La Pergola in Vidiciatico / Italy

 

The Cinema La Pergola writes on its website: 

"The Cinema Teatro La Pergola in Vidiciatico, in the municipality of Lizzano in Belvedere (in the province of Bologna), was founded in 1948 in the climate of the great reconstruction of the first post-war period, in a vacant area near a ballroom. The two structures should form a single recreational hub for citizens. The first manager, Zanasi, also owns the Cinema Puccini in Lizzano in Belvedere and often the same film is shown in the two cinemas on the same day, with very quick car journeys from one country to another to transmit the film. The cinema has an instant hit with audiences, especially in the summer season when it operates from early afternoon to midnight.

For many years, La Pergola was an important point of reference for the municipality and also for other nearby municipalities, where the other cinemas were gradually closing. The cinema La Pergola inherited a treasure from the Cinema Puccini: a projector for films from the 1950s, which is (occasionally) maintained and used and still works today.

In the 2000s, the property was acquired by the country's hoteliers' association, which guarantees its operation during the summer season and Christmas holidays. However, the crisis of the cinema also affects La Pergola and for some years the cinema has been practically closed, surviving at times thanks to the passion of a young operator in the country, Federico Roda, who keeps it alive.

In 2018 Don Giacomo Stagni, the parish priest of Vidiciatico, offers to manage it and with the help of some friends and volunteer villagers he reopens the hall and also manages to buy a new projector for digital films.

In the years from 2018 to 2021 the Cinema Teatro La Pergola in Vidiciatico was opened for the summer months and in 2021 it will also reopen for the Christmas period, offering visitors and citizens quality film festivals, organized in collaboration with the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and ACEC Emilia Romagna and thanks to the contributions of Corno all scale will be realized."

The story of Cinema Teatro La Pergola is a fine example of how a cinema can survive in a small town - with the support of many different people, fueled by enthusiasm and optimism. A story worth filming.

The postcard was sent in 1955. 

Empire Cinema in Sandwich / United Kingdom

 

The Empire Cinema in Sandwich / County of Kent writes on its website: "On 26th June, 1937 the Empire Cinema in Sandwich opened its doors for the first time. The films chosen for the original opening performance were Trust the Navy starring Lupino Lane and Craig's Wife starring Rosalind Russell as well as a coloured rhapsody plus the Gaumont British News. The cinema was described as a modern, up to date and luxurious building situated in a prominent position near to the Guildhall in the centre of the town. The auditorium was of spacious design seating 600 people in total in the circle and stalls areas.

Now the cinema, which re-opened in 1993, is operational in the former circle section of the building and has still retained the art deco architecture and can accommodate 130 people. The auditorium has been completely re-seated with more comfortable and luxurious seats and the original decorative neon lighting has been restored to the frontage of the theatre.

The latest digital projection equipment has been installed with Dolby digital sound. This will now enable the cinema to obtain and screen the latest film releases in this new improved format. In addition, it is planned to present cultural live shows of opera, ballet and theatre content on a regular basis in 2014. The arrival of digital cinema will provide our audience with a wide choice of entertainment with the added enjoyment of enhanced viewing.

The Lounge section is situated in the original stalls area and has been refurbished with comfortable chairs and tables and a maple dance floor installed in front of the cinema stage. A fully licensed bar is now available in the Lounge. A popular attraction in this area has been the monthly classic cinema presentations."

I got this postcard from Laura. The view of the cinema was painted by John C. Burrows. 

Thank you very much, Laura!

A Break

My blog has been paused for a while.

I started a new project: a blog / catalog raisonné of the graphic artist Eva Johanna Rubin (1925-2001).

Her pictures have accompanied me throughout my life.

As this is a completed work, the end is in sight and there will be something about cinema postcards again.

Cinema "Pushkin" in Chelyabinsk / Russia

 

These are not easy times to write about cinemas in Russia.

I recieved this postcard from Evgeniya from Chelyabinsk via Postcrossing. She sells postcards in her own web shop Edencards, including this one. The picture is painted by Mikhail Voronov-Kushakovsky, an artist from Chelyabinsk.

Cinema Pushkin in Chelyabinsk opened it doors in 1937, the centenary of the death of the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin. Located almost in the very center, the cinema has become the most important component of the “Pushkin corner” of the city, along with Pushkin Street, the park and the library. 

