Sepia prints were usually copies of bluelines and postdate blue prints, which would make my Sandblom blueprint of the proscenium older than Preiskel’s longitudinal drawing. The drawing is accurate from my recollection of the building while I worked there from 1971 through 1986. So Sandblom must have been involved right at the beginning. Perhaps Preiskel had some sort of business arrangement with Sandblom’s office in NYC, drafting for instance. Or, perhaps, Sandblom had some special expertise that Preiskel wanted or needed or Sandblom was originally commissioned to design the theatre before Preiskel took over. I do not have easy access to my prints right now, but I believe that Sandblom’s drawing is significantly more elegant than the actual theatre was. Unfortunately these three prints are the only drawings that I have.
I believe that we had a staff theatre buff when I worked there. He may have acquired the prints from Dick Carroll mentioned somewhere above on this page, or know what became of them. He may also still be employed by John Scher, so I’ll make an inquiry and let you know what happens. This mystery is intriguing. Though the Capitol was by no means a spectacular theatre, it was definitely different.
Regarding the architect, I mentioned earlier on this page that I have an undated reverse sepia longitudinal section by Abraham Preiskill and an older, original blueprint of the proscenium arch by C.A. Sandblom, Architect, 19 West 45th Street in Manhattan. I also have a blueline print of the alarm system by E.P. Reid, Inc. These prints may have been some of the prints that Rosie mentioned somewhere above. If I understand Joe Vogel correctly, Preiskel’s name is on the sepia print as the manager rather than the architect. I’ve never scene an architectural print with the buyer or manager’s name instead of the architect’s name. Both for sure, but if it’s only one it would be the architect. So where does Sandblom fit in?
Well, it seems that I may never have worked with you but I certainly thank you for your enlightening contribution to this page. Equal to your immodesty, however, I gotta remind you that Billboard ranked John Scher’s Capitol Theatre as Numero Uno under 6,000 seats and that some FE staff including A.J. Geigerich, Arthur Berman and others definitely set up shop and remained at the Capitol. Also, my lighting staff, primarily from Stony Brook, which beat the FE to many of the greatest acts of the day, also stayed at the Capitol. Having said that, there’s room for all of us who share these great memories. So, being somewhat Web-challenged, do you have more info on the Tower somewhere in this cinema treasures website? One more thing, I’m seeing more and more young people discovering the music, philosophy and love that we seemed to share in the 60s and 70s via my website (http://moyssi.com/) and hope that you are seeing the same…
Oh, and you are absolutely right East Coast Rocker. As the early years flew by, more and more bands insisted on cramming their own oversized lighting systems into the Capitol. At first they would augment our system and then they would just take out the shoehorn and we’d be lucky if there was enough room left for the audience…
Btw, I stopped being notified when new messages are posted here. Is anyone else having that problem? Oh wait—how would you know?
Hey Mike, Bob’s comment was much more fun! And of course, brevity is the soul of wit, so I shall proceed to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that I am entirely witless.
We have no disagreement about Woodstock. It was certainly a defining moment in our history. Maybe I’m kicking myself for not accepting a gig there. Maybe I just didn’t want to participate in something that was so clearly disorganized that people were likely to die as a result. In a group that big, however, nobody could blame the promoter for what statistically would have happened in that large a group anywhere on earth. Maybe we’re all lamenting our loss of what was an ocean of hippie heaven, love, and great music just before everything went totally commercial. Disco anyone? Nothing spiritual in that! It all happened and we’re all still talking about it for good reason.
There’s only one thing that I’m hesitantly sure about. It was Terry Hanley’s awful but cheap intercom that compares so unfavorably to Chaos (incredibly costly but worked) and Clark (on beyond incredibly costly but also worked). Wait—maybe not Clark—but whoever it was who provided noise-cancelling intercom technology to airline pilots at the time.
But please never, ever, EVER imagine that I would complain about not having fancy enough equipment (other than ear-saving intercoms). My professional pride then and now is to do the most with the least: The opposite of what happened to the music industry. Time for a story with roots at the Capitol?
My personal favorite tour was Triumvirat, a stationary German trio consisting of a keyboardist (10 keyboards ranging from organ and synthesizers to a Steinway concert grand), a percussionist and a guitarist who didn’t move anything but his fingers. This was a terrific German synthesizer band opening for the double return tour of Jefferson Starship and Fleetwood Mac. Management—whose other band was Pink Floyd—was basically afeared of a rain of day-old veggies, but they had a miniscule budget and knew who could make it work. Point man was John Scher, and I thank him for that.
As the opener for that tour, what really made this an interesting challenge is that we had about 10 feet in front of the other bands' mountain of equipment; we had 20 minutes to set up and 10 to strike. So, since we had a stationary band, I designed a lighting system comprising just 16 par cans and 3 special effects. Catch this.
The par cans and wiring were welded and otherwise permanently fixed inside 3 huge steel sculptures or alien winged creatures designed and built for this purpose by Larry White. We put 6 floor lights just in front of the sculptures, gelled in Roscolene 877, pointing up like a flashlight underneath someone’s Halloween mask. We added 3 custom floor-standing mirror wheels (not balls!) which were each lit by 2 par cans mounted on mike stands. And just for good measure, we (Larry White) made a false top for the Steinway. It was metal, shaped to match the original top and fastened with a hinge in its place. It was a giant baking tray about 1-2" deep, which we filled about a ¼-inch deep with gasoline. On top of that was a fine wire mesh on which we liberally sprinkled about 6 ounces of photographer’s flash powder. Here’s how it worked.
20 minutes and counting: Our crew carries three 12-to-16 foot high steel sculptures in from the truck. Union hands who had never before been seen (but always paid) materialized with incredulous, curious looks on their faces. Very engaged, they got those 3 sculptures pinned to their pre-focused marks on the floor and plugged in like greased lighting. The mirror wheels were about the size of small suitcases, so they were no big deal, although the piano was. I have no idea who took care of the fire marshals, but we never had any trouble that I should have been aware of.
Show time: The house lights dim. BLACK as I could make it. The sculptures, which were shrouded so that nobody could see or imagine those great winged creatures, lost their shrouds in the darkness. On cue, the keyboardist played a deep organ chord as the the floor lights slowly came up, casting enormous shadows of the 3 sculptures high above them. When you fade lights up slowly, the light seems to grow from the instrument upward, so your eyes just naturally started at the feet and watched the sculptures reveal themselves as you looked higher and higher and on beyond their heads into the shadows where may have lurked the Phantom of the Opera.
