Capitol Theatre

1 E. 7th Street,
Cincinnati, OH 45202

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Ascher Brothers Inc., RKO, Stanley-Warner Theatres

Architects: Cornelius Ward Rapp, George W. Leslie Rapp

Firms: Rapp & Rapp

Previous Names: RKO Capitol Theatre

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News About This Theater

Capitol Theatre

Opened by the Ascher Brothers Inc. chain on April 2, 1921. This old movie palace later became a Cinerama theater, closed in 1967 and was torn down in 1970 to make way for a parking lot and office development.

Contributed by Lowell Koger, Anna Horton, Ray Martinez

Recent comments (view all 21 comments)

WayneS
WayneS on October 22, 2011 at 12:36 pm

I saw my first Cinerama films at the Capitol, “How the West Was Won” Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" and “The Best of Cinerama” in three strip. The last film I saw there was the 70mm Cinerama film of “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” Had the pleasure of being shown the projection booths and the separate sound player up in the old projection room. I believe the manager was named Beman Richey, and he invited me into the Cincinnati home movie club.

sam siklas
sam siklas on January 4, 2012 at 2:13 am

The Cincinnati Enquirer did an article Nov. 13 of last year entitled “Taft theater sole survivor of bygone era. In that article, they included a set of photos which showed many of that cities old palaces, including this one. Also, you can get a good idea of what the exterior of the Capitol looked like, by viewing the South Bend, Ind. State theater, here on Cinema Treasures. The 2 are so similar,they could almost be twins. I Accessed the article by using Cincinnati.com, and then typed in Keith Albee theater in the site’s search engine. If it works o.k., you should find a nice set of historical shots of a number of this city’s lost movie palaces. Happy New Year! == Sam ==

sam siklas
sam siklas on April 13, 2012 at 12:24 am

The architect of the Capitol theater may have been Henry Newhouse of Chicago, as he designed the South Bend State (orig. Blackstone) theater.You can see some period and current photos of the State theater at :dtsbpitch.com

rivest266
rivest266 on May 30, 2015 at 6:31 pm

6 grand opening ads in the photo section for this theatre.

robboehm
robboehm on May 30, 2015 at 8:36 pm

Uploaded a nighttime photo from the past.

Cinerama
Cinerama on April 4, 2016 at 3:21 pm

Ads for all the Cinerama films that played at the theatre – http://incinerama.com/capitol11.htm

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on March 16, 2017 at 5:24 pm

1944 photo added courtesy of Phil Lind‎.

Coate
Coate on May 22, 2017 at 1:00 pm

New Showcase Presentations in Cincinnati article includes mention of the numerous Cinerama engagements here at the Capitol (along with large format and roadshow engagements at other Cincinnati area cinemas).

Quilty
Quilty on May 28, 2020 at 11:19 pm

P.S. I forgot. Saw “House on Haunted Hill” at the Grand complete with the special effect, “Emergo,” which was a cheap skeleton on a wire that was run overhead toward the end of the movie. Lots of candy wrappers and popcorn bags were thrown at it.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on January 25, 2022 at 9:47 pm

Cincinnati’s Capitol Theatre was opened by the Ascher Bros. circuit on April 2, 1921.

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