Análisis de riesgo

From 1910 onwards, Jean Desmet, his brothers and eldest sister set about building a small cinema empire. By 1912, Desmet already owned the Parisien in Rotterdam and the Cinema Palace and Parisien in Amsterdam, but from 1913 he and his family began to accumulate more cinemas. In 1913, Desmet opened the Cinema Royal in Rotterdam and a cinema in Bussum, which was also called the Cinema Palace. His sister Rosine opened a cinema called the Gezelligheid (‘Conviviality’) in Rotterdam. More were to be added after the outbreak of war: the Delfia in Delft, the Bellamy in Flushing, the Amersfoort Bioscoop Theater and the Cinema Parisien in Eindhoven. Desmet’s brother Theo ran the Bellamy, and the Cinema Parisien in Eindhoven was operated

by his brother Mathijs. The two Parisiens in Amsterdam and Rotterdam were run by persons related to Desmet by marriage. In short, more than half of Desmet’s chain of cinemas was part of a family concern.

In 1913, Desmet’s sister Rosine took over the Gezelligheid (Fig. 25) which had been opened a year before by J. Sanders. It is unclear to what extent Jean Desmet himself had interests in the Gezelligheid. At all events, his letterhead lists the Gezelligheid along with his own cinemas.¹⁴³Unlike the Royal, the Gezelligheid was a neighbourhood cinema. The place flourished on ticket sales and sales of drink. At the front of the cinema was the bar, where Rosine Desmet herself drew the beer. Behind it was the auditorium, which consisted of rows of chairs to the left and right, separated by a central aisle. The per-formances were always accompanied by a pianist and an explicateur, but there were no barkers or men distributing leaflets in the street. But like her brother, Rosine sent handcarts plastered with posters onto the streets to an-nounce new films and programmes. She regularly took her films from

Fig. 25. Cinema Gezelligheid, Rotterdam

Desmet. To keep her prices down, she rented films that had already played elsewhere, and this could mean that they were not always in the best condi-tion. ‘I’m sending a few bits of film cut from the main number. It’s amazing how damaged it is. The perforations are quite ruined. I’ve cut out just a few pieces to show you what I mean, but I reckon that the damage stretches over about 30 metres.’¹⁴⁴Rosine paid ƒ50 a week for a programme consisting of seven or eight titles. The films were often delivered from the Rotterdam Parisien.¹⁴⁵Performances ran continuously from 7 to 11 and on Sundays from 2 to 11, just like the Parisien. On Saturdays there was a matinee from 2 to 5.

The admission prices were low at 30, 20 and 10 cents, respectively, for rear, centre and front stalls. On Sunday, the busiest day, prices were raised by 5 cents after 4 o’clock in the afternoon. Like the Parisien, therefore, the Gezel-ligheid was a little cheaper than travelling cinemas such as The Imperial Bio.

On the other hand, a performance at the Gezelligheid was not particularly long. There would be about an hour’s worth of film, which consisted of an actuality, a drama of three quarters of an hour and one or two comic shorts.¹⁴⁶ In November 1912, Desmet bought a building on Havenstraat in Bus-sum.¹⁴⁷It was converted into a cinema by the architect G.J. de Vos. Originally, it was to be called the Cinema Parisien, like Desmet’s theatres in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. But after the opening of the luxury Cinema Palace in Rotter-dam, the new cinema had to be given that name too. On Saturday 3 May 1913, Jean Desmet opened it as ‘Cinema Palace’.¹⁴⁸Among other items, the first week’s programme featured the Italian dramatic thriller padre (father, Itala 1912). The manager, H. Koppel, announced that he would be offering

‘3,000 metres of the most recent films’ each week and that ‘every performance will merit the fullest confidence, as no pictures will be shown that could cause the slightest moral offence.’¹⁴⁹The Cinema Palace was the first cinema in Bussum, although earlier on the Mullens brothers had created a sensation with their shows at the fair and in rented indoor venues. But just two months later, Desmet faced competition from a new theatre, the Novum, which was opened to coincide with the June fair and also showed film programmes.¹⁵⁰It was advertised as a combined theatre and deluxe cinema.

The performances at the Cinema Palace were initially continuous like the two Parisiens, and lasted about an hour and three quarters. On Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, there were children’s and family performances. The system of continuous performance did not appear to work in Bussum. Audi-ences remained seated, and customers arriving for the next performance were forced to stand. ‘Needless to say, this kind of behaviour is disagreeable to both audience and management.’¹⁵¹Three evening shows, at fixed times, were quickly introduced on Sundays and public holidays, enabling seats to be reserved in advance. The performances consisted of eight or nine shorts,

plus one long feature. The prices at the Cinema Palace were considerably higher than at the Gezelligheid: 60, 50, 35 and 20 cents, respectively, for circle, rear, centre and front stalls, plus a five per cent local tax.

Conclusion

Desmet’s move to a permanent cinema in 1909 can be seen as his way of hit-ting back at Mullens and Benner, his rivals on the fairgrounds. The tables were now turned. Although they followed his example and started their own permanent cinemas, neither was able to build up a cinema chain or open a luxury motion-picture theatre like the Cinema Palace. Mullens has gone down in history as a film producer; Benner has vanished into oblivion.

Desmet’s travelling cinema was taken out of service in 1910. His major com-petitors on the fairgrounds managed to hang on there for a couple more years, but they too started up permanent theatres during their last years on the fair. The smaller travelling showmen held out for longer, but had to be satisfied with small towns and villages, which either acquired permanent cinemas only years later or not at all. Desmet’s relations with both the large and the small former travelling cinema owners changed: they were no longer fairground rivals but clients of his distribution company. However, it was in the first instance the explosive growth of permanent cinemas in the Nether-lands that created the need for specialists who could guarantee weekly or twice-weekly programme changes. These were the film distributors.

IV. Film Market Europe