Postcard: Souvenir de Trebizonde,. Le local du cinema.
There isn't much freely available Information on the history of the Trebizond cinema hall. The building was demolished in 1958 to make was for a road, however the road was never buit. The only information we could find about a cinema hall in Trabzon is the following taken from a US Consular and trade report dated June 17, 1912 which describes a cinematographic hall in the heart of Trabzon, as follows: .
Trebizond has one fine theatre for moving pictures, built for the purpose by the Trebizond Cinematographic Co. It occupies a corner lot adjoining the public garden and fronts on Liberty Square, the most central part of the city. The company has spent $7,500 for the erection of this theatre and $5,300 for the two oil engines and the necessary electric accessories. The 9-horsepower, 2-cylinder group electric motor is from Aster, of Paris, the 12-horsepower transmission motor from Auto Dautz, and the dynamo from Gramme Co., also of Paris. The lamps are metallic filament, and there is also an arc lamp of 2,000 candlepower.
This theatre has a seating capacity of 600, and it has plenty of doors, ventilators, fireporoof projection-apparatus chamber, and other modern improvements.
Prices: Seats, 10, 15 and 20 cents; boxes, 80 cents and $1 each, accomodating 4 to 6 persons. There is a stamp duty (2.2 cents) for each 20-cent ticket for the benfit of the Hedjaz Railroad. Five thousand feet of films are used for each show, and the program is changed twice a week. Each new program is duly advertised in four languages, Turkish, Greek, Armenian and French.
The films are mostly of French manufacture, Gaumont and Pathe Freres, and sometimes American, of the Eclipse American Vitagraph Co., etc. The company receives the films from Constantinople and occasionally from Saloniki at a cost of 6 or 8 centimes (1.16 to 1.54 cents) a meter for each program. For American films the company would be willing to pay more, because they enjoy a great popularity and are always received with much enthusiasm by the people who are very fond of subjects like detective stories, cowboy and Indian life, etc., and they appreciate the clearness of the American films.
The show usually lasts one and half to two hours, starting about 8 o'clock each evening. Two performances are given. There are no matinees except on fete days, so profits have to be made from night performances.
The moving picture theatre of Trebizond has installed an American pianola, made in Indiana, which was brought from the Constantinople agency for $700, on monthly instalments."
Vice Consul I. Montesanto. Daily Consular and Trade Reports. Bureau of Manufacture, Dept of Commerce and Labor. Washington. June 17, 1912. p.1157.