Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 13

All that Glitters: A Memorial to Ottawa's Capitol Theatre and its Predecessors

by Hilary Russell

Endnotes

In the Beginning

1 Bosley Crowther, The Lion's Share: The Story of an Entertainment Empire (New York l: Dutton, 1957), p. 30.

2 In June of that year, the Hollands introduced the Kinetoscope to the Pacific coast. Evidence of this was found in a 1916 article in Moving Picture World which described a business card treasured as a relic by a San Francisco man. The card read: Edison Kinetoscope Holland Bros; Ottawa, Canada: Foreign Agents: Represented by A. Holland. On the back was inscribed: San Francisco, June first 1894.

This is to certify that Captain John F. Byes, United States Government Diver (a Christian) was the first man who paid to see the Edison Kinetoscope west of Chicago. Signed: Holland Bros. Moving Picture World (hereafter cited as MPW), vol. 29 (15 July 1916). p. 399. See also Martin Quigley, Jr., Magic Shadows: The Story of the Origin of Motion Pictures (New York: Quigley Publ. Co., 1960), pp. 149-50; Kemp R. Niver, The First Twenty Years: A Segment of Film History (Los Angeles: Los Angeles Research Group, 1968), p. 14; Canada. Public Archives (hereafter cited an PAC), MG29, I2, Thomas Alva Edison to Holland Brothers, 1894; Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Film. The Story of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry" (hereafter cited as "Canada and the Film"), Yearbook of the Canadian Motion Picture Industry (Toronto: Film Publications of Canada, 1951) (hereafter cited as Yearbook. 19—), p. 21; Hye Bossin, "At the very Beginning. The Holland Brothers of Ottawa Ushered in the World Motion Picture industry," Yearbook, 1952-53, pp. 45-49.

3 Ben M. Hall, The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (New York: Bramhall House, 1961), pp. 12-13; Kemp R. Niver, op. cit., p. 14.

4 Dennis Sharp, The Picture Palace and Other Buildings for the Movies (London; Hugh Evelyn, 1969), p. 70.

5 Robert Gras, The Theatre of Science: A Volume of Progress and Achievement in the Motion Picture Industry (New York: Broadway Publishing Co., 1914), p. 5; Terry Ramsaye, A Million and One Nights: A History of the Motion Pictures (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1926-64), p. 264; Lewis Jacobs, The Rise of the American Film: A Critical History (Columbia University: Teachers College, 1939-67), p. 5; Murray D. Edwards, A Stage in Our Past: English-Language Theatre in Eastern Canada from the 1790s to 1914 (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press, 1966), p. 160.

6 See Dennis Sharp, op. cit., pp. 54, 70.

7 Gilles Marsolais, La Cinéma Canadien (Montreal: Editions du Jour, 1968), p. 17; Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Film," Yearbook, 1951, pp. 21, 25; Hye Bossin, "The Story of L. Ernest Ouimet, Pioneer," Yearbook, 1952-53, p. 28; PAC, MG29, I2; The Canadian Moving Picture Digest (Toronto) (hereafter cited as CMPD) (1 May 1940), p. 5.

6 MPW, Vol. 31 (10 March 1917), p. 1499; Vol. 59 (9 December 1922), p. 529; Vol. 60 (27 January 1923), p. 328; CMPD (9 May 1925), p. 16; (1 May 1940), p. 6; John C. Green, "The Actual and True Story of the First Moving Pictures Ever to be Shown in Canada," The Canadian Film Weekly (hereafter cited as CFW) (26 July 1944). The day of the showing is not absolutely certain. The Citizen notified that the first exhibition of the Vitascope would take place on Monday, the twentieth, where as the Ottawa Daily Free Press made a similar announcement for the twenty-first. The twenty-first has been chosen here as both newspapers reviewed on the twenty-second the showing of the previous night, Ottawa Daily Free Press, 1696, 15 July, p. 3; 20 July, p. 1; 21 July, p. 1; 22 July, p. 6; Citizen (Ottawa), 1896, 20 July, p. 8; 21 July, pp. 2, 8; 22 July, pp. 2, 8.

9 National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin manuscript on the history of the Canadian motion picture industry; see also CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 5.

10 National Film Board Library, Montreal, op. cit. Schuberg did not consistently claim that he had invented the black tent. In a 1948 interview with a Vancouver Daily Province reporter, Schuberg related that he had brought a black tent sometime around 1901, Gordon McCallum, "From Dime Flickers to Gold Trail," Vancouver Daily Province, 31 January 1948.

11 MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), pp. 368-69.

12 R. S. Brown, "Hale's Tours and Scenes of the World," MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 372.

In another 1916 Moving Picture World article, Epes Winthrop Sargent maintained that Hale's Tours was an adaptation of an old amusement park device which consisted of a condemned street car, mounted on rollers, and a double panorama, one for each side of the car. When the car was filled, the wooden rollers would be started, giving the effect of motion while the patrons looked out on either side to see the fleeting panorama." E. W. Sargent, "New York City Holds Record for Earliest Exhibiting," MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 370. Other sources nave assumed that Hale came up with a novel idea. See Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 7; Paul Rotha and Richard Griffith, The Film Till Now: A Survey of World Cinema (London: Vision, 1949), p. 71.

13 Not much detail could be found on these installations. J. D. Williams, later as Australian theatre magnate and organizer of First National and British International Film Productions at Elstree, did a thriving business on Cordova Street, Vancouver, with Hale's Tours, which he ran in connection with a Mutoscope arcade, in Winnipeg. Hale's Tours was established at 626 Main Street, later the site of the Starland Theatre. E. C. Thomas, "Vancouver, B.C. Started with 'Hale's Tours' in 1905," MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 373; B. S. Brown, op. cit., p. 372.

14 The 1907 Starland in Montreal further titillated passers-by by locating its glass projection booth over the ticket office in full view of the street. Unfortunately, no further details were given on this unusual installation, MPW, Vol. 1 (19 October 1907), p. 522; Ian Cameron, "The Movie Palace: Its Rise and Fall," Sunday Times Magazine (London), 21 March 1965, p. 24; George C. Pratt, Spellbound in Darkness, Readings in the History and Criticism of the Silent Film (Rochester: Univ. of Rochester, 1966), Vol. 1, pp. 40, 43, 140; Benjamin B. Hampton, A History of the Movies (New York; Covici Friede, 1931), pp. 9, 45; Elmer George Kiehler, "Motion Picture Tendencies from an Architect's Point of View," MPW, Vol. 53 (3 December 1921), p. 1600.

15 Russel Nye, The Unembarrased Muse: The Popular Arts in America (New York: Dial Press, 1970), p. 363; Sidney S. Cohen, "The Exhibitor's Place in the Sun" (reprinted from Exhibitor's Herald), CMPD (6 December 1924), p. 10; MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 368; Vol. 43 (10 January 1920), p. 247.

