User:MinorProphet/Draft subpages/Cinemas in Berlin up to 1914

This is a list of notable cinemas in Berlin up to 1914 which were either purpose-built, or conversions from former stage theatres.

One of the first standalone, dedicated cinemas in Germany opened in Mannheim in 1906. The earliest 'cinemas' in Berlin were often little more than converted rooms above shops with some seats, a projector and screen, but their typically long and narrow design meant that they were generally unsuitable as a cinemas in the modern sense.

Oskar Messter showed his first films in 1896 at the Wilhelmshalle on the Unter den Linden. The Mozartsaal, converted from a concert hall in 1906, was one of the largest early cinemas in Berlin. Paul Davidson acquired Messter's cinema in the Wilhelmshalle on the Unter den Linden, and converted it 1909 into the Union Theater as the first purpose-built cinema in Berlin. The Cines Nollendorf-Theater (1913) (later the Ufa-Pavillon) on the Nollendorfplatz, designed by Oskar Kaufmann, was Berlin's first free-standing building of this type.

The following list is ordered by the date when the building formally opened as a cinema, although a number of them had previously showed films on an ad hoc basis. Most of the buildings currently (Jan. 2017) have no entry in Wikipedia in German or English, although many are are detailed in.

Union-Theater, Alexanderplatz
Opened on 4 September 1909. In 1908 Paul Davidson assumed ownership of Germany's biggest film theater, the Union Theater on Berlin's Alexanderplatz. In 1909 he became executive director of Projektions Union, which produced its early films on the roof of its offices in Frankfurt. (Ufa Story, Kremeier) pp. 16-17

Extensive and drastic rebuilding of the Alexanderplatz Hotel by architects Schley and Röthling, completed early in 1914. Later became the Ufa am Alexanderplatz


 * Mini refs
 * Ufa Alexanderplatz

Union Theater, Unter den Linden
Address: Unter den Linden 37, Berlin.

Oskar Messter first showed films there on 25 April 1896 when it was the Wilhelmshalle (on the UdL.), NB not the same as the Wilhelmshalle next to the Gross-Berlin, later the Ufa-Palast am Zoo... Messter showed films there as Messters Biophon from 1905-1907.

It re-opened on 20 August 1910 as the Union-Theater, owned by Paul Davidson. Source: Der Kinematograph 187/1910 (Kinowiki). Built by John Negendank & Co., it was a tube-like room with with 340 or 550 seats. It was the second Union-Theater to be built, and the first cinema in Berlin to be built for that purpose.


 * 1896: Isolatograph; Lebende Photographien mittels Kinematographie;
 * 1905-1907: Messters Biophon;
 * 1910: UT Unter den Linden; später Decla-Lichtspiele, 1910-1914
 * 1913: Kaiserpanorama, Apollo-Theater GmbH, Unter den Linden 21
 * 1914: Kaiserpanorama, Apollo-Theater GmbH, Unter den Linden 21

Hmmm, sounds like Joe Goldsoll may been involved, since he leased/owned the Apollo as well in 1913-14.

Davidson's Union-Theater company, one of the biggest cinema chains in Germany, was bought by Ufa in late 1917, and Ufa continued building and buying existing cinemas during the 1920s and 1930s.


 * Mini refs
 * German WP: de:Liste der Kinos in Berlin-Mitte
 * Mitte UT unter den Linden (Decla, Wilhelmshallen, Isolatograph, Mesters Biophon) ie Central Union-Theater
 * UT Unter den Linden, Berlin, Unter den Linden 37
 * Mitte Ufa-Lichtspiele], citing Der Kinematograph, 140/1909. Kinowiki.

Tauentzien Palast
de:Tauentzienpalast, built 1910, 995 seats (Wiki), (or built 1913 and 1,076 seats, says Cinema Treasures) 2nd biggest of 300 Berlin cinemas after the Ufa-Palast am Zoo. Designed by architect de:Emil Schaudt, who designed the Bismarck memorial in Hamburg. There was also a tunnel leading to the newly-built Wilmersdorf U-Bahn station. There were plans for 4 storeys and 1500 places:
 * "Die Kammer-Lichtspiele am Potsdamer Platz errichten nun hier ein neues Luxus-Lichtspieltheater, welches die gesamten Räume von der ersten bis vierten Etage einnimmt und für 1500 Personen Platz bietet. Hierzu kommen noch die in nie dagewesener Pracht ausgestatteten Foyerräume, welche durch drei Etagen gehen und mit der Front nach der Tauentzienstrasse hinausliegen."

Opened as Kammerlichtspiele in 1913, Ufa Tauentzien Palast, ground floor remodelled in 1930?, Woolworths store, Tobis Tauentzien Palast, premier cinema, bombed during the war.

