Capitol Cinema (Ottawa)
Encyclopedia
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and was the city's only true movie palace
Movie palace
A movie palace is a term used to refer to the large, elaborately decorated movie theaters built between the 1910s and the 1940s. The late 1920s saw the peak of the movie palace, with hundreds opened every year between 1925 and 1930.There are three building types in particular which can be subsumed...
. Opened in 1920, the 2530-seat cinema was regarded as one of the best cinemas designed by famed theatre-architect Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas W. Lamb
Thomas White Lamb was an American architect, born in Scotland. He is noted as one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.-Career:...
.
The grand opening
The Capitol was located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Queen Street and Bank StreetBank Street (Ottawa)
Bank Street is the major north-south road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs south from Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa, south through the neighbourhoods of Centretown, The Glebe, Old Ottawa South, Alta Vista, Hunt Club, and then through the villages of Blossom Park, Leitrim, South...
, and was opened by the Loews
Loews Cineplex Entertainment
Loews Theatres, aka Loews Incorporated , founded in 1904 by Marcus Loew and Brantford Schwartz, was the oldest theater chain operating in North America until it merged with AMC Theatres on January 26, 2006. From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The...
chain on November 8, 1920. In honour of the new theatre, a special train from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
arrived at Ottawa's Union Station
Government Conference Centre
The Government Conference Centre is a government building in downtown Ottawa, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street. It is situated at the intersection of Wellington Street and the Rideau Canal, just a short distance from the Parliament buildings and Confederation Square, and across the street from...
, carrying Marcus Loew
Marcus Loew
Marcus Loew was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .-Biography:...
, Thomas Lamb, and more than a dozen silent film stars of the day, including Matt Moore and Texas Guinan
Texas Guinan
Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American saloon keeper, actress, and entrepreneur.-Early life:...
. The train was greeted by the Governor General's Foot Guards
Governor General's Foot Guards
The Governor General's Foot Guards is one of three Household regiments in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army, along with The Governor General's Horse Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards. The GGFG is the most senior militia infantry regiment in Canada."Civitas et Princeps Cura Nostra" is...
band and thousands of movie fans.
A motorcade
Motorcade
A motorcade is a procession of vehicles. The term motorcade was coined by Lyle Abbot , and is formed after cavalcade on the false notion that "-cade" was a suffix meaning "procession"...
took the visitors to the City Hall
Second City Hall (Ottawa)
Ottawa, Ontario's second city hall was built in 1877 on Elgin Street between Queen and Albert Streets and next to Ottawa's First City Hall.Built by architects Horsey and Sheard of Ottawa, the Second Empire French and Italian Style had one tall tower and three smaller ones...
on Elgin Street
Elgin Street (Ottawa)
Elgin Street is a street in the Golden Triangle of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after Lord Elgin....
, where the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, Harold Fisher
Harold Fisher
Harold Fisher, KC was mayor of Ottawa from 1917-1920 and a Liberal MPP from 1923-1926.He grew up in Toronto where he attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute, the University of Toronto, and then got his law degree from Osgoode Hall. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1902. He moved to Ottawa in 1903...
, was on hand for an official greeting. After a short tour of the city, the visitors were greeted by James Alexander Lougheed
James Alexander Lougheed
Sir James Alexander Lougheed, KCMG, PC, QC was a businessman and politician from Alberta, Canada.-Early Life:Lougheed was born in Brampton, Canada West, to Irish Protestant parents. The family moved to Weston, Canada West , when Lougheed was a child, and he attended King Street Public School Sir...
on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
, and then taken to their accommodations in the Château Laurier
Château Laurier
The Fairmont Château Laurier is a landmark hotel in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario located near the intersection of Rideau Street and Sussex Drive designed in the Châteauesque style.-History:...
. The crowds that greeted the motorcade at each stage of its procession through the city were described by the Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa Citizen
The Ottawa Citizen is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Canada. According to the Canadian Newspaper Association, the paper had a 2008 weekly circulation of 900,197.- History :...
as "throngs" with "unrivalled scenes of enthusiasm".
The opening performance that evening consisted of two films, D.W. Griffith's "The Love Flower" and a comedy entitled "Cheer Up", and four vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
acts. Crowds of people who were unable to obtain tickets for the sold-out show lingered on the sidewalks outside the theatre throughout the evening.
After the performance, the revelry continued at City Hall, where the visiting celebrities and local notables celebrated until dawn, with the actress Texas Guinan reportedly orchestrating the celebrations from the Mayor's chair. News of the party erupted into a scandal over the following weeks, with many questioning the appropriateness of hosting the alleged debauchery at the seat of local government and whether city funds had been used to purchase alcohol for the event. One city councillor, Napoléon Champagne
Napoléon Champagne
Napoléon Champagne was mayor of Ottawa in 1908 and 1924, and a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario representing Ottawa East from 1911 to 1914....
, later defended his attendance at the party in the Ottawa Citizen by claiming that he had been "looking after the married men".
Ottawa's landmark cinema
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
's Loews
Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Winter Garden theatre is seven stories above the Elgin Theatre....
and Pantages theaters, also designed by Thomas Lamb, were classic examples of this trend, with both theatres having narrow frontages on Yonge Street
Yonge Street
Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...
and auditoriums on a rear side street.
