Mario Minervino / [email protected]
53 years ago, in December 1967, the Astral cinema –Brown 182– one of the city’s traditional cinemas closed its doors for good.
The history of the Astral began in 1908, as the “Coliseo” room, referred to as “the little theater on Brown Street”, where the people of Bahia attended in good numbers.
In 1922, it was acquired by the Buenos Aires businessman Max Glucksman, owner of a chain of cinemas throughout the country, who set up a modern room with heating, artificial ventilation and “sloping floors, thus responding to our modern society.”
He renamed it Palace Theater and premiered it with the film Los enredos de Anatolie. In 1924, Glucksman introduced the singer Carlos Gardel, one of the artists that he represented through his Odeón label, at the venue.
The Palace Theater was sold in 1928 to Miranda Bini and Ru in 1928 and in 1936 it passed into the hands of Enrique Andrenacci, who changed its name to Cine Astral. In 1943 it was acquired by Samuel Scheines.
In the early 1960s, Scheines reconditioned the room to function as a theater, in order to offer a different alternative. To do this, he renewed the 500 seats, installed “adequate heating” and hired Los Cantores del Alba for the initial function.
But the effort was not enough to avoid the end: on December 17, 1967, the Astral ended its history, as a result of a set of factors including, by the way, the appearance of TV.
It was the fourth theater to close its doors during that time, after the Odeon, the Gloria and the Rossini. and before the Ocean, the Palacio del Cine, the Grand Splendid, the Bahía and the Unión cinema.
He did it with the film The Vikings, starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis, in a continuous program from 14 to 24.
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