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!
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