* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
Older people will remember the Paris cinema as a place located on Avenida Portal de l’Àngel 11 – 13, opened on June 21, 1928 and which closed its doors in 2007 to, after being demolished, house a clothing store. But, previously, at the beginning of the 20th century, Barcelona inaugurated its first Paris Cinematograph.
It was built on the old Rambla del Centro or de los Capuchinos, number 5, on the ground floor of the Martín Restaurant, in front of the Liceo theater. It was a project by Martín Pagés, an enterprising man who in July 1881 had decided to expand the business.
The restaurant, which until then had been on the ground floor, would be moved to the first floor, for which it would be rented to its owners and in the old restaurant on the ground floor there would be two spacious rooms and several ornate and decorated cabinets in a convenient way to be able to Hold small family or business gatherings.
With the arrival of the heyday of cinema to the city, Pagés had a new idea: he would place the new invention of cinema in one of the rooms.
The lounge had the brief name of Cinematografía, its idea was to provide a leisure service to its clients, while attracting new diners for its restaurant.
After a few months, his track as a film businessman was lost for a while, until he met Fructuós Gelabert who, after long conversations, made Pagés invest in the cinema again.
Fructuós Gelabert, who was one of the first pioneers of Catalan cinema, in 1897 he had shot the film Riña en el café with a camera that he had built himself, sees in Martín the right person to enter the world of cinema.
Once again the premises underwent a transformation to present a much more modern room, which was inaugurated on December 27, 1903, as the new Paris Cinematography, according to an advertisement in La Vanguardia on page 9.
The inauguration was a tremendous success, which was confirmed five days later, on New Year’s Day, with the premiere of Marie Antoinette. Once again the press comments on the good comments from the public.
The fame surrounding the cinematography is such that the Scientific-Commercial Academy itself decided, in February 1904, to give a series of conferences on all holidays on Means to peacefully improve the condition of the working classes.
On October 1, among other films, they presented the view on a train journey from London to Liverpool. On December 15, it announced the new current projection unique in Spain, Prophecies of the Russian-Japanese War, carried out in color.
The union of Pagés and Gelabert allows the latter to express his cinematographic concerns. 1905 was a year in which the Paris Cinematography consolidated itself as a cinema that offered themes that at that time were different from other cinemas, with different projections and that at that time were new.
In March he presented the color film The Wonderful Rose Bush, a documentary about the flowering of rose bushes that had a surprising success.
In October he presented the film The Palace of One Thousand and One Nights and premiered Travesuras del Marmitón, Trams of the Future and Unrealizable Journey.
In 1906 the successes continued. They projected documentaries that showed places that until then were only known through still photographs and they presented the place with natural movement and this was an impact for the public eager for new sensations.
The film that had the most impact was the Niagara Falls documentary. For the first time the public contemplated, even without sound, the spectacle of the explosion of water as it fell, something that until then was unknown by observing the still images of photographs.
Subsequently, the most emotional success began on Thursday, May 24, 1906 with the premiere of the screening of the film filmed by Gelabert’s team the previous Sunday, the 20th, on the occasion of the celebration of the Catalan Solidaritat festival.
A party that lasted four days and had a regional and national impact, due to the civility with which everyone who attended acted and that on the day of the demonstration, which took place on the current Lluis Companys promenade, it brought together 200,000 people.
The success brought more audiences every day, but the venue did not have more land, which led, in 1907, to the Entertainment Advisory Board to require the carrying out of some works, proposed by the provincial architect, in order to continue with the authorization. opening.
Once the works were accepted and authorized by the governor, the new Paris Cinematographic was reopened on Thursday, November 14, 1907, with a performance to benefit those affected by the floods.
From that moment on, his appearance on the billboards was lost.
