L’Idéal Cinéma, the former cinema of the Petriccioli family, made many stars shine in the eyes of the Bramais in the 1950s. The rural cinema once livened up the evenings, attracting young people and families from the villages around a traveling projector. Between broken reels and all-night cafes, these sessions left their mark on the collective memory of Lauragais.
It’s amazing what Bram, a small village at the time at the crossroads of the great roads, had in terms of entertainment and shows after the war. Atypical events, rare outside of big cities. Roger Arcizet, 93, remembers it: as a teenager, he used to come there. “At the beginning, there were no seats, there were only chairs and benches. We stood behind the girls. One day, Néné Andrieu, older than me, wanted to dislodge me. I brandished my chair at him. For days, I didn’t dare go out for fear that he would fall on me on it and then time drowned the memory and we became friends,” he says, laughing.
“When the film broke, we shouted: refund!”
They showed widely distributed films, like “The 10 Commandments” with Yul Brynner. Mr. Pfinder was a projectionist. There were two projectors…; as soon as one reel finished, the other took over. When the film broke, it was time to put the tape back together, we shouted: “Refund!”. There were two sessions on Sunday, then on Saturday, Thursday and Tuesday, the advertising poster was plastered on the wall of Vizzotto on the street corner. As soon as he was seen in theaters, he would roam the village cafes, the projector and a screen in the car.
“The café was open all night”
Loulou Laval, the baker, remembers it…: “Ms. Petriccioli was not easy, she was an usher and put people on. Louis, the Spaniard from the Lasgouze café, opposite, projected films in the villages and did not have the permit. I took him there once with Guy Vivent, he bought me a beer, the The café was open all night. Young people parked their bikes and mopeds there to play billiards and watch the film through a hole in the door lock, where they took turns peeking in. The Hounoux baker brought young people there, others came by bike. Jojo Romand, 91 years old…: “I saw *Quai des Mignes* with Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan and its famous replica ‘You have beautiful eyes, you know’. The screenings took place on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. and in the evening at 9 p.m. Then it was the last one, and the curtain on the screen fell, like in Eddy Mitchell’s song. Sold to the town hall, the cinema will return to the stage…
/t:r(unknown)/filters:format(jpeg)/medias/CuRqpISqIC/image/fete_de_la_musique1771065271425.jpg "RADIO INTENSITY | ABLIS (78) – Music festival")
