Capitol Theatre

Ed Solero on March 17, 2007 at 11:55 am

Thanks Myossi… I’d love to see that footage of John Belushi singing and doing cartwheels with the Dead on U.S. Blues! I hope a restoration project gets underway and those tapes see the light of day! I imagine there’d be considerable legal red-tape to be negotiated with all the artists, but I’d surely be willing to pay to have some of those shows on DVD!

Ed Solero on March 16, 2007 at 7:33 pm

Myossi… Amazing that you referred me to that page of your wonderful website!

I attended one of those Who concerts in September of 1979 just within a few days of seeing them at the Madison Square Garden (later on in that tour, the notorious crowd rush in Cincinatti resulted in a number of deaths). That was my first venture to the Capitol – and there’s the vertical sign as I remember it. I’d love to say that the next time I went to the Capitol was March 30th, 1980, since that’s the next photo on your webpage, but I think I saw a Jerry Garcia show a few weeks earlier. I was at that March 30th Dead show, however. I remember hearing about the show on April Fools Day a few days later where the Dead came out for the first number with everyone on the wrong instrument. Wish I had caught that one.

Hey… didn’t John Scher videotape many of the gigs at the Capitol for archival purposes? I remember cameras rolling a few times. Always wondered what happened to those vids. If whoever owns those tapes can get artists to sign licensing agreements, they’d be sitting on a treasure trove of rock history!

drbobbyp on March 11, 2007 at 1:50 pm

Thanks for the memories! As a local resident I was fortunate enough to have attended about 50-60 shows over the years. Including the first one with J Geils and Humble Pie I think the face value ticket was $4.50 or $5.50 and I am sure the 200 people or so in the theater that night did not cover the tab. Towards the later years we were given access to the theater from a Passaic cop who always worked the detail “Red”. Seats were right in front of the sound board. The sounds,the smells. Any old Hedielbergers out there should chime in to,Dr.Jim,Rudy,Gretch,Don Tron and the list goes on. Glad to have found this site. Thanks.

roscomouse on March 10, 2007 at 7:25 pm

Ed,

Why do I get the feeling that we’ve met before? I toured with Jerry as well as doing lights for most of the shows at the Capitol, so we’ve certainly been in the same room with the same smile our our faces for the same spectrum of reasons… But, to answer your quesstion, you can see the complete progression of Capitol Theatre marquees on http://www.moyssi.com/threemarquess.htm

We can determine from the dates of the shows that appear on the marquees in those pix that the vertical element was removed (for structural reasons) and replaced sometime between 9/11/79 and 3/30/80. So your memory is as good as the music.

I’m gratefu for photographers like Kevin R. Papa, who donated his photos of the marquees to my website even though he doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall, and to Bob Leafe, who also has some dynamite pix as the Capitol’s resident photographer. Without them, our memories would be nothing more than our ethereal imagination corrobrated by our need to remember the magic that existed then in the world. And still does…

Moyssi

roscomouse on March 6, 2007 at 6:18 pm

Okay, I give up. Does anyone know how to get the owner/s of this website to update the style, function, architect and firm info at the top of this page? About 3 eMail messages into this, I’m about ready to give up. On the other hand, Passaic (and a few other engaged participants) could change my emphatic knowledge into a more malleable set of questions. Any help from anybody out there? -Moyssi

ctcirc on March 4, 2007 at 5:18 pm

As an aside, Abe Preiskel was head of the Passaic police; but he was a steady customer of my grandfather, who was a leading “bootlegger” in Passaic during the Roaring Twenties.

ctcirc on March 4, 2007 at 4:41 pm

I stand corrected. Abram Preiskel was the architect of both the Capital and Montauk Theaters in Passaic. He was Commissioner of Public Safety from 1919 to 1934. He died in 1967 at the age of 84. Samuel Harris owned the theater originally. Harry K. Hecht owned the Central (see my comments there) and my uncle, Harry Stein, owned the Montauk Theater Building (see there also). My grandparents were close friends with all of these owners and builders for almost 50 years.

roscomouse on March 4, 2007 at 11:21 am

TC, you might prefer the same button as it appears on http://www.moyssi.com/841222.htm On this page, you can see the difference between the earliest Capitol marquee (the button) and the last marquee (the program cover).