But, just before your head tipped over backward, the organist changed the chord and all 3 sculptures, all of which had 1000W par cans for eyeballs, each pair focused on one musician below, bumped up full, snapping the audience’s head back down to this German synthesizer band that they’d never heard of. The band took off with a Starship/Mac crowd standing on its feet within the first two notes of their set. That is the definition of heaven for a showman.
At some point appropriate to each night’s performance, perhaps when the audience sat back down again, sculpture lights were dimmed and the mirror wheel lights were turned on while the wheels rotated slowly. Rotating faster and faster as the band poured it on. Each mirror was 10" square, so the shafts of light that they created, arcing over the band like spokes of 3 giant rotating wheels, were palpable as no smaller light beams could ever be.
And the band played on at warp speed, but they only had 20 minutes so their set flashed by like lightning to the mother of all endings. Remember the gasoline and flash-powder topped Steinway? The last key of the piano was wired to an electric ignition so that the keyboardist could only blame himself if he blew himself up. While the band was going full tilt, the keyboardist ran his fingers from one end of the keyboard to the other, ducking beneath the piano just as he hit the last key.
You could feel the theatre floor (and your stomach) pulse with the blinding explosion. As eyes began to focus again, all the audinece could see was a concert grand engulfed in 10-foot high flames. The band had run off stage, doused themselves with ice water, and run back for an ENCORE demanded by standing ovation. The encore was an elegant piano ballad which left everyone gently smiling. No need for any effect at all.
Needless to say, we were not heros to the stars, but OUR guys got one helluva bang out of 28 lights, 3 steel sculptures, 3 suit-cased mirror wheels and an exploding Steinway. Cheap, light and fast. Union crews actually volunteering for hands-on work. And the audience loved our band.
Anyway, there’s a few folk around this and related websites who were there and did the bulk of the tour and—for those who insist on this board relating only to the Capitol—that’s where we rehearsed the lighting sculptures for the tour. By the way, they were built in Maryland and they were the “Fearless Fog Flyers”. Thank you again, Larry White—still a great sculptor and one of the best follow spot ops ever.
I’m bored by today’s predictable lighting even as I’m thrilled by the technology…
There you have it: Bad management. When you do a show on that scale, you are literally building and operating a fairly large temporary city and must provide EVERYTHING that EVERYBODY needs. Musicians playing knee deep in rainwater, I haven’t seen that more than a couple of hundred times. Just kidding. We didn’t do that many shows at Roosevelt Stadium. But it did happen in Gaelic Park with the Airplane who simply refused to play, which gave Grace Slick an opportunity to strut her stuff…
My distant impression was that they were not happy campers; it was a managerial disaster after all. That’s why I chose not to work that show. But it would be good to hear from someone who actually knows.
Doesn’t the world seem just a little bit more like the 60s now—in spirit? Not the same, of course, but attitude seems to be improving everywhere. I feel it in the air, just as we all did just after the lights went down and the show was about to begin. To this day, my greatest joy is to recall the thunder of the audience in harmony with the universe. Our theatre, our music, our greatly extended family of friends, but all just the McGuffin of the story of each of our lives.
When I turn my head back ever so gingerly, I recall how briefly every such moment lasted. That too is what I loved about the Capitol and other theatres where we were privileged to be paid to have fun: That huge post-show letdown inspired everything necessary to make the next show go on.
Hey there, East Coast Rocker. As you know, I know from what you speak. You rang a big bell for me when you cited BOA because they were one of the two bands that ever gave me a tip for service on beyond the call of duty. (The other was Pearl Bailey, whose equally wonderful husband, Louie Bellson, recently passed away.) What you describe is the death of rock and roll due to the amoral nature of big business.
Rock is by definition of, by, and for the people: democracy in one of its purest aesthetic forms. Big biz turned it into a packaged commodity which generally means a loss of character in favor of receipts. And, of course, that could not have happened without the acquiescence of the artists themselves. I am by no means a socialist, although I completely accept my personal responsibility to my fellow man as I also understand my complete dependence upon my fellow man, but the demise of rock and roll is directly correlated to its being completely overwhelmed by what I think of as the combined greed of big business and the artists, both of whom stood on the shoulders of true giants, to take without permission the joy of life that cannot be without truly sharing among all of us.
To imagine that rock and roll is, perhaps, a religion is simply to acknowledge that we all shared a common thread of humanity, including responsibility as well as joy, and knowing that we shared a common appreciation for the gift that is our individual and collective lives.
My joy, now, is the hope that accompanies the long overdue and wonderful shift from a faux moral 30 years of pure greed to a new era of hope based on the same values that we who are proud of our 60s heritage can see as the clear light of sunshine. No longer shall we be “busted for smiling on a cloudy day.” It may be a dream, but it is a dream worth our communal effort to fulfill.
Others have come before us with varying degrees of success but I, for one, hope and support every effort of every new generation to take control of their own destiny, to respect the wisdom of those of their elders who have any, and to do right as best they can. As for the music, I think I hear more than echos of the greatness of the past, but the promise of a brand new future.
Bless you all who are willing to make the effort to go on with a love and desire to use your lives to make a more sustainable and joyful world within which we can all hope to live healthy and happy lives in the pursuit of excellence (not just happiness or perfection) in all endeavors of our choice. Please forgive me my boorish boring bully pulpit but, whether or not you forgive me my lame presentation, let us all pull together on the oars that propel our ship to a better place. The wind alone cannot and will not blow us where we wish to go.
Opportunity is the gift we have been given, but it is an opportunity that we must accept as both a challenge and a responsibility if we hope to succeed. Our joy is only to strive for a better future. Whether or not we can achieve that goal is yet to be determined, but joy itself is the selflessness and the sincerity of our effort. Long live rock and roll. It embodies the essence of democracy.
Hey there, East Coast Rocker. As you know, I know from what you speak. You rang a big bell for me when you cited BOA because they were one of the two bands that ever gave me a tip for service on beyond the call of duty. (The other was Pearl Bailey, whose equally wonderful husband, Louie Bellson, recently passed away.) What you describe is the death of rock and roll due to the amoral nature of big business.
