The news of plans to demolish the cinema center was surprising. Few people know that the cinema was founded in 1912 and was once one of the leading cinemas in Germany.
The first date, crackling popcorn bags, the outlet after the late night performance across the narrow courtyard – most people remember personal experiences when they talk about the cinema center. “The cinema is a kind of modern campfire. Everyone meets here. We’ve already had marriage proposals here, ”says cinema director Martin Otto. Just recently a woman asked for a contribution to the wedding of a couple who had met in the cinema center. “All the employees signed on a film poster,” he says. Since 2015 as director and many years before that as a man at the entrance or in the projection room, Otto has witnessed part of Gießen’s cinema history.
It all started in 1912 at Bahnhofstrasse 34, when Adam Henrich from Bad Homburg opened a cinema there with almost 400 seats in the large hall and expanded his company into an empire. There was already a projection room at Bahnhofstrasse 54 in 1910: the “Kinematograph”, and at Plockstrasse 12 the “Biograph”, as Dr. Werner Schmidt, collector of documents from Giessen’s history, reports.
From 1927 Otto Geyer took over the management of the cinema and converted the house for up to 1000 seats. Geyer had met Adam Henrich in his Bad Homburg Kurgarten-Café and brought him to Gießen. Under his leadership, the cinema had a splendid time: Stars like Hans Moser, Theo Lingen and Gert Fröbe came to Giessen. The first sound film was shown here in 1930 – under adventurous conditions: Because an amplifier failed shortly before the premiere, a new one was flown in from Berlin on a special Lufthansa flight.
Giessen becomes a cinema stronghold
“For a time it was Germany’s leading cinema,” says crime festival organizer Uwe Lischper. It repeatedly saw premieres of well-known films – at the same time as Munich and Berlin. Geyer caused a sensation with spectacular advertising campaigns. In 1932, a Frankenstein double ran through the city as a creepy advertising figure. Huge posters advertised films like “The Congress Dances” with Lilian Harvey or “The Three From The Gas Station”.
At that time, cinema-goers could still watch the films in a cinema for up to 1000 visitors, including a balcony. The visitors walked to their seats over red carpets. The mahogany seats were covered with red velvet.
The “economic miracle” also ensured that the cinema, which survived the war unscathed, had full coffers. New venues were inaugurated: in 1935 the “Gloria-Palast” in Seltersweg and in 1955 the “Luxor” in Walltorstraße. Both were closed in 1975. But there had been the »Heli« in Frankfurter Strasse since 1958 and the »Roxy« in Grünberger Strasse since 1951 – those too are now history.
StdtAGAlbenGeyer-Lichtsp_4c_6
© Red
–
Numerous modifications made
The cinema center has always been able to assert itself. Karl-Heinz Geyer, who followed in his father’s footsteps in the 1950s and took over the management until the 1970s, has handed over his stock of photographs to the city archive. It is thanks to him, who later practiced as a dentist in Buseck, that these years are still so well documented.
In the mid-1970s, Wolfgang Theile took over the business. The movie theater became the cinema center and it was heavily rebuilt in the 1980s. Divided into four cinemas with a »living room atmosphere«, it corresponded to the trend towards more variety in the range of films. “The charm of the small cinemas is limited and it remains to be seen whether they will be able to last in the long term after the opening of the Kinopolis 2013,” said author Volker Kratzenberg in his paper on the Giessen cinemas. But Theile’s son Gregory, who has also been running the Kinopolis on Berliner Platz with Kinopolis / Theile GmbH since 2013, remained committed to the location and invested. The »Manhattan«, »Broadway«, Casablanca «and» Graffiti «cinemas have been modernized and digitized and the foyer has been redesigned. Until then, a projector with 35-millimeter celluloid running through it had rattled behind soundproof glass. The projectionist’s job was quite exhausting: a film weighed around 20 kilos, for screenings on Broadway the sections, so-called “files”, even had to be brought a little over the roof into the projection room and glued together there, recalls the former theater director Manuela Scharmann .
