Comments from FanaticalAboutOdeon

That’s very interesting – if a little bewildering! It should come as no surprise to many that reflected light appears brighter the nearer the viewer is to the angle of the light beam/beam angle. At OLS the screen tilt and beam angle clearly favour viewers in the circle as one is viewing the screen from an angle closer to that of the beam itself. This is not to say that viewing from the stalls is not good, it’s excellent in my experience, just that, technically, the circle has a slight optical advantage. Comparison by a guest at the Odeon would be almost impossible unless they were to be hoisted over the circle front and lowered into the stalls while keeping their eyes on the image! The same principle applies to all kinds of reflected light; my home cinema has silver satin screen tabs lit by “pageant” lights mounted 7' high some 15' away. If, when the lights are up, you were to sit on the floor near the stage and look up at the tabs, they would appear rather dimly lit. Standing at the rear wall where your eyes would be within 2' of the lights, the screen tabs appear very brilliant indeed. If you move around while keeping the tabs in view you can easily see the line and level of brightness moving/varying accordingly. The same effect is evident at the Odeon where the lights are housed on the circle front. Stand at the orchestra pit rail, look up and the tabs appear quite dark (they’re blue satin so not so reflective anyway), stand in the front row of the circle just above the lights and the reflection is several times stronger.

The end credits of 8 at OLS didn’t strike me as being particularly curved and I wonder if that was because my line of vision from the circle was at an angle very similar to that of the projector beam. The shallow curvature and degree of tilt of the screen at OLS has, inevitably, the same very slight distortion of horizontal lines of text as every traditional cinema ever built with a relatively large balcony and projection from a position even higher. One reason why in countless cinemas so designed, the circle seats have always commanded the highest prices as the view to the screen is virtually perfect as one’s eyes and the lens are looking along almost the same optical angle. I have often been aware when in the stalls at Leicester Square, and many other cinemas configured the same way, of end credits apparently curving upwards slightly to the top corners but the effect has never otherwise distorted the image for me and the credits have even appeared rather impressive – as if to emphasise the sweeping vastness of the screen. Dave, were you in stalls or circle? Howard, is the projector beam at the AFI Silver level/at right angles to the screen or nearer an angle of say 30 to 40 degrees? The “Ultra” ratio clearly accounts for the loss of image height and its noteworthy that “Khartoum” opened in London at the Casino Cinerama Theatre on a very wide and very deeply curved screen – the legacy from true, three projector Cinerama at that theatre – which was masked down at the top.

Compared to the BFI Odeon IMAX at Waterloo and the National Media Museum IMAX in Bradford, the Leicester Square installation felt decidedly inferior and the auditorium too shallow. I left with a headache, something I seldom suffer, and I’m afraid “left” is the operative word. While most would either not notice or just accept the LED lighting around the vast, naked screen, it fails to replicate the remarkable, cold cathode system which so attractively bathed the Empire Cinema/One auditorium and recalls Christmas tree LEDs just constantly pedalling through the hues as a gesture by architects as opposed to a lighting designer. The foyer, and facilities at that level, was excellent although the entrance area between the pavement and the stairs was very tacky on my visit. Our views are inevitably somewhat esoteric and I respect those of fellow cinema fans who still enjoy what’s on offer at the Empire. It’s just not for me.

davepring, I agree, the auditorium is too dimly lit. There used to be a good deal of diffused light from the beautifully lit tabs (both screen and house tabs) but since someone at HQ decided it would a good idea to have blue screen tabs (more corporate!), these have never lit well. The fact that some of the fourteen spots in the “pageant box” on the circle front need lamping up and the once “middle rose” colour gels in them have faded to a reddish brown doesn’t help. As you say, the lack of cove lighting adds to the gloom. Oddly perhaps, the cove lighting around the golden ladies was in use during the run of “Spectre”, set on indigo blue. The pictures of the auditorium in its 1987 guise are great to see, thank you CF100, it should be borne in mind that the very powerful cleaners' lights are blanching out the colourful effects. The spotlights then were on three colour circuits and red, amber and blue gels used for very effective changing/blending whereas, since 1998, all the spots have been on one circuit so the colour is invariably pink ish! By 1987 there was no cove lighting but Chief Engineer, Nigel Wolland, demonstrated just how effective a single, pink lamp in the lowest socket in every cove could be – just visible despite the cleaners' lights in the side view. I liked the appliqued house tabs and silver screen tabs very much although I was less impressed by the neon. Perhaps those curtains plus the replicated golden ladies would have been a really nice combination…