I believe that most if not all of the Capitol Theatre buttons were made by staffer Bob Wolfe, who made them using some of my original artwork with permission.

http://www.moyssi.com/ is chock full of nearly 700 pages of memories and memorabilia that visitors contribute to the historic record of the Capitol. The momorabilia is not generally for sale, but the actual concert programs, original cover art, limited edition prints, posters and other interesting things are available for purchase as well as amusement.

Moyssi

roscomouse on February 28, 2007 at 10:21 am

Bob,

Thanks for your reminder. Yes, John Scher did occasionally promote shows at the Central. I recall one Grateful Dead show where the contract rider stipulated steaks from Max’s Kansas City which duly arrived from NYC in a timely manner and in all their glorious splendor—without a single knife or fork to be had anywhere. No problem: we all stuffed ourselves silly in a handy manner as familiar to shepherds as to 6th century kings.

It was also interesting to read a comment above from “Passaic” who claimed that Abe Preiskel was the police chief in Passaic, not the architect as stated at the top of the page. It turns out that Passaic’s spelling is more accurate than mine, so there may be an interesting connection between the architect C.A. Sandblom (NYC) and the police chief of Passaic, if the theatre was actually owned by a local businessman (Samuel Harris) as asserted elsewhere in the commentary above.

The Capitol—bland acrchitecture or not—certainly enjoyed a colorful history!

Please feel free to establish private contact with me via the web reply form on my website (www.moyssi.com), but please be aware that there are others who have commented above on this page who may be able to add as much or more to our cumulative knowledge base than I can, notably Dave Capo and some others too clandestine to sign a real name.

Moyssi

roscomouse on February 27, 2007 at 5:50 pm

As resident stage lighting designer for John Scher’s Capitol Theatre in Passaic NJ from 1971 through 1988, I may be able to add some missing info from the top of this page, and respond to some of the comments and questions that have been raised in the messages above. I first entered the theatre in 1971 before John Scher renovated the building, so I have some first hand experience with the original building, plus some architectural drawings for historical reference.

Regarding style, the theatre was a plain brick box on the outside, quite comfortable in its industrial context. Inside, however, the theatre was a huge, asymmetrical room with no visual interference between the stage and any seat. No balconies. The style was an interesting mixture of Deco and Nouveau—all original when we arrived, and we kept it in tact until the fire that destroyed the place.

The most unusual design element was the fact that all interior walls were covered with 2 inches of painted acoustical padding. The sound there was absolutely wonderful for live shows. Unbeatable, in fact. I was resident stage lighting director at Howard Stein’s New York Academy of Music on 14th Street—later the Palladium, The Bottom Line Cabaret in NYC, and Stony Brook University from 1966-1971. I also toured with New Riders of the Purple Sage, Jerry Garcia Band, Old And In The Way, Hot Tuna, Triumvirate and a few other bands so I’ve worked a lot of theatres between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean. The Capitol was the best, acoustically speaking, even if it was a fire-breathing nightmare for lighting.

Regarding function, the theatre was originally intended for cinema with some light vaudevillian distraction. The original stage was the smallest I’ve ever worked, with the possible exception of Convention Hall in Asbury Park. The theatre had no fly loft for lights, scenery or drapery, but it did have a small bank of huge rheostats that must have been used for some minimal lighting. The projection booth was sufficient for two carbon arc projectors, so I doubt that they had any follow spots before we arrived on the scene.

Seating capacity as stated at the top of this page is 3,211 but the actual seating capacity was 3,412. There is an interesting story behind that discrepancy, for later telling if anyone is interested and still reading this stuff.

Can’t help with the chain. The theatre may always have been independent.

