Cine Payret
Paseo del Marti Prado 503 - 513,
Havana
Paseo del Marti Prado 503 - 513,
Havana
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The Cine Payret is located in the Habana Vieja area of central Havana, opposite the Gran Teatro, and is one of the largest cinemas in Havana.
It has a Classical style facade and inside the building are bas-reliefs depicting the Muses and a bronze figure called ‘Illusion’ by foremost sculptress-Rita Longa.
It’s progamming consists of Cuban films, occasionally a Hollywood blockbuster and is one of the main venues for the Havana Film Festival.
Contributed by
KenRoe
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
Here is another view of the Cine Payret.
The present building of the Payret Theatre opened in 1951 as a first run movie theatre. It had the distinction of showing the first CinemaScope film made “The Robe” in 1953. It boasted the largest wide screen in Havana, around 60ft. I remember as a child seeing The Robe and was very impressed with the full stereophonic sound. Eventhough the exterior architecture is neo classic, the interior is very modern, with wonderful basrelief figures of the 7 muses on each side of the proscenium. It has approximately 2000 seats, being the largest cinema in Havana. Considering the little maintenance given, it is in fair shape although it needs new carpets and seats. After almost 40 years absence I returned to Havana and attended a show there. The curtains are different and do not enhance the off white auditorium walls bu it still looks as I remember so long ago. Obviously the economic stagnation after the revolution saved this grand dame of movie theaters. They dont make them like this anymore.
An Eddie Murphy film was playing at the Payret last year. If we’re still trying to demoralize the Cubans, showing them “Norbit” might do it:
http://tinyurl.com/ywk53m
Thats probably why Castro became ill. We should send him a copy of Rush Hour 3.
This is a May 2008 photo.
This link gives a seating capacity of 1800.
A nice b/w shot of the Cine Payret can be seen here.
Cine Payret is mentioned in Oscar Hijuelos' new novel “Beautiful Maria of My Soul,” along with a few other theaters in Havana and other parts of Cuba.
Boxoffice of January 6, 1954, said that Cine Payret’s recent presentation of “The Robe” was the debut of CinemaScope in Latin America. The strikingly modern lobby of the theater was featured on the cover of the Modern Theatre section of the same issue of Boxoffice.
This is purportedly the first movie theater in the country, opened in 1897. It was rebuilt in 1951. I saw “Canaima” there with Jorge Negrete and Charito Granados. The theater is incorrectly positioned on the street map, it was on Prado and San José.