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
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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.
Tags: Berlin, Berlinale, first sound movies, Free University Berlin, Insulaner, silent movies, Titania Palast
