L'Eden-Cinéma in Lons-Le-Saunier

 

The 1913 sent postcard shows "L'Eden-Cinema" on the Promenade de la Chevalerie in Lons-Le-Saunier (Jura). 

Le Progrès writes about this place: Cars are now invading “Promenade de la Chevaliere”. It was once a pleasant place for walks, as its name suggests, with large trees. There was a charming bandstand there, built in 1878 and disappeared less than a century later, in 1974, without us really knowing under what circumstances. The band of the 44th infantry regiment garrisoned in Lons or the Municipal Harmony gave concerts there on Sunday afternoons and Thursday evenings in the summer.

Next door was the Chalet café where the Lédoniens stopped for refreshments. In 1908, it covered and closed his upstairs terrace. Particularly for thermal spa guests, the café sets up a stage and gives shows, taking the name Kursaal. In 1912, he succumbed to the cinema craze and became “Eden-Cinéma”. This was the first cinema in Lons-le-Saunier. Later, it took the name “The Regent”, until 2014 when it fell under the blows of excavators and demolition workers to transform into a modern multi-room: “The Mégarama”.

The Mégarama multiplex with 7 rooms and 990 seats was designed by the Carril architectural firm. 

Theater des Friedens in Letschin / Germany

Letschin is a small town in the Oderbruch on what is now the Polish border. The place was badly damaged in the last days of World War II. To my knowledge, the cinema in Letschin is the first cinema building built in the GDR. It opened in 1950  with the name Theater des Friedens - Theater of Peace.  There was a cinema, a cultural center and restaurant. The restaurant closed in 1958.

In 1960 the cinema was converted into a cinema for widescreen films. The last cinema event was in 1991. The cinema finally stopped operating for cost reasons and unclear ownership.

In 1993 the building and land could be purchased by the municipality of Letschin. it was possible to renovate the outer facade a year later.

In 1995, the association Altes Kino e.V. was founded with the intention of revitalizing this venue and creating a center for different generations to live together, promoting social integration and cultural life in the community and beyond. After the reopening on January 29, 2000, the “Altes Kino e.V.” association took over the use of the building and also the recommissioning of the cinema technology.

Today, the house with the name Haus Lichtblick has a small café and also houses the municipal library. A blockbuster is shown every month in the cinema, and interesting special programs (including eco-film tour, children's film festival, Brandenburg film discussions) take place regularly. Thanks to its flexible furnishings, the cinema hall is also a venue for theater and cabaret performances, concerts, readings, discussions and cabaret performances and much more. Back to its roots as a cultural center.

The postcard was printed in 1961. 

Vörösmarty Mozi in Budapest / Hungary

This cinema was opened in Budapest in 1935 with the name Savoy and 400 places. From the 1960s, it was closed several times for longer periods. It did not work between 1970 and 1984. It was used as an office and warehouse for subway construction at this time. It reopened in 1984 and became an art cinema, then a café-cinema, but in 2016 it closed permanently as a cinema.

Today the building is used for theater and music in two halls with 120 and 53 places still with the name Vörösmarty Mozi.

If you want to know more about cinemas in Budapest look at the well done Wikipedia-list and about Hungarian cinemas at all look at mozivilag.com.

Lichtbild-Theater in Varnsdorf / Czech Republic

 

Varnsdorf (German: Warnsdorf) is a town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic and lies on the border with Germany.

The cinema was built by the Varnsdorf company Schmidt & Röttig as the first permanent cinema in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1912. The owner Ferdinand Pietsch used the building as a cinema and concert hall. 

Later there was a Kinoklub and Kinokavárna (Cinema Café). Now closed, but still standing.

Today there is the cinema Centrum Panorama in Varnsdorf, opened in 1971 and famous for its 70mm-film projection.

Cinematographe in Marseille / France

 

"Marseille - Rue de la République" is written on the 1920 sent postcard. But the address of the cinema in the middle of the picture was not "Rue de la République" - it was "2, Quai du Port". 

