Holstentor light plays
The Holstentor-Lichtspiele were a Lübeck cinema on Moislinger Allee.
Circus Reuterkrug
The Reuterkrug inn existed in the Lübeck suburb of St. Lorenz since 1655 . In 1879 it received an extension in the form of a hall for events and circus guest performances . In the so-called Circus Reuterkrug at Moislinger Allee 18a, at that time owned by Friedrich Wilhelm Rittscher , a cinema screening took place for the first time on December 1, 1897. The received newspaper advertisements suggest that Oskar Messter himself showed the films; however, the press reports do not mention his name.
In the following years, film screenings were often part of the variety programs in Reuterkrug, but without becoming an independent attraction.
On November 1, 1904, the Reuterkrug Circus was destroyed by fire. Rittscher had a considerably larger operetta and variety theater built on the same site .
Hansa Theater
On March 1, 1906, the Hansa-Theater was opened, a representative house with 2000 seats. In the new theater, too, there were again film screenings integrated into the variety shows, but these remained one of the program items. The Hansa Theater was mainly an operetta stage. In accordance with the Lübeck laws, so that there was no competition for the city theater , it was only allowed to perform pieces assigned to the light muse , which were not allowed to have any educational or educational character . In addition, there was a ban on stage plays during the current season of the city theater.
Since running an expensive variety and operetta theater was not very profitable under these circumstances, the heirs of Rittscher, who died in 1909, tried to profit from the popularity of the cinemas by having a film screening room built in during a renovation in 1913 under the name "Cines" Hansa -Theater introduced independent cinema screenings. The success was little, however, and after the end of the season the Cines was abandoned again.
Hansatheater light plays
After the First World War , the Hamburg businessman Albert Hübener acquired the Hansa Theater. In 1924 he handed over the management to Reinhold Werschky from Lübeck , who had the uneconomical theater converted into a large cinema. The Hansatheater Lichtspiele opened on February 1, 1925 . The theater stage technology that was still in existence was mainly used in the summer months when the cinema had a break and instead revues , plays or other events took place.
Werschky was in charge of the Hansatheater-Lichtspiele until August 1928. Then the son of the owner, who had died in the meantime, tried to run the house again as an operetta stage, which was unsuccessful. At the beginning of 1929, Hübener leased the Hansatheater to the Deutsche Lichtbild-Gesellschaft .
Delta palace
The DLG had the theater completely modernized and sound film equipment installed. On September 16, 1929, the reopening took place with a ceremony under the new name Delta-Lichtspiele . The converted, lavishly equipped house had 1200 seats and was furnished with ushers, foyers and cloakrooms in the style of a classic theater, which made a visit to the cinema a special event on a par with a visit to the theater. In addition to the city hall , the Delta-Palast was considered to be the most respected cinema in the city in the coming years, where the majority of Lübeck's premieres of new films took place.
In the wake of the global economic crisis , the DLG sold the Delta Palace on October 11, 1930 to Arnold Mest , who was already in charge of UT-Lichtspiele and whose father Artur Mest was the owner of the Magdeburg- based cinema company Kammerlichtspiele GmbH with numerous cinemas.
Initially, the Delta-Palast was only contractually bound to the Mest Group as a so-called director's theater , but then, together with UT-Lichtspiele, it became the property of Kammerlichtspiele GmbH. The company employee Kurt Schulz became the new managing director until 1942 . Since the Mest Group, as a major cinema company, received better conditions from film distributors than independent cinemas, the Delta-Palast was able to offer Lübeck's most attractive cinema program.
1942, 1935, adopted was Regulation for the Protection of SMEs among German movie theaters tightened. From then on, no company - with the express exception of Ufa - was allowed to own more than four cinemas; the number continued to decrease when the cinemas included one or more houses with more than 800 seats. The Mest group had to forcibly cede the Delta Palace to Ufa.
The Delta-Palast survived the Second World War without damage and was repaid to Arthur Mests widow Gertrud, who now ran the Kammerlichtspiele GmbH and moved to Lübeck in 1949. However, the cinema, which still had a complete set of theater equipment, first had to share its facilities with the Lübeck City Theater, whose premises had been confiscated by the British occupying forces .
Holstentor light plays
Due to neglect during the war and in the immediate post-war period, the Delta Palace was in poor condition in the early 1950s and in need of renovation. Gertrud Mest did not wish to extend the lease, which expired in autumn 1952. Ufa then expressed interest in taking over the cinema, but the owner, Hans Hübener, leased the cinema to Kurt Wittenberg , who was already in charge of the Burgtor-Lichtspiele .
During the renovations, which began on September 30, 1952 and took five weeks to complete, the interior of the cinema was completely modernized and redesigned in the style of the 1950s. The number of places was reduced to 974; The then newest Ernemann X devices were installed as film projectors . The stage technology was retained, as Wittenberg, following the tradition of the house, wanted to continue to offer show programs and performances by well-known entertainers. The reopening under the name Holstentor-Lichtspiele took place on November 7th.
In 1968 the widow of Hans Hübener "Theresia Hübener" and Siegfried Stanitz , who had managed the cinema as managing director for Wittenberg since 1954, took over the Holstentor-Lichtspiele as OHG> Hübener & Stanitz OHG <. Meanwhile the movie theaters were in a general crisis, caused by competition from other leisure activities and by unattractive film offers. Since Stanitz did not belong to a cinema company, he also did not receive the most popular films; He was no longer able to finance a large number of staff and operated the Holstentor light shows with his wife and an employee.
In the spring of 1971 Stanitz had a small additional cinema with 125 seats built into the existing space, which was named Bambi . In this way, a double cinema was created that was also Schleswig-Holstein's first cinema center . The Bambi was mainly showing the soft sex films popular at the time, which proved to be profitable and were then shown in the main hall.
In 1979 the Hübener community of heirs sold the property and buildings; it was clear that the Holstentor-Lichtspiele should be demolished after the lease had expired. After a final increase in the number of viewers in the final weeks, as the Capitol and City had closed at the same time due to renovations, the last film screening took place on December 30, 1980.
See also
literature
- Petra Schaper: Cinemas in Lübeck . Verlag Graphische Werkstätten GmbH, Lübeck 1987. ISBN 3-925402-35-7
- Elke P. Brandenburg: St. Lorenz - Chronicle of the suburb in front of the Holstentor . Archive of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck, 2001. ISBN 3-7950-3116-8