CINE BOULEVARD opens on 11 December 1957

In the space of one single week the city of Sao Paulo saw 3 major movie houses inaugurated. Cine Boulevard that was a totally refurbished Cine Paratodos that had its entrance on Rua Santa Efigenia now had its box-office on Rua Antonio de Godoy opened on Wednesday, 11 December 1957. Three days later - on Friday, 13 December 1957, brand-new Cine Olido opened its luxurious facilities to the public... and finally on the next Friday, 20 December 1957, it was Cine Paisandu that opened its doors to the public. Mind you that all 3 cinemas were all around Largo do Paisandu. 

1st December 1957 - daily 'O Estado de S.Paulo' announces the opening of Cine Boulevard, a brand new cinema house in downtown São Paulo on Wednesday, 11 December 1957.

11 December 1957 - Wednesday - Cine Boulevard is inaugurated on Rua Antonio de Godoy, 83. Actually Cine Boulevard was the result of totally refurbishing Cine Paratodos that closed at the end of 1956. 

16 December 1956 - by December 1956 Cine Paratodos, on Rua Santa Efigênia shut its doors to be completely refurbished. After one year it opened its doors again as Cine Boulevard having its entrance on Rua Antonio de Godoy.

Cine-Theatro Paratodos in the 1940s, at the corner of Rua Antonio de Godoy and Rua Sancta Efigênia.

Cine-Theatro Paratodos blueprint: Entrance at the corner of Largo Sancta Ephigenia and Rua Antonio de Godoy. There was a long hall (sala-de-espera) that led to the main hall (sala-de-espetáculos); one entered it by the side of the main stage or screen (palco or tela). The main exit was at the back of the theatre and it led to Rua Antonio de Godoy. 

Cine-Theatro Paratodos main projecting room. 

Paratodos stage and screen.

Paratodos waiting hall (sala de espera).

Cine-Theatro Paratodos box-offices on its opening day with RKO's 'No, no, Nanette', directed by Herbert Wilcox opened in New York on 13 December 1940. 

Cine-Theatro stairs leading to the balcony. 

According to 'Revista de Engenharia Mackenzie' nº 54 pages 184 /191, Cine Theatro Paratodos opened on 12 September 1930; then it says Paratodos was re-opened after being re-furbished on 4 May 1947. In the early days there were concerts before film sessions with pianist Antonieta Rudge and singer Anita Gonçalves. Cine-Theatro Paratodos was demolished sometime in 1950. A partir de 11 December 1957 no lugar dos balcões (plateia superior) funcionou o Cine Boulevard. 

Rua Antonio de Godoy is a one-block street between Avenida Rio Branco & Rua Santa Efigenia. 

Cine Boulevard near the end of its life in 1968. 'O filho de Godzila' opened in Tokyo on 16 December 1967. 

17 May 1958 - Cine Boulevard dubbed 'Cinema de Elite' showed only choice European productions like 'Sinfonia de amor' (Symphonie inachevée), a French-Italian co-production shot in 1954, released in 1956 with Claude Laydu and Lucia Bosé. It is a biopic portraying the life of composer Franz Schubert.

14 November 1960 (Monday) - After 37 weeks at Cine Ipiranga, Cecil B. De Mille's 'The 10 Commandments' (Os 10 Mandamentos) starts showing 3 times a day at Cine Boulevard. My uncle Claudio took me to see it at Cine Boulevard sometime in January or February 1961. I was so impressed by such a spectacle I've never forgotten the experience. I'm really grateful to my uncle for having taken the time (almost 4 hours) and trouble. I have seen 'The 10 Commandments' many a time since then... but that first time is priceless. I remember when I lived in the USA in 1971-1973, I went to see it again at a cinema near the Journal Square train station in Jersey City, NJ. Half way through the 4 hour projection someone shouted Fire!... they stopped the session, opened all the doors and out we the crowd went into the street. Luckily no one was hurt but one could smell the smoke but didn't see the actual fire... 

1st December 1957 - on the same day, OESP announces the inauguration of  Cine Olido yet another brand new movie-house in downtown Sao Paulo... 

13 December 1957 - inauguration of Cine Olido on Avenida São João with 'An affair to remember' (Tarde demais para esquecer) with Cary Grant & Deborah Kerr. 

20 December 1957 - inauguration of Cine Paisandú with 'War and peace'.

Rock around the clock (Ao balanço das horas) - December 1956

'Rock around the clock' (Ao balanço das horas) premiered at Cine Ipiranga on a Wednesday, 19 December 1956. Soon there were reports saying that kids who went to watch it vandalized the cinema so the police force were called in to curb the violence. Newspapers and radio stations pounced on such outrageous news and it became a hot issue during the last weeks of 1956. 

Identical scenes had happened in the USA when 'Rock around the clock' was released there on 21st March 1956.

