The report that I am commenting on below is for me something out of the ordinary and that reflects in detail the cinema that was seen in the Numancia cinema during the republic and the incipient dictatorship.
Thanks to the invaluable help of Doña Zulaika Navarro, archivist of the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Tenerife (RSEAPT), I was able to see an unpublished document that was kept in the archive and, as she knew of my renowned cinephilia, she would surely throw me curiosity. So it was. What would not be my surprise to have before my eyes that hidden treasure, nothing more and nothing less than a meticulous and detailed account of the projections, day by day, from 1931 to 1940, at the Numancia Cinema. We are talking about a fundamental period in the history of Spain: the Second Republic.
The Numancia cinema was one of the three important cinemas in Santa Cuz de Tenerife; according to Domingo Sola, this cinema was cataloged as a premiere theater next to the Royal Victoria and Recreational Park. The rest of the rooms until contemplating the 12 present in the capital of Tenerife were revivals.
This cinema opens its doors for the first time in September 1931 by its owner Benigno Ramos. It was the first room, in Tenerife, with fixed sound equipment from the Western Electric brand. It was inaugurated with the film The song of the steppe (it must be taken into account that only half of the theaters in the Canary Islands, throughout the Republican era, had sound projections, made extensive in the same number the rest of the nation) . In this sense, it was a pioneer cinema in this fundamental advance to enjoy the cinema that was being produced in the world.
Before going into what is outlined in the first paragraph, I am going to refer to a work by Gonzalo Pavés on cinema in the Canary Islands that could explain, in part, the reason for the elaboration of the aforementioned document. Apparently, Benigno Ramos was purged for being a Freemason and a leftist by the new regime, for which he lost ownership of the cinema. One of the alleged reasons was the screening and premiere in March of Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, classifying it as a cruel and disgusting Soviet propaganda film (the curious thing about the case is that, until the triumph of the Popular Front, Soviet cinema was prohibited in the Republic).
Only half of the theaters in the Canary Islands had sound projections throughout the Republican era
The presence of the document in the RSEAPT archive is due to the donation of Don Manuel Morales Martin, recently deceased, and for many years the company’s accountant. These papers were the property of his father, Mr. Manuel Morales de Cañas, and I quote verbatim: «Mr. Manuel Morales de Cañas, commercial expert… informing the court regarding the economic results that he measured from April 15 to November 20, 1940 by the company called Cine Numancia, a trading company…(names follow)…which has been declared in liquidation by a Judgment of the Supreme Court of Justice dated January 1940, has the honor to specify the report in the following terms …». It is convenient to pay attention to the dates: April 15, the day after the declaration of the Republic and January 1940, the year after the end of the Civil War.
I think it could be assumed that all of this is a consequence of what has already been mentioned: the purge and condemnation of the loss of Benigno Ramos Machin’s property. The judiciary tried to clarify the exact accounts of the accounting results throughout the mentioned years. I don’t know if it was usual, but this man, with unusual probity, put himself into the mission with a dedication of an Egyptian scribe in such a way and from there, to my indescribable joy, he not only put the income and expenses typical of a movie theater exhaustively and, leaving nothing to the wind, but what really interested me the most: with infinite patience he dedicated himself to glossing all the films projected with their corresponding titles throughout all the sessions daily, with the opening days and departures, also adding the schedules of each of them, as well as attaching the corresponding collections.
I admit that I have no idea if the court forced him to make this relationship or it was that this blessed gentleman realized the historical opportunity he had in his hands to leave a unique event for posterity, perhaps as a product of his love for cinema, at a unique time in the history of cinema in the Republic, when the coup d’état had been a fact since 1936 in the Canary Islands. We do not know this man’s motives for doing what he did. Everything is pending a future investigation that I suppose will be long to unravel what happened and, above all, to develop all the precise data of all the films reviewed.
An undoubted fact is that since Cine Numancia is one of the most relevant theaters in Tenerife and even in the Canary Islands, its films, both titles and release dates, were not far from the same needs as in the rest of the country. before the start of the Civil War. It would be another thing, without a doubt, at the beginning of the conflagration and as the warlike circumstances and the control of the rebel command of the towns and cities under its domain spread, and the exhibitions and projections changed their appearance. Even in the latter case, the Numancia cinema (which, by the way, never changed its name) continues to be a magnificent portal for moral and content change in the films shown until 1940, when this relationship ends.