"In 1925, there were 325 cinemas in Berlin, with 8 more under construction. Berlin had about 10% of all cinemas in Germany: Berlin was the cinema capital. The big premier cinemas were concentrated in the Westen district of Berlin, around the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche: from Marmorhaus am Kurfürstendamm (600 places) Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz (650 seats), the Mozartsaal am Nollendorfplatz (924 seats) through the Ufa-Tauentzienpalast (995 seats) and the up to the Ufa-Palast am Zoo, the biggest cinema with with 2000 places."
 * Seating capacity of cinemas

Tauentzien Palast, Cinema treasures
 * Mini refs:

Prinzeß-Theater
de:Prinzeß-Theater (Berlin), Kantstraße 162, built in 1911 by Lucian Bernard

Olympia-Theater (Lichtspiele), Kantstraße 163 literally next door to the Prinzeß-Theater
 * Olympia-Theater?

Mozartsaal
Located upstairs in the Neues Schauspielhaus, 5 Nollendorfplatz. Originally designed as a concert hall in 1906, converted as a cinema and opened in 1911.

Apart from regular film programmes, it was the venue for free screenings of the Kinematographische Studiengesellschaft (Cinema Study Society), the first of which took place in December 1913. This society was devoted to the application and improvement of cinematography in sciences, culture and education. The society showed a number films by Deutsche Jagd-Film-Gesellschaft, a film company set up by Robert Schumann (not the composer, duh...) in 1913 to exploit his films about hunting big game in Africa. The society moved on 22 March 1914 for the last public screening to the larger Cines-Palast am Zoo, with 1,750 seats and 500 standing.

Closed in July 1914 - ran out of money, it seems. Nice easy German writing, btw...
 * "Der wirtschaftliche Niedergang der Berliner Kinos hat jetzt sein erstes grösseres Opfer gefordert: Die Lichtspiele im Mozartsaal am Nollendorfplatz sind am Ende ihrer finanziellen Kräfte und werden ihre Pforten unter der alten Leitung nicht wieder eröffnen. Das ist ein etwas klägliches Ende für ein Unternehmen, das vor einigen Jahren unter sehr glückverheissenden Umständen ins Leben trat. Als Konzertlokal hatte der Mozartsaal kein Publikum gefunden; als er nach einem Umbau in die Hände der Filmmuse überging, hatte er mit einem Schlage eines und sogar eines von einer sozialen Struktur, wie es bis dahin kein anderes Berliner Kino aufweisen konnte."
 * "Das Cines-Nollendorftheater entstand, die westlichen Kammer-Lichtspiele, der Unionpalast, das Marmorhaus; das Rauchverbot kam, das Kinderverbot, und zu allem und vor allem die Lustbarkeitssteuer. So ist es mit den Kinos im Westen bergab gegangen. Die Marmorhaus-Lichtspiele sind nur noch unregelmässig geöffnet, die Kammer-Spiele gehen zur Faktultät der Sprechbühnen über und die Mozartsaal GmbH ist jetzt, nachdem die Eröffnung des Konkurses wegen Mangel an Masse abgelehnt worden war, zusammengebrochen. Es werden ihr nicht wenige folgen, wenn nicht angesichts so bedenklicher Zeichen endlich an eine Beseitigung der Lustbarkeitssteuer gegangen wird."

Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz
Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz, opened March 1913 - first free-standing cinema in Berlin, designed by Oskar Kaufmann. (Woods-Goldsoll-Cines)

Ufa-Palast am Zoo
Ufa-Palast am Zoo, originally Gross-Berlin Theater. Lease signed c1 May 1913 by Cines-Theater AG. Opened as Cines-Palast am Zoo on 22 August 1913, for kinovaudeville (Woods-Goldsoll-Cines). See also text of playbill of opening week below.

Converted by Oskar Kaufmann in 1914-1915?. Kaufmann's work seems to be badly documented, and it seems to difficult work out whether it was he or Bischoff who completely demolished the old exhibition hall and built a new cinema at right-angles to the main entrance. It only lasted a few years during the war anyway. There are some photos of the café next door taken a few years apart; the early ones show a highly ornate Jugendstil (or worse) excrescence, and the later ones show clean curves stripped of their decoration (much like the curves of the Nollendorf-Theater).

Rebuilt by Max Bischoff and opened again as Ufa-Palast am Zoo on 18 September 1919 with Madame Dubarry.

Apollo-Theater
Apollo Theatre, Friedrichstraße 218, Berlin-Kreuzberg.

Built as a stage theatre in 1874. In 1903 Oskar Messter showed films here with a Kosmograph projector synchronised with gramophone records (Wiki). Messter seems to have also showed films here in 1896, he may have made the rounds of the Berlin theatres.