Sao Paulo's conservative mayor Janio Quadros helped putting gasoline to the fire by inciting the police to use force against juvenile 'delinquents'... so the matter would not die down and so rock'n'roll end up having a bad name even before people knew what it actually was. 

police patrol cars were summoned up to maintain order at Cine Paulista on Rua Augusta.

queueing up to get into Cine Paulista to watch 'Rock around the clock' - 23rd December 1956.

kids inside Cine Paulista ready to watch 'Rock around the clock' and destroy property. Kids this old were banned from entering the cinemas after the first week of depredation.

inside Cine Paulista kids are expecting trouble from the police force - December 1956.

Cine Paulista patrons waiting for Godot...

'O Estado de S.Paulo' 5 January 1957. 

'Ao balanço das horas' premiere on 19 December 1956 at Cines Ipiranga, Trianon, Esmeralda, Paulista, Arlequim, Liberdade, Sabará, Carlos Gomes, Piratininga, Riviera & Penha Palace. The newspaper ad would add to the supposed violence that was attached to rock'n'roll reminding patrons that: 'orquestras maluquíssimas executando o ritmo selvagem do rock'n'roll'.... or 'esse é o filme cuja musica alucina'... it was just like an invitation to destroy the cinemas...

27 December 1956 - 'Ao balanço das horas' (Rock around the clock) that had initially been rated 'suitable to be seen by those 14 years-old or older' had its rating changed and only adults older than 18 years would be admitted. 

RADIO PIRATININGA

1st December 1955 - Correio Paulistano, Thursday - a quarter-of-an-hour before 7:00 pm country novela 'Onde os meus olhos te encontram' (Where my eyes meet you) with pop singer Solon Sales, Lucy Meireles, Walter Avancini, Waldyr Guedes, Regina Macedo. 

1st January 1956, Sunday - 'Correio Paulistano' - Four São Paulo radio stations belonging to O.V.C. (Organização Victor Costa); Radio Nacional de São Paulo PRG-9, on Rua Sebastião Pereira, 218 (Santa Cecília); Radio Excelsior ZYR-56, on Rua 24 de Maio, 208, 13th floor; Radio Cultura S.A. on Avenida São João, 2248, Palácio do Rádio and TV Paulista S.A., Canal 5, on Avenida Rebouças 58-62. 

18 June 1967 - ad at newspaper 'O Estado de S.Paulo'. Radio Piratininga links up with Radio Bandeirantes which has always been the top football broadcaster. 

Rua Simpatia, Vila Madalena

Rua Simpatia, 103 in a photo taken on 2nd October 2023. The 2-story house on the left is where we lived from December 1960 through to June 1969; The house still stands. The house on the right used to belong to Adácio, Augustinha & Zé with their parents Dona Maria & Seu ...

Rua Simpatia in Vila Madalena lies a few blocks from Cemitério São Paulo, which is officially considered part of Pinheiros. My family moved to Rua Simpatia, 42 on 16 December 1960, a Friday. A few years later São Paulo's Municipal Council re-arranged the street's numbering and it changed from 42 to 103... Rua Simpatia, 103. The small 'sobrado' (3 story-house) we lived (on top) wasn't moved from one side of the road to the opposite, but they decided we lived on the odd-number side of the street instead. Well, never mind. 

Rua Simpatia was a bit of a schizophrenic aera for it didn't belong here or there. We went to Calvary Church (Igreja do Calvário) to attend Sunday masses every week. Calvário belonged to Pinheiros but not quite...being closer to Cerqueira Cesar actually.  

From our front balcony on Rua Simpatia we could see two church steeples. On the left we gazed at the twin towers of Our Lady of Fatima (Nossa Senhora de Fátima) which lies on Avenida Dr. Arnaldo, 1831 and we knew it as being located at Sumaré, but if you look up on Google the church considers itself as serving the Perdizes region. 

I don't know why we chose to attend Calvary Church instead of Our Lady of Fatima when we first arrived in December 1960, for they were situated more-or-less at the same distance from home. We probably must have asked the neighbours or saw some of the neighbours heading towards Calvary on Sunday mornings and imitated them. 

Calvary Church was more 'natural' maybe because one only had to get to rua Luiz Murat which ran behing Cemitério São Paulo, turn left and go all the way to rua Henrique Schaumann and then turn right whereas to go to Our Lady of Fatima one had to go through inhabited areas until one reached rua Heitor de Andrade which was an avenue with a lot of traffic.

From our house on Rua Simpatia, 103 (former 42) we could see TV Tupi's tower on Avenida Alfonso Bovero, 454, Sumaré. 

Old Calvary Chapel on the right adjoining Passionist Convent in 1915, some 45 years before we started attending Calvary Church in 1960. The compound was built on top of a hill situated at Rua Cardeal Arcoverde, in front of a Park called Benedicto Calixto. 

