Moving Picture World (Nov-Dec 1927)

2S MOVING PICTURE WORLD November 5, 1927 Maj* Bowes Stages Splendid Show For Capitol’s Eighth Anniversary WITH rejoicing on the part of Major Edward Bowes and all who directly or indirectly contribute to the behindthe-scenes machinery of New York’s first mammoth picture palace, the Capitol last week celebrated its eighth anniversary. The cause for rejoicing is not difficult to find — for the theatre’s birthday finds it in its most successful period since the house opened its doors. The records for attendance and boxoffice receipts during the past few weeks have reached and consistently uphld a'highwater mark for all previous records of the kind. Following the general felicitations participated in by Aileen Pringle, who arrived from the Coast in time to see two of her pictures in succession pre-empt the Capitol’s screen; Vincent Lopez and his Casa Lopez orchestra ; James Barton and Grace La Rue, the theatre has settled down to the serious business of beginning its ninth year of entertaining the public. During the eight years of its career, the Capitol has created and developed a popular significance, which distinguishes it from the conventional institution of entertanment. From the man-in-the-street, the movie fan, the music lover, the list passes through the various strata of the social scale, up to and including the very Chief Executives of the City and the I State. Governor Smith, who has ever been an en I thusiastic patron of the Capitol, is quoted as saying: “Your efforts to add to already splendid programs of entertainment at the greater j Capitol must call for the hearty approval and I thanks of an appreciative public.” To which our own Mayor Walker has added, “I want to congratulate you on the additions you have made to the Capitol’s program and to wish you I the greatest possible success.” When one considers the fact that the Cap-’tol i Theatre has served to entertain some fifty \ million persons since its opening, one recognizes a record in public entertainment which | challenges that of any other institution in the history of all amusement enterprises. In no small measure responsible for creating I its particular niche in the public’s affection, has been the Capitol’s contribution to the develop i ment of the popular musical taste. A pioneer i in this field, it 'was the first theatre to introduce | an orchestra of symphonic proportions and standards as an integral part of the motion picture entertainment, together with a perma II nent ballet corps and soloists recruited from the | operatic and concert ranks. These musical activities received the approbation and patron | age of such important musical lights as Mengelberg, Gatti-Casazza, Heifetz, Bodanzky, Paderewski, and Hoffman. Radio and Concerts Aid The recent inauguration of a series of popular I symphonic concerts with internationally known artists as guest soloists has evoked further ! acclaim from these sources. In this connection, ! it is interesting to note the progress that has been made in a comparatively short time. The last Sunday morning symphonic concert at the Capitol, with so superlative an artist as Albert Spalding as soloist, a fact in itself deserving of contemplation, included Debussy’s “Afternoon of a Faun” which was performed by Mendoza’s orchestra with the finesse one might expect to find in Carnegie Hall. Not so many years ago symphony conductors offered this composition only to their most sophisticated audiences and then not without some cause tor doubt. The radio, too, has been an instrument used by the Capitol to disseminate the musical entertainment of the picture theatre. In the five years in which it has been on the air, the chain of its broadcasting stations has grown to nineteen, stretching from Canada to the Gulf and from the Atlantic seaboard as far west as Nebraska, reaching an estimated audience of fifteen million persons. Backstage, new and magic changes have taken place in the enlargement and alteration of the stage; the orchestra pit; the new elevators and platforms. Among other mechanical appliances and devices is a new electric switchboard, one of the finest in existence. This, in conjunction with re-organized lighting system, will give greater beauty of these stage and lighting effects. A new part of the organization is the new stage band, the nucleus of the stage revues. This may well be called a hand-picked group of musicians, for in addition to being individu (Continued on page 45)