Kinocenter scores as an art house cinema
The cinema center, which exuded less charm than “Roxy” or “Heli” and accordingly attracted fewer student audiences, has been transformed into an art house cinema in recent years. Film series such as »Psychoanalysis and Film« or the »Cinéfête Festival« attracted new audiences. Stars were also guests again: in 2018, for example, director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and actor Tom Schilling with »The Lives of Others«. For its range of film talks, festivals such as the »Seriale« or special campaigns and cooperation events, the Kinocenter was recognized by the Minister of State for Culture and Media for its culturally outstanding annual film program in 2020. If one day this program can no longer be shown in the Kinocenter, Theile has already announced that it will “integrate it as best as possible into the program of the Kinopolis.”
The cinema center in Giessen.
© Red
–
Very personal cinema experiences
What did we as boys storm into the cinema in the afternoons to see Edgar Wallace films in black and white, colored westerns and, to get goose bumps, horror films like “The Hour When Dracula Comes” or “The Secret of the Castle of Monte Christo «. This cinema was part of my youth. Later I was there with the grandchildren. Christoph Westrupp
I was able to enjoy the atmosphere several times. As a Berliner, I was very impressed that Gießen has something to offer. Harry Olschok-Hofmann
Places like the cinema center make an important contribution to the cultural landscape. If it is demolished, Giessen will not only lose a cinema. Federico Jake
As a medical student, I spent an evening at the cinema center with my friend Bud after a frustrating day. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” was shown, with rice and all the trimmings. I was hooked on that. Later, when I was long living near Dietz, we still regularly drove to the helicopter for sneak previews. Benedict Ernst
My first visit to the cinema took place there. “Aristocats”. I thought the cinema was huge back then. Verena Haun
In the summer of 2014 I saw “Monsieur Claude and his daughters” in the dreamlike “Dream Star”. Alone. “We have to watch the film together,” I implored my loved one two days later. The catch: It no longer ran in the »Traumstern«, we had to switch to the cinema center. Not a good choice, as it turned out: Popcorn crunching and babbling around us. I have better memories of my first ever movie. “Bernhard & Bianca, the Mouse Police”. Even in the cinema center. As student. Anno 1977. Thorsten Winter
My passion for cinema was born in the cinema center. Timo Brück
The nostalgic potential of the »Lichtspielhaus« is limited for me. Lichtspielhaus «only score points with me in exceptional cases; for example when an art house flick was on the program longer than anywhere else. Norbert Schmidt
I can still remember my first visit very well. I was 13. It was »The Blue Lagoon«, a teenage romance film with a lot of bare skin. I was there with my friend Bettina without my parents knowing. How proud we were when we made our way home! Karol Schepp
What did we as boys storm into the cinema in the afternoons to see Edgar Wallace films in black and white, colored westerns and, to get goose bumps, horror films like “The Hour When Dracula Comes” or “The Secret of the Castle of Monte Christo «. This cinema was part of my youth. Later I was there with the grandchildren. Christoph Westrupp
I was able to enjoy the atmosphere several times. As a Berliner, I was very impressed that Gießen has something to offer. Harry Olschok-Hofmann
Places like the cinema center make an important contribution to the cultural landscape. If it is demolished, Giessen will not only lose a cinema. Federico Jake
As a medical student, I spent an evening at the cinema center with my friend Bud after a frustrating day. “Rocky Horror Picture Show” was shown, with rice and all the trimmings. I was hooked on that. Later, when I was long living near Dietz, we still regularly drove to the helicopter for sneak previews. Benedict Ernst
My first visit to the cinema took place there. “Aristocats”. I thought the cinema was huge back then. Verena Haun
In the summer of 2014 I saw “Monsieur Claude and his daughters” in the dreamlike “Dream Star”. Alone. “We have to watch the film together,” I implored my loved one two days later. The catch: It no longer ran in the »Traumstern«, we had to switch to the cinema center. Not a good choice, as it turned out: Popcorn crunching and babbling around us. I have better memories of my first ever movie. “Bernhard & Bianca, the Mouse Police”. Even in the cinema center. As student. Anno 1977. Thorsten Winter
My passion for cinema was born in the cinema center. Timo Brück
The nostalgic potential of the »Lichtspielhaus« is limited for me. Lichtspielhaus «only score points with me in exceptional cases; for example when an art house flick was on the program longer than anywhere else. No. Schmidt
I can still remember my first visit very well. I was 13. It was “The Blue Lagoon”. I was there with my friend Bettina without my parents knowing. How proud we were when we made our way home. Karol Schepp
–
