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The now-defunct Paral·lel Teatro Cómico is another of the emblematic venues of the early 20th century, the protagonist of the playful disintegration of this area of ??Barcelona, ??which had grown and housed unique buildings on the old Avenida del Marqués del Duero.
The Teatro Cómico had it built by Guillermo Juncà i Padron, an entrepreneur from the world of entertainment who, seeing the progress of the place, instead of raising a wooden barracks as most owners did, wanted a building that, by itself, already draw the viewer’s attention.
He did not spare an iota of money and with the illusion of marking an era, he contacted the architect and urban planner Joaquim Raspall i Mayol.
Raspall had a history of developing buildings in the late modernist style that endorsed him. In his long history, among other buildings, he built the Teatro España in Plaza España and the velodrome on Muntaner street, the Fonda Europa in Sabadell or the Josep Filella residence on Balmes street.
The site of the future theater was located at Avenida del Marqués del Duero 85 and 87, between Calle Tapioles and Calle Poeta Cabanyes. And the construction would be carried out in a late modernist style.
Apart from the theater, a café and a garden would be built, in which small outdoor musical shows and events that did not need the new building would be held in the summer seasons and which would become La Alameda del Cómico.
The Comedian was inaugurated on June 21, 1905, presenting the Pinedo zarzuela company, with the program: 1st. Premiere of Teatro Cómico, 2nd Las estrellas and 3rd Doloretea.
Although at first the venue specialized in zarzuela performances, over time it adapted to the new customs of the time.
The magazine had been born in Europe and this type of performance with musical numbers and picaresque dialogues was beginning to succeed.
Given Guillermo Juncà’s desire to place the Comic in one of the public’s favourites, he hired Manuel Sugrañes Albert between 1925 and 1930 to take over the theater’s artistic direction.
This meant that the programming was gaining more fame every day and Madrid businessmen saw in the Cómico the ideal theater to present their shows in the Catalan capital, a circumstance for which it quickly became known as El Palacio de la Revista”, instead of its true name of Teatro Cómico.
In 1934, with the presentation of the magazine La Camisa de la Pompadour; in 1935, Las Vampiresas, presenting Carlos Saldaña Beut, born in Valencia, better known as Alady, who arrived in Barcelona and, after only a year in the city, decided to stay as one more Barcelonan. In 1936 it was the magazine Las Leandras, which caused a new and great sensation among the spectators.
After the civil war ended, the theater, despite the difficult times for the world of entertainment and for the spectator, continued with a program with dignity, led by the new businessman Joaquín Gasa, who managed to elevate the Comedian once again to the front line.
In 1941 he premiered the zarzuela Déjate Querer, by maestro Guerrero. In 1949, he presented the stunning vedette Carmen de Lirio, who headed the Escuela de Vampiresas magazine. Apart from her masterful interpretation, she was related to a case that would be news today in the “pink press”.
For unknown reasons, in 1951, the government authorities authorized an exaggerated increase in the price of the tram and the population began an indefinite strike, in which great disorders occurred. Apart from running the trams without any passengers, the population uprooted the stones from the cobbled streets and the curbs from the sidewalks, which they systematically placed in front of the rails.
Simultaneously, the civil governor of Barcelona, ??Eduardo Baeza Alegría, began to be associated with the star of the Comedian, which illumined the imagination of the students, who walked every day in procession along the Ramblas with a lit lily (Cirio) and a bottle of Agua del Carmen in hand.
It was the first protest carried out during the dictatorship, even with the arrest of the historical leader of the PSUC, Gregorio López Raimundo.
The final result was the dismissal of the mayor José María de Albert Despujol, of the Civil Governor, Eduardo Baeza Alegría, and the price increase was annulled, returning to the previous prices.
In May 1942, it marked the most successful period of the theater with the arrival and presentation of four unforgettable people for the Barcelonans of those times: Artur Kaps, Franz Joham, Gustavo Re and Herta Frankel, better known as the Viennese, but this is already another story…
In the 1950s, the Teatro Cómico began to have problems with its roof, which worsened over time as maintenance work was not carried out.
Joaquín Gasa, responsible for programming (not for the building), was terrified of the state of the roof, so he decided to stop putting on new shows.
The theater closed its doors on May 17, 1962, once demolished, a block of flats was built.
It is unknown what would have happened that month of December 1962, when on Christmas Day, Barcelona suffered one of the worst snowfalls in history, what would have happened if the theater had been standing, with the great accumulation of snow that had to bear the terraces?
