In 1909, Jean Desmet transferred from the fairground to permanent cinema. It was a move that was typical of the times, not just in the Netherlands, but also in the world at large. Permanent cinemas reached countries such as France, Germany and Great Britain earlier than the Netherlands and developed on a larger scale. The Netherlands caught ‘cinema fever’ from abroad, but the bug did not spread wholesale, and Amsterdam was not infected immediately. Together with members of his family, Desmet began in 1909 to create one of the first (if not the first) cinema chains. In both Rotterdam and Amsterdam, where his cinemas were both named Cinema Parisien, he was one of the first to open a permanent cinema. Although not the first person to set up a permanent motion-picture theatre, he undoubtedly spearheaded the new trend. In both Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the number of permanent cinemas increased explosively from this point onwards, peaking in the former in 1910 and in the latter in 1912.

With the opening of the Cinema Palace in 1912, Desmet was also involved at the onset of a differentiation between smaller theatres catering to neighbourhoods and larger luxury theatres in city-centre shopping streets and entertainment districts. Both the breakthrough of permanent cinemas and their classification according to type were due in large measure to changes in film programming consequent upon the arrival and success of the long film, which staked out a position for itself within film performances as the ‘main feature’. Another factor contributing to subdivision was the increasing competition among cinema owners, and the legitimisation of film and cinema as more than mere fairground fun. While it is true that there was little difference between the programmes of both kinds of cinema, the degree to which these programmes were up to date could vary enormously, as could the performance environment. This produced different kinds of performances.