Cinema
The first public cinema in Lodz opened in 1899. There, audiences could see brief film projections. Soon, even the working-class neighborhoods had theaters. For the careworn laborers, the magic world of cinema offered a refuge from the stark reality of their existence.
In 1909, Baluty had two movie theaters; by the end of the 1930s, nearly ten. Clearly, the allure of the cinematic make-believe world was as strong for the Jews as it was for the Gentile inhabitants of the city. As a child, Zanvel Goldberg was drawn to the movies. He saved pennies to pay the entrance fee, and sometimes he was allowed to watch films in exchange for performing small chores and errands for the theater manager.
The cinematic repertory covered a wide range of movies. Most films shown in Lodz were foreign productions—American, French, Russian, and German—with American films quickly taking over the market. Polish cinema was also on the rise. In 1933, the musical comedy Love is for Everyone (Każdemu wolno kochać) opened the era of all-talking cinema in Poland. Jewish audiences attended Polish and foreign films. At the same, Yiddish-language cinema and films whose storylines involved Polish Jews held special appeal for Jewish audiences.