Rock is by definition of, by, and for the people: democracy in one of its purest aesthetic forms. Big biz turned it into a packaged commodity which generally means a loss of character in favor of receipts. And, of course, that could not have happened without the acquiescence of the artists themselves. I am by no means a socialist, although I completely accept my personal responsibility to my fellow man as I also understand my complete dependence upon my fellow man, but the demise of rock and roll is directly correlated to its being completely overwhelmed by what I think of as the combined greed of big business and the artists, both of whom stood on the shoulders of true giants, to take without permission the joy of life that cannot be without truly sharing among all of us.
To imagine that rock and roll is, perhaps, a religion is simply to acknowledge that we all shared a common thread of humanity, including responsibility as well as joy, and knowing that we shared a common appreciation for the gift that is our individual and collective lives.
My joy, now, is the hope that accompanies the long overdue and wonderful shift from a faux moral 30 years of pure greed to a new era of hope based on the same values that we who are proud of our 60s heritage can see as the clear light of sunshine. No longer shall we be “busted for smiling on a cloudy day.” It may be a dream, but it is a dream worth our communal effort to fulfill.
Others have come before us with varying degrees of success but I, for one, hope and support every effort of every new generation to take control of their own destiny, to respect the wisdom of those of their elders who have any, and to do right as best they can. As for the music, I think I hear more than echos of the greatness of the past, but the promise of a brand new future.
Bless you all who are willing to make the effort to go on with a love and desire to use your lives to make a more sustainable and joyful world within which we can all hope to live healthy and happy lives in the pursuit of excellence (not just happiness or perfection) in all endeavors of our choice. Please forgive me my boorish boring bully pulpit but, whether or not you forgive me my lame presentation, let us all pull together on the oars that propel our ship to a better place. The wind alone cannot and will not blow us where we wish to go.
Opportunity is the gift we have been given, but it is an opportunity that we must accept as both a challenge and a responsibility if we hope to succeed. Our joy is only to strive for a better future. Whether or not we can achieve that goal is yet to be determined, but joy itself is the selflessness and the sincerity of our effort. Long live rock and roll. It embodies the essence of democracy.
March 10, 1973. See http://www.moyssi.com/capitolshows.htm But don’t stop there—you might find something interesting on one of the other 750 or so pages too…
Hmmm. I’d stay away from that trick. At our age, that’s the kind of coincidence that is bound to increase in frequency.
Another, lighter, coincidence: I met Harold at the Academy of Music on the same day that I met Candace in Gaelic Park, and Jimmy Delahanty turned out to be the cab driver who took me (for the wildest ride in my life) from my meeting with Harold to my car to meet Candace at Gaelic Park to begin my post-university career in lighting. Jimmy, by coincidence of course, became part of our all-star City Lights lighting crew and, again by coincidence, is now rumored to be joining Dave Capo’s Capitol forum as soon as he can get his computer woes worked out… Let’s all keep talking out loud and see who else turns up. It’s amazing to discover after all these years how many of us worked the same lighting instrument in the same place in the same venue at so many different times.
But there is no mold from which Harold Klein was cast. His bright light will be missed by all who knew him.
Michael, Which walnut is the dime under? Quick history. Candace Brightman, who is and always has been IMHO one of the best 3 LDs on the face of this planet directed lights for Stein at his Capitol in Port Chester and then at the much larger Academy of Music on 14th St. John and Al engaged her as LD for the Capitol but she chose to tour with the Grateful Dead instead. Heaven, but she thought well of John and didn’t want to leave him hanging, so she asked Harold Klein, who was moonlighting as one of her spot ops at the Academy to take her place at both the Academy and the new Capitol in Passaic. Harold—who is one very versatile, talented and entertaining guy—at first accepted and then got cold feet. At that point, George Geranius, who was then Blue Oyster Cult’s sound man, reminded Candace of my work at Stony Brook. She called me and I promptly accepted. (I was willing to try to be in two places at the same time because I was a sucker for every tall wispy lady who could split photons with a subtle idea.) But then Harold decided he wanted back in, so Candace borrowed a page from King Solomon’s handbook and asked us to split the gigs: One to go to the Academy and the other to go to the Capitol. Instead, Harold and I decided—on the day that we met each other—to handle Howard’s and John’s gigs as a partnership. Two people: Two places and Harold wanted the best of both worlds. I deferred as a professional courtesy to Harold because he was offered the gig before me, and so City Lights was born and grew to include The Bottom Line and touring gigs with NRPS, Jerry Garcia, Donovan, Lou Reed and others. During that period, we found that we could actually handle almost all of those gigs between the two of us, with the able assistance of our terrific lighting crew. So Harold or I could be found on the boards at the Capitol, the Academy, The Bottom Line, Asbury Park or on the road at any given moment, but we never knew which or when until the smoke cleared. Sometimes one of us would set up for the other, or do the early show while the other did the late show, so that we could also cover a touring gig. So it wasn’t your imagination: You did work with Harold AND me as interchangeable LDs or spot ops or BOTH at all three NY area venues. And yes, sometimes you could have seen me working two different gigs on the same day. A helluva way to make a living and I loved every minute of it.
Michael, Which walnut is the dime under? Quick history. Candace Brightman, who is and always has been IMHO one of the best 3 LDs on the face of this planet directed lights for Stein at his Capitol in Port Chester and then at the much larger Academy of Music on 14th St. John and Al engaged her as LD for the Capitol but she chose to tour with the Grateful Dead instead. Heaven, but she thought well of John and didn’t want to leave him hanging, so she asked Harold Klein, who was moonlighting as one of her spot ops at the Academy to take her place at both the Academy and the new Capitol in Passaic. Harold—who is one very versatile, talented and entertaining guy—at first accepted and then got cold feet. At that point, George Geranius, who was then Blue Oyster Cult’s sound man, reminded Candace of my work at Stony Brook. She called me and I promptly accepted. (I was willing to try to be in two places at the same time because I was a sucker for every tall wispy lady who could split photons with a subtle idea.) But then Harold decided he wanted back in, so Candace borrowed a page from King Solomon’s handbook and asked us to split the gigs: One to go to the Academy and the other to go to the Capitol. Instead, Harold and I decided—on the day that we met each other—to handle Howard’s and John’s gigs as a partnership. Two people: Two places and Harold wanted the best of both worlds. I deferred as a professional courtesy to Harold because he was offered the gig before me, and so City Lights was born and grew to include The Bottom Line and touring gigs with NRPS, Jerry Garcia, Donovan, Lou Reed and others. During that period, we found that we could actually handle almost all of those gigs between the two of us, with the able assistance of our terrific lighting crew. So Harold or I could be found on the boards at the Capitol, the Academy, The Bottom Line, Asbury Park or on the road at any given moment, but we never knew which or when until the smoke cleared. Sometimes one of us would set up for the other, or do the early show while the other did the late show, so that we could also cover a touring gig. So it wasn’t your imagination: You did work with Harold AND me as interchangeable LDs or spot ops or BOTH at all three NY area venues. And yes, sometimes you could have seen me working two different gigs on the same day. A helluva way to make a living and I loved every minute of it.
