Pongrácz Erzsébet: The Cinemas of Budapest - Our Budapest (Budapest, 1998)
of the competition to fit out the smaller of their halls for film screenings. Soon enough, a growing number of those attracted to the curiosity, while enjoying the films, recognised the business potential of the new entertainment. The number of show rooms was on the increase, although some of them only survived a few days, while others turned out to be the precursors of later cinemas. Those with a hefty bank account leased or purchased a small shop, a room in a basement or on a ground floor to open their own cinemas. Others saw much promise in mobile cinemas, facilities that could be moved from one location to another in the city or even around the country. Thus, with a moderate investment, travelling projectors also set up shop, or rather, pitched tent. Under the tent At the turn of the century, Budapest’s best known tent-covered picture house was Mr Narten’s “air-conditioned” tent appearing out of nowhere now in Buda, now in Pest, to entertain all and sundry (mainly vendors and customers) at the Teleki tér flea market. Mr Narten’s peculiar tent, with films showing inside, was also often in evidence on the premises of the Ősbudavára (Old Buda Castle) in the Városliget (City Park) erected as a feature of the millenary exhibition, later to move house and settle for a considerable period of time on a plot at the corner of Dob utca and Wesselényi utca. Another famous tent-cinema of the period was owned and operated by Mátyás Zeller, who plied his trade providing entertainment to those with somewhat more refined tastes and within a more limited area, mainly in and around the Városmajor and Batthány (at the time Bomba) tér. What eventually tolled the bell for tent-cinemas was their inadequate technology resulting in frequent fires directly caused by the highly inflammable films used. Around 1910, when most tent-cinemas were pulled down, accompanied by the reconstruction of café projection rooms, the cinema had already found its way into the hearts of Budapest’s citizens who had become incorrigible cinema- goers. As the industry got under way, film makers as well as cinema audiences became more demanding in their tastes. In the wake of technological progress, what started 7
