Olympia (Paris)
The Olympia (French pronunciation: [ɔlɛ̃pja]; commonly known as L'Olympia or in the English-speaking world as Olympia Hall)[2] is a concert venue in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France, located at 28 Boulevard des Capucines, equally distancing Madeleine church and Opéra Garnier, 300 metres (980 ft) north of Vendôme square. Its closest métro/RER stations are Madeleine, Opéra, Havre – Caumartin, and Auber.
Full name
Olympia
- Montagnes Russes (1888–1892)
- Olympia (1893–1929, 1940–1944, 2015–present)
- Olympia–Théâtre Jacques Haïk (1930–1940, 1946–1954)
- Olympia–Bruno Coquatrix (1954–1997, 1997–2014)
28 Boulevard des Capucines
75009 Paris, France
1892
12 April 1893
1930, 1938, 1954, 1956, 1979, 1997, 2019
1916–18, 1944–46
1997
1997
The hall was opened in 1893 by one of the two co-creators of the Moulin Rouge venue, and saw many opera, ballet, and music hall performances. Theatrical performances declined in the late 1920s and the Olympia was converted into a cinema, before re-opening as a venue in 1954 with Bruno Coquatrix as executive director. Since the 1960s, it has been a popular venue for rock bands.
The Olympia was threatened with demolition in the early 1990s, but saved by a preservation order. Inevitably included in a group of buildings that were part of an extensive renovation project, the entire edifice was demolished and rebuilt in 1997. The venue's facade and its interior were preserved. Vivendi acquired the Olympia in 2001 and it remains a popular venue. The venue is easily recognized by the giant white-on-red glowing letters announcing its name.
History[edit]
Origins[edit]
In 1880, the entrepreneur Joseph Oller purchased grounds and converted them into a horse racing venue.[3] In 1882, he created innovative mechanisms to interact the exit of the horses with the distribution of tickets.[3]
In 1888, with the money earned from these investments,[3] he imported a wooden roller coaster from England.[4] In the same year, Oller collaborated with Charles Zidler to build the roller coaster in the courtyard on 28 Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, near the Opéra Garnier, at the time of Baron Haussmann's urban renovation.[5][6][7] Named the Montagnes Russes, it would be considered one of the first wider amusement parks in history.[3] In 1889, Oller and Zidler co-founded the Moulin Rouge in Pigalle.[8][9]
In 1892, the Prefect of Police feared a conflagration and ordered the Montagnes Russes' closure and ban.[4][10][11] It was then demolished.[4][12] In that year, supervised by Architect Léon Carle, a steel building foundation was constructed and erected in the same place.[7] The interior fittings were conceived by decorators and painters Charles Toché, Marcel Jambon, and Etienne Cornellier.[7] It contained panels in Sarreguemines' faience, and the murals highlighted painting technique marouflage, illustrating English castles and landscapes, echoing the dominant popular style.[7] The Baccarat crystal glass company created the girandoles and chandeliers, while the electrical installation work was carried out by the company Eclairage Electrique.[7] Oller's primary intention was to propose a defining location of luxury and glamor in Paris.[3]
Opening and early years[edit]
On 12 April 1893, the 2,000 capacity venue named L'Olympia was inaugurated as the first Parisian music hall, featuring acrobats, cross-dressers, and a can-can dance performance of La Goulue.[13][5][7] The Olympia's gala opening reception drew Paris' wealthiest, the aristocratic, and powerful people.[14] Admission was restricted to a chosen few, the prince–princess, baron–baroness, and count.[14] It also featured the Duke of Morny and figures from the sporting-club, Le Mirliton cabaret, and the jockey-club of the rue Royale.[14]
In a city that only had cafés-concerts, the Olympia with its spacious hall attracted all Parisians enjoying ventriloquists, juggler acts, and numerous ballets and revues.[15] The music hall staged operettas and also pantomimes.[16] Loie Fuller, La Goulue, Leopoldo Fregoli,[10] Dranem, Ouvrard, and Mistinguett were regularly billed at the venue.[7] The Olympia was a "first-class theater", although it retained the colloquial atmosphere of the cafés-concerts in its large surface area divided into two themes, concert, and theater.[16] To differentiate itself from the Folies Bergère, the Olympia imposed itself a different scheduling system by presenting its new ballet creations over a duration of weeks rather than months, alternating with the oldest ones revamped.[16] The ballet blanc was the first Olympia's ballet.[16] The venue demonstrated the dominance of the striptease pantomime Le Coucher de la Mariée, which became the "longest-running and most profitable show in the 1890s".[16] Along with the Folies Bergère, the Olympia scheduled appearances by some "stars" such as La Belle Otero, Émilienne d'Alençon, and Liane de Pougy.[16]
In 1895, Oller, overflowing with activities, opened a museum of wax's mannequins in the basements of the Olympia, representing a visual history of the world from the Passion of Christ to the French Revolution, until the modernity of that time.[3]
However, in 1896, Oller found no more challenge in his multiple projects, and boredom took over.[16] He named chief conductor Oscar de Lagoanaire as director of the music hall, which became a business failure.[17][13] That same year, the screenings of the first films of the Lumière brothers were scheduled, which were new technologies at that time.[7]
Development[edit]