Next, I intend to give as an example a series of dates from July 16 to July 31, 1936, where I show the projections in this cinema, around the disastrous date of the start of the coup. There goes that:
July 16th:
Light brunette. 1936. Director: Florian King. Cast: Empire Argentina Miguel Ligero and Manuel Luna. Cifesa production. Premiered on April 11 at the Rialto Cinema in Madrid. The plot: (Musical comedy adapted to film) Two brothers- Imperio Argentina and Miguel Ligero are convicted of robbery. The prosecutor – Manuel Luna – takes pity on her and helps him solve all her family problems. In the end love triumphs between them
Pygmalion. Director: Anthony Asquith. Based on the play of the same name by George Bernard Shaw. Cast: Leslie Howard (Higgins) Wendy Hiller (Elisa Dootlitle) Arg: Higgins phonetics teacher for a bet pretends and manages to turn a greengrocer into a lady of high society. [Lo sorprendente de este estreno es que, como se sabe, la producción es de 1938. No se explica la exhibición de este filme en 1936. Puede ser un error de nuestro escriba o una versión anterior que desconozco].
July 17th:
Morena Clara and Pygmalion are still on screen. Collection of Morena Clara: 246 pesetas. Pygmalion: 170 ptas.
July 18:
It is suspended until July 22. All cinemas are closed in the Archipelago by order of the new authorities. A board of censorship is created. There is a note to pay for programs on the 18th.
July 22-July 24.
A night of love. (1934, One night of love), by Victor Schertinzger. Cast: Grace Moore and Tuillio Carminati. Plot: Mary (Grace Moore) begins her career as an opera singer. She requires the help of Professor Giulio Monteverdi (Tuillio Carminati). It was inevitable and both fall exhausted by love. Oscar for best soundtrack and sound. The director is a famous composer on Broadway who reconciled with directing. Grace Moore was very famous in Spain for her Lux soap advertisements. Carminati was a very famous actor of Italian-Croatian origin at the time. Collection: 94 pesetas.
An angelic girl (1935, The good fairy), by William Wyler. Cast: Margaret Sullavan, Herbert Marshall, Frank Morgan. Arg. : 1930s, Budapest. A story of a kind and understanding Cinderella (Margaret Sallavan) who falls into the clutches of a tycoon (Frank Morga) who abuses her. Doctor Max Sporum (Herbert Marshall) falls in love with her. Out of jealousy, the potentate tries to kill him. Screenplay by Preston Sturges Box office: 123 pesetas.
July 25-July 27:
Always love me (1935, Love Forever), by Victor Schertzinger. Cast: Grace Moore, Leo Carrillo, Robert Allen. Another similar musical with the same actress and the same director. It was a great success. Collection, 404 pesetas.
July 28-July 29:
Let’s live tonight (1936, Let’s night of love), by Victor Schertzinger. Cast: Lilian Harvey and Tuillio Carminati. History repeats itself director with some variants. Lilian Harvey was a very notable stage and screen actress. She originally from the Germanic world. Collection: 64 pesetas.
July 30-July 31
Night life of the gods (1935, Night life of the Gods) by Lowell Sherman. Cast: Alan Mowbray, Peggy Shannon. Plot: Along the same lines as The Island of Dr. Moreau. A somewhat insane wise man manages to transform the stone into meat. The love of a somewhat sinister dancer pushes him to transform the statues into living beings. But by turning Medusa into a living being, they fall victim to her curse. Lowell Sherman was an actor and director of some fame. His life was cut short by pneumonia at the age of 49. Collection: 66 pesetas.
The differences in collections are palpable before the coup and in subsequent days. With the exception of the 25th, probably because it was declared a holiday. I guess people wouldn’t be too excited to go to a movie theater. Total box office receipts for the month of July were 7,570 pesetas.
It should be noted that, in general, the distributors continued to operate, after carrying out their own self-purifications. This statement of mine is based on my own data and I know that it requires an entire book to delve into it.
