Capitol Theatre

The Capitol closed in about 1970 or 1971. The last movie I ever saw there was “ANGEL ANGEL DOWN WE GO” which was released in 1970. It was part of the Martin Theatre chain. When it was closed it was first converted into a Fred’s Dollar Store, but later was purchased by Grace Episcopal Church, which is next door, and is still used by the church to this day, though the building is unrecognizable as a former movie theatre. The Capitol would show A movies Sunday through Wednesday, and B movie double features (my favorites!) Thursday through Saturday in the 60’s when I was a kid. Martin also owned the Sky Vue Drive In, and closed it the same year, but it was reopened soon by a local businessman, and lasted until the mid 80’s. I have seen old photos from when the theatre was used for graduation ceremonies by the local high school in the 30’s. It is possible that Basil Rathbone performed there, as there was a stage. My mother once told me that there was a personal appearance there by the actor Frank Lovejoy sometime in the mid 50’s

Bob Brown

I believe that the Capitol was originally named the Dixie Theatre, but don’t know when the name was changed.

I believe that the address of this theatre is incorrect, the theatre was purchased by the Grace Episcopal Church that was right next door at 103 S. Poplar St. and call the former theatre the church annex at 111 S. Poplar St.

Bob, Chuck and Joe, it was exciting and interesting to find your comments about the Capitol. This was the first movie theater I that I ever entered and I still have warm memories of it today. I grew up in Camden, having been born there in 1958. The only movies I ever recall seeing with my father, who passed away in 1969, were at the Capitol, and they were: “CLEOPATRA” (1963) and “THE DIRTY DOZEN” (1967). I still treasure these memories. The one other film I distinctly remember seeing there was “HUSH, HUSH, SWEET CHARLOTTE” (1964) and on that particular Saturday it wasn’t my Dad, buta friend who I knew from school, Camden Elementary. During a very suspenseful beginning of a scene which came shortly after the carnage inflicted with a meat cleaver, as some young boys walking into the foyer of the old house, I was so started by the loud chiming of the grandfather clock that shattered the tense silence that I nearly jumped out of my seat, ejecting almost the entire contents of my box of popcorn sending it skyward before landing on me and my buddy. This was rather embarrassing, as you might well imagine.

I surprised to read that the old Paris, Capitol was at one time called the Dixie. There once existed a Dixie Theater in Camden, although I find no mention of it on this site. Maybe I’ll write to the Benton County Historical Society and see if I might be able to procure any photographs or information about it. I don’t know when it closed but my earliest memories of the old building which once housed the Camden Dixie were during its incarnation as Kuhn’s Variety Store. Kuhn’s was the nearest thing we folks in Camden had at the time to the much more well known but now also long gone Woolworth’s, in Paris. Perhaps some of you remember it, as well. I love the beautiful Court House in Paris which I saw again for the first time in many years during a trip back home a year ago last December. I felt grateful that this building, unlike the Capitol, appeared very much just as it did so many years ago when when I visited Paris regularly during my childhood. My father’s job with the Highway Department was in Paris and I also had relatives who lived there.