Topped by twin green missile-shaped domes and boasting an ornate facade embellished within an inch of its life, The Tuschinski exterior promises something extraordinary.
The interior delivers so much more: the entrance hall is an exuberant Aladdin's cave of exotic ornamentation - mahogany panelling, a vibrant multicoloured carpet, gilded paintings of peacocks and leaping gazelles, stained glass windows, wrought iron lanterns - and most impressive of all - a huge ceiling cupola resembling a sparkling evening sky: a fiery glow fading through shimmering amber into the glistening green of a summer sea. Never has the adjective 'phantasmagoric' been more fitting.
This really is a cinematic dream palace!
The opulence continues up the stairs to the screens - the hallway around the main auditorium is called ´De Vlindergalerij´- The Butterfly Gallery. The walls are adorned by idealised human forms: butterfly girls and bird women, illuminated by chrysalis-inspired lamps.
And this is all before entering the auditorium! The main screen now has capacity for over 700 people (in Tuschinski's time it was over 1000). There are two balconies and private boxes arranged around the sides of the stalls.
A Mighty Wurlitzer organ sits proudly to one side of the stage. The proscenium arch bears a frieze depicting the birth of light from darkness (a reference to light bringing film to life).
A visit to the Tuschinski is so much more than just ‘going to see a film’. Luxuriate in the magical ambiance; sink into an art deco sofa and enjoy a pre-film aperitif; canoodle in a ‘love seat’ for two or splash out on a private box for a select group of friends.
Pick your film with care - it needs to be great to measure up to this cinema!
So how did this film palace come into being? It is all down to Abraham Tuschinski, a Polish emigre, who built up a string of cinemas in Rotterdam, then Amsterdam from 1911-1921. Tuschinski had a passion for film, but hated flea-pits. He wanted to escape into the fantasy of the silver screen as soon as he stepped into a cinema. Hence the creation of this fabulous temple to the cinematic arts.
Tuschinski was not an educated man, but he knew what he liked. Although H.L. de Jong is credited as the official architect of the building, de Jong was forever at odds with Tuschinski's ideas. De Jong was an architectural purist, who balked at Tuschinski's idea of throwing together a variety of extravagant styles. Some aspects of the cinema are Art Nouveau, some Art Deco, and there are bits of both the Amsterdam School and the Delftse Slaolie style mixed in. When the completed cinema was unveiled in 1921, the architectural press was aghast with horror: 'a pollution of the Cityscape' fumed The Bouwkundig Weekblad. 'A gaudy mixture of styles' sneered another critic and there were plenty of others queueing up to dismiss the whole venture as a decadent display of the utmost kitch, a complete contrast to the pared-down, rationalist buildings of Berlage (which, in turn, had only just gained acceptance).
The public, however, thought otherwise and flocked to the Tuschinski in droves. Gala premieres were attended by the likes of Clark Gable and Greta Garbo. Adolf Zukor of Paramount Studios visited and exclaimed: 'I do congratulate you; Mr. Tuschinski! Your theatre is a perfect marvel!'
The Tuschinski was a huge success, with both the cinema and the Gaite nightclub attracting huge crowds. All was going swimmingly until 1940 when the Netherlands capitulated to the Nazis. All of Tuschinski’s Amsterdam cinemas were taken over by the Germans. The theatre was given a non-Jewish name: ´The Tivoli'. Tuschinski's four Rotterdam cinemas were all destroyed in bombing raids by the Nazis.
In September 1941 Tuschinski and his family
were arrested and transported to Westerbork. From there, Abraham Tuschinski was
transported to Auschwitz. On 16 September 1942 he was sent to the gas chambers. He was 56 years old.
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