Description
Cinema Radio City was one of the largest, most popular, most equipped and most luxurious cinemas in Tehran during the Pahlavi II period, which became a venue for the community of wealthy classes, youth and intellectuals of their time. Cinema Radio City opened with the play "Brigitte Bardot" on 18 September 1958, with the presentation of the French-Italian film "Les bijoutiers du claire de lune". The film was the first dubbed "Brigitte Bardot" which was shown in Iran, and was screened at Cinema RadioCity for 26 nights. The movie was directed by "Roger Vadim" and produced in 1958.
The cinema was always crowded, and its ticket in black market was sold twice as much as the real price, and sometimes the crowd was crowded so much that the police intervened to control the situation.
Cinema architecture
On the western side of the cinema, glass has been used extensively for the entrance to the cinema, so that the space inside the cinema, the curved staircase and the people inside the building were clearly visible from the sidewalk and the street. Unlike most cinemas of this era, huge amounts of neon has been used in red, blue, and white colors on the main façade which gave the cinema a special effect on the night.
Due to the use of glass, curved surfaces, neon and construction time, its architectural style can be linked to Googie architecture, a form of modern architecture. Googie architecture is a subcategory from the Futurist Architecture. This style was originally from Southern California, from the late 1940s to around the mid-1960s. The use of this style has been customary in designing motels, coffee shops and gas stations.
Among the features of Googie architecture, the use of roofs with curved surfaces, slopes and the use of materials such as glass, steel and neon. The entrance doors of the cinema were opened from the side of Valiasr Street (Pahlavi), and as it was mentioned above it was all in glass. In the waiting room, there are a number of large pillars covered with marble finely carved.
The cinema has a spiral staircase that connects the lounge to the balcony of the movie theater that is located on the second floor1. The cinema also featured a special section that was located in the left corner of the main cinema hall, and its entrance was individually designed apart from the other entrances. Cinema radio city had a screen with a width of fourteen and a half meters, and the floor of the hall was covered with marble. The cover of the seats was in red velvet.
Events occurred in the cinema
In the year 1965, when the movie "The birds" directed by "Alfred Hitchcock" was screening, a number of pigeons were flown by the audiences from the cinema's balcony to the air. this event caused distortion in the order of the cinema. The lights turned on and the movie screening stopped for a while. This led the cinema's manager and constables to enter the cinema.
Explosion in the cinema
In January or February 1973, a firefighting bomb blew up by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO), which resulted in a number of cinematic chambers burning in fire, but until 1979, when the Islamic Revolution of Iran occurred, the cinema did not shut down, and it continued to work.
After the Revolution
It was burnt at the beginning of the revolution and in the events of 1979, its neon lamps were shot. After the revolution, the cinema changed for a short time to the pharmacy. But then it has been abandoned to Valiasr Avenue until today.
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1- The first floor belongs to the special section, which after the arrival of the guests or VIP people from the separate entrance from the left side of the lounge, has a small inner staircase that led them to the first floor to watch the film. In one of the interior picture, this particular section and its internal staircase are visible.
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Enlgish text translated by CAOI.IR
