Capri Theater
3500 East Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28205
3500 East Independence Boulevard,
Charlotte,
NC
28205
3 people
favorited this theater
The Capri Theatre opened on November 2, 1964, with 995 seats. The opening film was Polly Bergan “Kisses For my President” It was a single screen theatre owned and was operated by Charlotte based Stewart and Everett Theatres. The theatre itself was a real showplace and it was the second moviehouse to open that year (the other was the Park Terrace Theatre which opened in May). It was also the second cinema along Independence Boulevard (the other was the Charlottetown I & II, owned and operated by General Cinema, which opened in 1963 as one of the first twin theatres to be established in North Carolina).
The overall decor of the Capri Theatre (with its ‘upside-down’ pyramids overlooking the front entrance) were impressive state of the art features of its interior, that were revolutionary for its day, and Charlotte loved it. The seating was plush, rocking chair seats and it had brilliant widescreen projection that was capable of showing both 35mm & 70mm films.
The Capri Theatre became the first to show premiere engagements, that were exclusive to North Carolina. The Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn musical “My Fair Lady” had its North Carolina Premiere engagement here in 1964 where it played to capacity crowds during its exclusive roadshow run. Other N.C. Premiere’s that played the Capri Theatre were “Thoroughly Modern Millie” in 1967, as well as the documentary feature “Stockcar” in 1967 when it was still a single screen theatre.
The theatre was ‘twinned’ in the mid-1970’s, when a second building was constructed that had 400 seats. By the early 1980’s, the original auditorium was split into two screens down the centre, making it a triple screen operation, now with a total seating capacity for 1,286. By 1986, the theatre was acquired by Carmike Cinemas, and by 1996, the Capri Theatre was closed.
Contributed by
muray, raymond
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Recent comments (view all 47 comments)
Boris Karloff in “Die Monster Die"
and Dr Evil and his Wierd Monster Friends.
Wow the people in Charlotte knew how to bring in the holidays..
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Love the “Die Monster Die” playbill/lobby card! That’s from 1965 – some of my father’s work. The stage show was partly the draw and though it probably did seem to be a strange holiday film, the campy horror films (and even today’s gory ones) were a guaranteed money-maker, particularly in the small towns. “Dr. Evil”, I believe, was Phil Morris, of Morris Costume. If somebody knows different, please correct me!
Here are my December 2010 pictures of the Capri Theater.
Does any one know who i can contact about this property?
The Capri Theatre was home to exclusive engagement showings of select films that made their North Carolina premieres here. Among them were the following:
“My Fair Lady"
"Throughly Modern Millie”
Hi Patricia. Good to hear from you. I really enjoyed working with your father. Capri was not rocking chairs, and I don’t remember the ghost, either.
Hello Worth. Daddy was always fun because he loved what he did. He also loved to work! Glad you agree about the no rocking chairs – don’t know where those guys got that from. The ghost…Mr. Brand used to tell about working late at night in an upstairs office. Daddy used the other end of the upstairs to paint a lot of his signs and banners before he finally made a place at home to do that. Because of this, he had a key to the theatre. One night, after the theatre had closed, Mr. Brand was upstairs at a desk that was situated so that if you leaned over you could look down the narrow hallway and see who was coming up the stairs when they reached the top. On this particular night he heard someone enter the side door (where the cigarette machine used to be!), walk to the door to the closet/stairs and then footsteps on the stairs. He figured it was my Daddy only when he leaned over to look there was no one. The hairs rose on the back of his neck and he quickly finished up and went home. As teen employees, we tried a seance but didn’t have a clue as to what we were doing and conjured up nothing but a bunch of giggles.
PatricianNC pictures from the Diane-29 Drive-in are on CT.Didn’t know if you knew.
“SMILE” on the marquee in 1974.
I have found the original ads for the Audrey Hepburn-Rex Harrison film MY FAIR LADY from the January 27,1965 and January 28,1965 ad from the Charlotte Observer. The 1/27/65 ad was a special advance screening that was a reserved seat engagement. The official 1/28/65 run was also a reserved seat engagement. MY FAIR LADY when it played at the Capri in Charlotte was the ONLY roadshow engagement within the Carolinas where it played. The ONLY place where you got to see it between Atlanta and Washington,DC. Other cities in the Carolinas didn’t get MY FAIR LADY until mid-1966.