Ottawa's Loews theater was different, as it occupied the entirety of a prime downtown corner site. This enabled Lamb to design a grander lobby for the theater, with a majestic marble staircase and balustrade
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
, a colonnaded mezzanine
Mezzanine (architecture)
In architecture, a mezzanine or entresol is an intermediate floor between main floors of a building, and therefore typically not counted among the overall floors of a building. Often, a mezzanine is low-ceilinged and projects in the form of a balcony. The term is also used for the lowest balcony in...
, and a domed ceiling with a great crystal chandelier. The auditorium was equally impressive, with its ornate proscenium arch, hand-painted ceiling dome, box seats, and balcony. The Capitol was considered to be among the finest movie palaces in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. In Palaces of the Night, John Lindsay wrote: "many feel the Ottawa Capitol was the most attractive of all of Lamb's theatres", with "the grandest split staircase and lobby anywhere".
Loews main competitor in Canada, Famous Players, promised an even larger flagship theatre on Sparks Street
Sparks Street
Sparks Street is a street in downtown Ottawa, Canada that was converted into an outdoor pedestrian street in 1966, making it the earliest such street or mall in North America....
to trump the Loews cinema on Queen Street. With a population of 150,000 at that time, however, Ottawa was likely unable to support two 2500-seat theatres, despite Famous Players' pronouncements. In 1924, Loews sold off its Canadian theatres, and the American Keith theatre circuit (which went on to become RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures
RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P...
) was able to outbid Famous Players for the Ottawa Loews. The cinema was renamed "Keith's Vaudeville", and shortly thereafter the marquee
Marquee (sign)
A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...
was changed again to the "RKO Capitol".
For five years, Famous Players continued to announce on an annual basis that it would be building a competing cinema on Sparks Street. In 1929, however, Famous Players merged with RKO's Canadian operations, and Ottawa's largest theatre finally became part of the Famous Players chain. The name of the theatre was ultimately changed to simply "the Capitol".
Despite the end of the vaudeville era, the Capitol continued to host musical concerts, plays and other events, along with its main film programming, throughout its history. The Capitol was the most prestigious auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
in the National Capital Region
National Capital Region (Canada)
The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities....
, and it was at the centre of the city's cultural and social life. Its stage hosted, among others, Nelson Eddy
Nelson Eddy
Nelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and actor who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he costarred...
, Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
, John Gielgud
John Gielgud
Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH was an English actor, director, and producer. A descendant of the renowned Terry acting family, he achieved early international acclaim for his youthful, emotionally expressive Hamlet which broke box office records on Broadway in 1937...
, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...
, Michael Redgrave
Michael Redgrave
Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...
, Victor Borge
Victor Borge
Victor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
, Pearl Bailey
Pearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...
, Nat King Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
, Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...
, the Metropolitan Opera Company
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario.-History:The TSO was founded in 1922 as the New Symphony Orchestra, and gave its first concert at Massey Hall in April 1923. The orchestra changed its name to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1927. The TSO...
. In later years, The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
, Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
, Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
and Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
all performed at the Capitol. Recordings of Hendrix's 1968 concert and The Who's 1969 concert at the Capitol circulating for years as two of the most sought-after bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s of the respective performers (in 2001, Hendrix's 1968 bootleg was finally released as a legitimate recording under the name "Live in Ottawa
Live in Ottawa
Live in Ottawa is a posthumous live album by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, released on October 23, 2001 by Dagger Records. The album documents the band's second performance at the Capitol Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario on March 19, 1968....
").
Demolition
Elgin Theatre (Ottawa)
The Elgin Theatre was a historic movie theatre located at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin Street in Ottawa, Canada. The 750 seat cinema opened in 1937, with the first film shown being Stand-In. For several decades it was one of Ottawa's premier theatres, and in 1947 it was the location of the world...
. The chain never acted on this announcement, however, perhaps in deference to the Capitol's role as Ottawa's main stage.
When the plans for the National Arts Centre
National Arts Centre
The National Arts Centre is a centre for the performing arts located in Ottawa, Ontario, between Elgin Street and the Rideau Canal...
were announced, the end of the Capitol was near. By the end of the 1960s, it was impossible to fill the Capitol's 2530 seats with the showing of a film. The president of the Famous Players chain, George Destounis, was quoted in the Ottawa Journal
Ottawa Journal
The Ottawa Journal was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario from 1885 to 1980.It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the Ottawa Evening Journal. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from the Winnipeg Free Press. In 1886, it was bought by Philip Dansken Ross.The...
in July 1969 as saying: "It's a beautiful theatre, but it has outlived its purpose".
Deemed to be superfluous once the National Arts Centre was completed and an anachronism
Anachronism
An anachronism—from the Greek ανά and χρόνος — is an inconsistency in some chronological arrangement, especially a chronological misplacing of persons, events, objects, or customs in regard to each other...
in the age of the multiplex, the Capitol was closed on May 1, 1970 and subsequently demolished. The last regularly scheduled film was M*A*S*H
MASH (film)
MASH is a 1970 American satirical dark comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner, Jr., based on Richard Hooker's novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. It is the only feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise...
, but the actual last show was a sold-out benefit performance that included a stage show and a special screening of the Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford
Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
film, Pollyanna. The event was emceed by Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
, and the audience ended the show with a sad rendition of "Auld Lang Syne
Auld Lang Syne
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...
".
There was little the residents of Ottawa could do to stop the demolition; the provincial government of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
would not enact heritage protection legislation
Ontario Heritage Act
The Ontario Heritage Act, first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage value or interest....
for another five years. The Capitol was replaced by an office building that contained the three-screen "Capitol Square" multiplex. The Capitol Square was itself closed and converted to office space in 1999.