The capacity at the time of opening was 1,362 (Stalls 868, Circle 494). SJT, there is a fine shot of the auditorium in “ODEON”, published by the erstwhile Mercia Cinema Society and edited by Rosemary Clegg (ISBN 0 946406 09 X). The reproduced photograph is one of the “definitive” views taken by John Maltby Ltd., the Birmingham-based photographers commissioned by Odeon Theatres to photograph the exteriors and interiors of their cinemas on, or as near as possible to, the day they opened. The interior appears less plain than many earlier Odeons though incorporating features typical of Harry Weedon’s practice. The grand, pendant light fittings are reminiscent of those at Blackpool while the dado design on the side wall of the circle curves downwards every few rows towards the beginnings of the splay walls is not unlike Leicester Square’s surviving pattern. The splay wall treatment is quite rich and incorporates, at its base, a series of overlapping circles making quite aesthetic grillework to conceal the plenum intake/extract filters. The proscenium was already very wide (virtually level with the front stalls exit doors) and the house, or front, curtains were side opening but with a handsome design featuring large swags of a contrasting fabric. If I have a criticism of such a good looking interior, it is that the octagonal “Odeon clocks” were sited much too near the screen, being within inches of the proscenium and rather low down, as at Muswell Hill.
Overall, to my eyes, a more opulent auditorium than many original Odeons – especially for a suburban example.

Everything comes together – Tony must have been the one and the same and presumably his mother remarried at some point and thus changed her name. On reflection, when Lily introduced me to Tony at Odeon York, I think he’d probably just called in to see her rather than actually being based there. Knowing the three of us were all very interested in the cinemas themselves led to Tony inviting me to the Majestic and this was during 1966 which all makes sense. I know Mr Close loved his Odeon M.C. and I’m assuming he would have “opened” the new Bradford twin Odeons. I “helped out” with the charity premiere of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” when Odeon M.C. was one of several key Rank theatres which shared the event with Odeon, Leicester Square. There was C.C.T.V. footage on the screen of the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh meeting the special guests at the West End Premiere and our guests were local dignitaries. Mr Close had a large photograph of his Odeon’s auditorium, as it looked originally before the “Cinerama” changes, on his desk and he proudly showed it to me saying “This is the best little cinema in the country”. Donald Denham was a strange guy, uncooperative and awkward (guess he didn’t care for youngsters who would become senior to him in rank). I had known and loved Odeon, York since being taken there as a child and in a rare conversation with Mr Denham, I happened to describe in minute detail the original screen tabs which were removed in ‘53 when the CinemaScope screen frame was installed. He appeared incredulous that an 18 year old could remember them let alone describe them and his eyes filled with tears as he told me the contractors putting in the new screen frame had put the magnificent curtains in a skip in the car park as they would have fouled the deeper frame. After that, he was like my best friend and would bring in old photo’s for me to see and ask me to pop into the box if there was anything interesting or unusual to see. He would, I think, have retired just a few years after I transferred to Odeon, Harrogate in '67.

George lived to be in his mid nineties and Beryl her late eighties. George’s arrival at York was fortuitous, 1964 saw Rank spend £20,000 on modernising and refurbishing the Odeon and he soon became one of the best known characters in the City. His welcoming personality and skill in coordinating publicity campaigns meant the already very successful cinema went from strength to strength and his Profit Plan almost always had a healthy figure on the bottom line! A late colleague and great friend of mine, Steve Gaunt, trained at Merrion Centre with Charles Close and a very friendly secretary/local assistant manageress – the name May rings a bell. I was part of the same “intake” as Steve in early 1966, but at York, of course, and the two of us liked nothing better than to spend our nights off watching 70mm. films at M. Centre and the Majestic and, very occasionally, the opposition in Vicar Lane! A very happy period on the eve of sub-divisions when “our” cinemas were still very impressive.

Very nice to read. I was one of George Shepheard’s trainees at York a couple of years after he arrived in the City. He loved York and its Odeon and vowed never to leave – “…even if they offer me Leicester Square”! I reminded him that the Odeon, Leicester Square still had its original, five manual Compton organ and he replied that that wouldn’t be an easy decision but York was for him! He was a brilliant cinema organist prior to moving over to cinema management.

George only died a few years ago – about a month after losing his lovely wife, Beryl. He was true to his vow and never left the City he and Beryl loved so much.

