Capitol Theatre
351 Main Plaza,
New Braunfels,
TX
78130
351 Main Plaza,
New Braunfels,
TX
78130
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The Capitol Theatre opened as a German language house in 1925 with a formal opening weekend on August 29 and 30, 1925. The main film on the 29th was “Flashing Spurs" with Bob Custer and Marion Davies in “Yolonda” on the 30th; both were supported by comedy and news short subject films and live vaudeville including The Mahavier Sisters, Lady Jean and Marjorie, who had indeed played the Palace Theatre in San Antonio doing the “Singapore Shuffle” dance onstage.
The Capitol, Opera House (converted to a movie theater) and Palace (part time English, part time German) appear to be the three silent era movie venues offering some German language silent films for New Braunfels. The town was established in the 19th Century by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels in honor or his hometown, Solms-Braunfels, Germany. That culture extended into the food and entertainment of the 1920s and beyond.
The Reuter-Schwarz Organ Company of Lawrence, Kansas produced its first organ in June of 1920. Based on reports, the Capitol Theater’s pipe organ appears to have been a Reuter two manual, 10-stop organ costing some $5,000. On July 3, 1930, operator Emil Heinen installed Western Electric sound to move the theater into the modern talking picture era. Under new operators, the theatre changed names to the Rialto beginning on June 15, 1935 with “Under the Pampas Moon.”
The Capitol Theatre first appears in the 1927 FDY with 750 seats. It is possible that the Capitol was a project noted in the April 11, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World. The planned house was a bit smaller than the Capitol, but a decision to expand the project might account for some delay in its construction, resulting in an opening too late for its inclusion in the 1926 FDY:
The Capitol must have been in operation at least as late as 1969. That year the April 17 issue of the New Braunfels Herald published a map and list of public fallout shelters in the city, one of them being the Capitol Theatre, 351 Plaza.I do not believe the Capitol Theatre has been demolished. If you zoom in on Google’s satellite view you can see the building near the west end of the south side of the plaza, with its tall brick stage house still recognizable. In street view you can zoom in on the front and and make out the name “Capitol Plaza” above the entrance doors. The building appears to be in use as retail and office space.
On a visit to New Braunfels in September 2011 I couldn’t find any trace of this former cinema.
Perhaps they left the organ in the middle of the lot in anticipation of a theater being built around it?
Just kidding. I remember getting those dates from a website and then realizing that they were extremely general and probably not reliable.