Under the large letters “Cinematographe” you can read “Bar de la Samarite" - today "La Samaritaine", a brasserie since 1910 at Quai du Port, opposite the old port.

You can see the Gaumont-logo over the large letters.

Salles-cinema.com tells that Gaumont has shown films directly in the "Bar de la Samarite".

"La Samaritaine" was a filming location for 1971 US-American neo-noir action thriller film "The French Connection".

Rats-Lichtspiele in Osterode / Germany

Cinema Rats-Lichtspiele (Council's cinema) opened  on October 14, 1949 with the German film Der Bagnosträfling.

The large hall of the the 1550s timber-framed house "Ratswaage" (Council's Scale) was expanded into a modern cinema with 394 seats.

It closed in 1966 and converted into a discotheque. The former cinema hall was destroyed by fire in 1969, but the gable end remained.

The cinema is advertising the film Die größte Schau der Welt / The Greatest Show on Earth, a 1952 US-American Hollywood Circus film. The German premiere was on December 25, 1952.

Filmtheater in Crivitz / Germany

Crivitz in North Germany (former East Germany, GDR) is located around 20 kilometers east of Schwerin and around 21 kilometers northwest of Parchim on the river Warnow.

The cinema was built in 1954. This was intended to bring culture to the countryside so that people stay in the village and work there. The building has used as a house for cinema and theater and named Kulturhaus (House of Culture) from 1974 till 2004. Then there was a restaurant.

It is planned to use the building again as a cultural center.

The postcard is from 1963.

Kammer-Lichtspiele in Flensburg / Germany

 

On the right side of the street you can see advertising for "Tonfilm (Talkie)" and the film Der schüchterne Casanova - a 1936 German film, directed by Carl Lamač with Paul Kemp and Fita Benkhoff. 

In 1936, there was the cinema Kammer-Lichtspiele on Norderstrasse 45. 

It is the second cinema in this building. In  November 1927, the cinema Gloria-Palast with 416 seats opened its doors and shut them in February 1932. Johannes Schümann reopened the cinema as Kammer-Lichtspiele and has showed films there until April 1945. On September 26, 1945 there was again a cinema - Roxy-Filmbühne. The Roxy later also used as a concert hall.

The building was demolished in 2008.

Cinemaxx in Berlin / Germany

The Cinemaxx in Berlin opened on September 3, 1998 in the newly developed Potsdamer Platz / Leipziger Platz area. 

For 25 years it was Berlin's cinema complex with the most seats - 3,434 seats in 19 halls.. The Cinemaxx was an important venue for the Berlin International Film Festival / Berlinale.

In 2023, electrically adjustable luxury leather chairs with tablets were installed in all halls. This reduced the total seating capacity of the house from 3,434 to 1,411 seats. At the same time, the lamination of all screens was attached to CinemaScope in 2023 and is no longer variable in any hall.

The outdoor area was also remodeled. The postcard with the photo taken by Jürgen Henkelmann is no longer current. 

You can find all the facts about this cinema and meaningful pictures in the Kinokompendium.

Le Paradis in Douala / Cameroon

 

"Le Palais de Justice - Cinéma: Le Paradis"

Douala was the capital of Cameroon until 1920.

The building is in the middle of the picture is the Palace of King Bell, known as La Pagode. It was constructed in 1905 by the Germans for King Auguste Manga Ndumbe (King Bell). 

From around 1920 until recent times, the building served as a residence for various other representatives of the Bell royal dynasty, and other areas were rented out, for example to the Sangha Oubangui Company and later to the Western Naval Company.  The rooms behind it housed Douala's first cinema, Le Paradis, before it was renovated in 1995 by the architect Danièle Diwouta-Kotto to create the doual'art art association on the initiative of Didier Schaub and Marilyn Douala Bell, another member of the Bell royal family.

I don't know much about this cinema. The postcard was sent in 1951. And itsn't easy to say where the cinema is on the picture...

Here you can read something about cinemas in Cameroon.