Speaking as a guy who was always on the dark side of the lights, John remained in the business, while you and I did not. He’s built his cred fairly, if forgetfully. I felt the same way when you wrote that Harold Klein was the Capitol’s LD. He did the first show on December 16, 1971 but I lit most of all of the rest of them. So history is, after all, only what we recall.
The results of what you did speak for us all, but very few people know anything about any of us. It is the Capitol that they recall, and that is our fault or gift, depending on your point of view.
Watch your tongue, Laddie. But—WOW—you found MY beloved Strong Super Trouper®. I could make that thing shine almost as bright as the SuperArc but the power supply had to be goosed, the rod drives speeded up, and you had to constantly tweak the gap to squeeze more photons out of one or the other end of the spectrum, depending on what color gel you were using. If the cues came too hot and heavy and the operator blinked, the rods would collide and create wonderful fireworks for the seats nearby. But what the hey! Show must go on as brightly as possible. The game was not only to outshine every other operator, but to see which operator could arrive latest and still get his light working before Howard opened the show. Jimmy Delahanty still holds the record by firing up the as yet untuned SuperArc with the gates open and pointed right at Howard. The fade up was supplied by the carbons getting hot. The crew there got so good that I am certain that we could have done any act, blindfolded. I miss the smoke and that 5,700°K flame, and the occasional platform fire when the hot stubs missed the can and landed on the plywood. And a HUGE thank you to the guy in the orchestra below who picked up and returned my objective lens when it fell out the front of the Super Trouper and landed on a temporarily unoccupied seat directly below. Could easily have killed someone. Nowadays laddies, there would have been three teams of lawyers battling over what never actually happened. Ah, those were the days—there and at the Capitol and The Bottom Line… . Anyway, here’s a link to some pix of Super Troupers if anyone is interested: http://www.solarisnetwork.com/item_186 . Anybody have a picture of the original prototype Lycian SuperArc?
Uh, pardon me East Coast Rocker, but ECR sounds WAY TOO MUCH like EKG to me. Sorry about that. I’m doing fine in the What’s Remaining of My Heart Dept. too, but no need at all to lose any weight. My Capitol Theatre jackets and tees still fit fine! How you doing Mr Haywood!?! I noticed that error too. It’s wonderful to discover after all of these years that you, Spot 2, the Looney Tuner, Brenig and a couple of other anonymous Capitolistas are actually older than me! Thanks! Let’s see who wins the Great Tontine! Uh, maybe we should start one…
Hello there ECR—delighted that we be sharing the same boards. Ric-Lo became Lycian Stage Lighting – http://www.lycian.com/ – as a result of Richard’s being one of my first advertising clients. He’s apparently done quite well for himself—and we who ever tried to tame his first Lycian SuperArc, the one that Candace purchased for the Academy of Music (Burnt by the Sun, anyone?) know exactly why. He and his lovely wife Susan also run a successful dinner theater in Sugar Loaf as far as I can recall. But what happened to the original Numero Uno SuperArc? Not a clue… People in the know, please let us all know! Ciao!
Hello Puznik! While most of this stuff may be before your time, you sound a lot like all the rest of us die-hard Capitolistas. May I suggest a non-commercial visit to http://moyssi.com/ where you’ll find lots of contemporary Capitol Theatre stories, anecdotes, photos, memorabilia and links to performances elsewhere on the Internet. (And, of course, tons of my concert programs.) Enjoy and please share your experience.
Non sequitur: In January 2009 my site had more than 5,000 visits, half of which were referred to my Capitol Springsteen performance page — http://www.moyssi.com/780919.htm/ — where virtually EVERYONE downloaded or linked to Charlie Lang’s signed After Show Pass for Bruce’s show at the Arena…
Thanks you Ralph and Ed, and thank you Shoeshoe for your many well-researched and documented contributions to different pages on Cinema Treasures, including more than a couple of Capitols. Ed too seems to be there on many of these pages as well. Ralph, sitting in his armchair somewhere in Britain (notice his spelling) is, I’m sure, a very dedicated participant in things music-theatrical. So let’s all keep involved with what we know and do best. Shoeshoe, I need your help! Have you figured out how to get this website to update its theatre info at the top of the pages? I’ve got blueprints, for heaven’s sake! -Moyssi
Didn’t mean to offend, shoeshoe, but it’s not clear to me what the function of this page and site if it isn’t nostalgia.
Those of us who worked or enjoyed the Capitol are trying to put our wistful memories together to arrive at something closer to actual history. I’ve tried many times to correct the missing, incorrect, or incomplete info at the top of this page regarding style, function, seats, chain and architect with no reaction whatever from whoever controls this site.
If anyone else thinks that this sort of nostalgia is inappropriate, please say so. I’ll be happy to hang it up….
Well then, I’m convinced it was the 3-show run at the Stanley and the mystery is how did I get to work those shows? Harold Klein and I partnered to direct lighting at the Capitol and The Academy of Music (thanks to Candace Brightman) and The Bottom Line (thanks to John Scher), but I don’t recall Howard Stein promoting any shows at the Stanley. Candace was the Dead’s LD, so my role would have been as a spot op or board man hired by Howard, Candace, or another promoter due to our rep in NYC and NJ. But I sincerely doubt that I would have worked for anyone locally other than John.
Does DLH or anyone else know who promoted those Stanley shows?
You will find the best available chronological list of concerts on this page, http://www.moyssi.com/capitolshows.htm
There are some interesting photos and plans here: http://www.moyssi.com/capitol.htm if you follow the links at the bottom of the page.
If you explore the whole site you will find concert programs, posters and other interesting things.
Unfortunately, I have not had the time to develop and expand the site yet, but that too will come.
