Tuschinski Theater
The Tuschinski Theater (since 2000 Pathé Tuschinski ) is a traditional cinema in Amsterdam . The building, located at Reguliersbreestraat 26–28, contains a large hall with 784 seats and five smaller cinemas with 105 to 191 seats each.
Building and cinema history
The cinema was built according to the plans of the architect Hijman Louis de Jong for Abraham Icek Tuschinski , who already owned several cinemas in Rotterdam. Tuschinski ordered the 1200 wooden piles needed for the foundation from Germany, but delivery problems arose in the post-war confusion. So Tuschinski personally went to Wiesbaden for negotiations and in June 1919 brought the first stakes across the Rhine to Amsterdam in a cargo ship. The construction management was carried out by Hijman Louis de Jong and DJ Klaphaak, the interior was done by Jaap Gidding and Pieter the best. The construction cost about 4 million guilders and was completed in October 1921.
The eclectic mix of architectural styles reveals not only the predominant Art Deco but also echoes of the Amsterdam School and neo-Gothic . The facade with its two striking towers is decorated with glazed bricks, ceramic sculptures and wrought iron grilles and lamps. The building's heating and air conditioning system was considered revolutionary as it guaranteed a constant temperature in all spectator seats. The cinema organ of the Great Hall, which then had 1,600 seats, was supplied by the American Rudolph Wurlitzer Company (in 1940 this model 160 organ was replaced by a new, four-manual Wurlitzer-Strunk organ, which is still available and playable today). A smaller hall with 250 seats, a “Japanese tea room”, a “Moorish suite” and elegant foyers completed the complex.
The Tuschinski Theater was opened on October 28, 1921 with a gala of organ-accompanied short films and orchestral works by the in-house orchestra. On the same day, the “La Gaité” cabaret was opened in the smaller hall with a mixed program. In this cabaret with its own orchestra all the great Dutch variety artists have performed over the years. From 1934 the emigrated composer and cabaret artist Rudolf Nelson led the Gaité as an exile cabaret . Also Erika's pepper mill appeared in "La Gaité".
During the occupation of Amsterdam by National Socialist Germany, the cinema was closed for three months in 1940. Tuschinski also lost all of his Rotterdam cinemas when the city was destroyed by German bombers and went bankrupt. The German state company Tobis-Cinéma-Film AG took over the Tuschinski Theater in Amsterdam in 1940 and renamed it Tivoli - the cinema was so successfully “ Aryanized ” in the spirit of National Socialism . Abraham Tuschinski, his wife and his co-workers and brothers-in-law Herman Gerschtanowitz and Herman Ehrlich were deported as Jews and murdered in Auschwitz in 1942 . The architect Hijman Louis de Jong was deported on May 14, 1944, and also murdered in Auschwitz on October 31, 1944. The German occupiers used the Tivoli from 1944 to January 1945 mainly as a variety theater, cinema screenings were only given in the afternoon. After the liberation of Amsterdam, the theater was renamed the Tuschinski Theater and again used as a cinema.
In addition to film and variety shows, the Tuschinski was also known as a concert venue. World stars such as Maurice Chevalier , Judy Garland , Marlene Dietrich , Édith Piaf , Dizzy Gillespie , Fats Domino and Dionne Warwick performed there. The in-house orchestra was dissolved in 1969, and in 1974 the Wurlitzer Trunk cinema organ was given up before the film was shown.
In 1998–2002, the Tuschinski was extensively renovated inside and out and a new wing was added. It was reopened in 2000 as Pathé Tuschinski and has been operated by the Pathé cinema chain ever since . In the Great Hall often Dutch film premieres are held. Otherwise it is mainly used for Hollywood box office hits. The Tuschinski is the main venue of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam . Tours of the building are available for tourists.
Movie theaters
Today there are three halls in the old Tuschinski building:
- Hall 1 - Great Hall - with 789 seats
- Hall 2 with 191 seats
- Room 3 with 130 seats
The newly built wing contains the three rooms 4, 5 and 6.
The Pathé De Munt multiplex cinema around the corner in the Vijzelstraat has a further 13 cinemas. The Pathé Tuschinski and the Pathé De Munt have a total of 3850 seats in a total of 19 halls.
literature
- MM Bakker, FM van de Poll: Architectuur en stedebouw in Amsterdam 1850-1940 . Waanders, Zwolle approx. 1992, ISBN 90-6630-308-5
- Anton van Elburg, Dennis Römer: 75 jaar Tuschinski Theater . Publish, Amsterdam 1996, ISBN 90-803009-1-8
- Henk van Gelder: Abraham Tuschinski . Nijgh & Van Ditmar, Amsterdam 1996, ISBN 90-388-2679-6
- Jessica Maria Goossens: Tuschinski, droom, legende en werkelijkheid. De geschiedenis van het theater . BZZTôH, The Hague 2002, ISBN 90-5501-967-4
- Bob Logger, Xandra Knebel et al. (Red.): Theaters in Nederland are de zeventiende eeuw . Theater Instituut Nederland, Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-90-77204-37-5 , pp. 133-134
- Nelleke Manneke, Arie van der Schoor: Het grootste van het grootste. Leven en werk van Abraham Tuschinski (1886–1942) . Voet, Capelle aan den IJssel 1997, ISBN 90-73647-28-2
- Bram Rutgers: Theater Tuschinski, restauratie van een droom . Terra, Lanno 2003, ISBN 90-5897-086-8
- Reinhard Hippen: satire against Hitler. Cabaret in Exile , pendo Verlag, 1986, ISBN 3-85842-201-0
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 21 ′ 58 " N , 4 ° 53 ′ 40" E