It opened on May 1 (or 2) 1913 as the 890-seat Cines-Apollo, owned/leased by Cines-Theater AG, a Berlin company firm run by Joe Goldsoll (chairman from 1922-24 of Goldwyn Pictures, later MGM) and A. H. Woods, backed by the Italian Cines film company. They also built the Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz and also converted the Gross-Berlin theatre in 1913 into a cinema, the Ufa-Palast am Zoo.

The cinema was licensed for Kinovaudeville, a mix of vaudeville (variety) shows and films. It was the fourth Berlin cinema to be opened by Cines (after the Cines-Nollendorf, the Cines-Palast am Zoo and the x-Theater). The owner was Max Ziegra.

The German première of Sergei Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin took place here on 29 April 1929, according to a plaque on the wall.

It was destroyed in an Allied bombing raid during World War 2.


 * Mini refs
 * German WP: de:Apollo-Theater (Berlin)
 * Kreuzberg Apollo-Theater, Cines-Apollo
 * Berlin: Apollo-Theater
 * Beata Gontarczyk-Krampe (notmsparker) (November 6, 2013). Today in Kreuzberg: October 29th – A day at the pictures. Kreuzberged Berlin. Retrieved 2 January 2016.


 * NB The Deutsches Theater (Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater), with Max Reinhardt at the helm, was owned/leased by Joe Goldsoll. It seems that it was just a theatre, no films were shown there, See Ufa-Pavillon am Nollendorfplatz.

Marmorhaus
The Marmorhaus (Marble House), Kurfürstendamm 236, designed in 1912-13 by the architects sk:Richard Scheibner (1880-?) and Hugo Pál (1875–1932). The cinema's name comes from the façade, which is entirely covered in white marble slabs.

It opened on 9 May 1913 with Das goldene Bett (The golden bed) by de:Walter Schmidthässler Schmidthässler, previously a stage actor, founded Continental-Kunstfilm in 1912 but returned to direct for Deutsche Vitascope by April that year. The cinema was on the first floor: there was a shop downstairs next to the entrance lobby. The Marmorhaus seems to have produced its own distinctive film posters.


 * 3 February 1921: Première of de:Kämpfende Herzen by Fritz Lang with Carola Toelle, Hermann Boettcher, and Gottfried Huppertz, who wrote the music for Lang's Die Nibelungen and Metropolis.

——
 * Mini refs
 * German WP: de:Marmorhaus
 * Ehemaliges Marmorhaus
 * UFA Marmorhaus - Kinokompendium
 * Marmorhaus - Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa: Bereich Denkmal. Berlin.de, citing Schmülling, D.: "Drei Stockwerke an einem eisernen Dachstuhlaufgehängt" in Die Bauwelt, 3. Jahrgang, Nr. 14 - 33 (1912) 52, p. 12 Abe books
 * Pictures at (BAW_1914_07.pdf)
 * Pictures at (BAW_1914_07.pdf)
 * Pictures at (BAW_1914_07.pdf)

Filmbühne Wien
Filmbühne Wien, Kurfürstendamm 26

Designed by Simon and Nentwich & Co. in 1912/13 with 850 seats. First opened as 'Film-Bühne Wien', one of the first purpose-built cinemas in Berlin. (Elsaesser, A Second Life, p. 24) then Union-Palast Theater, then UFA Film-Bühne Wien from 1924.

Opened with Max Reinhardt's Insel der Seligen.

Première of Das Wachsfigurenkabinett (Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt, Wilhelm Dieterle, Regie: Paul Leni) on 13 November 1924.


 * Mini refs
 * Manfred Overesch und Karl Wilhelm Saal: deutsche Geschichte von Tag zu Tag : 1918 - 1949. Directmedia, Berlin 2000. (Digitale Bibliothek ; 39).


 * German WP: de:Filmbühne Wien: de:Liste der Kulturdenkmale in Berlin-Charlottenburg
 * Ufa-Filmbuehne Wien - Kurfurstendamm 26
 * UFA Film-Bühne Wien

U.T. Friedrichstrasse
U.T. Friedrichstrasse Lichtspiele in the Bavariahaus, Taubenstrasse Opened in 1913. It was designed by architect Ernst Moritz Lesser. Addresses at Friedrichstrasse 180 (entrance) and Taubenstrasse 11 (auditorium). http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/52165

Lichtspiele Wittelsbach
Lichtspiele Wittelsbach cinema (1913) in Wilmersdorf, Berliner Str. Never a Ufa cinema.Later Wittelsbach-Palast


 * Mini refs
 * Wittelsbach-Palast

Post-WW1

 * Mercedes-Palast (1924) by Fritz? Wilms
 * Piccadilly, Charlottenburg, 192x?
 * Rudolf Frankel's Lichtburg of 1924
 * de:Gloria-Palast (1924-5) by de:Ernst Lessing und de:Max Bremer. Originally built as the „Romanischer Haus“ 1894-1896, designed by Franz Schwechten. The façade was retained for the cinema, which took up the first to third floors.