Sepia prints were usually copies of bluelines and postdate blue prints, which would make my Sandblom blueprint of the proscenium older than Preiskel’s longitudinal drawing. The drawing is accurate from my recollection of the building while I worked there from 1971 through 1986. So Sandblom must have been involved right at the beginning. Perhaps Preiskel had some sort of business arrangement with Sandblom’s office in NYC, drafting for instance. Or, perhaps, Sandblom had some special expertise that Preiskel wanted or needed or Sandblom was originally commissioned to design the theatre before Preiskel took over. I do not have easy access to my prints right now, but I believe that Sandblom’s drawing is significantly more elegant than the actual theatre was. Unfortunately these three prints are the only drawings that I have.
I believe that we had a staff theatre buff when I worked there. He may have acquired the prints from Dick Carroll mentioned somewhere above on this page, or know what became of them. He may also still be employed by John Scher, so I’ll make an inquiry and let you know what happens. This mystery is intriguing. Though the Capitol was by no means a spectacular theatre, it was definitely different.
Regarding the architect, I mentioned earlier on this page that I have an undated reverse sepia longitudinal section by Abraham Preiskill and an older, original blueprint of the proscenium arch by C.A. Sandblom, Architect, 19 West 45th Street in Manhattan. I also have a blueline print of the alarm system by E.P. Reid, Inc. These prints may have been some of the prints that Rosie mentioned somewhere above. If I understand Joe Vogel correctly, Preiskel’s name is on the sepia print as the manager rather than the architect. I’ve never scene an architectural print with the buyer or manager’s name instead of the architect’s name. Both for sure, but if it’s only one it would be the architect. So where does Sandblom fit in?
Well, it seems that I may never have worked with you but I certainly thank you for your enlightening contribution to this page. Equal to your immodesty, however, I gotta remind you that Billboard ranked John Scher’s Capitol Theatre as Numero Uno under 6,000 seats and that some FE staff including A.J. Geigerich, Arthur Berman and others definitely set up shop and remained at the Capitol. Also, my lighting staff, primarily from Stony Brook, which beat the FE to many of the greatest acts of the day, also stayed at the Capitol. Having said that, there’s room for all of us who share these great memories. So, being somewhat Web-challenged, do you have more info on the Tower somewhere in this cinema treasures website? One more thing, I’m seeing more and more young people discovering the music, philosophy and love that we seemed to share in the 60s and 70s via my website (http://moyssi.com/) and hope that you are seeing the same…
Oh, and you are absolutely right East Coast Rocker. As the early years flew by, more and more bands insisted on cramming their own oversized lighting systems into the Capitol. At first they would augment our system and then they would just take out the shoehorn and we’d be lucky if there was enough room left for the audience…
Btw, I stopped being notified when new messages are posted here. Is anyone else having that problem? Oh wait—how would you know?
Matt Miller from Stony Brook University? Thank you very much for trying to teach me how to play that Hagstrom bass that I still have…
Hey Mike, Bob’s comment was much more fun! And of course, brevity is the soul of wit, so I shall proceed to prove beyond a shadow of doubt that I am entirely witless.
We have no disagreement about Woodstock. It was certainly a defining moment in our history. Maybe I’m kicking myself for not accepting a gig there. Maybe I just didn’t want to participate in something that was so clearly disorganized that people were likely to die as a result. In a group that big, however, nobody could blame the promoter for what statistically would have happened in that large a group anywhere on earth. Maybe we’re all lamenting our loss of what was an ocean of hippie heaven, love, and great music just before everything went totally commercial. Disco anyone? Nothing spiritual in that! It all happened and we’re all still talking about it for good reason.
There’s only one thing that I’m hesitantly sure about. It was Terry Hanley’s awful but cheap intercom that compares so unfavorably to Chaos (incredibly costly but worked) and Clark (on beyond incredibly costly but also worked). Wait—maybe not Clark—but whoever it was who provided noise-cancelling intercom technology to airline pilots at the time.
But please never, ever, EVER imagine that I would complain about not having fancy enough equipment (other than ear-saving intercoms). My professional pride then and now is to do the most with the least: The opposite of what happened to the music industry. Time for a story with roots at the Capitol?
My personal favorite tour was Triumvirat, a stationary German trio consisting of a keyboardist (10 keyboards ranging from organ and synthesizers to a Steinway concert grand), a percussionist and a guitarist who didn’t move anything but his fingers. This was a terrific German synthesizer band opening for the double return tour of Jefferson Starship and Fleetwood Mac. Management—whose other band was Pink Floyd—was basically afeared of a rain of day-old veggies, but they had a miniscule budget and knew who could make it work. Point man was John Scher, and I thank him for that.
As the opener for that tour, what really made this an interesting challenge is that we had about 10 feet in front of the other bands' mountain of equipment; we had 20 minutes to set up and 10 to strike. So, since we had a stationary band, I designed a lighting system comprising just 16 par cans and 3 special effects. Catch this.
The par cans and wiring were welded and otherwise permanently fixed inside 3 huge steel sculptures or alien winged creatures designed and built for this purpose by Larry White. We put 6 floor lights just in front of the sculptures, gelled in Roscolene 877, pointing up like a flashlight underneath someone’s Halloween mask. We added 3 custom floor-standing mirror wheels (not balls!) which were each lit by 2 par cans mounted on mike stands. And just for good measure, we (Larry White) made a false top for the Steinway. It was metal, shaped to match the original top and fastened with a hinge in its place. It was a giant baking tray about 1-2" deep, which we filled about a ¼-inch deep with gasoline. On top of that was a fine wire mesh on which we liberally sprinkled about 6 ounces of photographer’s flash powder. Here’s how it worked.
20 minutes and counting: Our crew carries three 12-to-16 foot high steel sculptures in from the truck. Union hands who had never before been seen (but always paid) materialized with incredulous, curious looks on their faces. Very engaged, they got those 3 sculptures pinned to their pre-focused marks on the floor and plugged in like greased lighting. The mirror wheels were about the size of small suitcases, so they were no big deal, although the piano was. I have no idea who took care of the fire marshals, but we never had any trouble that I should have been aware of.
Show time: The house lights dim. BLACK as I could make it. The sculptures, which were shrouded so that nobody could see or imagine those great winged creatures, lost their shrouds in the darkness. On cue, the keyboardist played a deep organ chord as the the floor lights slowly came up, casting enormous shadows of the 3 sculptures high above them. When you fade lights up slowly, the light seems to grow from the instrument upward, so your eyes just naturally started at the feet and watched the sculptures reveal themselves as you looked higher and higher and on beyond their heads into the shadows where may have lurked the Phantom of the Opera.
