The History of the Cine Capri Theatre
Your Subtitle text
The Original Cine Capri
For over thirty years the Cine Capri stood at the corner of 24th Street and Camelback Road in Phoenix, Arizona.
The Cine Capri story began in 1964 when Arizona Paramount Theatres decided to build a state-of-the-art theater. The theater soon came to life when George Aurelius, VP and general manager of Arizona Paramount Corporation and architect Henry George Greene teamed with W.E. "Bill" Homes, Jr., president of Homes & Son Construction Company, Inc., and architect Ralph Haver of Haver, Nunn & Jensen. Rounding out the team was Spero Kontos of the Los Angeles based John Filbert Company. Their goal was to design, build and outfit the Cine Capri.
The original Cine Capri was a16,500 square foot facility with its signature sculpted dual colonnades flanking both sides. These concrete columns weighed over seven tons each and supported overhangs with copper fascias cured to achieve and antique green patina. The lower building faced was overlaid with imported Italian jade hexagonal tile.
Inside the theater was a spacious two-level lobby with clean, modern lines and a beautiful stained glass window. The auditorium was enveloped in a lavish display of 4000 yards of lustrous gold fabric covering the proscenium and walls from floor to ceiling. The electronically synchronized gold front cascade drape moved on cue vertically at different speeds to reveal the title curtain behind, which opened horizontally to expose the film on a giant curved screen which extended out to the fifth row of seats.
The Cine Capri story began in 1964 when Arizona Paramount Theatres decided to build a state-of-the-art theater. The theater soon came to life when George Aurelius, VP and general manager of Arizona Paramount Corporation and architect Henry George Greene teamed with W.E. "Bill" Homes, Jr., president of Homes & Son Construction Company, Inc., and architect Ralph Haver of Haver, Nunn & Jensen. Rounding out the team was Spero Kontos of the Los Angeles based John Filbert Company. Their goal was to design, build and outfit the Cine Capri.
The original Cine Capri was a16,500 square foot facility with its signature sculpted dual colonnades flanking both sides. These concrete columns weighed over seven tons each and supported overhangs with copper fascias cured to achieve and antique green patina. The lower building faced was overlaid with imported Italian jade hexagonal tile.
Inside the theater was a spacious two-level lobby with clean, modern lines and a beautiful stained glass window. The auditorium was enveloped in a lavish display of 4000 yards of lustrous gold fabric covering the proscenium and walls from floor to ceiling. The electronically synchronized gold front cascade drape moved on cue vertically at different speeds to reveal the title curtain behind, which opened horizontally to expose the film on a giant curved screen which extended out to the fifth row of seats.