16 "Recollections of the Days When the Infant Industry was Cutting Teeth," MPW, Vol. 55 (11 March 1922), p. 212.

17 MPW, Vol. 86 (18 June 1927), p. 533.

18 Colin S. Collins, "Theatres Old and New," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 316.

19 Ibid.; F. H. Richardson, "Projection Then and Now," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), pp. 329-30; "When Nickelodeons Were All the Rage and Showmen Periodically Went Broke," MPW, Vol. 60 (27 January 1923), p.330; CMPD (15 October 1921, p. 13; (1 May 1940), p. 19.

20 Other slides available to exhibtors in 1909 included, "Don't spit on the floor, it spreads disease," "Our pictures are always moral and clean," and "Kindly remove your hats," MPW, Vol. 5 (25 December 1909), p. 925.

21 "Recollections of the Days When the Infant Industry was Cutting Teeth," MPW, Vol. 55 (11 March 1922), p. 212; MPW, Vol. 55 (11 March 1922), p. 214.

22 Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 30; Harry S. Marvin, "Illustrated Songs," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), pp. 331-32; "The Nickelodeon," MPW, Vol. 1 (4 May 1907), p. 140; Bosley Crowther, op. cit., p. 29. Slide exchanges were formed as the illustrated song became an integral part of the moving picture programme. Three of the 17 views available in 1907 to illustrate the song "No One Knows How Much I Miss You" were: 1 — Interior, with loving couple seated on couch; 7 — Garden scene with female bending over drooping flower bush, as though telling them of her loneliness and seeking their sympathy; and 16 — Summer arbor with female sitting on rail lost in reverie," MPW, Vol. 1 (9 March 1907), p. 14.

23 Colin S. Collins, op. cit., p. 316.

24 George C. Pratt, op. cit., p. 246; Raymond Fielding, ed., A Technological History of Motion Pictures and Television: An Anthology from the Pages of the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1967), p. 11; Kevin Brownlow, The Parade's Gone By (New York: Knopf, 1968), pp. 10-11,

25 Adolph Zukor and Dale Kramer, The Public is Never Wrong: The Autobiography of Adolph Zukor (New York; G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1953), p. 51.

26 It should not be assumed, however, that the nickelodeon type of building for the movies completely disappeared with the advent of the movie palace. The editor of The Canadian Moving Picture Digest complained at the end of 1917 that there were "still many places showing pictures ... that are about as comfortable and artistic as a vault in a cemetery." CMPD (24 November 1917), p. 5.

27 The term "vaudeville theatre" did not appear until 1881, though American theatres had begun to present variety acts in regular performances in the 1840s. In those days, their audiences were predominantly male and the acts were mostly suggestive. By the 1880s, "vaudeville was easily the most popular form of theatrical entertainment;" its audience was the middle-class family and its acts were emphasized as "clean" and "refined." Russel Nye, op. cit., pp. 167-68.

28 Joe Laurie, Jr.. Vaudeville: From the Honky-Tonks to the Palace (New York: Holt, 1953), p. 346.

29 Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 7: see Gordon McCallum, op. cit., for a reproduction of the 1903 programme which also announced, "Admission 10¢ Chairs Free." The Electric and Edison Electric are most frequently isolated by secondary sources as the pioneering movie theatres in the United States and Canada. They may not have been, but it is practically impossible to prove otherwise. Documentation is sparse, as five-cent theatres rarely advertised in the press. Nevertheless, the motion picture industries in both countries Have celebrated the golden anniversaries of the movie theatre based on the opening dates of these two western theatres. Hye Bossin, "They Lead the Way: The Motion Picture Industry Marks the Golden Anniversary of the Silver Screen," Yearbook, 1953-54, p. 19; see also "From Nickel Theatorium to Movie Goer's Mecca," Telegram (Toronto), 7 November 1952, p. 3.

30 Hye Bossin, "The Movies Come to Vancouver," CFW, Vol 28 (24 April 1963), p. 4; CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 11.

31 Shuberg developed a circuit of movie theatres in Winnipeg, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. His circuit continued to expand until 1919 when he sold his interests in theatres in Winnipeg, Victoria and Nanaimo to the Allen chain. CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 11: MPW, Vol. 40 (21 June 1919) p. 1782. For more information on the Allen chain see "Zenith — The Palaces," and "The Circuits."

32 Harris and Davis' Nickelodeon was earning over $1,000 profit per week soon after the opening, showing Edwin S. Porter's "The Great Train Robbery" to 96 seated patrons and many others standing from 8 A.M. to midnight. Cf. Ian Cameron, op. cit., p. 24; Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 12; Terry Ramsaye, op. cit., p. 426: Harold B. Franklin, Sound Motion Pictures — From the Laboratory to Their Presentation (Garden City: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1929), p. 296; MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 405.

33 Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., pp. 54-55; National Film Board Library, Montreal, op. cit.

34 George C. Pratt, op. cit., p. 40.

35 National Film Board Library, Montreal, op. cit.; Hye Bossin, "The Cinema Comes to Toronto, I, II," CFW, Vol. 28 (22, 29 May 1963), pp. 12, 6; see also David Cobb, "Who Remembers the Theatorium's Nickel Movies?" Toronto Star, 20 November 1965.

36 Hye Bossin, "In Those Days X-Rays were More Popular," Toronto Star, 8 June 1963, p. 19; Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Film," Yearbook, 1951, p. 30. The 1936 edition of the Encyclopedia of Canada erroneously dates the Theatorium opening as March 1896, and calls Griffin "the father of motion picture houses in Canada." Moving Picture World reported that Griffin's first theatre was the Lyceum (later the Crystal Palace) at 141 Yonge, but from about 1940 on, Griffin insisted that the Theatorium (later the Red Mill) came first. The Griffins' other Toronto theatres were the Hippodrome (later the Rialto) at 219-21 Yonge; the Trocadero (later the Maple Leaf); the Auditorium (later the Avenue and the Mary Pickford) and the Variety, all on Queen Street West, and the Lyric, a converted church on the corner of Agnes and Terauley, illustrated in J. S. Woodsworth's book, My Neighbor, as an example of modern degeneracy. William Stewart Wallace, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada (Toronto: University Associates of Canada, 1936), Vol. 4, pp. 343-46, "Motion Picture Industry;" MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), pp. 410-11; CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 6; J. S. Woodsworth, My Neighbor (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto, 1972), p. 105.

37 CFW, Vol. 28 (10 April 1963), p. 4.

38 Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Film," Yearbook, 1951, pp. 31-32.

