Oh, I believe the date is wrong in the write-up. It says: “On that special evening, August 6, 1972, some magic happened and for three hours, the glory days of the movies lived again.” But that couldn’t be right, because then it says “Two years after the grand re-opening, an historic flood raged through the town.” And the flood was in June, 1972, so the correct date must have been August 6, 1970.
I was raised in Milton, and the Capitol was an important part of my youth. Yes, I was one of those standing in line for that showing of King Kong!
The Capitol wasn’t just a “box with a screen”. It was a class act, from the front doors to the upstairs lobby to the gracefully sweeping ramps that led down from the balcony to the exits near the organ pipes.
The theatre did not “burn to the ground”. However, it was declared to be “structurally unsound” after the fire. But, as anyone who was there watching the day they tore it down remembers, when they swung the wrecking ball at it, the theatre didn’t budge! The onlookers cheered! And my memories of the Capitol are as sturdy as that theatre was. From the soda machine decorated with an odd-looking fellow named Mr. Dee-Lish came the best cherry soda 15 cents could buy. Every few rows was a double seat, to accomodate either affectionate couples or the backsides of patrons who’d made too many trips to the snack bar for Junior Mints. You could “hoot the boxes”, too!.
In addition to the balcony, there was also a loge, which was basically a balcony in the balcony. Since they chaged extra to sit there, I never did. I remember two films in particular. Silent Running, which was the film showing during the 1972 flood, and Electra Glide in Blue, which was showing when it burned. I was in school, science class, Mr. Gates, when the word came in that the Capitol was on fire. Funny how we remember the day the celluloid died. My dad was fire chief at the time, and he brought home letters from the marquee as souveniers.
The building might be long gone, but the Capitol lives on in the minds of every Miltonian.
Oh, I believe the date is wrong in the write-up. It says: “On that special evening, August 6, 1972, some magic happened and for three hours, the glory days of the movies lived again.” But that couldn’t be right, because then it says “Two years after the grand re-opening, an historic flood raged through the town.” And the flood was in June, 1972, so the correct date must have been August 6, 1970.
I was raised in Milton, and the Capitol was an important part of my youth. Yes, I was one of those standing in line for that showing of King Kong!
The Capitol wasn’t just a “box with a screen”. It was a class act, from the front doors to the upstairs lobby to the gracefully sweeping ramps that led down from the balcony to the exits near the organ pipes.
The theatre did not “burn to the ground”. However, it was declared to be “structurally unsound” after the fire. But, as anyone who was there watching the day they tore it down remembers, when they swung the wrecking ball at it, the theatre didn’t budge! The onlookers cheered! And my memories of the Capitol are as sturdy as that theatre was. From the soda machine decorated with an odd-looking fellow named Mr. Dee-Lish came the best cherry soda 15 cents could buy. Every few rows was a double seat, to accomodate either affectionate couples or the backsides of patrons who’d made too many trips to the snack bar for Junior Mints. You could “hoot the boxes”, too!.
In addition to the balcony, there was also a loge, which was basically a balcony in the balcony. Since they chaged extra to sit there, I never did. I remember two films in particular. Silent Running, which was the film showing during the 1972 flood, and Electra Glide in Blue, which was showing when it burned. I was in school, science class, Mr. Gates, when the word came in that the Capitol was on fire. Funny how we remember the day the celluloid died. My dad was fire chief at the time, and he brought home letters from the marquee as souveniers.
The building might be long gone, but the Capitol lives on in the minds of every Miltonian.