Posts Tagged ‘Berlinale’

Berlin’s Titania-Palast has a glorious past

Monday, May 17th, 2021

 

Berlin’s Titania-Palast is one of the few remaining cinemas in Berlin that dates back to the days of silent movies and the early days of sound film. The theater opened on 26 January 1928 and accommodated an audience of 2,000. Its large Art Deco foyer, red velour-covered walls and gilded elements imparted a feeling of elegance and sophistication. Louis Armstrong, Josephine Baker, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Zarah Leander, Yehudi Menuhin and Hank Williams were among the world-class stars who performed here.

The cinema of the past

Initially, Berlin’s Titania-Palast showed only silent movies, accompanied by an orchestra of up to 60 musicians. But already one-and-a-half years later, the first sound film, “The Singing Fool” flickered on the screen.

The building survived World War II unscathed. While prior to World War II, visitors had enjoyed movies, theater performance and film screenings,  post-war the Titania-Palast became an important center of the social and cultural life in Berlin. It was here that the Berlin Philharmonie gave its first post-war concert in 1945. It was here that the Free University was founded in 1948. It was here that the Berlinale, a renowned annual film festival, was founded in 1951. And it was here that the Insulaner, a prominent cabaret group, frequently performed.

After the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the rising popularity of television, the number of visitors to the Titania-Palast steadily declined. Berlin’s Titania-Palast went broke. In 1966, the Berlin Electrical Works leased part of the building. Retail shops leased the remainder.

Berlin’s Titania-Palast today

For 30 years, only the 1920s façade was a reminder that the cinema had seen better days. In 1995, the building was completed gutted and remodeled to include seven projection halls. But that is where the similarity between the old and the new Titania-Palast ends. The stately building is a cinema once again, but just like Café Kranzler, today’s Titania-Palast shares only its name with the once glamorous cinema.

 

Berlin's Titania-Palast has a glorious past. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. www.walled-in-berlin.com

Berlin’s Titania-Palast has a glorious past. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license. www.walled-in-berlin.com

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.

 

Friedrichstadt-Palast – Berlin’s Top Revue Theater

Monday, November 6th, 2017

 

With 700,000 visitors annually and a seating capacity of 1,895, the Friedrichstadt-Palast is by far the most popular theater in Berlin and the largest and most modern show place in Europe. Located in Berlin’s central district of Mitte, it is also the last large historic landmark structure dating back to former East Germany. Today, major galas and events take place here, whiche include the Berlinale and the German Film Awards. Celebrities, such as Mikhail Gorbatchev, George Bush Sr., Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel, have attended events in its walls. Marlene Dietrich, Udo Juergens and Liza Minnelli have performed on its stage.

The Checkered Past of the Friedrichstadt-Palast

The theater’s history goes back to the 19th century. In 1867, it opened as a market hall near Schiffbauerdamm, approximately 650 feet from its current site. For economic reasons, the venue closed again seven months later. Over the next fifty years, the building served as a food depot, a replenishment center for the Prussian Army, a circus arena and a nightclub. In 1919, following World War I, it re-opened as Grosses Schauspielhaus under the direction of theater genius Max Reinhardt. Revues by Erik Charell set the pace for the Roaring Twenties.  During the Nazi era, the theater was renamed Theater des Volkes (Theater of the People). In 1945, it was seriously damaged during repeated air attacks and eventually abandoned and taken over by the City of Berlin. In 1949, the city renamed the theater Friedrichstadtpalast (no hyphen). Due to structural problems, the building had to be closed in 1980 and demolished the following year.

Today’s Friedrichstadt-Palast

The current Friedrichstadt-Palast was rebuilt at Friedrichstrasse 107 and opened in 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/the-day-the-berlin-wall-fell/ Since then, it has not only retained but broadened its reputation as a revue theatre that offers some of the most spectacular shows and technical marvels in reunified Germany.

Vestibule of the Friedrichstadt-Palast. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. walled-in-berlin.com

Vestibule of the Friedrichstadt-Palast. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. walled-in-berlin.com

Venues at the Friedrichstadt-Palast

The Friedrichstadt-Palast offers diverse programming from children’s shows and guest performances to festival galas. It specializes in complex shows that incorporate cutting-edge lighting and stage technology, over a hundred performers, and stylized acrobatic numbers. A ballet company, a show-band and a children and youth ensemble are in permanent residence. The ballet company includes 60 dancers from 26 countries worldwide. Its show band includes 16 musicians. And the children and youth ensemble consists of 250 Berlin children ranging from ages 6 to 16.

Current Show at the Friedrichstadt-Palast – THE ONE

The shows at the Friedrichstadt-Palast tend to be suitable for international audiences. Currently playing is THE ONE, a Las Vegas-style revue featuring song, dance, special effects and acrobatics. The show does not have an explicit narrative. Instead, it leads the viewer on a dreamlike journey through time in search of the person that means everything to us – THE ONE.

THE ONE grand show playing at the Friedrichstadt-Palast. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. walled-in-berlin.com

THE ONE grand show currently playing at the Friedrichstadt-Palast. Photo © J. Elke Ertle, 2017. walled-in-berlin.com

 

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.