My old friend Joseph Failla emails:
“With all the distractions you have with assignments and deadlines, you may have missed that today is the 45th anniversary of the opening of the roadshow engagement of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY at the now long gone Capitol Theatre in New York City. Beginning on April 3rd 1968 (although the film had it’s world première the evening before in Washington D.C.) 2001 ran for a total of 24 weeks in Cinerama with reserved seating arrangements.
“It may interest you to know the theatre was located at 1645 Broadway, which should sound familiar, as it’s been replaced by the Paramount Plaza, the local home of Première Magazine (not to mention the offices of Jerry Langford in THE KING OF COMEDY).
“I’ve included a few photos which should help us appreciate what the experience might have been like seeing 2001 in that wonderful setting. Note in the newspaper clipping, while 2001 was enjoying it’s run at the Capitol, BELLE DE JOUR could have been seen at the Little Carnegie theatre just several blocks away. ”
Here’s one of the shots Mr. Failla attached:
Mere lads at the time, we were not able to make the trip into New York to see it at this house, instead we were obligated to wait until its run at Bergenfield’s Palace Theater. A transformative experience, to be sure.
2001 would have likely have run longer at the Capitol than 24 weeks, but the theatre was scheduled to be demolished that fall. After the Capitol’s closing, the picture moved to Manhattan’s only other Cinerama screen, the Warner, where it ran in roadshow for another 13 weeks. Kubrick’s masterpiece might well have continued indefinitely at the Warner if MGM hadn’t had another completed Cinerama picture, ICE STATION ZEBRA, awaiting release…
I can only imagine what it must have been like to see this film at that time on a big screen. It’s impressive enough on a LCD TV.
Clearly one of the late Roger Ebert’s better moments, in contrast to many other critics of the day.
As a young science fiction film, I was obsessed with this film & collected any article about the production. I turned 13 in 68, & my bday gift was having my dad take mev& 2 friends to see 2001 at the Capitol. This was my bar mitzvah.