39 National Film Board Library, Montreal, op. cit.

40 "Opening of New Theatre," Ottawa Journal, 11 December 1906, p. 5. Moving pictures had been shown sporadically in Ottawa since John C. Green's exhibition of Edison equipment in July 1896. A contemporary account noted in 1904, "Moving Pictures is the order of the night this summer. So many thousands go nightly to Britannia that the road it taxed to the limit." Anson A. Gard, The Hub and the Spokes, or The Capital and its Environs (Ottawa: Emerson Press, 1904), p. 87.

41 Programme, Bennett's Theatre, Ottawa, 8 April 1907, in PAC Library.

42 CMPD (1 January 1921), p. 5; Hye Bossin, "The Story of L. Ernest Guimet, Pioneer," Yearbook, 1952-53, pp. 28-37; Cinémathèque Canadienne, Hommage à M. L. Ernest Ouimet (Montreal: Cinémathèque Canadienne, 1966), pp. 2-3.

43 Cinémathèque Canadienne, op. cit., pp. 3-6; Edgar Andrew Collard, "All Our Yesterdays — Montreal's First Real Movie House," Gazette (Montreal), 28 April 1962, p. 6; Gilles Marsolais, op. cit., p. 1; National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin, papers on the history of she Canadian motion picture industry, Ouimet to Bossin, 31 January, 12 May 1952; Walter O'Hearn, "60 Years of Motion Pictures in Montreal," CFW, Vol. 28 (10 July 1963), p. 7.

44 National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin, papers, Ouimet to Bossin, 31 January 1952; George C. Pratt, op. cit., p. 43. Ouimet's judgement that his cinema was the first that could be called "deluxe" was corroborated by a 1927 article in Moving Picture World which, while conceeding that Lubin had built "what probably was the first really elaborate structure intended for picture exhibition," opined that he "was never a showman and his houses were conducted in accordance wish the general slovenly practice of that day," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 340,

45 F. C. Koenig, "The Moving Picture Theatre " MPW, Vol. 8 (11 April 1911), p. 762.

46 Dennis Sharp found that "essentially the cinemas in the period 1910-1914 were decorated fronts with corrugated-iron halls behind . . . . The special treatment given to the frontages evolved directly from the fairground booths and biograph shows," Dennis Sharp, op. cit., pp. 8, 55.

47 MPW, Vol. 5 (20 November 1909), p. 713. According to Russell Merritt, nickelodeons adapted the "gingerbread architecture" of their more respectable predecessor, the vaudeville theatre. Rusell Merritt, "Nickelodeon Theatres," American Film Institute Report, Vol. 4, No. 2 (May 1973), p. 6.

48 MPW, Vol. 1 (19 October 1907), p. 522; Vol. 85 (26 March 1027), p 340. Pressed steel was later available to cover interior walls amd ceilings and though Moving Picture World cautioned an inquiring exhibitor in 1911 that "nine times out of ten...the selection of patterns displays execrable taste, running too much to "gingerbread." Also nine times out ten the steel is not well put on and...the effect is not at all good." MPW, Vol. 8 (1 April 1911), p. 713.

49 MPW, Vol 7 (5 November 1910) p. 1051.

50 Hye Bossin, "The Movies Come to Hamilton," CFW, Vol. 28 (26 June 1963), p. 6; Samuel A. Peoples, "Films on 8 & 16." Films in Review, Vol. 22, No. 10 (December 1971) p. 642.

51 In order not to interfere with the protection of a picture, light sources were concealed and their illumination was thrown by reflectors on the theatre's walls and ceilings. Painted appropriate light colours such as matte white, cream or ivory, these surfaces became the effective sources of diffused light. MPW, Vol. 10 (14 October 1911), pp. 115-16; Vol. 77 (19 December 1925), pp. 710-11.

52 MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 316; Vol. 5 (30 October 1909), p. 599.

53 E. C. Thomas, op. cit., p. 375; Elmer George Kiehler, op. cit., p. 1600; MPW, Vol. 6 (30 April 1919), p. 679.

54 MPW, Vol. 14 (5 October 1912), p. 49.

55 MPW, Vol. 8 (3 June 1911), p. 1301.

56 A. Nicholas Vardac, Stage to Screen Theatrical Method from Garrick to Griffith (New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968), p. 215. Feature-length movies began to gain popularity about 1912. Multi-reeled films had appeared about 1903 but were not welcomed by exhibitors, who managed to get around the problem long films created in small theatres by exhibiting one reel at each showing. Terry Ramsaye, "Motion Pictures — History," in Encyclopaedia Britannica, The Theatre and Motion Pictures; A Selection of Articles from the New 14th Edition of The Encyclopaedia Brtiannica (New York: 1933), p 24.

57 To see "Quo Vadis7" at the Astor Theatre in April 1913 cost $1.50, A. Nicholas Vardac, op. cit., p. 211.

Zenith —The Palaces

1 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 39.

2 Ibid., p. 106.

3 Ibid, p. 31.

4 Ibid., pp. 31-35, 105-06; W. Stephen Bush, "The Theater of Realization," MPW. Vol. 18 (15 November 1913), pp. 714-15; Vol. 1B (20 December 1913), pp. 1401-02.

5 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 40; W. Stephen Bush, "Opening of the Strand," MPW, Vol. 20 (18, 25 April 1914), pp. 371, 502.

6 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 38.

7 Ibid., pp. 39-40.

8 MPW, Vol. 7 (12 November 1910), p. 1097; Vol. 7 (31 December 1910), pp. 1522-23; Vol. 22 (21 November 1914), p. 1049.

9 First-run films had previously not been shown in any theatre accessible to its patrons, and would not be shown again for some time thereafter. The palaces provided prestige bookings for such films, and established their reputations with the critics and the public. Charles P. Skouras, "The Exhibitor," in Gordon S. Watkins. ed., The Motion Picture Industry, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 254 (November 1947), p. 28.

10 Arthur Knight and Eliot Elisofon, The Hollywood Style (Toronto: Macmillan, 1969), p. 19.

11 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 12.

12 See Edward Bernard Kinsila, Modern Theatre Construction (New York; Chalmers Publishing Co., 1917), p. 57; David Robinson, Hollywood in the Twenties (London: A. Zwemmer, 1968), p. 27.

13 Ian Cameron, op. cit., p. 29.

14 Thomas W. Lamb, "Good Old Days to These Better New Days," Motion Picture News, Sect. 2 (30 June 1928), p. 37.

15 Quoted in Ben M. Hall, op. cit., pp. 136, 93.

16 S. L. Rothafel, "The Architect and the Box Office," Architectural Forum, Vol. 58 (September 1932), p. 194.

17 MPW, Vol. 31 (17 February 1917), p. 1025; Vol. 18 (20 December 1913), p. 1400.

18 A Gazette reviewer at the opening noted, "Just what the advance in the art of moving picture production means was brought home so a large and fashionable audience at the St. Denis." "Splendid Theatre Opened its Doors," Gazette (Montreal), 4 March 1916, p. 9.

