Rex theater
The Rex-Theater is a historic theater building in the city center of Wuppertal - Elberfeld , which since its opening in 1887 can look back on an eventful history as a hotel with an attached concert hall, vaudeville , operetta stage , dance hall and theater . The listed building is the oldest still existing theater in the Bergisches Land area and at the same time the most visited theater in Wuppertal. Since February 2015, the Rex Filmtheater has had a new, but historical look and arthouse films are flickering across the screen again.
History of the Rex Theater
In 1887 the "Hôtel-Restaurant Im Salamander" was opened in the Elberfelder Kipdorf - a house that was part of the glamorous side of the up-and-coming industrial city. Technical finesse and the magnificent equipment reflected the spirit of the founding years. The special attraction of the Salamander was a large concert hall, the colorfully painted glass roof of which could be opened completely in summer.
In 1888 the first variety theater in the Wuppertal opened in the Salamander. As such, it became one of the leading addresses in the Rhineland - for almost five decades, the stars of the entertainment business from Otto Reutter and Rastelli to Heinz Rühmann made guest appearances here .
The film age began in Elberfeld in 1889: Leo Hänsler, the 16-year-old son of the theater director, had a cinematographer come from America and showed the first films, which quickly became the highlight of the variety program.
The theater was so popular that it was completely rebuilt in 1904: A surrounding second tier now offered space for more visitors and the Schnürboden above the stage turned the house into a full theater. Operettas and boulevard theaters - in line with contemporary tastes - were increasingly taking the side of the variety program.
Over the 1920s and 1930s the Salamander fell into crisis: more modern houses - such as the Thalia Theater - had overtaken it and the Kipdorf degenerated from the shopping street into the red light district. The temporary rental of the house to the (Cologne) Millowitsch Theater (the siblings Lucy and Willy Millowitsch are said to have had their first stage appearances here) was unsuccessful.
In 1935 the Art Nouveau balconies finally disappeared behind heavy velvet curtains, and for a short time the salamander became the frivolous “Tanzpalast St. Pauli”.
Like many old variety theaters , the Salamander was finally converted into a movie theater - exactly 50 years after its opening, the curtain fell for the last time in the Salamander and in September 1937 the "Apollo" opened with the Rühmann-Albers film The Man Who Was Sherlock Holmes .
During the air raid on Elberfeld in 1943, the Apollo burned down completely - like large parts of the city center, the Kipdorf was in ruins after the bombing. It was not until 1944 that the Apollo projectors started up again - initially in the evangelical clubhouse on Luisenstrasse, which had not been destroyed, and from 1950 in a new building on the casino roundabout.
The original theater itself was rebuilt under the direction of the Düsseldorf architect Hanns Rüttgers and officially opened in 1951 as the “Salamander Filmbühne”.
The reminiscence of the old “Salamander” was not very happy, however, because the shoe store of the same name, Salamander , asserted its naming rights in court, whereupon the house operated for a few months as “Theater ohne Namen”. In 1954 the public finally decided on the new name “Rex Theater”, under which the house became a household name in the city.
The brief boom in film after the war was followed by disillusionment in the 1960s: television began its triumphant advance, and the Rex Theater became quiet. After the death of the long-time owner, the heirs sold the house to the Wuppertal cinema magnate Kurt Pretschner , who was able to call all of Wuppertal's film theaters his own. Missing visitors eventually led to the closure and rededication of the small cinemas in the city - with the exception of the Rex Theater, which was only closed in 1998 following the opening of a multiplex cinema.
The closure was followed on February 13, 1998 by the reopening as “Forum Maximum im Rex-Theater” with a comprehensive program of the independent cultural scene under the direction of Martina Steimer. The Forum Maximum in the Rex Theater existed until summer 2010; The reopening was planned for spring 2011 as the “Forum Maximum im Barmer Bahnhof”, which should then be located in the old reception building of the Barmer Bahnhof .
This cooperation was abandoned after just a few days. Since then the Forum Maximum has been homeless, the REX without an operator and the Barmer Bahnhof under a different management.
Since the beginning of 2015, however, the Rex Theater has been enriching the Wuppertal cultural landscape again as a program cinema belonging to Cinema Wuppertal.
Web links
- Entry in the Wuppertal monument list
- http://www.forum-maximum.de Forum Maximum in the Rex Theater (until 2010) or Forum Maximum in the Barmer Bahnhof (from 2011)
- Rex is being renovated: cloakroom for all guests and better seats Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from July 12, 2010
- http://www.rexwuppertal.de/index.html Rex Filmtheater (since February 2015)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Rex will soon shine in Rubinrot Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from October 30, 2008
- ↑ Awakened from slumber: Rex cinema reopened ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. City of Wuppertal - press area (online) from October 30, 2008
- ↑ Barmer Bahnhof instead of Rex: Martina Steimers Forum is moving , Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from November 4, 2010
- ↑ The Rex should open soon , Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from January 5, 2015
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 30 ″ N , 7 ° 8 ′ 59 ″ E