Fifteen years later, in 1930, Calvary Church had already been built. The same church that is still extant in 2023. 

Calvary Church on 5 August 1923. 

12 November 1967 - author Carlos Soulié do Amaral writes 'Morte na Rua Simpatia'.

Radio Panamericana aka Jovem Pan 1966-1967

TV Record started beaming its waves in 1952, just 2 years after TV Tupi had opened this new medium of communication in Brazil. By 1960 there was new kid in the block in the guise of TV Excelsior that revolutionized the medium and went to #1 in the ratings less than 2 years after opening shop. 

By 1963, TV Excelsior was #1... then came TV Record or TV Tupi. By mid 1965 TV Record finally found its place in the fierce competition turning all its energy toward pop-music programmes for the masses. In May 1965, TV Record launched Elis Regina at 'O Fino da Bossa'... 3 months later it started 'Jovem Guarda' on Sunday afternoons catering for teeny-boppers... soon after came 'Bossaudade' for older people, 'Corte-Rayol Show' for middle-of-the-road viewers etc. In mid-1966, TV Record organized a pop-music festival that kept the whole country in awe. TV Record had come full circle and was rewarded by high ratings.

TV Record in 1966-1967 felt like Hollywood's MGM in the 1930s where there were more stars than the heavens. Record had the best Brazilian musicians under contract. They didn't have enough air-space to show all those talented people. Someone then gave them a bright idea: Why not have these singers-song-writers show their talents on Radio Panamericana (one of Record's 3 radio stations)? They re-named the station as Radio Jovem Pan and employed all their super cast on radio shows lasting 30 minutes each.

Just the other day I was talking about those times with my friend Zé Luiz de Jesus and I was flabbergasted when he started telling me the time-slots of some of those radio-shows. I knew some of them but I was completely taken by surprise by others I had utterly forgotten over the years. So here I transcribe what Zé Luiz wrote about those years:

Num dia ensolarado da primavera de 1966

Talvez no grande ano de 1966, quando se gestava 1968... no aparelho de rádio sobre o guarda-comida Agnaldo Rayol, em seu programa na Radio Panamericana as 11:30, anunciava a nova música dos Beatles: 'Eleanor Rigby'... 'Ah, look at all the lonely people...'

Todo garoto de periferia tinha um relógio que jurava ter ganho do Agnaldo Rayol... 'Em plena praia, no céu azul brilhava o sol'...

Das 9:00 às 9:30 o Chico Buarque anunciava que estava vendendo um Reajelo, e que a Rita havia levado seu sorriso no sorriso dela seu assunto...

Das 14:30 às 15:00 tinha o 'Pequeno Príncipe' (Ronnie Von) com seu 'Soldadinho de chumbo', 'Escuta meu amor'... e perguntava 'Se eu fosse carpinteiro e você princesa, eu sem dinheiro, você com nobreza, você me amaria?',,, Piegas? Mas eu tinha 13 anos.

Wilson Simonal cantava 'Tributo a Martin Luther King' (*15 Janeiro 1929 + 4 Abril 1968) direto da Avenida Miruna... e a Cidinha Campos contava as fofocas dos contratados das Emissoras Unidas das 17:00 as 17:30. Não sei se a Miriam Batucada dizia algo, se alguém comprou sapatos para De Kalafe ou se Caetano Veloso já dizia: 'Boa palavra rapaz é assim que um homem faz...'

Era um tempo de mãe e quintal, de colega e volta da escola. O céu era mais azul, e deitado, olhando as nuvens brancas, dava para ver elefantes e palácios. O menino cresceu... e o Paul ficou velho, o John morreu, minha irmã casou e os móveis estão todos caindo os pedaços. Cortaram as árvores e canalizaram o rio... Eu resisto.

Newspaper ad showing Jovem Pan's programming on December 1966.

08:00  Elizeth Cardoso
10:30  Roberto Carlos
11:30  Agnaldo Rayol

13:00  Randal Juliano
15:00  Hebe Camargo
16:00  Erasmo Carlos & Wanderléa

17:00  Cidinha Campos
17:30  Elis Regina
20:30  Wilson Simonal

Oi Zé, 

fiquei um tempão procurando anúncio da Jovem Pan em 1966-1967 no Acervo do Estadão, e não achei. Dai, entrei em Google, digitei Jovem-Pan-1966 e apareceu esse anúncio magnifico postado no site Sanduíche Musical, que aliás, é muito bacana: http://sanduichemusical.blogspot.com.br/2011/12/roberto-carlos-encontro-com-roberto.html

Você acertou todos os horários. O anúncio é de Dezembro 1966... os programas do Chico Buarque e do Ronnie Von devem ter sido introduzidos no início de 1967, por isso não estão na grade. 

