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The origins of the third cinema with the name of Odeón opened in Barcelona, ??like the previous ones, were different. It was located in the current Nou de la Rambla, at that time Conde del Asalto 26, and was presented to the public, replacing the Music-hall Montecarlo, which had been inaugurated on December 16, 1915.
The Montecarlo Music-hall was run by Manolo Bielsa, a businessman who took advantage of the proximity of Paralelo to also consolidate Conde del Asalto street as a place where one could find the same or better nightclubs, taking advantage of the fact that customers who went to Paralelo in car will meet on the road, among others, the prestigious Eden Concert.
This place contributed powerfully to consolidate Nou de la Rambla street as one of the liveliest in the Chinatown area and, together with Paralelo, as the most prolific of music-hall venues.
Standing out on its stage, among other artists, were the cupletista Aixa la Hebrea, who came from northern Morocco, the dancers Julita Carreras and Conchita Guerrero, the songwriters Zingarita and Mari Sanz, as well as the Troupe Sibaritas, among others.
At the beginning of the 1920s, the venue suffered a decline that forced Manolo Bielsa to hand it over to businessman Roberto Viñas, who for a time presented Conchita Garzón as headliner, accompanied by La Niña de Utrera and Mercedes Bueno. For a time they were very successful.
But things began to change and the public was already leaning towards the cinema, so in 1925, Roberto Viñas closed the doors of the Music-hall Montecarlo.
After the closure, the premises underwent an important transformation to turn it into the third Odeón cinema that the city had. It was inaugurated on Friday, March 18, 1927, with the projection of The Calgary Lightning, by Hoot Gibson; What Pleasure Costs, by Virginia Valli and Norman Kerry; Sandal among Eskimos and Snow Sports.
Since its opening, the venue had hired the Jazz Balsau orchestra to accompany the films (in those days the cinema was still silent).
On Saturday, September 24, 1927, he announced that it was the last day of the programming of the sensational love and mystery film Ella and, for Sunday, the premiere of The Seventh Great Power, an exclusive from the Company and Montmartre.
That year, for the Christmas holidays, he exclusively programmed the masterpiece by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, Los enemigos de la mujer, performed by Lionej Barrymore and Alma Rubens.
On the occasion of the Christmas holidays, he always tried to present programming that would cause an impact on the viewers. He screened Nadiw’s Widow, A Toothache and The Price of Glory, starring Dolores del Rio.
On Sunday, December 23, during the afternoon, he screened the same program and, at night, he premiered to screen Ghosts and Lovers during the parties, with which Eddie Polo made his comeback, together with Ossi Oswalda.
The life of the Odeón cinema, despite being accepted by the public, was not very long. And it is that there was another place, which was on Unión street, which was acquired at the end of 1930 to enable it as a cinema, seeing the progression that sound films were having and that this new room had more capacity to accommodate more spectators. This is how Barcelona cinema was born.
On Saturday, December 20 of that year, the Odeón Cinema appeared on the billboards announcing the screening of La Diosa del Volcán, Mariposas de Viena, Cómica and Revista.
The following day, Sunday, La Vanguardia on page 25 included the billboards for the two cinemas in the same ad:
In Barcelona (the most appropriate place to appreciate the naturalness of the sound lilm), El precio de no beso (sound) spoken and sung in Spanish, by José Mojica and others. In the Odeon: The Goddess of the Volcano and others,
These duplicate ads remained on the billboards until Wednesday, January 14. The next day, she appeared again solo on the billboards.
On Thursday, January 15, it appears again on the billboards with the Odeón cinema ad programming La máscara del diablo along with other projections.
The last announcement as an Odeón cinema takes place on Wednesday, June 24, with the programming of Venganza Gitana, with Ronald Colman and Vilma Banky; The desert of thirst, with John Gilbert, Equality before love and Periquito.
The following day, June 25, it appears on the billboard of La Vanguardia, on its page 3, as Barcelona cinema, announcing:
Local completely renovated. ORPHEO SINCRONTC sound equipment (latest models) first to be installed in Spain. TODAY, OPENING, with the sensational film “El Presidio. Fully spoken in Spanish by José Crespo, Luana Alcanos and Juan de Landa. The sound blockbuster of great comedy and Tres de Caballería, by Rex Lease, The drawings La danza macabre and the Fox Sound Newscast.
But, that of the Barcelona cinema is another story.