The cinema wrotes: "For the natural life of a civilized man, memory is necessary: aesthetic and moral experience. For this, people come to our cinema. We want to present cinema 'different', author's. It goes differently to its audience. But most importantly, we hope that in our city the cinema named after Pushkin has already formed its audience."

What films are shown in these days there?

- La Croisade (Louis Garrel, France 2021)

- Otrovy i vybros (Kirill Sokolov, Russia 2021)

- Où est Anne Frank? (Ari Folman, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Israel)

- Oslo, 31 August (Joachim Trier, 2011, Norway)

- Andrey Rublyov (Andrey Takovsky, 1969, USSR)

Спасибо, Евгения, за интересную открытку!

Panonija in Duboka / Croatia

 

I wrote in my last post that the word "bioskop" is used in Croatia for "cinema" because of the Bioscop invented by brothers Skladanowsky.

Just found a postcard showing "bioskop Panonija" in Duboka. The postcard is published in former Yugoslavia, maybe between 1970 and 1980, when the cinema was newly built.

The place seems to be the village Duboka / Vojvodina in the Pannonian Basin in Croatia. But I couldn't find any fact about this cinema.

Wintergarten in Berlin / Germany

 

The Wintergarten in Berlin has never been a cinema - but plays an important role in the history of cinema. Here were showed moving pictures to a paying audience on 1 November 1895. This was shortly before the public debut of the Lumière Brothers' Cinématographe in Paris on 28 December 1895. 

The short films were shown by Max and Emil Skladanowsky with their invented Bioscop (or Bioskop) - an early movie projector. But the technology and quality of Skladanowsky's devices and the demonstrations weren't so good as other inventors already practicing at the same time. The Bioscop needed two film strips, which meant a considerable additional technical effort compared to the usual principle with only one film strip, such as that successfully used by the Lumiéres.

The brothers Skladanowsky traveled through Europe with their invention in 1896 and 1897. The word from their projector become the term for the word cinema in Serbia (Bioskop), the Netherlands (Bioscoop) and the former Dutch colony Indonesia (Bioskop).

The Wintergarten itself was originally a large winter garden in the 1881 opened Central-Hotel in the center of Berlin. Since 1887, this place became the number one address for variety shows in Berlin and Germany. The building was destroyed in World War II. 

In 1992, a theatre in Potsdamer Strasse - not far away from the old place - was opened with the name Wintergarten. As written on the homepage, they want to continue the tradition of the old Wintergarten variety. The postcard shows the new Wintergarten advertising the Rock variety show Forever Young in 2012.

I got this postcard via Postcrossing from Tiny. Danke, Tiny.

Ciné-théatre de la Ponatiere in Échirolles / France

 Échirolles is a city near Grenoble, Ponatiere is a district of Échirolles.

The cinema opened in 1941, but it has never been a place exclusively dedicated to film screenings. It is more of a party hall in which spectators came to attend various shows. Screenings were to be more frequent in the 1940s and 1950s, when television was not yet widespread in all homes.

Now there is a big multiplex in Échirolles with 12 screens and the writing on the building has disappeared. It seems to be only a stage now.

Capitol in Rostock / Germany

Rostock on the Baltic Sea is the most populated city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

The cinema Capitol opened its doors on 29 August 1938 - and they are still open.

There were 1030 seats in one hall in 1938, now there are 1089 seats in four halls.

The cinema advertises the movie Verwirrungen um Topsy - a 1956 West German movie, originally named Der schräge Otto, directed by Géza von Cziffra. The movie came to East German cinemas on 5 July 1963.

It has not been customary to change the film title of a West German film for East German screens. I think that has to do with the fact that Otto Grotewohl (1894-1964) was Prime Minister of the GDR at that time.

 

Saalbau-Lichtspiele in Neustadt an der Weinstraße / Germany

 

The Saalbau (Hall Building) in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse is was built in Neo-Renaissance style as a multifunctional event building between 1871-73. The cinema Saalbau-Lichtspiele was added to this building in 1930 in the Bauhaus style. The architect was Joseph Glückert.

The cinema, where last only showed porn, burnt down together with the large Saalbau in 1980. The Saalbau was rebuilt, the cinema not. 

On the postcard, you can see the poster for the film Zur Ewigkeit verdammt. It is the Argentine-Spanish war film Hijo de Hombre from 1960. It came on West German screens on 20 April 1962.

Capitol in Neumünster / Germany

 

In October 1950 the Capitol in Neumünster was opened. It had 827 places. Hermann Rein was the architect. He also redesigned the Capitol in Flensburg in 1951.