19 MPW, Vol. 35 (23 February 1918), p. 1101.

20 Gazette (Montreal), 4 March 1916, p. 9. The theatre may have bean redecorated between 1916 and 1918 in an attempt to attract patrons.

21 MPW, Vol. 35 (23 February 1918), p. 1101; see also CMPD (3 August 1918), p. 8; (19 October 1910), p. 8.

22 MPW, Vol. 25 (25 August 1915), p. 1467.

23 Ibid., Vol. 25 (25 September 1915), p. 2165; Vol. 28 (15 April 1916), p. 454; Gazette (Montreal), 4 March 1916, p. 8.

24 MPW, Vol. 32 (23 June 1917), pp. 1293-94.

25 National Film Board Library, Montreal. Hye Bossin manuscript; Hye Bossin, "The Movies Come to Calgary," CFW Vol. 28 (1 May 1963), p. 6; MPW, Vol. 41 (2 August 1919), p. 647; Vol. 74 (30 May 1925), p. 525.

26 Loew's Yonge Street, remodelled, is still operating. The Wintergarden has been closed for over 40 years, and except for acquiring layers of dust and losing most of its furnishings, it remains unaltered. Both Shea houses have been demolished. One of the Hippodrome's seats would seem to have been worth saving — reportedly each was equipped with a chocolate bar dispenser. Hye Bossin, "The Cinema Comes to Toronto, II," CFW, Vol. 28 (29 May 1963), p. 6; Raymond Hill, "Last Curtain for Shea's Tonight," Telegram (Toronto), 27 December 1956, p. 3; Stan Helleur, "Farewell to Shea's," Mayfair, Vol. 31, No. 3 (March 1957), pp. 23-25, 61-63.

27 Civic Theatre Magazine, Vol. 1, Nos. 4-5 (January-February 1946); Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Film," Yearbook, 1951, p. 36.

28 "New Regent Theatre is well Appointed," Mail and Empire (Toronto), 25 August 1916, p. 6.

29 MPW, Vol. 28 (10 June 1916), p. 1927; Vol. 35 (26 January 1918), p. 553.

30 "Formal Opening of Regent Theatre," Mail and Empire (Toronto), 26 August 1916, p. 4.

31 MPW, Vol. 29 (16 September 1916), p. 1874.

32 Hye Bossin, "The Cinema Comes to Toronto, I," CFW, Vol. 28 (22 May 1963), p. 13.

33 National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin papers, Bossin to "John," 12 June 1964.

34 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 17.

35 MPW, Vol. 35 (26 January 1918), p. 553.

36 MPW, Vol. 34 (29 December 1917), p. 1952.

37 See "Allens Now Predominate in Canada," MPW, Vol. 40 (21 June 1919), p. 1782; "Les Théâtres Allen," Le Panorama, Vol. 1, No. 1 (October 1919), pp. 40, 58.

38 Their most fabulous theatre was built in the United States — the 3,500-seat Allen in Cleveland, Ohio, opened in February 1921. Crane was also slated to be the architect of a 4,000-seat Allen in Detroit and two Allen movie palaces in London, England. These plans were not carried out; by 1922 the circuit was reeling from the effects of overexpansion coupled with its loss of the Canadian distribution rights for Paramount and Select pictures, (See "The Circuits" for more information on the Allens" demise.) MPW, Vol. 41 (2 August 1919), p. 647; Vol. 74 (30 May 1925). p. 52; CMPD (3 June 1920), p. 21; (26 March 1938), p. 10.

39 See Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 81.

40 In all, Lamb drew up plans for well over 300 theatres. As well as in the United States and Canada, they appeared in India, Australia, Egypt, England and South Africa. Obituary, New York Times, 27 February 1942.

"Lamb and Adam"

1 Many architects copied Lamb's style, as he was a pioneer in the field of movie palace architecture. Thus a theatre may not be immediately identifiable as Lamb's work, though it may bear many of the characteristics which became his trademark.

2 Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 74.

3 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 106.

4 Robert is usually afforded all the credit for the development of the style. James Lees-Milne, The Age of Adam (London: B. T. Batsford, 1947), p. 15.

5 Lawrence Turner, Decorative Plasterwork in Great Britain (London; Country Life, 1927), p. 23.

6 Sacheverell Sitwell, British Architects and Craftsmen (London; B. T. Batsford, 1945), p. 147. This tendency provoked Horace Walpole to refer to Adam's work as "filigreed to puerility," and his ornament as "gingerbread and snippets of embroidery" (Sitwell, loc. cit.). See also James Lees-Milne, op. cit., p. 83; A. E. Richardson and H. Donaldson Eberlein, The Smaller English House of the Later Renaissance 1660-1830, An Account of its Design, Plan, and Details (London: B. T. Batsford, 1925), p. 31; Arthur T. Bolton, The Architecture of Robert and James Adam (1758-1794) (London: Country Life, 1922), Vol. 1, p. 76.

7 Damie Stillman, The Decorative Work of Robert Adam (London: Tiranti, 1966), p. 2.

8 Ibid., p. 28, Adam was assisted by a group of able decorative artists who contributed panel paintings to his interiors — principally Cipriani, Antonio Zucchi and Angelica Kauffmann.

9 Sherrill Whiton, Elements of Interior Design and Decoration (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1951-53), p. 271; A. E. Richardson and H. Donaldson Eberlein, op. cit., p. 31.

10 A. J. H. Richardson, pets. comm.; Sherrill Whiton, op. cit., p. 271.

11 Sherrill Whiton, op. cit., pp. 270-71; James Lees-Milne, op. cit., p. 167.

12 A. J. H. Richardson, pers. comm.; Talbot F. Hamlin, Greek Revival Architecture in America (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1944), pp. 13, 55.

13 Henry F. Withey and Elsie Rathburn Withey, Biographical Dictionary of American Architects (Deceased) (Los Angeles: New Age Publishing Co., 1956), pp. 360-61.

14 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., p. 29.

15 Ibid., p. 31.

16 Lamb is credited with designing the downstairs theatre, therefore almost certainly he was the Wintergarden's architect.

17 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 113.

18 These colours were consistent with Adam decor, and were recommended as those that best created the impression that the theatre was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. P. Dodd Ackerman, "The Besetting Evil of Over-Elaboration in the Decoration of Picture Theatres," MPW, Vol. 49 (30 April 1921), p. 939.

19 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., p. 33.

20 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 94.

Building a Movie Palace: The Capitol

1 See Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 8.

2 J. H. Leathart, "Structure and Facing," Architect's Journal, Vol. 82 (7 November 1935), p. 13.

3 Terry Turner, pers. comm.

4 As early as 1913 Marcus Loew had proclaimed his intention of building a theatre in Ottawa. MPW, Vol. 17 (19 July 1913), p. 302.

