* The author is part of the community of readers of La Vanguardia
The missing Rialto cinema in Barcelona was located on the ground floor of the building in the old Calvo Sotelo square (current Francesc Macià), on the mountain side.
With a capacity of 440 spectators, it was inaugurated on the night of Friday, June 20, 1941. Its owners had chosen the film Un Patriota for the inauguration. Screened in its original version, it was performed by the German artist Brigitte Horney and Willy Birge.
On billboards, the film's blurb read, "A man who wants to achieve something great needs a woman who understands him." He also screened the UFA and FOX newscasts. The Patriot was a fictional character, a superhero created during the 1940s.
Despite the intention of establishing itself as a cinema, the Rialto did not obtain the attendance of spectators desired by the property, which is why it closed its doors on Sunday, July 12, 1942 with the screening of The Little Soldier of Love, by Pilar Guerra and the well-known UFA and FOX newscasts.
Seeing the failure as a cinematograph, its owners decided to convert the premises into a show restaurant, so they contacted the interior designer Emilio Molina to convert it into the Lamoga Show Restaurant, inaugurated on October 23, 1946 with a "Dinner of Grand Gala" and the attendance of diners dressed in rigorous etiquette.
The dinner and dance was enlivened by the Martín de la Rosa orchestra with vocalists Teresita Arcos and Casablanca from Madrid, with Elsie Bayron and Marga – Francis performing, with their latest creations.
Lamoga announced the presentation in its halls soon of George Johnson and his group, an international idol from New York, presenting his authentic and famous Harlem Rhythms.
The night of April 4, 1950, was not a night that the businessmen of Lamoga would have liked to experience. The new fibers of the time (Nylon), commonly used by the waitresses of the establishment that had recently appeared, set fire to the dress worn by a waitress at the bar.
On November 14 and 15, 1953, it was announced in La Vanguardia as the Boîte Empire, with a performance by pianist Luis Cárdenas. But it closed its doors in mid-1954.
The bricklayers entered the premises again and after some work, they converted the premises into a movie theater again. It was inaugurated on December 23, 1954, with a double program suitable for the films Tarzan and the Huntress and The Invincible Legion.
In the 1960s, the owners of the Rialto, like some other cinema owners, suffered the need to convert their premises into arthouse theaters, in order to attract more spectators.
The Rialto also went through the same illness and converted it into an arthouse cinema on March 15, 1968, screening François Truffaut's film, Jules et Jim, which at that time was a sensation in Europe. It was the story of friends who became so inseparable that they fell in love with the same woman (Jeanne Moreau).
At the end of 1970, given the low influx of spectators who had already grown tired of watching this type of film, it returned to the re-release cinema programming, entering a phase of mortal decline.
This is how it closed its doors permanently on December 31, 1977, screening Homo Eroticus and Criminal Blackmail.