In the 1970s, the cinema was converted into a cinema center with three halls.

It was closed in 2000 after the opening of a new multiplex in the former Karstadt department store, just a few meters away.

In 2008, the building was demolished.

A few words about the advertised film on the postcard. It seems to be the film Csardas der Herzen (Germany, 1951). Only "Csardas" is readable. 

Roxy in Geleen / Netherlands

 

The cinema Roxy in Geleen was designed and built by the architect Pieter Augustinus Schols (1892-1873) in 1932. It had 900 seats in 1933. When it was closed on 31th December 2003, it had 468 seats.

I found on youtube a video made in the empty cinema:
Roxy Geleen 2019: The making of .... Fortuna '54, de pioniers van het betaald voetbal.

Not far awy there is a new cinema Foroxity - the largest cinema in the Limburg region with 8 halls and 1.936 places.

Cinéma-Théâtre in Mantes-Gassicourt / France

Mantes-Gassicourt, since 1953 Mantes-la-Jolie, is 48 km to the northwest of Paris. 

The first Cinéma-Théâtre was opened on 4th November 1921, built on the site of a theater destroyed by fire. First shown film was Les Trois Mousquetaires (France, 1921).

That cinema was closed on 2nd February 1934 and the new Cinéma-Théâtre was built on this site. It was opened on 22nd August 1934 and had about 1.100 seats. It has been demolished too. 

A new 9-screen CGR multiplex has been built on the site in 2000 and still shows movies. 

Titania-Palast in Berlin / Germany

 

The Titania-Palast opened on 28th January 1928 for vaudeville shows and movies. The opening film was Der Sprung ins Glück (France/Germany/Italy 1928) and a revue on the stage Wien und die Wienerin. 

The cinema with 1.924 seats was built in the style of the New Objectivity by the architects Ernst Schöffler, Carlo Schloenbach and Carl Jacobi and based on American models, the cubic, almost bulky building on the 2700 m² property caused a sensation with its almost completely unadorned facade at the time of construction, which also from that time was positively received by the public and the press. 

At night, the building transforms and reveals which aspect the architects want to focus on: the light architecture. The electric light, symbol of the pulsating city of Berlin, is used in different ways. 27 light strips made of opal glass turn the corner tower into a light tower at night, making the cinema visible from afar. The cinema name TITANIA PALAST is displayed in neon tubes, the announcements for the films above the entrance are also illuminated.

The cinema survived World War II without much damage. In June 1951, the first Berlin International Film Festival - Berlinale - took place at Titania Palast. In 1953, the house was equipped with CinemaScope.

The last film was shown in December 1965 and the last operetta was played a month later. 

In 1966, the Titania Palast narrowly escaped demolition. The Berlin energy supplier Bewag prevented this by leasing part of the building. The great hall was leased to retail outlets. Other parts of the building were used as a rehearsal stage from 1972 to 1994.

In 1995, a multiplex-cinema with 5 screens  opened, using only a small part of the original building. 

Today's Titania only has the name and location in common with the historic cinema. Externally, however, many architectural features of the original building have been preserved. The house has today seven projection halls with a total of around 1100 seats and is a listed building

The postcard shows the cinema advertising the film Der Hauptmann von Peshawar / King of the Khyber Rifles (USA, 1953) with Tyrone Power. The film was one of the first shot in Technicolor CinemaScope. It came on 30th April 1954 to West German cinemas.

Velké Kino in Zlín / Czech Republic

 

Zlín was famous for its shoe industry - Bata shoes.

Tomáš Baťa and his siblings founded a shoe factory there in 1894. During the production gradually increased, as did the number of employees and the population of the town. Due to the remarkable economic growth of the company and the increasing prosperity of its workers, Baťa himself was elected mayor of Zlín in 1923.

Besides producing footwear, the company diversified into engineering, chemistry, rubber technology and many more areas. The factory hired thousands of workers who moved to Zlín. A new large complex of modern buildings and facilities was gradually built by the Baťa's company on the outskirts of the town in 1923–1938. It included thousands of flats, schools, department stores, scientific facilities, a hospital. The development took place in a controlled manner and was based on modern urban concepts with the contribution of important architects of the time. Zlín became a hypermodern industrial city with functionalist character unique in Europe.

Among these building, there was opened Velké Kino (Great Cinema) on September 6th, 1932. With its capacity of 2,270 seats it was the largest pre-war cinema in Czecholslovakia. 