5 J. H. Leathart, op. cit., p. 13.

6 Ibid., pp. 13-14; Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 162; Arnold Whittick, European Architecture in the Twentieth Century (London; Crosby Lockwood & Son, 1953), Vol. 2, The Era of Functionalism 1924-1933, p. 188.

7 P. M. Abbott, "Equipment Used for Motion Pictures," in Clyde L. King and Frank A. Tichenor, eds., The Motion Picture in Its Economic and Social Aspects, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 128, No. 127 (November 1926), p. 41.

B Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 162.

9 R. Atkinson, "The Design of the Picture Theatre," Royal Institute of British Architects, Journal, 3rd ser., Vol. 28 (June 1921), pp. 449-50.

10 Ibid., p. 442.

11 Richard Kressin and Theo Jung, pers. comm.; William Millar and George P. Bankers, Plastering Plain and Decorative (London; B. T. Batsford, 1927), pp. 136-37.

12 Courtney C. J. Bond, City on the Ottawa (Ottawa; Queen's Printer, 1965-67), p. 118. This impression might be gained because there are many identical motifs in Lamb's theatres. As well, another major movie palace architect, John Eberson, owned Michaelangelo Studios, which mass-produced decorations for the theatres he designed. Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 100.

13 Ernest Emerling, pers. comm.

14 Earl Felber, an expert movie palace plasterer, remembered, "The architect did all the design, every cornice ... every flute. We had to make the molds from his drawings, cast them and put them up." He further remarked, "I always liked the Adams style, it had lots of class... fine detail, and fits small places." Don Stott, "The Man Who Plastered the Roxy," Marquee, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1971), p. 2.

15 The process of gelatine moulding has been known since about 1850. Gelatine moulds were made by pouring hot gelatine through funnels into a case in which the plaster model had been placed, and allowing the gelatine to set. William Millar and George P. Bankart, op. cit., p. 217.

16 One ornament retrieved from the Capitol is fibrous plaster with a cheesecloth backing. Another of similar size is solid plaster.

17 William Millar and George P. Bankart, op. cit., pp. 152, 241-43; Charles F. Balmer and Co., The Balmer Catalogue of Interior and Architectural Art (Toronto: Balmer, 1970), p. 2; Architectural Decorating Co., Book of Designs Plastic Ornaments (Chicago: Architectural Decorating Co., 1928), p. 8.

18 Fred Balmer and Theo Jung, pers. comm.; William Millar and George P. Bankart, op. cit., p. 244.

19 It also helped to bring about the movie palace's downfall by contributing to heavy maintenance costs. Plaster decorations provided a multitude of dust-catching surfaces, and were expensive to repair and repaint in the lean days of the movie palace.

20 Another method of producing a scagliola column, but which may not have been in use in 1920, was to dip and gently roll the plaster feature in a large vat of water into which oil colours had been poured. When the whole circumference had been treated, the column was varnished. Richard Kressin, pers. comm.

21 James McGuire, pers. comm.

22 O. T. Green, pers. comm.; see F. N. Vanderwalker, Interior Wall Decoration (Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co.. 1924), p. 331.

23 Fred Balmer and Clark Green, pers. comm.

24 Ian Cameron, op. cit., p. 29.

The Capitol: Equipment and Decoration

1 Of course, the most luxurious seats in the house were in the boxes and loges. In 1937, the theatre chairs in the balcony loges had upholstered spring seats and upholstered backs in cut velvet. The boxes offered "side chairs" with leather-cushioned spring seats. PAC, MG28, III2, pp. 18, 19, Inventory of Capitol Theatre equipment, 1937.

2 "Movie Stars Arrive Central Station at 11:45 A.M." (hereafter cited as "Movie Stars"), Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22.

3 In 1953 a modern air-conditioning system together with an "$80,000 underground electrical plant" were installed. Ottawa Journal, 27 March 1953, p. 23.

4 Richard Kressin, pers. comm.; W. H. Lee, "How an Architect Views the Problem of Theatre Ventilation, Cooling and Heating," MPW, Vol. 46 (30 October 1920), p. 1306.

5 W. H. Lee, op. cit., p. 1306; E. M. Garfield, "How One Ventilating Engineer Views His Problem as Applied to Theatres," MPW, Vol. 48 (1 January 1921), pp. 114. 116; Charles Gilbert Reinhart, "Halls of Illusion," Saturday Evening Post. Vol. 201, No. 45 (11 May 1929). p. 169.

6 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., pp. 201-02.

7 The Citizen wrote in 1920, "Designed, painted and constructed by Canadians, the scenery and stage furnishings at Loew's will be a distinct treat. The design is along the modern art line and affords a brilliant relief from the dignified surroundings of the auditorium." "Movie Stars," Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22.

8 MPW, Vol. 24 (5 June 1915), p. 1613; Vol. 73 (11 April 1925), p. 569. Loew's Ottawa does not seem to have presented this type of prologue.

9 Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 70; see also Frank Cambria, "Evolution of Presentation in Motion Pictures," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 321; MPW, Vol. 83 (25 December 1926), pp. 604-05.

10 P. Dodd Ackerman, "Matter of Stage Embellishment as Vital as Adept Embellishment of Auditorium," MPW, Vol. 50 (7 May 1921), pp. 39-40.

11 MPW, Vol. 25 (28 August 1915), p. 1467.

12 CMPD (3 May 1920), p. 27.

13 See Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 200.

14 The 1937 inventory included a "set of cyclorama gold curtains, 48 x 20' backdrop, 2— 20' x 20' side legs." PAC, MG28, III2, p. 38. This does not seem to be consistent with Ben Hall's description of a cyclorama as a "plain canvas drop painted a rich blue and slightly curved; when properly lit this would simulate an outdoors sky." Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 200.

15 Harold Burns-Meyer and Edward C. Cole, Theatres and Auditoriums (New York: Reinhold, 1964), pp. 20, 146-47.

16 See S. L. Rothafel, op. cit., p. 193.

17 It is worth noting that Robert Adam was not renowned for his façades. In most cases, he received commissions to redecorate or complete the work of another architect. The façades he designed were given ponderous architectural treatment based on Burlingtonian precedents.

18 With this arrangement, movie palace owners had to buy or rent only a small lot of prime commercial space for the entrance and lobby, the bulk of the building being located on less expensive property behind the main thoroughfare. See MPW, Vol. 53 (3 December 1921), p. 602.

19 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., p. 37.

20 "Movie Stars," Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22.

21 More ponderous references to the arts could be found in the Hamilton Tivoli, opened in 1924. Its lobby was decked with busts of Shakespeare, Tennyson, Sir Walter Scott, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms and Mozart. In addition, its patrons could reflect on these artists' connection with bronze statues of Augustus Caesar and Minerva in the auditorium, MPW, Vol. 70 (18 October 1924), p. 641.

