History

'Greeted by 80 doormen in double tails and white gloves, guests discover a sky glittering with stars.'

The Rex tower rises to 35 meters above the ground, the three letters are 2.50 meters tall

• Outside, it is freezing cold. But inside the hall, in the softness of the artificial breeze, palm trees sway softly in front of minarets, ancient colonnades, Spanish haciendas, Venetian palaces, balconies and loggias crumbling under the geraniums and wistaria. Greeted by 80 doormen in double tails and white gloves, guests discover a sky glittering with stars. 'But what will we do, if the weather turns bad?' a young woman naively asks. Spectators are amazed at the size of the screen, discover the luminous steps and a gigantic stage... Meanwhile, in the basement, other visitors discover an infirmary, a permanent police station, a nursery and a kennel.
• The orchestra starts to play. Tape numbers succeed the arranged ballets of the "Rex Girls" ... From the basement rises a cathedral organ, before constantly renewed settings. The lights turn off and the feature film of the Three Musketeers starts.

• The next day, the press is ecstatic and speaks of the "most beautiful temple ever raised to the glory of the cinema". However, the undertaking was not easy. While some shouted about the genius and others made reference to the madness, Jacques Haik, operator and distributor of films, had to defy the most pessimistic forecasts and did not yield on any point: neither the surface area of the hall (2000 m2 ground floor area), nor the height of the building. Only concession: the number of seats that went from 5000 to 3300.
• Yet, despite the huge success of the Rex, Jacques Haïk had to file for bankruptcy. The new company Gaumont bought the cinema and sold it a few years later to Jean Hellmann, Alan Byre and Laudy Lawrence.
• The second world war breaks out. The Germans requisition the hall and turn it into "Soldatenkino". They then plan to show propaganda films and films that have received authorization from the nazis. In the hall, an immense clock, permanently illuminated, recalls the hour, while during the film projection a loudspeaker gives the schedules of the railway trains…

• However, two months after the Liberation of Paris, October 13, 1944, the Rex reopens its doors to the public with a film and chewing gum at the intermission. While electricity is rationed, the Rex, after the purchase of a motor and a generator, can work with a large supply of fuel left behind by the Germans.
• Onstage, it's the turn of the attractions. At that time, the programs were designed in two parts. As a first step, a musical opening: sixty musicians conducted by a renowned conductor play the opening of an opera or a lyrical piece. Then comes the news followed by the intermission. The second part begins with attractions, characterized by stunning scene effects: cascades of water, erupting volcanoes... The film ends the program.
• Only a considerable technical device allows such a show: machinery that can bring down the decorations from the hangers or make them out of the basement scenes designed to receive the musicians of the orchestra, thirty dancers with their dressers and makeup, the agents, including their star, the giant doorman, measuring more than two meters and constituting an attraction in himself.