The functionalist building by architect František Lýdie Gahura (1891-1958) was built in 1932 by the Baťa company,  Thanks to this, a unique welded steel structure was used in the construction, to such an extent for the first time in the territory of the then Czechoslovakia.

Bat'a encouraged his employees to go to the cinema: he often showed films there in their original versions in order to learn foreign languages. The cinema was hit by Allied air raids in 1944.

The cinema has hosted the International Film Festival for Children and Youth every year from 1961 till 2016. (The city wears the name Gottwaldov from 1949 to 1990).

The building has been protected as a cultural monument since 2001. It has to  been closed since 2016 due to its bad statics.

Read here more about cinemas and their history in Zlín.

I found there an interesting fact about the shown picture: Above the cinema's entrance you can read the word SABRA. This wasn't the name of the cinema. The author of the website suspects a symbol of resistance of the cinema against the German occupiers in the choice of this word to designate the cinema.

In 1933 there was a Polish film called Sabra about young Polish Jews went to Palestine. But of corse this movie wasn't shown in Zlín during the German occupation. Sabra (or Tzabra) is a Hebrew word for any Jew born in Palestine / Israel. 

The postcard was published during the German occupation 1939-1945. There is written on the backyard "5181. Freigegeben durch RLM (Reichsluftfahrtministerium)" - Released by the Reich Air Ministry. But the description is in Czech "ZLÍN - Společenský dům a kino Bata" (not kino Sabra!).

Union-Theater in Fürstenwalde / Germany

It's always a surprise when I find a nice old cinema postcard and find out that the cinema is still being used. The cinema Union-Theater in Fürstenwalde (50 km away from Berlin) opened on December 18th, 1909. Then it had 400 places (I counted about 180 seats on the picture). Today, the cinema Filmtheater Union has 150 seats.

The postcard was sent in 1911 - 111 years ago. Another surprise - the cinema is mentioned on the back.

The Rietsch family wrote to Mr Lepke in Parchim (in German handwriting Kurrent): 

"Zur Erinnerung an den Kinntopp sende (ich) Ihnen die besten Grüße vom ganzen Personal. Jetzt bin ich dabei aus dem alten Kintopp eine Wohnung zu machen. Da gibt es viel Arbeit, Schmutz und Geldausgaben, Mit Gruß, Familie Rietsch"

"As a reminder of the Kinntopp, I send you the best greetings from the whole staff. Now I'm making an apartment out of the old Kintopp. There's a lot of work, dirt and money to be spent. Best regards, the Rietsch family."

Kintopp is a slang term for a cinema in the 1910s, especially in the Berlin area.

Emil Rietsch was the owner of the cinema until spring 1912. The new owner Otto Gerlach had later at all three cinemas in Fürstenwalde. I don't know what Rietsch wrote about converting the old cinema into an apartment.

He was also the owner of the first cinema in Perleberg, the cinema Union Theater. It has been in use since 1912, today Moviestarkino Perleberg.

Osterburg-Theater in Weida / Germany

The castle Osterburg is located in the Thuringian Vogtland. It lies prominently above the river Weida and the town of the same name. And is worth visiting.

The cinema Osterburg-Theater was built in 1928 in the New Building style. Bauobersekretär Otto Becker from Weida was the architect. It had more than 800 seats. It was also equipped with a stage, stage building, fly loft and orchestra pit for a variety of uses like films, stage shows, variety shows, theater and concerts. 

The postcard was sent in 1950 from Weida to Görlitz. Unfortunately, no publisher or artist is noted on it. It is still in very good quality today. Especially the strong paper is striking. I think the postcard was printed as early as around 1930.

When taking a tour of the old center of Weida, you will notice that the cinema is one of the few buildings there built after 1918.

In 1977/78 there was a comprehensive renovation, among this the installation of a Visionsbar (vision bar). The vision bar was a speciality in East German cinemas. In the 1970s, parts of the cinema hall were partitioned off with a pane of glass and fitted with armchairs and tables. You could eat and drink during the cinema performance. So really a mixture of cinema (vision) and bar.

Films were shown in the Osterburg-Theater until 1993. 

A Pentacon film projector, which was used until 1993, stands in front of the former cinema.

In 2003 the building was transformed into a community center, a modern cultural meeting place. 

A modern postcard shows the former cinema, now the community center Bürgerhaus top left. The photos was taken and the postcard was made by Silva Görner.