CF100 – I think the golden ladies were indeed probably considered the “jewel in the crown” of 1998’s revamp. I was told that, in the event, the £3.5 million budget turned out to be insufficient to include their creation and installation so some of Odeon Holloway’s “rebranding” budget was taken to ensure their presence. If the replicated figures have an Achilles' heel, it is the mountings against which they fly. The grain of the woodwork in the 1937 treatment looked superb and flowed beautifully whereas the recreated background, which contains the fibre-optic terminals nearest the proscenium, appears to be several sections of wood-effect formica or similar which is nowhere near as pleasing to the eye. The profile spots which pick out the new figures are, at present, unfiltered, open white and if they were to be filtered with a pastel gel (like, e.g. pale salmon)the inevitable dust would be much less obvious and the background panels would perhaps look warmer and nicer. Overall, the reinstated figures do work for me as a nod to the theatre’s more spectacular past. The present golden ladies are actually the third set to appear in the Odeon. During the late ‘80s/early '90s, the theatre played host to annual “tribute” events, each honouring a particular film star (Julie Andrews and Sean Connery were two so honoured). These shows, organised by BAFTA, were held in the presence of a member of the royal family who would be seated in the second row of the stalls (the first having been removed). At the evening’s conclusion, the star would descend a special, shallow staircase from apron to stalls floor, to be presented with a BAFTA award for their contribution to the industry. A spectacular show with dancers and on-stage orchestra (using the stage and pit floor in apron mode) would be followed by the celebrity concerned giving a talk about their career from a lectern to audience right. Excerpts from some of their films were screened on a square, suspended, central screen (the cinema screen and both sets of curtains having been flown out of sight for the event). Standing at either side of the stage, at a slight inward angle so, half inside and half outside the proscenium, were large set pieces which were replications of both the original “sunburst”, illuminated, curved glass splay wall sections and the golden ladies themselves. Although I only saw the shows on TV, the large features, including the ladies, looked the equal in scale to their inspirations. I, for one, would love to know where they ended up and presume they would belong to BAFTA.

The 1968 ceiling treatment of both foyer and circle lounge survived for thirty years. Both ceilings were unusual and I will attempt to describe them.

The foyer received a flat, suspended ceiling, itself having a shallow, metallic suspended rectangular feature which covered the new ceiling except for a narrow strip around all four sides. The feature was composed of randomly arranged, angular facets of shiny metal. Above the vestibule and the length of the entrance was a lighting box (almost a miniature version of the one on the balcony front) in which were housed numerous Strand Electric pattern 23 profile spots. The lanterns were filtered in various colours of Cinemoid gel and were controlled by an automatic system which would bring up and fade out different sets of lanterns at different times. The lanterns were suspended from an internal bar and tilted slightly upwards, focussed on the ceiling feature. The installation was pretty well concealed, the lenses “peeping” through a series of elongated apertures above the inner entrance doors. The effect of all this was that all the reflective facets in the ceiling would glow and fade in sequence, different ones picking up different colours and, in turn, sending out little shards of coloured light onto the plain, wood-pannelled walls (which at some stage were covered in red suede) of the foyer. From the 1987 revamp, some of the lanterns were tilted down slightly and made to constantly highlight the coat of arms feature above the, then, centrally sited sales kiosk.

The circle lounge also received a suspended, flat ceiling with an overall grey “flaked” plaster treatment. Set into the otherwise plain ceiling were three, large, square openings – one above the staircase, the other two being evenly spaced above the lounge itself. These openings were filled with suspended, narrow, metal strips in square formations which diminished but became longer (and therefore lower) towards the centre. Each of these features had lights above them illuminating both the strips and the carpet below them. The lights were coloured red, amber and open white and the hues would slowly glow and fade in sequence. Other lighting around the lounge was by a number of discreet, white downlighters set into the ceiling. From, I suspect, around 1987 the colour-changing was no longer used and these features remained lit a somewhat steely, open white.

CF100 – Unfortunately, I cannot trace the picture/s I have seen, online at some point, of the “rolling wave” treatment of the Odeon’s splay walls. Of the four schemes between the original decor and the present, recreated, “golden ladies”, the “rolling waves” was the treatment I preferred. I narrowly missed seeing the Odeon’s 1937 interior (as I did the Empire Theatre) and suspect I would have found the original scheme slightly over-fussy. The plain ceiling and walls forward of the first complete cove just ahead of the balcony front always looked attractive to my eyes and seemed to emphasize the “high, wide and handsome” nature of the auditorium. There has been much unfounded criticism, over the years, in which it was claimed e.g. “The golden ladies have been lost beneath plain plasterwork” and “The wall and ceiling coves have been covered over”. All of which was incorrect and undermined the observers' genuine regret that a much plainer scheme had replaced the much-loved original. It is perhaps the case that when I first saw the Odeon, at the opening of “Oliver!”, when the new scheme was still very new, its appearance then became the “definitive” one for me.

The ten coves above the circle lounge (created in 1998) were supposed to flood the room with ever-changing rainbow colours. In practice, the colour wheels over the fibre-optic light sources soon began to stick and the situation was worsened when access to the light sources for the two coves nearest the glazed frontage was permanently blocked off, hence those coves are now dark as the lamps have long since failed. As with the auditorium coves, the fibre-optic terminals (now all on open white) look best and glitter most from the opposite side of Leicester Square!

