Odeon Halifax
Broad Street,
Halifax,
HX1 1YA
Broad Street,
Halifax,
HX1 1YA
5 people
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Showing 26 - 50 of 59 comments
Hi Danny
2 days in succession on here which may be regarded as sad by some…..
I shall give you my e-mail address as I do not imagine the readers on here will be interested in my personal life :–
I also have an A***book page(!):–
https://www.facebook.com/terry.charnock
I am registered on Twitter too but I have heard too many tales of people getting into trouble by expressing their views on there and, as I would most likely fall into that category, I avoid it. In actual fact the sole reason for my registering was to support a former projectionist of mine, Steven, who, funnily enough, trained at the original Odeon (Blacks Regal) Gateshead and he was with me at the super ABC Westgate Road Newcastle which you would have loved as it had everything including 70mm in BOTH auditoria. The main auditorium still retained the cine variety stage although, apart from occasional personal appearances etc, it was never used after twinning.
Butterflying back to Twitter, however, Steven was absolutely besotted by the film ‘Oliver’ and years ago he created a really extensive website for the film which he keeps adding to (no financial assistance from Columbia, by the way)and it requires such a great bandwidth that he ran out of hosts. Finally he had to resort to Twitter and he asked me and various others to subscribe just for the sake of his website.
Re Ken Close, the last time I saw him was decades ago at ABC Huddersfield when he came to see one of those disaster films that were all the rage back then. I have never seen him since.
When Odeon Halifax closed, the Manager of the Odeon in my home town of Bishop Auckland, a lovely chap by the name of Walter Aylen, happened to pass away; Ken had worked there with Walter at one time.
Life has to go on and all that, so I rang Ken, who had just received his redundancy notice, to tell him about Bishop Auckland and to get his application in if he wanted to stay with Rank. This he duly did and I think that he was in with a chance until it was announced that the Pavilion Newcastle was to be belatedly added to the massive closure list that included Halifax and thus the Manager of the Pavilion, Jim Stewart,was appointed at Bishop Auckland, unfortunately…….
Ironically, 7 years later, it was the Manager of Bishop Auckland Odeon, Doris Hart (she followed Jim in there when he went to Stockton), who rang me to tell me about the impending early retirement of Archie Heaton at ABC Darlington (she used to be A/M at the Odeon there) and for me to get MY application in as she knew I did not like being at Chester…..
James, if you happen to read the above, this answers your question re Ken Close and he was – hopefully still is – one and the same. I shall try to get down there again in the near future (Chester Le Street Station is literally yards from my house) and likewise you’ll have to visit here.
All the best for now to you both.
Terry
Danny, Would that be the Ken Close who was the management trainee before me at York Odeon in ‘66 with George (ex Halifax Odeon) Shepheard. We overlapped by only a couple of weeks but I can’t recall where he was posted as a fully-fledged assistant/relief manager prior to becoming a manager. Maybe there were just too many Kens and Jameses around!
Hi Danny
Just a ‘quick one’ for now (thinking back to Ann’s letter) as I am about to take the hound up to Waldridge Fell, one of our many local beauty spots, before the bright sunshine turns to snow……….
I wonder what happened to ‘The Dynamic Duo’, Ken and Ann the Management at the Odeon……they were rather different to dour old Jim Thompson at the ABC, weren’t they?
I expect to hear from one of my old mates, Frank Chambers, the last Manager of the ABC (he and his wife come to stay from time to time), who retired recently from the Grand Theatre Leeds. I shall ask him about Brian Whiteley who, I suspect, will now be in that ‘Art Deco Palace in the sky’. Certainly George Crosland is long departed along with all the rest of the ABC Huddersfield team. The last time I saw Brian was at ABC Darlington (now the Odeon – how things change!) when he and the District Engineer turned up to carry out an installation; he had a ‘cuppa’ in the office with the secretary and me and then went about his duties………
They were very happy days at Halifax, Danny and I often think back to them, not least because I was still young and good looking – at least according to Ann…………
Hi Danny – No worries! Hope to welcome the two of you one day to the smallest Odeon.