Für meine Freundin Astrid aus Weida!

Wünschendorf with the former cinema Lichtspiele der Freundschaft is 5 km away. But there isn't any cinema building now.

Oktyabr in Moscow / Russia

The cinema Oktyabr (October) on Novy Arbat opened in 1967 to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the October Revolution. 

It was a purpose-built twin screen cinema, with 2.450 seats in the big hall and 442 seats in the small basement cinema. The main auditorium was equipped with Stereo 70 projection. Michail Posokhin, Ashot Mndoyants, Yuri Popov, A. Zhbakov, V. Turchinovich, G. Umnov were the architects. 

Cinema's facade is decorated with a mosaic panel made of natural stone, dedicated to the theme of the October Revolution (artists N. Andronov, A. Vasnetsov, V. Elkonin and L. Syrkin). This panel has the status of an object of cultural heritage of regional significance

In the interior of the cinema there is a stained-glass window made by the Lithuanian artist Algimantas Stoshkus based on his other work Song of Life. 

In 2005 the cinema was converted into a 11-screen multiplex with 1.518 seats in the biggest hall.

Today it is operated by the Karo chain of cinemas and is one of the host cinemas of the Moscow Film Festival. 

The postcard was published by APN - the Soviet Press agency and was sent in 1969. I don't know why it has this color.

Filmtheater in Lübtheen / Germany

Lübtheen is a village near Hamburg. Today it has about 4.600 inhabitants and no cinema.

The postcard was published in 1979.

I couldn't find much information about the cinema on the postcard. allekinos.com writes, the cinema was opened on June 15th, 1919 and closed about 1990. There weren't shown movies every day. It seems the hall belonged to the restaurant Deutsches Haus at the right. 

U. T. Lichtspiele in Halle (Saale) / Germany

 

This cinema often changed its name. This happened mainly when there was a change of ownership or after major renovations. So it is a good opportunity to tell this cinema's history through its names.

The cinema Astoria Lichtspielhaus opened its doors to the public on October 16, 1914 with around 1000 seats in the auditorium. Paul Grempler from Halle was the architect. He had already built a cinema in Halle in 1911 - Passage-Theater, later called Goethe-Lichtspiele.

In 1917, there was a new owner and a new name - U.T. Lichtpiele. U.T. means Union Theater, a famous cinema chain in Germany in the early years of cinema. Paul Davidson opened his first U.T. 1907 in Mannheim, later in Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Strasbourg, Amsterdam, Berlin. He was also a succesful film producer with his PAGU AG. So his cinemas were a part of the distribution. It even became fashionable to name a cinema U.T. even there were no connections with Paul Davidson.

In 1917, the PAGU and the cinemas became a part of the new founded UFA - and the cinema changed its name to UFA-Theater Alte Promenade after the street name. After the World War II, the company's property was confiscated.

The next I read about the cinema, it was reopened in 1953 with a new and typically socialist name - Filmtheater der Freundschaft (Theater of Friendship). Based on this name and the past as a Ufa-Theater, I assume that the cinema was used as a cinema for the Soviet Army between 1945 and 1953.

In 1968, the cinema was closed. There was a big renovation and new film technology and a new name: Urania 70. Urania was  the muse of astronomy in the Greek mythology. The cinema had now the technology to play films in 70mm. So the new name refers to the new age of space exploration, knowledge and progress.

From 1991, Ufa was again the owner of the cinema, but did not change the popular name. The cinema closed in 1997 after 83 years.

Luckily the building was preserved and its name. Today there is a restaurant, a club and a bar in the basement - Kulturhaus Urania 70. (Look at its history site.)

The postcard was not sent. On the photo, you can read the name U.T. Lichtspiele. So it was made between 1917 and the early 1920s.

Cinema Vox in Casablanca / Morocco

 

Cinema Vox was a movie theater in Casablanca. It was designed by Marius Boyer and opened in 1935.  With 2.000 seats, it was considered one of the largest movie theaters in Africa.

The building could also serve as a huge theatre, opera house and above all as a hall for grandiose shows. It had three superimposed balconies (a rare case in the architecture of the genre) in a room that stood out above all for its sobriety. One of the major points of innovation in the monument was its indirect lighting. A discovery for the time which attested to the avant-garde character of the architect and of the city of Casablanca which already in the 1930s could boast of having one of the largest cinemas in the world. Another strong point of this monumental architecture: the ceiling which was retractable and which allowed, at the same time, in the absence of air conditioning at the time (another genius find) to enjoy the freshness of Casablanca summer evenings. 