But, just before your head tipped over backward, the organist changed the chord and all 3 sculptures, all of which had 1000W par cans for eyeballs, each pair focused on one musician below, bumped up full, snapping the audience’s head back down to this German synthesizer band that they’d never heard of. The band took off with a Starship/Mac crowd standing on its feet within the first two notes of their set. That is the definition of heaven for a showman.
At some point appropriate to each night’s performance, perhaps when the audience sat back down again, sculpture lights were dimmed and the mirror wheel lights were turned on while the wheels rotated slowly. Rotating faster and faster as the band poured it on. Each mirror was 10" square, so the shafts of light that they created, arcing over the band like spokes of 3 giant rotating wheels, were palpable as no smaller light beams could ever be.
And the band played on at warp speed, but they only had 20 minutes so their set flashed by like lightning to the mother of all endings. Remember the gasoline and flash-powder topped Steinway? The last key of the piano was wired to an electric ignition so that the keyboardist could only blame himself if he blew himself up. While the band was going full tilt, the keyboardist ran his fingers from one end of the keyboard to the other, ducking beneath the piano just as he hit the last key.
You could feel the theatre floor (and your stomach) pulse with the blinding explosion. As eyes began to focus again, all the audinece could see was a concert grand engulfed in 10-foot high flames. The band had run off stage, doused themselves with ice water, and run back for an ENCORE demanded by standing ovation. The encore was an elegant piano ballad which left everyone gently smiling. No need for any effect at all.
Needless to say, we were not heros to the stars, but OUR guys got one helluva bang out of 28 lights, 3 steel sculptures, 3 suit-cased mirror wheels and an exploding Steinway. Cheap, light and fast. Union crews actually volunteering for hands-on work. And the audience loved our band.
Anyway, there’s a few folk around this and related websites who were there and did the bulk of the tour and—for those who insist on this board relating only to the Capitol—that’s where we rehearsed the lighting sculptures for the tour. By the way, they were built in Maryland and they were the “Fearless Fog Flyers”. Thank you again, Larry White—still a great sculptor and one of the best follow spot ops ever.
I’m bored by today’s predictable lighting even as I’m thrilled by the technology…
There you have it: Bad management. When you do a show on that scale, you are literally building and operating a fairly large temporary city and must provide EVERYTHING that EVERYBODY needs. Musicians playing knee deep in rainwater, I haven’t seen that more than a couple of hundred times. Just kidding. We didn’t do that many shows at Roosevelt Stadium. But it did happen in Gaelic Park with the Airplane who simply refused to play, which gave Grace Slick an opportunity to strut her stuff…
My distant impression was that they were not happy campers; it was a managerial disaster after all. That’s why I chose not to work that show. But it would be good to hear from someone who actually knows.
A very positive point, nicely made, Mike.
Doesn’t the world seem just a little bit more like the 60s now—in spirit? Not the same, of course, but attitude seems to be improving everywhere. I feel it in the air, just as we all did just after the lights went down and the show was about to begin. To this day, my greatest joy is to recall the thunder of the audience in harmony with the universe. Our theatre, our music, our greatly extended family of friends, but all just the McGuffin of the story of each of our lives.
When I turn my head back ever so gingerly, I recall how briefly every such moment lasted. That too is what I loved about the Capitol and other theatres where we were privileged to be paid to have fun: That huge post-show letdown inspired everything necessary to make the next show go on.
Hey there, East Coast Rocker. As you know, I know from what you speak. You rang a big bell for me when you cited BOA because they were one of the two bands that ever gave me a tip for service on beyond the call of duty. (The other was Pearl Bailey, whose equally wonderful husband, Louie Bellson, recently passed away.) What you describe is the death of rock and roll due to the amoral nature of big business.
Rock is by definition of, by, and for the people: democracy in one of its purest aesthetic forms. Big biz turned it into a packaged commodity which generally means a loss of character in favor of receipts. And, of course, that could not have happened without the acquiescence of the artists themselves. I am by no means a socialist, although I completely accept my personal responsibility to my fellow man as I also understand my complete dependence upon my fellow man, but the demise of rock and roll is directly correlated to its being completely overwhelmed by what I think of as the combined greed of big business and the artists, both of whom stood on the shoulders of true giants, to take without permission the joy of life that cannot be without truly sharing among all of us.
To imagine that rock and roll is, perhaps, a religion is simply to acknowledge that we all shared a common thread of humanity, including responsibility as well as joy, and knowing that we shared a common appreciation for the gift that is our individual and collective lives.
My joy, now, is the hope that accompanies the long overdue and wonderful shift from a faux moral 30 years of pure greed to a new era of hope based on the same values that we who are proud of our 60s heritage can see as the clear light of sunshine. No longer shall we be “busted for smiling on a cloudy day.” It may be a dream, but it is a dream worth our communal effort to fulfill.
Others have come before us with varying degrees of success but I, for one, hope and support every effort of every new generation to take control of their own destiny, to respect the wisdom of those of their elders who have any, and to do right as best they can. As for the music, I think I hear more than echos of the greatness of the past, but the promise of a brand new future.
Bless you all who are willing to make the effort to go on with a love and desire to use your lives to make a more sustainable and joyful world within which we can all hope to live healthy and happy lives in the pursuit of excellence (not just happiness or perfection) in all endeavors of our choice. Please forgive me my boorish boring bully pulpit but, whether or not you forgive me my lame presentation, let us all pull together on the oars that propel our ship to a better place. The wind alone cannot and will not blow us where we wish to go.
Opportunity is the gift we have been given, but it is an opportunity that we must accept as both a challenge and a responsibility if we hope to succeed. Our joy is only to strive for a better future. Whether or not we can achieve that goal is yet to be determined, but joy itself is the selflessness and the sincerity of our effort. Long live rock and roll. It embodies the essence of democracy.
Am I speaking only to myself?
Hey there, East Coast Rocker. As you know, I know from what you speak. You rang a big bell for me when you cited BOA because they were one of the two bands that ever gave me a tip for service on beyond the call of duty. (The other was Pearl Bailey, whose equally wonderful husband, Louie Bellson, recently passed away.) What you describe is the death of rock and roll due to the amoral nature of big business.