Hi Terry and Danny,
Just a thought. If the two of you would like to meet up for a real “catch-up” and some refreshment, you’d be most welcome at my little Odeon in York. I don’t know from where Danny would have to travel, but if York would make a meeting feasible or easier, please feel free to head here.
Just let me know what you both think.
Best wishes, James
Hi Danny
I think that I transferred to Huddersfield from Wigan at around the time you returned to Halifax (you rang me once from the Rex at Elland) and I rose through the ranks, as it were, to manage the ABC’s South Shields, Chester, Darlington and Newcastle Upon Tyne.
I left the industry in 1995 and most of my contemporaries were doing likewise at the time or have followed since.
I have to say I am dumbfounded that you are still in the business; the last former projectionist of mine was made redundant last year from the Empire Newcastle (originally the new Odeon at the Gate) after digital came along; the former original Odeon Newcastle Chief met the same fate also at that time. Neither of them miss the industry as it became – and I most certainly don’t!
I am delighted that ABC had a good Pension Scheme and I am now a ‘gentleman of leisure’ although if something appealing on a part time basis were to come along (say 2 days midweek – no weekends!) I might consider it….some hope!
I see you are in touch with James from York and that you have an invite to his home cinema while you are back in the UK. He will make you most welcome!
The James you confused him with rang me once at ABC South Shields from the Odeon Barnsley where he had started as a Trainee Manager. This was back in 1980 and I have no idea how he progressed from there or where he happens to be now. He was a ‘canny lad’ as they say in these parts.
Keep in touch.
Terry
Hi Danny,
The projection at my own Odeon is digital. I have a JVC cinema projector which is “equivalent 4K” (3,840 pixels wide by 2,160 high in maximum image)which enables me to show THX registered cinematic 3D as well as all screen formats – wide screen, ‘scope, 70mm. and replicated Cinerama. The screen fabric is Draper React2 and contains millions of tiny aluminium flakes to “capitalise” on the image standard the projector is capable of. There are motorised tabs, three-colour circuit pageants and concealed LED lighting to recreate the traditional cinema atmosphere. A number of groups of friends and neighbours come over regularly as well as cinema enthusiasts and interested industry people. If you’re within reach of York, you’d be most welcome to come over for a demo’ and, I expect, a good chat! I’m on the Flickr photo' sharing site and you could contact me via the site’s mail facility. My name on Flickr is also “Fanatical about Odeon”.
James
Hello Danny,
I’m James (FanaticalAboutOdeon)but, I’m afraid, not the James you mention. I do, however, have a very tenuous connection with Odeon Halifax. I was an Odeon manager with Rank in the ‘sixties/'seventies and I trained with George Shepheard who was the manager of the Odeon, York. He had come to York in 1964 after having been the manager of the Odeon, Halifax. In his youth, he had been a cinema organist but after his time in the forces, he was asked to consider management. With the trend away from cinema organs, George knew which side his bread was buttered! He was a great showman and a real character. I recall he liked to keep his desk as clear as possible and would sometimes pretend to be playing the organ – his hands rippling over imaginary keys and his feet working imaginary pedals to the delight of his team. His arrival at York coincided with Rank spending £20,000 modernising the Odeon and he loved both the cinema and the City. His promotional work and publicity campaigns became legendary and York knew him as “Mr Odeon”. He was very highly regarded by Rank Theatres Ltd. and once said to me, jokingly, “I really must put together a letter declining the offer of the Odeon, Leicester Square – just in case they ever think of me for it. I couldn’t bear to leave York”. They never did make the offer and George remained York Odeon’s manager through tripling and beyond right up to his retirement. He made it into his 'nineties and died a couple of years ago following the death of his beloved wife, Beryl, a few weeks earlier.