The cinema was closed in 1979 and demolished.

On the postcard, you can see advertisement for the movie Agent Special with Laurel & Hardy. It is a little riddle, because there isn't such a movie in the Laurel & Hardy-filmography. Maybe it is their 1942 movie A-Haunting We Will Go, also known in Germany under the titel Laurel & Hardy: Die Geheimagenten.

Casablanca is better known for the film Casablanca, which was shot exclusively in Hollywood. In the 1990s, I have worked sometimes as a projectionist in a very small cinema called Casablanca in Dresden. We used to show Casablanca on Saturday 10 p.m. in a very bad 35mm-copy. It were hard times for projectionists ... 

I still love this movie. Even if I always wonder what beautiful clothes Ilsa Lund wears on her escape.

But there are also movies made in Casablanca. I saw the remarkable movie Adam (2019), directed by Maryam Touzani, about two powerful women with their untold secrets and tasty baked goods.

Schlossplatz-Lichtspiele in Hersbruck / Germany

 

Hersbruck is a small town near Nuremberg, on an old route from Nuremberg to Prague.  The town was founded in 976 when a castle was built there near the bridge over the Pegnitz river. The castle in the center of the photo was rebuilt in the 16th century. Today the district court is there.

On Schlossplatz No. 4, there is a half-timbered building with the former castle brewery. Films have been shown there from 1920 till the 1960s. The cinema Schlossplatz-Lichtspiele had 250 seats in the last years.

The postcard was sent in 1961. The photo may be from the early 1960s, when there were still few cars in Hersbruck, so you could leave a stroller with a child on the street to look at the poster photos.

Rossiya in Moscow / Russia

 

Now it's time for most famous Russian cinema - cinema Rossiya in Moscow.

Opened in 1961, it was the largest cinema hall in Europe and the main cinema hall of the USSR with an audiorium for 2.500 people. In the basement, there were two smaller halls with each 200 seats.

Yury Nikolayevitch Sheverdyaev, Dmitry Sergeyevitch Solopov and Elmira Gadshinskaya were the architects. The cinema was built in 1957-1961 on Pushkin Square on the site of the 1937 demolished Strastnoy Monastery. 

An architectural feature is the outstanding floating roof. This idea was already realised in the late 1920s in Moscow with the Rusakov's Worker Club by the architect Konstantin Melnikov

Another original solution that transformed the square was a staircase thrown across the street, connecting the foyer with the pedestrian boulevard of Pushkinskaya Square - one of the busiest city squares in the world.

The cinema has always hosted major events, such as the Moscow International Film Festival.

In 1997, the cinema Rossiya was leased to the large film distributor Karo Film, which renovated the theatre and changed its name to Pushkinsky. In 2012, the building was renovated to host musical performances and renamed Rossiya.

Of course, this building is protected as an architectural monument of regional significance.

I recieved this postcard via postcrossing. In the foreground you can see the Pushkin monument (1880, by Alexander Mikhailovich Opekushin), in the background the Rossiya cinema. On the cinema, you can read the names Rossiya and Pushkinskiy. The cinema advertises the movie Война миров / War of the Worlds (USA 2005, directed by Steven Spielberg).

Eldorado in Luxembourg / Luxembourg

 

The cinema Eldorado - the building in front on the right - was opened on 30th December 1949 with The Heiress (USA, 1947). The cinema was designed in a streamline moderne style. A feature of the exterior of the building was the circular marquee, and the open spiral staircase to the balcony level, which began on the street on the right side of the entrance, rather than inside the foyer.  The cinema had 730 seats in the orchestra and 270 seats in the balcony.

Next to the cinema Eldorado, the cinema Europe opened in December 1963. In the picture the place is undeveloped. Both cinemas belonged to the family Reckinger. 

In June 1982, the Eldorado was converted into a 4-screen cine-centre. The balcony was extended forward to create a hall with 364 seats. The former orchestra seating area was tripled.

Eldorado and Europe were closed in November 1988 and demolished in 1989. Now there is a bank on this place.

In the photo you can see advertising for the films Die verschleierte Maja (Germany, 1951) and Truxa (Germany, 1937).

Here you can learn more about the history of cinemas in the Grand Duchy Luxembourg.

Collection of the Filmmuseum Düsseldorf

The Filmmuseum in Düsseldorf has a collection of postcards with cinema buildings.