22 Citizen (Ottawa), 15 August 1931, p. 22.

23 Especially in the late 1920s it was not unusual for movie palace architects to jumble their decorative styles. One of Lamb's theatres built in 1931, The Triboro, had a "Mayan — or Aztec front," a "Spanish-looking inner lobby," "a high French Grand Foyer, done in the true Lamb style," and an auditorium done as "an Italian garden setting." Marquee, Vol. 2, No. 1 (February 1970), p. 2.

24 One movie palace architect confided, "The proper furnishing of [waiting] rooms eliminates the undesirable making use of [them]." R. L. Simmons, "Theatre Lobbies, Waiting Rooms, Foyers—Their Planning and Their Furnishings," MPW, Vol. 67 (26 April 1924), p. 765.

25 Citizen (Ottawa), 27 August 1924, p. 8.

26 Ibid.; "Movie Stars," 8 November 1920. p. 22; CMPD (4 September 1920), p. 62; "3,000 Present as Capitol Opening," Gazette (Montreal), 4 April 1921, p. 8. Such descriptions often are not to be taken literally. The theatres and their components were usually made out to be more expensive and "authentic" than they actually were.

27 "3,000 Present at Capitol Opening," Gazette (Montreal), 4 April 1921, p. 8; CMPD (1 March 1921), p. 21; MPW, Vol. 43 (14 February 1920), p. 1067.

28 Citizen (Ottawa), 15 August 1931, p. 22.

29 "Movie Stars," Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22.

30 See Citizen (Ottawa), 15 August 1931, p. 22.

31 It could, however, still be seen from the auditorium.

32 "Movie Stars," Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22.

Sound

1 For example, the reviewer of Galli Curci's concert as Loew's Ottawa in 1921 wrote, "The excellence of the acoustics properties of Loew's theatre was favourably commented upon by all who attended," Ottawa Journal, 22 May 1921, p. 10.

2 Theo Jung, pers. comm.; see also R. Atkinson, op. cit., pp. 445-46.

3 In 1922, the Allen (later the Metropolitan) in Winnipeg employed two distinct permanent orchestras — a concert orchestra conducted by Charles Manning and a jazz orchestra under the baton of Harold Green. The two alternated for features and comedies as well as for special concert performances. MPW, Vol. 54 (4 February 1922), p. 485.

4 Kevin Brownlow, op. cit., p. 338.

5 See CMPD (30 December 1930), p. 9.

6 Hugo Reisenfeld, "Music and Motion Pictures," in Clyde L. King and Frank A. Tichenor, eds., op. cit., p. 59; Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 144.

7 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 180; CMPD (18 May 1918), p. 15.

8 MPW, Vol. 35 (2 March 1918), p. 1243.

9 Kevin Brownlow, op. cit., p. 338.

10 Louis Reeves Harrison, "Is Vodeveal Necessary?" MPW, Vol. 8 (11 April 1911), p. 758.

11 George C. Pratt, op. cit., p. 42.

12 Reginald Foort, The Cinema Organ (Vestal, N.Y.: Vestal Press, 1970), pp. 40, 49.

13 Church organs had been tried at first, but were found mournful and wanting. Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 184.

14 Ibid., p. 183; CMPD (20 April 1918), p. 15.

15 Reginald Foort, op. cit., pp. 11, 14-18.

16 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 185. The contacts in the Capitol organ were brass with platinum tips.

17 Reginald Foort, op. cit., pp. 2, 5-6, 9-10, 53, 78-9, 82; see also Clarence E. Sinn, "Sixty-Four Instruments in One," MPW, Vol. 29 (15 July 1916), p. 458.

18 Reginald Foort, op. cit., pp. 50, 61-62.

19 STOPLIST OF THE 2/10 WARREN THEATRE ORGAN, CAPITOL THEATRE, OTTAWA, as taken directly from the console by G. Paterson, September, 1969.

It was written up as a $40,000, 3-manual concert pipe organ, holding at least 300 combinations of tone. "Movie Stars." Citizen (Ottawa), 8 November 1920, p. 22. The Imperial in Toronto, by contrast, had a 4-manual, 27-rank Warren organ. CFW, Vol. 2B (6 March 1963), p. 4.

20 Possibly Loew's had bigger plans, but ran out of money for this organ.

21 Robert Laverty, pers. comm.

22 See John A. King, "Talking Pictures," MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 343; see also the 1908 advertisement for the "Picturephone" ("Here It Is I Singing and Talking Moving Pictures"), MPW, Vol. 2 (11 January 1908), p. 31.

23 Raymond Fielding, ed., op. cit., p. 18; Paul Rotha and Richard Griffith, op. cit., p. 428; Benjamin B. Hampton, op. cit., p. 383; Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 298; Adolph Zukor and Dale Kramer, op. cit., pp. 49-50.

24 Paul Rotha and Richard Griffith, op. cit., pp. 429-30; see also Paul Michael et al., The American Movies Reference Book, The Sound Era (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1969), p. 20.

25 PAC, MG28, III31, Vol. 2, fol. 5, D. B. Stapleton to First National, 25 January 1929. The Palace in Montreal was the first Canadian theatre to be permanently equipped for sound movies. They made their Canadian debut on 1 September 1928.

26 "Sound vs. Musicians," Citizen (Ottawa), 6 October 1928, p. 21.

27 "Musical Extravaganza 'Syncopation' is First Photophone Feature at Keith's," Citizen (Ottawa), 27 April 1929, p. 38.

28 For explanations of these complex processes of sound reproduction and the history of their development, see Raymond Fielding, ed., op. cit., pp. 174-204; see also James R. Cameron, Motion Pictures with Sound (New York: Cameron Publishing Co., 1929), pp. 185-224.

29 Dennis Sharp, op. cit., p. 102.

30 Ibid.

31 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. iii (from Bosley Crowther's introduction).

32 Stages did not disappear until the mid-thirties, and "even then, a small stage, or what might be better called a platform, might be retained but without a gridiron above it." Ben Schlanger, "Motion Picture Theaters," in Talbot F. Hamlin, ed., Forms and Functions of Twentieth-Century Architecture (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 1952), Vol. 3, Build-logs for Residence, for Popular Gatherings, for Education, and for Government, p. 448.

The Circuits

1 Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., pp. 419-21; Raymond Fielding, ed., op. cit., p. 187; Harold B. Franklin, op. cit., p. 13; Philip French, The Movie Moguls: An Informal History of the Hollywood Tycoons (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969), p. 19; Bosley Crowther, op. cit., p. 135.

2 CMPD (17 December 1927), p. 5; (3 March 1928), p. 7; (26 May 1928), p. 13; (8 December 1928), p. 7; (8 June 1929), p. 12. For the rest of the theatres involved in this arrangement, see Report of Commissioner (Peter White, K.C.), Investigation into an Alleged Combine in the Motion Picture Industry in Canada (Ottawa: King's Printer, 1931), pp. 98-9.

