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The history of the Máximo cinema, which was located at 404-410 Sicilia Street, on the corner of Travesera de Gracia, begins when the premises were opened as the Salón Maxim’s dance hall. But its owner, seeing the possibilities with the arrival of talkies, decides to take a look at the old business and reconvert it.

The owner contacts J. Plantada so that, taking advantage of the voices that predict prosperity with the arrival of talkies, he can convert the old dance venue into a room to project films.

Plantada carried out a restructuring of the premises, respecting the old boxes and the windows located on the left side of the room, so that, as during the dance breaks, they could be opened at the end of each film and renew the air of the premises.

Once the services part was renovated, it left a venue with a capacity for 1,000 spectators. Regarding the opening date, various information gives it as June 11, 1930 because it is the first time that it appears on the billboard of La Vanguardia announcing the screening of: The Sign of Zorro, The Edge of Midnight, The Great Silence and Charlot boxing champion.

On Saturday, October 12, 1929, eight months before, the agreements of the Provincial Subcommittee on Local Health were published on page 7 of La Vanguardia and in its seventh section it said.

Seventh. Propose granting a period of one month to correct the deficiencies observed in the file relating to the Maxim Cinema, located on Sicilia Street in this capital.

On Friday, May 12, 1933, again the Provincial Subcommittee of Local Health intervenes with the cinema, this time it stops provisionally and until the inspection by the inspectors of the ordered works, they grant it the opening permit for compliance of the renovation works ordered to the Colón cinemas and Maxim cinemas.

After disappearing from the billboards for a while, it reappeared on October 15, 1931 as Maxim’s cinema and appearing for the first time together with the Smart Cine and Coliseo Pompeya cinemas, within the Smart Company.

The La Vanguardia advertisement said:

Late today, 4’15. The new Smart Company inaugurates the winter season of this location, with the screening of Stolen Love, The Renegade, Prohibition, Fox News and the main film, Camino del Hell, by María Alba and Juan Lorena (spoken in Spanish) .

On Friday, April 20, 1934, the Theater Board published the resolution taken as a result of some electrical problems that had been observed and that had not been solved in the time granted, so the Board had decided not to authorize the operation of the Cinema. Maxim’s, until it has completed correcting the deficiencies observed by the Industrial Headquarters in the electrical installation of the premises.

On April 29, 1935, he projected Maestro Serrano’s zarzuela La Dolorosa, Ciclón Far and Melodía Prohibida. On the occasion of the screening of the zarzuela, it went from being advertised on the normal billboard to an advertisement on the film page.

During the period of the civil war, like all cinemas, it suffered a hiatus until it was collectivized by the CNT, which put it into operation on Friday, October 9, 1936, programming Un million Gracias, Legón and the news program El pueblo en Armas. It was offering film sessions until the end of 1938.

After the war, like the other cinemas, its new owner, Francesc Benages Canas, renovated the premises without great engineering displays, since the only relevant thing was the name change that he had to make forced by the Franco government, turning it into Maximum cinema.

The lack of modernization of the premises and the projection equipment was followed by the lack of programming that would excite the residents of the neighborhood and the soldiers who were in the nearby barracks on Gerona Street, as well as advertising that would attract attention. . This posed a problem for the new owner.

Although for many the purchase of the cinema by Juan Muro Mencerreg from Francesc Benages dates back to 1949, again La Vanguardia ratifies it on May 23, 1950 on page 15, publishing an advertisement offering the sale of the Maxim cinema of 1,500 seats at a price of 400,000 pesetas. The sale was with direct treatment and only with a telephone number.

Juan Muro Mencerreg carried out new comprehensive renovations, eliminating the old boxes in the dance hall that had been preserved, making a slope in the room to offer a good view and replacing the seats and projection equipment.

These changes in the appearance of the cinema, the reduction in prices and better quality of the films meant that the premises gradually filled up again.

In 1959 he began to team up with the Rovira cinema, with which he not only programmed the same films, but also edited the famous hand-held posters that were distributed at the box office or in nearby stores.

In 1968, during the week of November 18 to 24, it screened together with the Galería Condal cinema the last sessions of the film A Man and a Woman, directed by Claude Lelouch and starring: Anouk Aimée, Jean-Louis Trintignant and Pierre Barouh .

At the beginning of the 70s, due to the appearance of video stores, as happened in almost all neighborhood cinemas, the influx of spectators began to disappear, which led to its disappearance from the billboards and finally determined that its owner made the decision to its closing, on Sunday, February 13, 1972.