'Save The Capitol' 1964
In the 1960's saw the downfall of the Capitol theater. Sales during the 1962-63 were very poor as cinema took a back seat to television, there wasn't any indication people were leaving their TV sets and running to the cinema. Also during this time, Hoyts lease expired on October 1963 and they decided not to renew it (Walters, T 2006) .This meant that there was a threat that the Capitol Theatre would be demolish as no one else would want to lease it because the sales continued to do poorly. There was also a thought of converting the Capitol theater into shops and offices (Navaretti, P 2000).
During this time, the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) helped organise a campaign to ‘Save the Capitol’. The appeal was specifically made by Robin Boyd (then Melbourne architectural critic). The basic request to that no action should be taken which and preclude the re-opening of the theatre if, and when, a suitable lessee came along. Initially the negotiations were difficult but later on a compromise was reached. The compromise was that the Melbourne Capitol theatre would reduce almost more than 1,500 seats and also demolitions to be carried out to the original stalls and the street level entrance foyer. This was to make way to a shopping arcade that is now under the theatre that leads to Howey Place (Navaretti, P 2000).
After much controversy and negotiations in 1965 (December 16) the Melbourne Capitol theatre re-opened with a classic Warner Bother’s film “The Great Race”. The new lease was purchased by Prudential Theatres. The Melbourne Capitol Theatre regained its popularity of the public under the Prudential Theatre manager’s such as Bruce Selling, Alexander Sharp and Richard Silman. They made the capitol into a home for immensely popular and prestige films (Navaretti, P 2000).