3 See Leo C. Rotten, Hollywood: The Movie Colony, The Movie Makers (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1941), p. 62.

4 Time-Life Books, This Fabulous Century: Sixty Years of American Life (New York: Time-Life, 1969), Vol. 3, 1920-1930, p. 106; Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 290; Bosley Crowther, op. cit., p. 124; Gilbert Seldes, Movies for the Millions: An Account of Motion Pictures, Principally in America (London; B. T. Batsford, 1937), p. 89.

5 G. T. Green, pers. comm.

6 The boom was a response to Famous Players Lasky's challenge in the exhibition field, Bosley Crowther, op. cit., p. 41; Gertrude Jobes, Motion Picture Empire (Hamden: Archon, 1966), p. 226.

7 Following a triple merger in 1924, the studio became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

8 In the late twenties, after some of the smaller chains had capitulated, many of the major circuits apparently realized that, instead of continuing the costly war, it was more advantageous to reach agreements between certain competitors. Mergers, like the RCA-FBO-Keith-Orpheum-Famous Players Canadian agreement, were the order of the day. See MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 340; Time-Life, op. cit., p. 106.

9 See Hye Bossin, "Canada and the Films," p. 32; CMPD (1 August 1919), p. 24; (9 July 1927), p. 42.

10 MPW, Vol. 40 (7 June 1919), p. 1482; Vol. 41 (28 June 1919), p. 194.

11 MPW, Vol. 43 (14 February 1920), p. 1071; see also CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 9. J. P. Bickell was the vice president, and N. L. Nathanson remained managing director. On the first board of directors there were two Americans, Zukor and H. D. H. Connick, and eight Canadians, Bickell, Nathanson, Sir Herbert Holt, I. W. Killam, W. L. Pitfield, W. D. Ross, W. J. Sheppard and J. B. Tudhope. National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin papers.

12 Angus MacCunn, pers. comm.; MPW, Vol. 43 (14 February 1920), p. 1071.

13 MPW, Vol. 43 (14 February 1920), p. 1071; CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 9; National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin papers; CFW, Vol. 29 (24 June 1964), pp. 1, 4. Beaverbrook's biographer does not refute this. In fact, he quotes from a condescending letter Beaverbrook wrote to Killam in 1935 as an example of "the domination he continued so exert over those who had served him even when he had ostensibly relinquished financial control." A. J. P. Taylor, Beaverbrook (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1972), p. 79.

14 MPW, Vol. 43 (20 March 1920), p. 1975.

15 CMPD (1 April 1921), p. 8.

16 ibid. (26 April 1924), p. 4; Douglas Gilbert, American Vaudeville: Its Life and Times (New York: Dover, 1940), p. 384.

17 Robert Grau, The Stage in the Twentieth Century (New York: Broadway Publ. Co., 1912), Vol. 3, pp. 15, 142; Bernard Sobel, A Pictorial History of Vaudeville (New York: Bonanza, 1961), p. 67; Russel Nye, op. cit., p. 170; MPW, Vol. 85 (26 March 1927), p. 414.

18 Ottawa shareholders in the former Loew's theatre evidently were not bought out at the time of the sale. Ottawa Theatres Limited operated the theatre until 1926, when financial difficulties forced its sale to B. F. Keith's of New York. Preferred shareholders were awarded a return of about $20 a share, while holders of common stock lost their investments. CMPD (27 March 1926), p. 5; MPW, Vol. 79 (3 April 1926), p. 1.

19 MPW, Vol. 61 (28 April 1923), p. 908.

20 CMPD (23 May 1925), p. 10. Likewise, the Digest overlooked the subsidiary aspect of B. F. Keith's of Canada and Ottawa Theatres Limited in making the complaint in 1926. "Keith's Canadian Theatre, Ottawa, Sold to American Company," (See n. 18 above) CMPD (27 March 1926), pp. 3, 5.

21 William Marston Seabury, The Public and the Motion Picture Industry (New York: Macmillan, 1926), p. 29. n.

22 National Film Board Library, Montreal, Hye Bossin papers; CMPD (22 December 1923), p. 42; MPW, Vol. 50 (7 May 1921), p. 42; Vol. 54 (18 February 1922), p. 713; Vol. 54 (25 February 1922), p. 817; Vol. 56 (3 June 1922), p. 463.

23 MPW, Vol. 62 (23 June 1923), p. 638; Vol. 65 (29 December 1923), p. 805; CMPD (15 December 1923), p. 42.

24 MPW, Vol. 75 (25 July 1925), p. 398.

25 MPW, Vol. 82 (16 October 1926), p. 428; CMPD (30 June 1928), p. 11; (6 April 1929), p. 13.

26 in addition so his $100,000 investment, Zukor had sunk $650,000 originally paid for the Paramount franchise into the Canadian company. According to Ray Lewis, Digest editor, "When the debentures were paid off, and the stock split 4 for 1, Mr. Zukor received his $650,000, and this left his investment. . . not over $100,000." PAC, MG26, K, Series F, Vol. 452, fol. 586653, Ray Lewis to R. B. Bennett. In March 1929 he received $8 million for his stocks. They were sold to the Canadian public for $51 a share in voting trust certificates. CMPD (26 April 1930), p. 10; (3 May 1930), p. 10; (16 March 1929), p. 10.

27 CMPD (26 April 1929), pp. 10-15; (7 December 1929), p. 10.

28 Peter White, op. cit.; PAC, MG26, K. Series F, Vol. 452, fols. 286688-9. This domination of Canadian exhibition caused Famous Players Canadian to be investigated and subsequently charged under the Combines Investigation Act in 1931. The case did not affect the company's operations, and was dismissed by an Ontario court.

29 CMPD (26 April 1930), p. 10.

30 Angus MacCunn, pers. comm.; see CMPD (3 May 1930), p. 14.

31 See CMPD (26 April 1930), p. 10. Nathanson later returned as president of the Paramount Publix controlled company.

32 Ibid., (26 April 1930), p. 18.

33 CFW, Vol. 34 (12 November 1969), p. 1.

Aftermath

1 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., p. 33.

2 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., pp. 113-15.

3 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., p. 41.

4 Ibid., pp. 41-42.

5 Ben M. Hall, op. cit., p. 96. Eberson's atmospherics were perhaps not entirely without precedent. He may have remembered that many exhibitors in temperate climes had presented moving pictures in open-air theatres between about 1910 and the end of the Great War. Except for the absence of roofs, these "airdomes" generally resembled most of the 5 cent theatres of the time. Obviously, there were very few of these in Canada, as they exposed their patrons to inclement weather and could not be darkened for picture projection before the sun set on a summer evening. See MPW, Vol. 8 (11 February 1911), p. 305; Vol. 17 (5 July 1913), p. 46; Vol. 25 (21 August 1915), p. 1344.