You can see it online:

Kinopostkarten (Open Data).

Strandkino in Kulkwitz / Germany

 

I don't post normally multiview postcards, but this card is a memory of the 1988 summer I spent there.

The Kulkwitzer See is a lake west of the city Leipzig, not far from the large 1970's development area Grünau (where my vocational school was). The lake emerged from two former brown coal opencast mining. Since 1864, coal has mined there. The two remaining open pit holes were flooded from 1963 and opened as a recreational area in 1973. It is still a popular leisure center to this day. Due to its underwater flora and fauna and its good visibility, the lake is one of the ten best diving waters in Germany.

But there ain't no cinema anymore. The Standkino / Beach Cinema (picture top left) - opened in the 1970s with about 150 seats - burnt down in February 2004.

The construction was a corrugated iron building, looked like half a tin can and you could find it on many summer vacation spots in East Germany - 116 such of these cinemas in 1988. It was a simple construction without air conditioning. On a hot summer day it could be very hot inside.

I met a modern version of these beach cinemas on the island of Hiddensee in summer 2019 - Zeltkino Hiddensee. It is so relaxing to watch a good film in the evening after a beautiful day at the sea.

Neptun in Novorossiysk / Russia

 

Novorossiysk cinema Neptun opened its doors to guests on May 1, 1969 - and the doors are still opened. Today it has two halls with 419 seats.

First shown film was the 1969 Soviet comedy Бриллиантовая рука / The Diamond Arm.

The building is located directly on the Black Sea. For a long time it was a special children's and youth cinema.

Another cinema in Novorossiysk I blogged: Ukraina.

Metropole Tuschinski in Den Haag / Netherlands

 

Adrianus Gijbertus van Tool  built the cinema after he won the main prize of 100.000 (or 50.000?) guilders in the lottery. At this time, he was the owner of a theater and he dreamed of the most beautiful cinema in Den Haag.

The Metropole Palace was opened on 15th October 1936 with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat (USA, 1935). It had 1.260 larger luxury seats in orchestra and balcony levels in the shell-shaped auditorium. There was a fountain and water feature containing real fish at the base of the staircase to the balcony. 

Although some distance from the city centre cinemas, the Metropole Palace attracted many premiere attractions. During the 1930’s foreign stars such as Shirley Temple, George Formby  and Mistinguett  made personal appearances here. During the German occupation of World War II, the Metropole Palace ceased screening films and became a dance hall, utilizing the glass floor in the orchestra level. It became a cinema again from 27th April 1945.

In April 1949, the cinema was sold to the Tuschinski group in Amsterdam, and it was named to Metropole Tuschinski. On 30th June 1950, the new Metropole was opened with the film La Beauté du Diable  (France 1950, directed by René Claire).

In 1976, the Metropole Tuschinski was converted in a five-screen cinema. The cinema was closed in 2003 and later demplished. In October 2008, a block of 30 apartments named Residence Metropole was being built on the site.

From June 1962 until 29th November 1963 the film West Side Story (USA, 1961) was presented for 518 days seen by 286.706 visitors!

I got this postcard from Willie via Postcrossing. She wrote she saw West Side Story a couple of times in this cinema. 

Bedankt, Willie, voor deze ansichtkaart!

Oroth Hanegev in Beer-Sheva / Israel

 

Beer Sheva is the largest city in southern Israel in the Negev desert - also called the "Capital of the Negev". The city as well as the entire southern region of Israel, has been a test field for modern architecture and planning since modern settlement. The result is partly very successful, partly sobering.

Among these buildings, there is the cinema Oroth Hanegev ("Ligth Cinema") built in the Brutalist Art Moderne style. It was designed by Yaakov Rechter (1924-2001) under the supervision of architect and father Zeev Rechter (1899-1960). The cinema was opened in January 1960 with The Bridge on the River Kwai (USA 1957) and closed in December 1989. 

The 800 seat cinema was commissioned by local businessmen, brothers Hillel and Shimon Felchinski.

In December 1989, the cinema was closed. The building is still standing, now boarded up and decaying and still a striking and unique building.

For me, cinema from Israel is very much associated with the black and white film Life according to Agfa (Israel 1992, director Assi Dayan). The film was released in German cinemas in 1994. It was one of the first films that I showed in the small cinema Casablanca. I felt very connected to the young woman with the camera behind the bar. We both wore dungarees at work ...