery manufacturing operation.

Contributed by taotv

Recent comments (view all 12 comments)

teecee
teecee on July 5, 2005 at 3:50 am

A Robert Morton organ was moved to this theater in 1928. This organ came from the Grove Theatre in Irvington, NJ.

Swerski
Swerski on September 8, 2005 at 12:16 pm

Greetings from St.Peterburg, FL. This picture Post-Card dates way before my time….. But,very much as I remember it in the early 60’s. Small Town USA – somethings never change. Many Thanks to the person who shared this picture!

teecee
teecee on March 2, 2006 at 3:04 am

Listed as open in the 1944 FDY. Listed in the 1961 FDY as part of Triangle-Liggett Theatre Service.

teecee
teecee on March 2, 2006 at 4:08 am

Also listed as part of the Snaper Circuit in the 1961 Film Daily Yearbook. Was it common to be part of more than one circuit?

markp
markp on February 6, 2008 at 8:36 pm

Triangle-Liggett Theatre Service was a film booking company, while Snaper Circuit was a independent theatre owner, who by the way ran everything he leased or owned into the ground, until they closed or had to be demolished.

non40
non40 on February 23, 2008 at 4:21 am

Bernice and “Tiny” Heppel ran the Capitol Theatre. They were both super-size people. I don’t remember Tiny’s first name. They were great people. They had a little girl who was adopted when they were older – in their fifties. Bernice used to call for her during the shows “Beverly” – wonder what ever happened to her?
Tiny died in the late 60’s early 70’s and the theatre was shut down.
I have many fond memories of the theatre – they used to show a lot of kids films.

TheTalkingMula
TheTalkingMula on July 4, 2015 at 9:39 am

I remember the Sat. matinee in the 50’s. Yes, 25 cents. You got several cartoons, a short or two like Flash Gordon or The Three Stooges and two features. My mother who lived there in the 30’s and 40’s remembered seeing The Three Stooges live on stage. I believe the huge chandelier was saved and moved to the Imperial Music Center, but I don’t know if either still exist.

lxx
lxx on July 26, 2016 at 7:55 pm

Have fond memories of the Capital Theatre. As a pre-teen in the mid to late 50’s my sister and I went to many Sat. matinees. My dad also would take me on school nights. I remember seeing “the Ten Commandments”, “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Rebel Without a Cause”.

rivest266
rivest266 on August 24, 2017 at 2:40 pm

This opened on January 20th, 1928. Grand opening ad in the photo section.

Found on Newspapers.com

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