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

Acknowledgements

The task of researching Ottawa's Capitol theatre was greatly complicated by the destruction of most of the files kept in the theatre. Material has been gleaned from a variety of sources and a large number of helpful people.

The following were extremely generous with their time and information: The personnel of Famous Players Limited, Toronto, especially Mr. Leslie E. Mitchell, Vice-president, Theatre Operations, Eastern Division, and Mr. Richard Kressin, Director, Construction, Engineering, Purchasing; Mrs. Beatrice McElligott, Mr. Jack Critchley, Mr. James McGuire, and Mr. Bert Brown, who worked in the Capitol and knew it well; Brother Andrew Corsini, editor of Marquee, journal of the Theatre Historical Society; Mr. Theodore Jung of New York, Thomas Lamb's relative and colleague; Mr. Geoffrey Paterson of Ottawa, movie palace and theatre organ enthusiast; Mr. Bob Laverty of Ottawa, who salvaged the Capitol's organ; Messrs. Fred and Wilf Balmer of Toronto, ornamental plastering experts, and Miss Heather McCallum, Head, Theatre Section, Metropolitan Toronto Central Library.

I thank the personnel of the National Library periodicals sections, the library of the National Film Board, and the Library of the Canadian Film Institute for making available otherwise inaccessible material.

I am also grateful to Mr. A. J. H. Richardson, Head, Architectural History Section, National Historic Parks & Sites Branch, Parks Canada, Ottawa; Mr. and Mrs. Antonio Tremblay of Ottawa; Miss Helen Ewart of Ottawa; Mr. J. Glas of Belgian Art Studios, Toronto; Mr. D. Dumond of the Yonge Theatre, Toronto; Mr. R. W. Watt of the Ontario Government's Theatre Department; Messrs. G. T. and Clark Green of G. T. Green's Ltd., Ottawa; Mr. Emmick of Teperman Wrecking, Ottawa; Mr. E. Emerling and Mr. J. J. MacNamara of Loew's, New York; Mr. Stewart Lamb of New Haven, Connecticut; Mr. Allan M. House of St. Catharines, Ontario; Mr. Terry Turner of Waterford, Ontario; Dr. K. Rybka of Toronto; Mr. Ron Jones of the National Film Board, Montreal, and Barbara Sears of Ottawa.

Quotations from The Best Remaining Seats by Ben M. Hall are copyrighted by, and reproduced with the permission of Crown Publishers. Inc.