Rock is by definition of, by, and for the people: democracy in one of its purest aesthetic forms. Big biz turned it into a packaged commodity which generally means a loss of character in favor of receipts. And, of course, that could not have happened without the acquiescence of the artists themselves. I am by no means a socialist, although I completely accept my personal responsibility to my fellow man as I also understand my complete dependence upon my fellow man, but the demise of rock and roll is directly correlated to its being completely overwhelmed by what I think of as the combined greed of big business and the artists, both of whom stood on the shoulders of true giants, to take without permission the joy of life that cannot be without truly sharing among all of us.
To imagine that rock and roll is, perhaps, a religion is simply to acknowledge that we all shared a common thread of humanity, including responsibility as well as joy, and knowing that we shared a common appreciation for the gift that is our individual and collective lives.
My joy, now, is the hope that accompanies the long overdue and wonderful shift from a faux moral 30 years of pure greed to a new era of hope based on the same values that we who are proud of our 60s heritage can see as the clear light of sunshine. No longer shall we be “busted for smiling on a cloudy day.” It may be a dream, but it is a dream worth our communal effort to fulfill.
Others have come before us with varying degrees of success but I, for one, hope and support every effort of every new generation to take control of their own destiny, to respect the wisdom of those of their elders who have any, and to do right as best they can. As for the music, I think I hear more than echos of the greatness of the past, but the promise of a brand new future.
Bless you all who are willing to make the effort to go on with a love and desire to use your lives to make a more sustainable and joyful world within which we can all hope to live healthy and happy lives in the pursuit of excellence (not just happiness or perfection) in all endeavors of our choice. Please forgive me my boorish boring bully pulpit but, whether or not you forgive me my lame presentation, let us all pull together on the oars that propel our ship to a better place. The wind alone cannot and will not blow us where we wish to go.
Opportunity is the gift we have been given, but it is an opportunity that we must accept as both a challenge and a responsibility if we hope to succeed. Our joy is only to strive for a better future. Whether or not we can achieve that goal is yet to be determined, but joy itself is the selflessness and the sincerity of our effort. Long live rock and roll. It embodies the essence of democracy.
Am I speaking only to myself?
March 10, 1973. See http://www.moyssi.com/capitolshows.htm But don’t stop there—you might find something interesting on one of the other 750 or so pages too…
Hmmm. I’d stay away from that trick. At our age, that’s the kind of coincidence that is bound to increase in frequency.
Another, lighter, coincidence: I met Harold at the Academy of Music on the same day that I met Candace in Gaelic Park, and Jimmy Delahanty turned out to be the cab driver who took me (for the wildest ride in my life) from my meeting with Harold to my car to meet Candace at Gaelic Park to begin my post-university career in lighting. Jimmy, by coincidence of course, became part of our all-star City Lights lighting crew and, again by coincidence, is now rumored to be joining Dave Capo’s Capitol forum as soon as he can get his computer woes worked out… Let’s all keep talking out loud and see who else turns up. It’s amazing to discover after all these years how many of us worked the same lighting instrument in the same place in the same venue at so many different times.
But there is no mold from which Harold Klein was cast. His bright light will be missed by all who knew him.
Ugh! I thought I hit preview and then send. Sorry folks. Does anybody know how to delete a doppelganger?
Michael, Which walnut is the dime under? Quick history. Candace Brightman, who is and always has been IMHO one of the best 3 LDs on the face of this planet directed lights for Stein at his Capitol in Port Chester and then at the much larger Academy of Music on 14th St. John and Al engaged her as LD for the Capitol but she chose to tour with the Grateful Dead instead. Heaven, but she thought well of John and didn’t want to leave him hanging, so she asked Harold Klein, who was moonlighting as one of her spot ops at the Academy to take her place at both the Academy and the new Capitol in Passaic. Harold—who is one very versatile, talented and entertaining guy—at first accepted and then got cold feet. At that point, George Geranius, who was then Blue Oyster Cult’s sound man, reminded Candace of my work at Stony Brook. She called me and I promptly accepted. (I was willing to try to be in two places at the same time because I was a sucker for every tall wispy lady who could split photons with a subtle idea.) But then Harold decided he wanted back in, so Candace borrowed a page from King Solomon’s handbook and asked us to split the gigs: One to go to the Academy and the other to go to the Capitol. Instead, Harold and I decided—on the day that we met each other—to handle Howard’s and John’s gigs as a partnership. Two people: Two places and Harold wanted the best of both worlds. I deferred as a professional courtesy to Harold because he was offered the gig before me, and so City Lights was born and grew to include The Bottom Line and touring gigs with NRPS, Jerry Garcia, Donovan, Lou Reed and others. During that period, we found that we could actually handle almost all of those gigs between the two of us, with the able assistance of our terrific lighting crew. So Harold or I could be found on the boards at the Capitol, the Academy, The Bottom Line, Asbury Park or on the road at any given moment, but we never knew which or when until the smoke cleared. Sometimes one of us would set up for the other, or do the early show while the other did the late show, so that we could also cover a touring gig. So it wasn’t your imagination: You did work with Harold AND me as interchangeable LDs or spot ops or BOTH at all three NY area venues. And yes, sometimes you could have seen me working two different gigs on the same day. A helluva way to make a living and I loved every minute of it.
Michael, Which walnut is the dime under? Quick history. Candace Brightman, who is and always has been IMHO one of the best 3 LDs on the face of this planet directed lights for Stein at his Capitol in Port Chester and then at the much larger Academy of Music on 14th St. John and Al engaged her as LD for the Capitol but she chose to tour with the Grateful Dead instead. Heaven, but she thought well of John and didn’t want to leave him hanging, so she asked Harold Klein, who was moonlighting as one of her spot ops at the Academy to take her place at both the Academy and the new Capitol in Passaic. Harold—who is one very versatile, talented and entertaining guy—at first accepted and then got cold feet. At that point, George Geranius, who was then Blue Oyster Cult’s sound man, reminded Candace of my work at Stony Brook. She called me and I promptly accepted. (I was willing to try to be in two places at the same time because I was a sucker for every tall wispy lady who could split photons with a subtle idea.) But then Harold decided he wanted back in, so Candace borrowed a page from King Solomon’s handbook and asked us to split the gigs: One to go to the Academy and the other to go to the Capitol. Instead, Harold and I decided—on the day that we met each other—to handle Howard’s and John’s gigs as a partnership. Two people: Two places and Harold wanted the best of both worlds. I deferred as a professional courtesy to Harold because he was offered the gig before me, and so City Lights was born and grew to include The Bottom Line and touring gigs with NRPS, Jerry Garcia, Donovan, Lou Reed and others. During that period, we found that we could actually handle almost all of those gigs between the two of us, with the able assistance of our terrific lighting crew. So Harold or I could be found on the boards at the Capitol, the Academy, The Bottom Line, Asbury Park or on the road at any given moment, but we never knew which or when until the smoke cleared. Sometimes one of us would set up for the other, or do the early show while the other did the late show, so that we could also cover a touring gig. So it wasn’t your imagination: You did work with Harold AND me as interchangeable LDs or spot ops or BOTH at all three NY area venues. And yes, sometimes you could have seen me working two different gigs on the same day. A helluva way to make a living and I loved every minute of it.
