The Paper's reporter Cheng Xiaojun
Shanghai and cinema have always had an indissoluble relationship. As a public cultural field in the city, the cinema also occupies an important position in the daily life of the citizens of the magic capital. Counting the cinemas in Shanghai, from the elderly who have lived here all their lives, down to the new citizens who have recently moved here, or the passers-by who have once lingered here, they are all familiar with the Majestic Theater located at the intersection of Fengxian Road in Jiangning Road, which should be considered one of them. As the last cinema in Shanghai's "lonely island period", she is about to celebrate her eightieth birthday this year.
In 2020, Shanghai announced for the first time 15 demonstration cases of architectural heritage protection and utilization, including the Majestic Theatre
Since 1903 (the 29th year of Qing Guangxu), the first lead shadow theater was completed at the intersection of Haining Road and Zhapu Road, and cinemas have sprung up in various corners of Shanghai. In the early days of liberation, whether it was the number, the beauty of the building, the completeness of the hardware, and the richness of the film, the cinema in Shanghai not only led the whole of China, but also dominated the Far East.
To this day, the number of cinemas in Shanghai still far exceeds that of other cities in China (according to 2020 statistics, there are 350 cinemas in Shanghai, 80 more than the second-ranked Shenzhen). However, in the old days, the crowded "big theaters" (large independent cinemas before liberation were mostly named after this), demolished and demolished, changed and changed, and most of them eventually became the momentary glory in the dust of history. Nowadays, there are only a few heroic and unchanged functions, and only the Majestic Theater remains, while the original name is still retained.
In order to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of its completion, the Majestic Theater deliberately collected old periodicals and issued a retro issue
Majestic Theatre officially opened its doors on October 15, 1941, and was established by the Asian Cinema Company. Before the opening, two newspapers in Shanghai, The News and Asia Film News (distributed by the Asian Cinema Company itself), were already competing for coverage.
According to the "Asian Film News" published on June 11 and July 2, 1941, this "Theater in Shanghai is in Need of the Most Advanced" was more than two years of preparation and cost more than 3 million yuan. On September 20 and September 26, 1941, the advertisements for The News newspaper read, "Four million gold for three years of preparation." Whether it is two or three years, three million or four million, there is no doubt that its construction took a long time and was expensive.
Fan Wen's hand-painted old appearance of the Maggie Theater
Designed by the famous architect Fan Wenzhao, this new-style cinema has a decorative style and the materials are made of fireproof materials such as reinforced concrete. The best publicity before The opening of Maggie is still inseparable from the theater itself, and its influence continues to this day.
Before the opening, the English name of the theater was determined as Majestic Theatre early, but the name of the Chinese was delayed. Asian cinema companies simply published advertisements in their own "Asian Film News" and had awards for names. In the end, the seven lucky readers were equally divided into 500 yuan honorarium, and each received 70 yuan and 5 dimes and 2 cents (according to the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, the average monthly wage of ordinary workers in Shanghai was about 67 yuan).
The reason why "Maggie" can be selected in the second time, "in addition to the harmonic pronunciation with the Western name, it has literally quite a meaning." First of all, the word 'beauty' symbolizes the goodness of the appearance of the hospital, and the Analects have the sentence 'Zi Zhi Shao: as beautiful as possible, and perfect also'; as for the word 'Qi', Qi's beauty symbolizes all the facilities of the theater at the forefront of this era, such as the flawless beauty of 'jade', and the 'jade tree (i.e., qi tree) in front of the wind' The earth jade stands in the east and looks majestically at the sea. In addition, MAJESTIC originally had a solemn, magnificent, and the righteousness of the king, and the ancient ones were metaphorically used as 'jade', with Li Huahan's Yuandian 'Yu Yu Xuan Rank, Cloud Gate Lu Ge', Bao Zhaoshi's 'Xuan Yu Yu Yu Shang Jiao Ge', and shui jing with the sentence 'Jintai Yu Que'. However, after the opening of this magnificent cinema like the Jade Que Golden Stage, the line saw the lady as if returning, and the left cross was '... Wen Jun personally raised his jade toes and insulted us' and changed the phrase "will be humiliated to our court". The naming significance of the winning kings, my personal most admiration is Juzi Shanjun's 'Erya': "The beauty of the Orient, there is no medicine without Lu Xun Qi Yan", your hospital equipment is magnificent, walking alone in the Far East, hence the name'. (Asian Film News, July 30, 1941)
The name is there, and the next step is which premiere film to choose on the opening day. At that time, the fans were no different from today, and they all pursued to see Hollywood blockbusters for the first time. However, at that time, limited to the exclusive screening of copyright, there were only four Western film theaters in the first round in Shanghai.
