A theatre and cinema dynasty

The building on the corner of today’s Jezuicka and Dominikańska streets was for decades known as the Makowski theatre. What is the origin of that name?

Łukasz Rodakiewicz (1790–1832), who constructed the theatre, was the father of Julia (1823–1897). She became the owner of the theatre in 1853, having married Romuald Makowski (1818–1912) a little earlier. Together, Julia and Romuald worked to establish the reputation of the venue. Julia also had the ambitious intention of creating a theatre museum.

Romuald married twice. His second marriage to Józefa (neé Kruszewska, 1862–1942) resulted in the birth of five children. His only son, Romuald the younger (1892–1969) paid off his sisters to become the sole owner of the theatre and a devoted cinephile. It was he who ran the Rialto Cinema from the 1930s until it was taken over by the state in the 1950s.

Romuald the younger had a daughter, Janina (1918–1920), who died in her early childhood, and three sons: Mieczysław (1915–1989), Jerzy (1921–2003) and Włodzimierz (1933–2007), who inherited the building. However, the communist Polish People’s Republic took it over, as it did with much of private property in the country. In accordance with the will of their father, Mieczysław and Włodzimierz agreed to sell their shares, but Jerzy did not. Despite a court order of expropriation in the early 1990s, he considered himself the property owner until the end of his life.

It was Mieczysław who was the most strongly connected to cinema. “From putting up the posters, to the projection box, the job of a cinema manager, and managing a distribution company – all these are the jobs that Mr Makowski does”, wrote Józef Lis in the Standard Ludu daily in 1966.