Ah, a Elis Regina entrava as 17:30. Agora me lembro que eu ficava entre a cruz e a espada no horário das 5:30 da tarde, pois era a hora que eu saía do meu serviço no laboratório de análises. Não dava para delongar, pois teria que caminhar da rua Theodoro Sampaio, 2112 até a Rua Simpatia, 103, na Vila Madalena, para jantar e depois ir p'ro ginásio que ficava lá no topo do morro da Vila e a aula começando as 19:30. Eu não podia perder tempo... e nunca escutava o programa da Elis, que era a adorada entre os artistas brasileiros... só os estrangeiros (Rita Pavone e Mamas & Papas) é que superavam a Elis em meu apreço. As vezes eu ainda esperava o 'Oi' dela pelas ondas da Pan, e já saia em disparada. 

Depois, com o aparecimento da Tropicália, eu me transferi para o circulo de influência dos bahianos (e Mutantes, Rogerio Duprat) mas em 1966 eu era 'Elis roxo'! O Chico tinha acabado de 'estourar' com 'A banda'. Mas a Tropicália só aparece no final de 1967. 1968 foi um ano ótimo... ele só 'entortou' no dia 13 de Dezembro... ai, sim, fudeu tudo. 

Shopping Center Iguatemi opens to the public on Sunday, 27 November 1966, with a musical show with Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Nara Leão, comedian Chico Anysio plus Eliana Pittman, Booker Pittman and Caçulinha & his combo.

'O Estado de S.Paulo' 29 November 1966.

CINERAMA - Cine Comodoro

C I N E R A M A 

Cine Comodoro em fase final de preparação para inauguração em Agosto de 1959.

Cinerama era um novo método de projeção de filmes, que Hollywood bolou para fazer frente ao avanço da televisão. Não conseguiu seu intento, como Cinemascope, Panavision e outras novidades não conseguiram tirar as pessoas de suas casas para irem ao cinema. Cinerama tinha três cabines de projeção, como se vê no desenho acima. A tela era curvada e o som stereophonico de alta-fidelidade. As 7 produções feitas em Hollywood não passavam de documentários turísticos sofisticados... e depois que a novidade passou, a coisa murchou e os cineramas tiveram que adaptar-se ao antigo método de apenas uma cabina projetora. Eu, particularmente, adorava ver cinerama, e assisti os 7 filmes especiais, todos no Cine Comodoro.

Inicialmente vendia-se ingressos para assistir Cinerama até pelo Correio.

17 January 1960 - the ad says: You take part in the scene... you hear the sound much better... 

glorious Cine Comodoro, na Avenida São João. 

a impressão que se tinha era essa... de se estar dentro de uma montanha russa... com a ajuda do som sterophonico muito alto..

as pessoas, geralmente, gritavam dentro do cinema, como se estivessem, realmente, numa montanha russa, como diz o artigo da revista Life.

A empresa proprietária do Cine Comodoro convidou a crônica especializada para explicações sobre o sistema Cinerama, diretamente do sr.  Harry Goldberg – que veio dos EEUU especialmente para supervisionar a montagem do aparelhamento, Paulo Sá Pinto e Isidoro Jackbson, que serviu de intérprete do técnico norte-americano.

O sistema Cinerama existe nos EUA desde 1952 e especializa-se em documentários excitantes como 'This is Cinerama', um passeio de avião sobre o vertiginoso Grand Canyon, que fez o presidente Eisenhower declarar depois de assistir à cena: ‘É a 1ª vez que sinto medo em viajar de avião!’ Ora se observa os canais imensos de Veneza, a seguir um espetáculo de gala no Scala de Milão – com a Grande Marcha da ópera ‘Aida’, e depois o Papa Pio XII abençoando a multidão, nas sacadas do Vatico e assim por diante.

Normalmente uma sala que exibe Cinerama tem 1.500 lugares, mas o Cine Comodoro possui apenas 1.019 poltronas, o que melhorará a visão de todos. Revelou-nos o sr. Goldberg que este é o 1º cinema, no mundo inteiro, concebido especialmente para o Cinerama. Na América do Sul, apenas a Argentina e a Venezuela possuem salas especiais.

A projeção é feita por 3 câmaras, atuando simultaneamente. A emissão de som stereo é propagada por 44 alto-falantes, todos controlados por um engenheiro. Alguns desses alto-falantes alcançam 15.000 ciclos de freqüência, enquanto outros descem a 35 ciclos, registrando os sons mais baixos.

15 August 1959 - Cinerama's Cine Comodoro is finally inaugurated with its own 'This is Cinerama' that premiered on 30 September 1952 at the New York Broadway Theatre in NYC, Sao Paulo was just 8 years behind schedule... well, never mind, it was such a great spectacle... 

'Manchete' showed its reads what Cinerama was on 20 December 1952.

'Manchete', 20 December 1952.