It was in 1960 that United Detroit Theaters poured over $100,000 into remodeling the theatre, completely changing its facade and slightly reducing its seating capacity. In the 1940’s and 1950’s, management of the theatre passed back and forth between various parties, but it was managed by United Detroit Theaters once again beginning in 1960.įor most of the 1950’s, the Broadway-Capitol Theatre featured second-run films and double-features, and unlike many other area theatres, did not convert to the widescreen format to attract audiences. Fields, Fatty Arbuckle, and Guy Lombardo and his Orchestra.Īs a result of the Depression, the theatre closed in 1932, but only until August31, 1934, when it reopened under United Detroit Theaters with another new name, this time the Broadway-Capitol Theatre. Stars who appeared on the Paramount Theatre’s stage in those days included W.C.

The theatre’s name was changed to the Paramount Theatre on August 30, 1929, when it was taken over by the Paramount-Publix chain, and featured live stage shows and vaudeville acts.

On screen, “The Lotus Eater” was shown, as well as footage of guests entering the theatre two hours earlier, much to the audience’s amazement and delight. The 35-piece ‘Great Capitol Wonder Orchestra’, led by Eduard Werner, was on hand opening day, and remained a popular feature of the theatre until he left the Capitol Theatre for the Michigan Theater in 1926. The Capitol Theatre is said to have cost over $2 million to build. Its interior was even more ornate, with several kinds of marble, Tiffany mosaics, sculpture and gilt decorating its lobby and other areas. Howard Crane, designed the Capitol Theatre in the style of the Italian Renaissance, and its facade, with its soaring Corinthian columns, loomed over Broadway like a royal palace. The Capitol Theatre was considered Detroit’s first official movie palace, and when it opened January 12, 1922, it sat about 3,500, the fifth largest ever built in the US at the time.

Detroit opera house seating views