I left the entertainment industry in 1981 and I am now retired. I have an Odeon of my own in the form of a home cinema which, fortunately, groups of friends like to visit as well as enthusiasts and those either in, or retired from, the cinema industry.
You can take the man out of the cinema but you can’t take the cinema…!
Hi guys! Its me again,could you tell me is the guy named James,the same young James who used to work with us at the odeon around 1973?
Hi Terry its great to hear from you,I have so many happy memories of working at the odeon Halifax.I have been in the industry ever since,It is all digital now,and lost all of its romance.I spend more time at the pc doing editing than I ever did.Anyway how are you going,are you still a manager? or what are you doing,I would love to know.
Hi Danny
I remember you and the staff at the old Odeon. I was with ABC when your old place closed and I got you a post at ABC Wigan where you worked as a projectionist for a short while before returning to the Halifax area.
Hope you are enjoying life ‘down under’.
hello everyone,allow me to introduce myself,my name is Danny wilkinson.and i was the head projectionist at the time of its closure.if anybody remembers me.please feel free to contact me.
James
I have done what you have suggested, so ‘fingers crossed’…..
Regards
Terry
Terry,
Afraid not! I’m not aware it’s happened before; I suspect if you were to input my email address manually (without any link to this site) your message and pictures would reach me. I receive many emails with no problem and wonder if C.T.’s direct link is failing.
Sorry your kind gesture is proving so troublesome.
Regards,
James
James
I have to say that I was puzzled by this also but I copied and pasted the e-mail address exactly as it appeared at the end of your message here dated 7th inst……
Did you receive my e-mail and accompanying pictures, by the way?
Regards
Terry
Terry,
I’m at a loss! The email address you used is the right one although I’m slightly puzzled why, when it appeared in your last message, the “uk” was black while the other characters were blue. Nevertheless, I’m sorry you’ve been troubled – it was kind of you to think of sending me the pictures.
Regards,
James
James
I sent it to the e-mail address you gave at the end of your message dated 07 July, namely :–
.uk
Regards
Terry
Terry,
Your email hasn’t appeared here I’m afraid. Could I ask you to re-send it please. Looking forward to seeing your pictures!
Regards,
James
FAO Ian Grundy
The Odeon was boarded up for at least a year following its closure in October 1975 (the last film was ‘Confessions Of A Pop Performer’)as Rank’s application for a Bingo Licence was turned down on at least one occasion.
During its period of being shuttered one or two Independent Operators had a look at it with a view to leasing it – at least in the short term – but nothing materialised; one possible reason was that the twin Astra Cinemas (circle area of the old Gaumont)applied for an allocation of product after the Odeon’s closure. They were successful and were granted a 25% allocation which meant that every fourth new release in the West End would play first run at the Astra. I remember that the ABC lost out on a number of occasions when releases which would normally have played there as a matter of course were thus diverted to the small twin (2 x 200 seats) across the road….a bit infuriating, really as prior to its tripling the ABC still had a capacity of 1773!
I think that the launch of the Odeon as a Bingo Club was either in late 1976 or early 1977.
Hello James
I have taken the liberty of e-mailing you and have attached 1 or 2 photos of interest.
Regards
Terry
Terry, That’s fascinating for me to read as so many names are familiar from so long ago. Brett Childes is so familiar yet I cannot remember why it should be so. I’m sure George Skelton would have been the manager of Stockton Globe when I had the Odeon (I was Assistant Manager in charge as the “real” manager, Bernard Goldthorpe was off for a long time following a pulmonory thrombosis). One of my part-time usherettes used to always be on leave over Christmas/New Year in order to appear in the Globe’s pantomime as one of the dancers. I’m sure it would have been Mr Skelton who very kindly gave me and a colleague front row circle seats for the opening night of a touring opera company performing “Madam Butterfly” at the Globe and, if I’m not mistaken, told us about the Shadows composing “Stars Fell on Stockton” while appearing at his theatre in panto. Jim Stewart is yet another familiar name. When the North East Area had its area meetings at York’s Royal Station Hotel, quite a few of the attending managers would call in at the Odeon to have a chat with George Shepheard on the eve of the meeting and, no doubt, this is where I would have come across them and why their names remain familiar. If you’re ever within striking distance of York, you’d be very welcome to come over for some refreshment and a bit of reminiscing! I have a home cinema with 4K digital projector, motorised tabs, three-colour circuit pageants and LED concealed lighting. Other former cinema people have said things like “By Jove, that takes me back”!
