Loew's Capitol Theatre

1645 Broadway,
New York, NY 10019

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Showing 176 - 200 of 1,086 comments

vindanpar
vindanpar on June 23, 2018 at 6:10 pm

From photos that screen looks humongous. I’d like to know the measurements. I also wonder how grainy Zhivago was as a blow up on that screen. Anybody see it there?

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 23, 2018 at 9:25 am

I’ve seen photos of the Capitol screen when The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm played there in 3-strip, and I’m pretty sure it was the same screen on which I saw 2001 in 70mm Cinerama.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 23, 2018 at 9:22 am

I was wondering a similar thing. When a 70mm blowup like Doctor Zhivago played the Capitol, did it fill the entire screen space the way 2001 in 70mm Cinerama did?

vindanpar
vindanpar on June 23, 2018 at 9:04 am

For those of you who were going to the Capitol in the ‘60s being that the Capitol was converted to 3 strip Cinerama and then was pretty much a single 70MM/Cinerama house I was wondering when they presented a film like Sergeants 3 or In the Heat of the Night was the Cinerama screen simply using black borders made smaller according to whether it was in Panavision or 1:85.1 ratio? Also did they install a new screen screen change when they went from 3 strip to single lens Cinerama? Thank you.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 17, 2018 at 8:26 am

Mark, thanks for that great compliment. By the way, I am going to see it today in Paramus. I’ve got to see it in as many different theaters as I can!

MarkDHite
MarkDHite on June 16, 2018 at 11:05 am

Bill, you actually have taken us back. Your descriptions make me feel like I was there! Thanks for that.

FYI: If you didn’t know: 2001 is still running at the Village East, at least through June 21, per their website. Also it is now at the AMC Garden State 16 in Paramus, June 16-19.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 15, 2018 at 11:20 am

Thanks, NYer! Haven’t got too many anniversaries like this. Only other movie one is Star Wars (5/25/1977). I have a couple of album ones, like Sgt. Pepper’s (6/1/1967) and Led Zeppelin IV (11/8/1971).

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 15, 2018 at 10:42 am

You’re right. If I could, I’d take back everyone who ever posted on this Capitol Theatre page.

vindanpar
vindanpar on June 15, 2018 at 10:22 am

Hey you got your chance. I’m the one who needs that time machine!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 15, 2018 at 8:39 am

June 15, 1968, 1:30 PM: today is my personal 50th anniversary with “2001” and the Capitol. An incomparable movie/theater combination. Who’s got a time machine?

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on June 13, 2018 at 1:50 pm

For three out of the past four weeks, the highest grossing movie in the US based on per-screen average has been “2001”. If only Stanley were still alive to see this.

BobbyS
BobbyS on May 27, 2018 at 12:38 pm

The Oakbrook was a wonderful theatre & screen! Then they chopped it up & then torn it down for a Cheesecake Factory. Now a dine-in AMC was carved into the top floor of the Sears store there. Too bad these xtra-large screens are only a memory! I would think a once-a-month classic film at Radio City would draw big crowds. I am surprised they don’t try it. It would fill the empty seats for all the days that the theatre isn’t doing anything…Imagine the sales at the refreshment counter & liquor sales alone!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 25, 2018 at 8:49 am

Yes, that’s one of the perks of being born in 1954. Actually, I wish I’d been born a few years earlier. Then I’d have been able to see The Ten Commandments at the Criterion, North by Northwest at Radio City, Ben-Hur at the Loew’s State, Doctor Zhivago at the Capitol, etc.

vindanpar
vindanpar on May 24, 2018 at 5:53 pm

Odd Couple at the Music Hall. 2001 at the Capitol.

This is killing me.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on May 24, 2018 at 5:35 pm

Hello-

to Howard B.–

I went to the 1:10p.m. screening on the opening day May 18th. unfortunately there was no program at all whether a freebie hand out or one for sale. since when the 70MM engagement of TPT opening at the Lincoln Square they had a rather nice freebie hand out I had my fingers crossed. but it didn’t work.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 1:58 pm

Here is the Experience ad for the Warner Theater in Pittsburgh, August 1970.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 1:44 pm

I think that was the only time I sat in the front row at Radio City to see a movie. One week later I watched Singin' in the Rain from the third mezzanine.

RobertEndres
RobertEndres on May 23, 2018 at 1:38 pm

Truthfully it wasn’t that impressive on a flat screen in a huge hall. I had a chance to see it twice in Cinerama on curved screens once in Chicago and once at the Oakbrook D-150 house near Chicago. A college student who was home for vacation mentioned to me that he had seen it in 16mm. I was working for Plitt Theatres at the time and had a pass for all of their houses. 2001 was playing at Oakbrook so we took a ride up to see it there. We sat in the first row during a matinee performance, and my friend commented that when the D-150 snipe appeared before the feature that it was the only time he had had to turn his head to read a title. Also memorable was the projectionist slightly missing a changeover and putting a tail leader on the screen. In Cinerama (D-150) it was enough to suck your eyeballs out!

I sat in the first row at the Hall when we did our tech screenings of the 70mm prints but it wasn’t the same. I considered going up on stage and sitting right in front of the screen, but the projection crew would probably have had me committed.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 1:34 pm

Here’s the ad. It was a real thrill to know it was coming to Radio City, and a real thrill to actually see it there.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 1:28 pm

Thanks, Robert. I saw it there in May 1975, about three or four times in the same week.

RobertEndres
RobertEndres on May 23, 2018 at 1:13 pm

We beat ‘em both when we ran it at Radio City. Our screen was 70’ so there!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 1:08 pm

I know. That’s how I found out the screen at the Stanley Warner (60') was 10 feet wider than the one at the Ziegfeld (50'). Apparently those Experience ads ran all across the country in 1970.

MarkDHite
MarkDHite on May 23, 2018 at 12:46 pm

I love the detailed description of the “2001 Experience”. Makes me want head over there now!

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 12:13 pm

Yes, the Stanley Warner in Paramus was a great place to see Star Wars, and 2001 as well. I remember running up to see the Jupiter sequence from the front row.

Bill Huelbig
Bill Huelbig on May 23, 2018 at 12:04 pm

In the summer of 1968, I tried to get my family to walk from Radio City Music Hall to the Port Authority Bus Terminal by way of the Capitol. We had just seen The Odd Couple. I badly wanted to show my little brother (who is now 55) the marquee for 2001, which I had seen there about a month before. But my mom knew that was not the shortest way to the bus terminal, so my plan failed.