In 1898, brothers Émile and Vincent Isola, two magicians who began a career as Paris' venue executive directors, became the commercial tenants of the Olympia, as well as of the most popular theaters in the city, such as the Folies Bergère in 1901 and the Gaîté-Lyrique in 1903.[18][13] The Isola brothers brought attractions from all over the world to Olympia, playing host to multiple entertainment types, and increased the proportion and the spectacular.[19] There were extravagant circus-themed parties with clowns, Contortionists, and the inclusion of exotic singing and dancing.[19][13] The venue also featured acrobatic performances and wild animals such as seals, monkeys, elephants, and zebras.[19] Furthermore, the French author Colette mimed entirely naked.[13]
Ballets, pantomimes, and operettas became more prominent with larger productions, which led to the Olympia becoming a direct rival to the Opéra Garnier, notably with ballets as Charles Lecocq's Barbe-bleue and Henri Hirschmann's Néron in 1898, and Paul Vidal's L'Impératrice in 1901.[19] Despite the success of the ballets attested by La Belle Aux Cheveux d'Or and Sardanapale, the preferences of Émile and Vincent Isola settled firmly towards operettas, especially revues.[19] Of the few ballets appearances, a limited number of restaged productions from Louis Ganne ensued at the Olympia, such as Au Japon in 1903, performed for the first time at London's Alhambra.[20] Phryné was restaged in 1904, initially performed at the Folies Bergère and at Royan's Casino.[20] The revues at the Olympia were choreographed by prominent figures, as Alfredo Curti, exemplified by Olympia Revue in 1903 and Au Music-Hall in 1905.[20]
In 1905, Paul Ruez was appointed manager for the venue.[20] Two ballet productions, Les Saisons de la Parisienne and Vers Les Etoiles were created in 1905 and 1906 respectively. Although spectacular, it had only lesser pantomime-ballet influences and received mixed reviews.[20]
In 1908, Victor de Cottens and H. B. Marinelli took over as the directors of the music hall.[20][21] In 1908, Trianon Ballet, and in 1909, Les Aventures de Mlle Clo-Clo, were ballets about flirting.[20]
Choreographed by Curti, Paquita, and L'Enlèvement de Psyché debuted on the London stage in 1909 and 1910, respectively, while Papillon d'Or was first performed at the Empire Theater with music composed by Leopold Wenzel.[20] In 1911, Cottens and H. B. Marinelli left their responsibilities which concluded fourteen ballets staged since the arrival of Ruez.[20] That year, Nitokris was the last pantomime-ballet staged at the Olympia .[20]
Renovations[edit]
1930[edit]
Haïk engaged three architects for a significant renovation and remodeling of the music hall into a movie theater. Paul Farge was responsible for coordinating and monitoring works, while Gabriel Morice supervised the work of the structural system within the building.[60] In coordination with Farge, Jean-Paul Mongeaud was responsible for designing and constructing the new neon lights facade displayed twelve meters high and eight meters wide.[60] The neon tubes whose curves were drawn by Mongeaud were elaborated and created by engineer Fonsèque from Paz and Silva company. The two neon side panels, integrating over the facade's entire height, were also created by Paz and Silva.[60] The facade, illuminated in red, blue, and green encompassing four hundred meters of neon tubes, was the most significant illuminated sign in Europe and a reference for that time. A blacksmith artisan created the ornamental steel structure of the facade.[60] Pelegry and Lavignac, responsible for the interior decorations of the Plaza Athénée and Théâtre des Folies-Wagram, designed the ceilings and wall decorations in accordance with Farge.[60] The theater featured quality acoustic, indirect lighting, and Gallay brand velvet armchairs mingling dark green and light green.[31] A Cavaillé-Coll organ was placed there.[31][60] The Olympia–Théâtre Jacques Haïk was equipped with a modern sound installation for that time,[10] which Western Electric installed, and the air conditioning was assigned to Willis Carrier.[60]
1938[edit]
Siritzky undertook a renovation to highlight the facade of the Olympia as a movie theater. Architects Fernand Colin, Ruillier, and Vladimir Scob, decided to demolish the facade from the ground floor level to the second floor on a height of twelve meters, then fitted the roof with a massive steel fairing inspired by the bow of a ship and the exterior entrance was redesigned.[31] The facade was adorned with one thousand five hundred meters of neon lights and fifteen thousand lamps using two thousand amperes. The theater was described as "sumptuous" with "modern-harmonious lines" benefiting from intense electric lighting.[31]
1954[edit]
Coquatrix had decided to have the exterior facade of the venue redone, thus making it possible to announce the names of the artists in capital letters updated every day below the signage of the Olympia.[29][9] The lettering "Olympia" and the artists' names illuminated in red neon lighting, were designed according to the taste of Coquatrix. The octagon shape of the "O" was inspired by the aerial view of the Paris' ring road.[29]
2019[edit]
In 2019, the Olympia opened to the public the authentic original billiard room, which served as an audition area under the direction of Coquatrix.[29][46] Classified as Monument historique, the billiard room in Teal blue of 130 m2 (1399 ft2) has been preserved and renovated, keeping its ceramics and mural panels depicting British landscapes such as Falls of Clyde, Warwick Castle, Tower of London, adorned with carved woodwork.[46][5] In the early years of the Olympia, the billiard room was one of Edward VII's preferred places in Paris.[46]