James
.uk
Apologies re Brett Childes – he died in 2008 and not 2009…..
It is indeed a small world, FanaticalAboutOdeon (I am sorry that I do not know your real name). Some of my best friends were – and are – Managers from both Rank and ABC.
Sadly, one of my very dearest, Brett Childes,also a close friend of Peter Talbot, passed away in 2009. He was a perfect gentleman and was dedicated to the industry.
Re Darlington: I was born in nearby Bishop Auckland where I also attended King James I School. The Manager of that town’s Odeon was for many years, another very decent chap by the name of Walter Aylen whose passing coincided with the closure of Halifax Odeon. I quickly advised Ken Close about Walter and suggested that he get his application in quickly if he wished to remain with Rank. This he duly did but, unfortunately, The Newcastle Pavilion was on the same closure list as Halifax and Jim Stewart from the Pavilion was appointed in Bishop Auckland.
When a crummy lot known as Cannon pulled out of Newcastle Upon Tyne (something ABC would NEVER have done!)I was offered and accepted the ABC Darlington where I stayed for 5 years but sadly, after Newcastle this was a bitter pill to swallow. This must have been how Jim Stewart felt when he went to Bishop Auckland from the Pavilion.
The chap I took over from at Darlington (ironically now re-branded ‘Odeon’) was George Skelton who had managed the ABC Globe Stockton for many years. He was also a good friend over the years and whilst I remembered him at Stockton and Chester I did not get to know him really well until he went to the Haymarket, Newcastle.
I must say that I was fascinated by his stories about life with the stars at ABC’s various important live venues and in particular the Globe Stockton, his most famous anecdote being that The Beatles said they would not appear, as a mark of respect, on the evening of November 22nd 1963 following the assassination of John F Kennedy…….. of course they did go on but George was sweating for a while I gather…..
Very interesting, Terry. When I began my management training at York Odeon, the manager was George Shepheard who had previously managed the Halifax Odeon. As my training period started, Ken Close had just completed his at York and was about to move to another Rank cinema as assistant manager. When I was managing Stockton-on-Tees Odeon, Peter Talbot was my opposite number at the nearby Darlington Odeon. George Shepheard, a master showman, great character and generous man, loved York and its Odeon and always said he never wanted to work anywhere else whatever might be offered. He never did leave York and retired from his beloved Odeon. George’s wife, Beryl, died some eighteen months ago and he followed her, a few weeks later.
Whilst based in Wigan as an Assistant manager for ABC I used to often do relief duties in Halifax and I became very friendly with the Management of the Odeon. Both the Manager, Ken Close and Assistant Manager, Anne Wooley used to frequently come along to the ABC and vice versa. On a Sunday when cinemas closed early we all used to meet in the Star Pub opposite the Odeon and, as I recall, certain projection staff from the Astra (former Gaumont)used to pop in also.
Although it had long been ‘on the cards’ I was very sad to see the Odeon close as its demise also meant losing contact with the pleasant bunch of people who ran the place. There was a big farewell party after the last night of films which was held upstairs in the disused restaurant. Peter Talbot, Operations Manager also attended as he had been Manager there in the mid 1960’s. Years later I became reacquainted with Peter when I became ABC’s Manager in Newcastle Upon Tyne and where he was my opposite number……..
Although none of the 30’s Halifax ‘super cinemas’ now show films it is at least good to know that they survive in one form or another; today’s multiplexes can never conjure up the atmosphere of the likes of the Odeon, ABC Regal etc etc……