Gaumont-Palace

The Gaumont-Palace was a cinema located on Rue Caulaincourt in the Montmartre district of Paris. Originally constructed between 1898^[a] and 1900 as the Hippodrome de Montmartre for the 1900 Exposition Universelle,^[4] It staged equestrian shows during its early and for a period was owned by Frank C. Bostock.^[5] Later, it became a skating rink.^[6] Originally built with a Belle Époque facade, the building was acquired by Léon Gaumont in July 1910^[7] and subsequently converted into a cinema. When opened on 30 September 1911,^[b] it was the largest movie theatre in the world with 3,400 seats,^[13] and was the first in France to boast automatic projection equipment.^[14] It remained part of the Gaumont Film Company empire throughout its history.

The rebuilt cinema with its new Art Deco façade in 1931.

Gaumont-Palace
The original exterior of the cinema in 1922.
Former names	Hippodrome de Montmartre
General information
Architectural style	Belle Époque (original), Art Deco (reconstruction)
Location	Rue Caulaincourt, Paris, France
Opened	13 May 1900[1][2]
Owner	Gaumont Film Company (1910–1972)
Other information
Seating capacity	4,850

In 1930–31, Gaumont spent 40 million francs rebuilding the cinema to a design by Henri Belloc,^[c] Art Deco exterior.^[16][17][18] The largest cinema in France, it was used to premiere major productions from both France and abroad. With a capacity of 4,850,^[d] it commonly attracted between fifty and sixty thousand spectators a week in the early 1930s,^[20] with box office receipts of 21.3 million francs in 1932.^[21] The size of the cinema meant that it rarely held films over for more than two weeks before they were switched to smaller venues in the city such as the Caméo cinema.^[22] At the end of World War II, the Gaumont-Palace acted as a repatriation centre for returning prisoners of war, and in this capacity is mentioned in La Douleur (1985) by Marguerite Duras.^[23] It had earlier served as the model for Le Tarapout in Louis-Ferdinand Céline's novel Voyage au bout de la nuit (1932).^[24][25]

In 1952, the cinema featured in the comedy film Holiday for Henrietta. In 1962, it was converted for the use of Cinerama widescreen format. Increasingly, its large size was considered a disadvantage, due to poor audio quality. Plans were made for a further reconstruction but these were abandoned. In 1972, Gaumont sold the 7,000-square-feet site for 35 million francs, the cinema being demolished the following year to make way for a shopping gallery and hotel.^[26] The money the company received from the sale allowed it to renovate other parts of its cinema chain, including in Lille, Lyon, Marseilles, Bordeaux, Reims, Nice and Toulouse.

Cinema organ

The Gaumont-Palace had two organs during its lifetime, the first of these being a "church organ" built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, which was mentioned in several programmes dating from 1913 and 1914.^[27] About 1931, a four-manual "Christie" theatre organ was supplied by Hill, Norman and Beard.^[e] Now classified as a monument historique, it is preserved in the Pavillon Baltard at Nogent-sur-Marne,^[28][30] and is the only organ of its size in France to still exist.^[29]

Notes

1. The foundation stone was laid on 16 January 1898.^[3]
2. The date of opening is given as 30 September by one source^[8] and 11 October by another.^[9] However, it was reported in the press that the cinema would open on the former date,^[10][11] and also that inaugural programme was to end on 7 October.^[12]
3. In the aftermath of World War I, Belloc had been employed by Louis Aubert as the architect on two prestigious cinema projects.^[15]
4. Gaumont stated in its publicity material that the cinema could accommodate an audience of 6,000, but although this figure has been widely quoted ever since, internal company documents reveal that in reality there were 1,150 fewer seats.^[19]
5. Sources disagree over the first person to play this organ and whether it was installed in 1930,^[28] 1931,^[29] or 1932.^[30]