MGM's films were first screened only at the Dahua Grand Theater (now No. 742 Nanjing West Road, formerly known as the Summer Film Theater, renamed Xinhua Cinema, demolished in 1994) on Jing'an Temple Road, which belonged to the Far East Film Company, and the release of "Gone with the Wind" was unprecedented.
The Nanjing Grand Theatre (now Shanghai Concert Hall), the Grand Bright Cinema (now the Grand Bright Cinema) and the Cathay Pacific Theatre (now cathay Cinema), which are affiliated with the Asian Cinema Company, contracted the first round of screenings of seven Hollywood companies, namely 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Warner, Universal, Raiden, Columbia and United States. Therefore, the premiere of the Majestic Theater is undoubtedly one of the new films produced by the seven Hollywood companies mentioned above.
In the end, the color song and dance film "Moon Over Miami" produced by Twentieth Century Fox was selected. The film was released in the United States on June 18, 1941, and eighty years ago, when transportation was not convenient, only four months later, it could be seen by the citizens of Shanghai, which can be regarded as a veritable new Hollywood film.
At that time, the Shanghai English newspaper "Zi Lin Xi Bao" published an advertisement for "Mei Yue Qi Hua"
Directed by Walter Lang (The King and Me, The Little Princess, Concord) and starring Don Amici, Betty Graber, robert Cummings, the romantic comedy revolves around a pair of sister flowers who want to fish for a golden turtle, and is now Chinese on Douban called "Love Miami". Although the translation of the name of "Beautiful Moon Ki blossom" is deliberately fitted to the name of the new theater, it is not lost to Xindaya, after all, the film has both the beautiful scenery of the Miami resort and the beauty of flowers.
On the day of the premiere of "Beauty Moon Qihua", the audience was full, and the US Navy Malingsi Band in Shanghai served as the live accompaniment, and part of the screening proceeds were donated to the Shanghai School for The Blind. In September of the following year, Maggie screened the domestic film for the first time, "Spring", based on Barkin's original book, which was full three times a day. In November 1945, Mei Lanfang, a master of Peking Opera, made her debut after the War of Resistance Against Japan, at Maggie.
After liberation, Maggie's function as a theater was gradually replaced by theaters, and important performances continued, and during the "Cultural Revolution", it was once renamed "Beijing Film Theater". Fortunately, the function of her public literary and artistic venue has always remained unchanged and has not been diverted to other uses. After the reform and opening up, Maggie was also lucky, not swallowed up by the wave of economic development like Zhang Ailing's beloved Ping An Grand Theater, and completely disappeared.
In the 1970s, the Majestic Theater was renamed "Beijing Film Theatre"
In 2016, after a five-year renovation, the Majestic Theater reopened its doors. In 2017, Maggie resumed film screenings and became the designated theater of the Shanghai International Film Festival, screening art films irregularly. Since the re-entry, Maggie has held many activities such as "Wang Danfeng Film Screening", "Spanish Film Master Exhibition", "Tribute to the Master: Theo Angelopoulos", "2020 Spanish Film Master Exhibition", "Italian Film Master Exhibition", "British Film Master Exhibition" and so on.
Ticket stubs for films screened at the 2021 Shanghai International Film Festival
In 2021, Maggie held the "Art Narrative Film" lecture, which through the form of narration and dialogue, starting from film works, extending to literature, music, painting, architecture and other related art fields, so that film fans can delve into the cultural and artistic stories behind the film. In addition, the film cultural and creative products launched by Maggie are also the favorite of film fans, especially the ticket stubs of the films screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, which are widely welcomed by fans and competing for collection.
After eighty years of fanghua' Majestic Theater, it has lasted for a long time and is ushering in her best time.
Based on the design of eighty years ago, the top of the hall of the renovated Majestic
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Yan Zhang