Teatro Olimpia
171 Calle Palo Hincado,
Santo Domingo
171 Calle Palo Hincado,
Santo Domingo
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The Teatro Olimpia was one of the principal movie theatres of Trujillo City (now renamed Santo Domingo, its original name). It opened in 1942 with Nelson Eddy & Ilona Massey in “Balalaika”. It was owned by Marcos A. Gomez. It screened mainly MGM movies.
It screened first-run movies and also stage shows were a regular feature, as well as concerts by the National Symphony Orchestra. It was closed in the 1990’s.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
The following very interesting information was sent to me by Cinema Treasures member Andres G. Roura;
‘The capital of the Dominican Republic is no longer called Trujillo City. Once Generalissimo Trujillo was killed and his family fled the Republic, the city’s name was changed back to its original name Santo Domingo de Guzman. I was in Santo Domingo 3 years ago. The Olimpia has been closed for many years. I could not tell from the outside if a business is operating in the building. When the theatre was in operation, the local MGM branch office was next door and the Olimpia showed most of, if not all, MGM films.
In the 60’s I was working at MGM Puerto Rico, which supervised the Dominican and other Caribbean MGM offices. During the Dominican revolution at that time, the Olimpia and MGM were in the middle of the rebel zone and the rebels would take films out of the MGM vault and show them to the rebels in the Olimpia. One day my boss told me he was sending me to Santo Domingo to stop the rebels from showing films to the rebel troops. I told him that if I went, I would personally pick up films I thought that the rebels would enjoy and offer to show it to them. That I would not go to Santo Domingo in the middle of a revolution and if he wanted, he could fire me. I did not go. I was fired and the rebels continued to enjoy MGM films at the Olimpia until Lyndon Johnson sent in the Marines and the revolution was over.‘
Andres. G. Roura
Another message sent to me by Andres G. Roura;
Just got back from Santo Domingo yesterday. The Olimpia is now a TV production center. The facade looks good, well taken care of.
Another great cinema of the same era, the Elite, in the residential section of Gazcue, is also a TV production center. The city is full of multiplexes owned by Caribbean Cinemas, a Puerto Rican company who are the biggest movie chain in Puerto Rico. They also have cinemas in Trinidad and other Caribbean islands.
There must be lots of undiscovered theaters in this oldest city in the Americas. The Olimpia surely was not the only one. There must be at least one old palace lying around. Who’s going to find it? :–)