6 Ben M. Hall, "The Best Ree-Maining Seats," American Heritage, Vol. 12, No. 6 (October 1961), p. 105.

7 Thomas W. Lamb, op. cit., pp. 33-35.

8 Ben M. Hall, The Best Remaining Seats; The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (New York; Bramhall House, 1961), p. 100.

9 Citizen (Ottawa), 16 November 1928, p. 15.

10 The theatre's architect, Murray Brown, a Canadian, designed many medium-sized theatres for Famous Players Canadian Corporation.

11 In 1930, the profits of Paramount Publix were $18 million, the highest in corporation history. An advertisement blurted in March 1932, "NO MONEY yet New York dug up $89,931 in four days to see King Kong." Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 422; see Adolph Zukor and Dale Kramer, op. cit., p. 261.

12 Theo Jung, pers. comm.; Paul Rotha and Richard Griffith, op. cit., p. 432; Eric W. Hounsom, "An Approach to Canadian Theatre Design," Journal, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, Vol. 24, No. 4 (April 1947), p. 114.

13 Lewis Jacobs, op. cit., p. 423.

14 Ibid., p. 95; Paul Rotha and Richard Griffith, op. cit., p. 432.

15 See Ben M. Hall, "The Best Ree-Maining Seats," American Heritage, Vol. 12, No. 6 (October 1961), p. 105.

16 See George C. Pratt, op. cit., p. 362; Arnold Whittick, op. cit., p. 190; P. Morton Shand, Modern Theatres and Cinemas (London: B. T. Batsford, 1930), pp. 17, 22.

17 Ben M. Hall, "The Best Ree-Maining Seats," American Heritage, Vol. 12, No. 6, (October 1961), p. 105.

18 German cinema designers in the twenties had devised "functional" and "untraditional" movie theatres, most likely under Bauhaus influence. See P. Morton Shand, op. cit., pp. 22, 24.

19 See Helen M. Stote, ed., The Motion Picture Theater (New York: Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 1948), pp. 6, 21; Talbot Hamlin, ed., op. cit., p. 462; Ben Schlanger, "Building Type Study No. 143. A New Architecture for the Movie Theater," Architectural Record, Vol. 104, No. 5 (November 1948), p. 122.

20 Ottawa Journal, 7 January 1971, p. 9. In 1963, the average attendance at Capitol movie shows was 350 a day. PAC, MG28, III2, manager's report, 31 August 1964.

21 "Losing Concert Stage?" Citizen (Ottawa), 3 July 1964.

22 "High Rise Building to Replace Capitol," Ottawa Journal, 24 July 1969, p. 5.

23 Ernest Callenbach, "Temples of the Seventh Art: Notes on Cinema Design," Sight and Sound, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Winter 1965-66), p. 14.

Appendix: Ottawa Openings up to 1920

1 Ludien Brault, Ottawa Old and New (Ottawa: Ottawa Historical Information Institute, 1946), p. 292; Murray D. Edwards, op. cit., p. 181.

2 Courtney C. J. Bond, op. cit., p. 117; CMPD (29 March 1919), p. 6; Citizen (Ottawa), 27 June 1967, p. 52.

3 MPW, Vol. 19 (21 February 1914), p. 951; Lucien Brault, op. cit., p. 292; Eric Minton, "Nickelodeon Days, When the Movies Came to Ottawa." Ottawa Journal, 28 October 1967, p. 35.

4 See MPW, Vol. 20 (18 Apr 1914), p. 371. The Company's president, Mitchell M. Mark, and its managing director. Henry J. Brook, hailed from Buffalo, New York, but there were three Canadians on the board of directors when it incorporated: Harry Brouse of Ottawa, and Edward Cronyn and Sir Henry Pellat of Toronto. (Pellat built Toronto's Casa Loma.) MPW, Vol. 19 (24 January 1914), p. 391; Vol. 19 (21 February 1914), p. 951; Vol. 24 (24 April 1915), p. 596; Eric Minton, op. cit., p. 35.

5 Eric Minton, "Burlesque Mob Carried Doors Away," Ottawa Journal, 14 September 1971, p. 70A; Citizen (Ottawa), 27 June 1967; p. 52; W. M. Gladish, "Nostalgic Memories of the Early Theatres," Citizen (Ottawa), 17 February 1947, p. 12.

6 Eric Minton, "Nickelodeon Days, When the Movies Came to Ottawa," Ottawa Journal, 28 October 1967, p. 35; W. M. Gladish, op. cit., p. 12; Citizen (Ottawa), 27 June 1967, p. 52.

7 Eric Minton, "From Tent-Show to Television," Habitat, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1969), p. 20; MPW, Vol. 19 (21 February 1914), p. 951; Vol. 24 (24 April 1915), p. 596; Vol. 25 (17 July 1915), p. 532; CMPD (25 January 1919), p. 6.

8 W. M. Gladish, op. cit., p. 12. St. George's was converted in 1918 to the "Wintergarden," a combination movie theatre and dance hall. Pictures were screened at one end of the hall, a "gallery" was provided for seated patrons at the other end, and the dance floor was established in between. CMPD (16, 30 November 1918), pp. 9, 6.

9 CMPD (23 April 1949), p. 10; Courtney C. J. Bond, op. cit., p. 118. One of the theatre's managers took pleasure in remembering years later the confusion that ensued one night when the crank for the sliding roof would not work and the audience was exposed to a sudden rainstorm, CMPD (1 May 1940), p. 19.

10 MPW, Vol. 43 (12 June 1920), p. 1493.

11 MPW, Vol. 24 (8 May 1915), p. 911.

12 CMPD (12 November 1927), p. 9.

13 MPW, Vol. 25 (17 July 1915), p. 532. While there were few architectural resemblances between the Strand and the Regent, the comparison attempted reveals that the Strand was considered a prototype by the Regent's publicity agent.

14 Terry Turner, pers. comm.

15 See MPW, Vol. 74 (16 May 1925), p. 283.

16 Citizen (Ottawa). 23 June 1928, p. 31. By this time, "Texas" Guinan had become notorious as a speakeasy hostess.

17 Terry Turner, pers. comm.

18 Ibid.

19 It was reported that the mayor had been kissed by "Texas" Guinan, but he later denied this, CMPD (Christmas issue, 1920), p. 40.

20 A "prohibitionist" took issue in a letter to the editor with the argument that low-priced theatres provided a substitute for the bar. "There is seldom a vaudeville programme presented in which prohibition is not sneered at, and booze held up as man's chief solace. . . . Why should theatres, indirectly endeavour to restore that which involves possible loss of revenue?" Ottawa Journal, 11 November 1920, p. 6.

21 Citizen (Ottawa), 16 November 1920, p. 12.

22 CMPD (Christmas Issue, 1920), p. 40.

23 Citizen (Ottawa), 1 May 1970, p. 3.