Regarding the architect, I have an undated reverse sepia longitudinal section by Abraham Preiskill (as above) and what appears to me to be an older, original blueprint of the proscenium arch from C.A. Sandblom, Architect, then located at 19 West 45th Street in Manhattan. I also have a blueline print of the alarm system by E.P. Reid, Inc. Perhaps Preiskill was associated with Sandblom.

As for the REAL function of the theatre, I believe that about 2,000,000 stomping, cheering, joyful fans of rock and rool, blues and jazz would agree with me that this theatre shone as the longest-lived and most successful small rock and roll theatre in the world. Actually, considering its size, it was really just a big club date for most of the HUGE bands that played there. It was also fun for the same reason.

Aside from the music, John Scher also presented everything from Mr Jiggs (who really did have her teeth and really did spontaneously escape from the theatre during her performance), small circuses, dog-and-pony shows, an evangelical mission, and even some genuine vaudeville in the form of striptease. We did anything and everything that might pull an audience past the ticket booth.

A fairly complete listing of all the music shows at the Capitol between 1971 and 1984 appears on my website at http:/www.moyssi.com/capitolshows.htm courtesy of SpotOne whose messages appear somewhere above me here. There are photos of the theatre on http://www.moyssi.com/capitol.htm, more photos on http://www.moyssi.com/threemarquees.htm; floor, stage and lighting plans on http://www.moyssi.com/capitolplans.htm and http://www.moyssi.com/capitolfloor.htm

But the Capitol Theatre was really all about the live music which is represented in the bulk of my website http://www.moyssi.com as a collection of about 300 different concert programs, memorabilia, comments and sidebars that tell the story of the Capitol between 1975 and 1984. If you’ve been there, I’d love to hear your stories and maybe post them on my website, which goes beyond the Capitol to all of the venues where John Scher presented his shows in the 70s and 80s.

Moyssi

SpotOne on December 13, 2006 at 12:59 pm

Continued from previous post…

On December 13, 2006 a Theatre floor plan, Stage layout and stage lighting plot was added here:

http://www.moyssi.com/capitol.htm

John

SpotOne on October 26, 2006 at 8:33 am

Greetings all!

I worked at both the Capitol Passaic and Stein’s Academy of Music in the 70’s. I was a followspot operator for a lot of concerts. I think I may have met EastCoastRocker and one or two others who hang here.

BTW Reddoor: The stones played the Capitol June ‘78. Although they did add some good sized theatres (like the Atlanta Fox) to the usual Stadium mix for that US tour, I don’t think it qualified as a tour of small venues. We at the Capitol were basically blown away by the fact that the Rolling Stones would come to Passaic, because they heard it the Capitol was a great place. Likewise The Who.

Ed Solero on August 24, 2006 at 10:13 am

As mentioned above, the place was a cavernous barn, with some 3200 seats configured along two or three main aisles (as I recall) and without a true balcony. There was a raised area at the back of the orchestra raked like a balcony. I remember you would enter the auditorium through walkways under this section and would have to turn around to walk up the steps to sit in this area. I can’t really recall any ornamentation inside the theater… my memory is definitely fuzzy. I want to say the proscenium was a rather plain carved rectangular border around the stage opening, nothing too fancy. I keep thinking it was more of a streamlined sort of art moderne look, but I’m trying to convince myself that I’m not confusing the interior look with the smaller and more modern Calderone Music Hall in Hempstead.

What I recall of the exterior was pretty streamline as well in buff brick, but this may just reflect changes that had been made over the years to the facade. There was once a blade sign that jutted out from the facade above the marquee that spelled out Capitol, but I think that was removed at some point in the early ‘80’s. The marquee was pretty big with tight rows of lights under the canopy that extended back and into the outer vestibule that was recessed from the sidewalk, and there were display cases on the side walls of this recess. Capitol was spelled out in red neon on the front face of the marquee, with the sideboards used to spell out attractions. Scher’s lower case yellow and red Capitol logo ran at the top of the marquee along either side. I’ve seen that logo on images of the Capitol’s old programs you can find for sale on ebay every so often.