Loew's Capitol Theater
1328 F Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20004
1328 F Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20004
7 people
favorited this theater
The Loew’s Capitol Theater, often cited as the most beautiful and grand of all of Washington’s lost movie palaces, was built by Rapp & Rapp and opened as the Fox Theater on September 19, 1927.
It was closed in 1963, and demolished in 1964. All that remains today is its famous archway on the building’s still extant facade, which forms the entrance to the National Press Building.
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Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 46 comments)
Vintage postcard:
http://flickr.com/photos/streetsofdc/4333794382/
Seventy-five Mother’s Days ago, you could treat mom to the show at Loew’s Fox, with Cary Grant and Joan Bennett on screen in Paramount’s “Big Brown Eyes,” and Mitchell & Durant and the Fred East Trio topping the stage bill. Other Loew’s options, with single features only, were the Palace, with UA’s “These Three” (Merle Oberon, Miriam Hopkins, Joel McCrea), and the Columbia with Shirley Temple in 20th-Fox’s “Captain January.”
Marcus Loew was born on this day in 1870.
How do I find out what movie was playing at Loew’s in D.C. in June of 1942 when Glenn Miller was on the stage bill?
If Glenn Miller played at a Loews in Washington in June of 1942 they did not advertize it in the Washington Post.
He did play the Loews Capitol the week of March 9th 1942.. the Movie was Joe Smith, American w/Robert Young
My first visit to the Capitol was in 1952. The feature was “Son of Ali Baba” with Tony Curtis. (“Yondah lies da castle of my fadduh”). There was also a stage show featuring Patti Page, who sat atop the charts with “Doggie in the Window.”
I later saw the 1961 release of “Gone With the Wind” there for the princely sum of a buck. My last visit was in July, 1962 for “Hatari.” About a year later, it was gone.
Seventy-five years ago today, the Fox Theatre re-opened under the new name of Loew’s Capitol with the premiere engagement of MGM’s “Piccadilly Jim,” starring Robert Montgomery and Madge Evans. On stage was the 4th edition of an annual revue started under Fox management and entitled “Going Native,” emceed by local radio star Gordon Hittenmark and featuring 50 entertainers and dancing showgirls recruited from the nation’s capital city.
The list of the films posted in these comments that played at the Capitol theater omitted the film “Key Witness” which opened on Saturday, October 20, 1960 and played until Wednesday, October 19th. “Ruby” opened the next day. Back in those days not all movies opened in on Wednesday, some opened on Thursday, or Friday, or even Saturday. At the Dupont and the MacArthur some films opened on Tuesdays, but not always. There are no listing for the films that played at those two theaters posted in the comments under those theaters.
Click here for an exterior view of the Fox Theatre in 1929.
Now if you want to here the real story why the Capitol was demolished, here it is. When the Kennedy center was being planed, it was known that it could not compete with the Capitol. The Capitol was with out a doubt the most beautiful theatre in Washington DC seating almost 4000. The stage was able to handle anything including the Metropolitan Opera witch was booked about once a year. The only thing the Kennedy center had in its favor was parking. Other wise, it was and is and will always be a poor theatrical experience.