Hi there, Al. Please know that a substantial portion of our 5,000 visits a month see your name in correct Capitol Theatre context. See http://www.moyssi.com/dedication.htm and http://www.moyssi.com/history.htm#AlHayward (and elsewhere on my site and some of the sites that link in.
Speaking as a guy who was always on the dark side of the lights, John remained in the business, while you and I did not. He’s built his cred fairly, if forgetfully. I felt the same way when you wrote that Harold Klein was the Capitol’s LD. He did the first show on December 16, 1971 but I lit most of all of the rest of them. So history is, after all, only what we recall.
The results of what you did speak for us all, but very few people know anything about any of us. It is the Capitol that they recall, and that is our fault or gift, depending on your point of view.
Watch your tongue, Laddie. But—WOW—you found MY beloved Strong Super Trouper®. I could make that thing shine almost as bright as the SuperArc but the power supply had to be goosed, the rod drives speeded up, and you had to constantly tweak the gap to squeeze more photons out of one or the other end of the spectrum, depending on what color gel you were using. If the cues came too hot and heavy and the operator blinked, the rods would collide and create wonderful fireworks for the seats nearby. But what the hey! Show must go on as brightly as possible. The game was not only to outshine every other operator, but to see which operator could arrive latest and still get his light working before Howard opened the show. Jimmy Delahanty still holds the record by firing up the as yet untuned SuperArc with the gates open and pointed right at Howard. The fade up was supplied by the carbons getting hot. The crew there got so good that I am certain that we could have done any act, blindfolded. I miss the smoke and that 5,700°K flame, and the occasional platform fire when the hot stubs missed the can and landed on the plywood. And a HUGE thank you to the guy in the orchestra below who picked up and returned my objective lens when it fell out the front of the Super Trouper and landed on a temporarily unoccupied seat directly below. Could easily have killed someone. Nowadays laddies, there would have been three teams of lawyers battling over what never actually happened. Ah, those were the days—there and at the Capitol and The Bottom Line… . Anyway, here’s a link to some pix of Super Troupers if anyone is interested: http://www.solarisnetwork.com/item_186 . Anybody have a picture of the original prototype Lycian SuperArc?
Uh, pardon me East Coast Rocker, but ECR sounds WAY TOO MUCH like EKG to me. Sorry about that. I’m doing fine in the What’s Remaining of My Heart Dept. too, but no need at all to lose any weight. My Capitol Theatre jackets and tees still fit fine! How you doing Mr Haywood!?! I noticed that error too. It’s wonderful to discover after all of these years that you, Spot 2, the Looney Tuner, Brenig and a couple of other anonymous Capitolistas are actually older than me! Thanks! Let’s see who wins the Great Tontine! Uh, maybe we should start one…
Hello there ECR—delighted that we be sharing the same boards. Ric-Lo became Lycian Stage Lighting – http://www.lycian.com/ – as a result of Richard’s being one of my first advertising clients. He’s apparently done quite well for himself—and we who ever tried to tame his first Lycian SuperArc, the one that Candace purchased for the Academy of Music (Burnt by the Sun, anyone?) know exactly why. He and his lovely wife Susan also run a successful dinner theater in Sugar Loaf as far as I can recall. But what happened to the original Numero Uno SuperArc? Not a clue… People in the know, please let us all know! Ciao!
Hello Puznik! While most of this stuff may be before your time, you sound a lot like all the rest of us die-hard Capitolistas. May I suggest a non-commercial visit to http://moyssi.com/ where you’ll find lots of contemporary Capitol Theatre stories, anecdotes, photos, memorabilia and links to performances elsewhere on the Internet. (And, of course, tons of my concert programs.) Enjoy and please share your experience.
Non sequitur: In January 2009 my site had more than 5,000 visits, half of which were referred to my Capitol Springsteen performance page — http://www.moyssi.com/780919.htm/ — where virtually EVERYONE downloaded or linked to Charlie Lang’s signed After Show Pass for Bruce’s show at the Arena…
Thanks you Ralph and Ed, and thank you Shoeshoe for your many well-researched and documented contributions to different pages on Cinema Treasures, including more than a couple of Capitols. Ed too seems to be there on many of these pages as well. Ralph, sitting in his armchair somewhere in Britain (notice his spelling) is, I’m sure, a very dedicated participant in things music-theatrical. So let’s all keep involved with what we know and do best. Shoeshoe, I need your help! Have you figured out how to get this website to update its theatre info at the top of the pages? I’ve got blueprints, for heaven’s sake! -Moyssi
Didn’t mean to offend, shoeshoe, but it’s not clear to me what the function of this page and site if it isn’t nostalgia.
Those of us who worked or enjoyed the Capitol are trying to put our wistful memories together to arrive at something closer to actual history. I’ve tried many times to correct the missing, incorrect, or incomplete info at the top of this page regarding style, function, seats, chain and architect with no reaction whatever from whoever controls this site.
If anyone else thinks that this sort of nostalgia is inappropriate, please say so. I’ll be happy to hang it up….
Well then, I’m convinced it was the 3-show run at the Stanley and the mystery is how did I get to work those shows? Harold Klein and I partnered to direct lighting at the Capitol and The Academy of Music (thanks to Candace Brightman) and The Bottom Line (thanks to John Scher), but I don’t recall Howard Stein promoting any shows at the Stanley. Candace was the Dead’s LD, so my role would have been as a spot op or board man hired by Howard, Candace, or another promoter due to our rep in NYC and NJ. But I sincerely doubt that I would have worked for anyone locally other than John.
Does DLH or anyone else know who promoted those Stanley shows?