I have not heard any more about the postponed refurbishment other than it was likely to be put back about twelve months i.e. into the following financial year. I hope to be seeing some of my “Odeon” friends later in the year and will report back if I glean anything more concrete.

CF100 – The photographs do put several aspects of the 1962 conversion in context – I have all the pictures except the tea lounge but, where they are at the moment is another matter!

It was very common for large theatres built in the late 19th/early 20th centuries to have subterranean stalls and street level entrances situated roughly midway between stalls and first circle levels. The picture of the Empire’s dividing staircases do appear to suggest just such an arrangement and, given the enormous capacities on each level, this would make perfect sense. Unlike the smaller Odeon Theatre with a main foyer and circle lounge, the Empire appears to have had a stalls foyer and a circle foyer. As you say, the reconfiguration of these areas was extreme enough to make it almost impossible to imagine what went before.

The balcony side view shows the bulk of the seating to be behind the very forward cross-gangway with the most expensive seats in the house occupying a relatively shallow front section compared to the ratios in the majority of “conventional” cinemas and with Coles only using (presumably) the rearmost ten or eleven rows as his stadium’s circle, I’m led to believe the main girder would most likely have resided approximately beneath the original cross gangway immediately forward of the two vomitories. Quite a bit further forward beneath the new cinema’s “stalls” than I had previously thought. For the girder to have been behind the vomitories would have almost certainly compromised its value in maintaining the integrity of the cantilever’s longitudinal girders which were/are anchored in counterweights embedded in the Empire Theatre’s rear wall. This does suggest quite a void beneath the 1962 cinema and above the ballroom/casino but which may have been partly utilised to maximise the height of the ballroom – George Coles appears to have abhorred vacuums!
Like you, I think the old theatre must have been stripped back to its skeleton for such drastic changes to have been facilitated, leaving nothing whatsoever of its decorated inner shell.

Consideration was given to tripling the Odeon, Stockton towards the end of the ‘70s. It was apparently discussed alongside the planned disposal of the Majestic/Odeon, West Hartlepool and would, seemingly, have involved dividing the “circle” section in two, the two new cinemas being served by the original projection room while a new projection room would have been built on a small, new area above the centre part of the cross gangway. According to my former local assistant manager. who became the Odeon’s manager during its last years, this “new” box for the original screen would have stood on stilts and adjoined the front row of the “circle” which would have provided corridor access to the new box. It all sounded quite well worked out and optimistic but, once again, the surveyors decided the extra weight of the new box and dividing walls could not be safely tolerated. In the event, both West Hartlepool and Stockton cinemas closed on 24/10/81.

The loss of Empire One is symptomatic of cinema design shifting ever further away from its theatrical origins and towards little more than utilitarianism in which cinema fails to find a decent identity of its own. We don’t need proscenium arches, curtains or theatre lighting in order to show films but how conspicuous by their absence are such features when they take the atmosphere and sense of occasion with them, leaving sanitised and uninspiring black boxes with a naked screen at one end. Long live the, largely, independent cinemas where they still put on a decent show as well as showing a film.

I also remember the traditionally uniformed commisionaire who used to stand in the Empire’s entrance and, when necessary, was very efficient at controlling and directing queues.

CF100 – I, too, wonder at the strength of the Empire Theatre’s frame to withstand the many and various conversions and additions over the years. When I read Cinema Technology’s excellent article on the recent division of the 1962 cinema, the information about the weighty dividing wall being hung from the girders made me think I should perhaps check the roof line from a distance before buying a ticket!

There is much about the 1962 conversion that puzzles me and I wish I had visited the Lamb Empire at least once to have had my own perspective of the two configurations. Sadly, I must make do with only photo’s and drawings of the older theatre. I do at least have the compensation of many visits to the Coles cinema from the ‘60s to the '90s. It occurred to me you may well be right about the later date of the contour curtain’s removal as there are many views of the twinkling stars being contemporary with the bottom edge of the curtain remaining visible just below ceiling level. The contour curtain certainly hung out of use for many years before disappearing altogether. Some years ago, during a tour of the Printworks multiplex in Manchester, I was in the IMAX projection room and had the chance to chat with the chief (who’s name I can’t recall) who had been chief at the Empire. I asked him why the contour curtain hadn’t been used for years and he said it was in perfect working order but, due to the operating system’s age, they were wary of it failing as, unlike the conventional curtain track immediately behind, which could be operated manually if necessary, it would have been almost impossible to clear it and the resultant cancellation of a performance would have been unthinkable.

The “circle” section of the 1962 cinema clearly occupied the rear circle of the old theatre but, again only having pictures of the latter, always seemed to me slightly steeper. Given the depth of the old front circle, I’ve always felt the main girder would have been slightly forward of the new cinema’s cross gangway, in which case some of the steppings could well lurk beneath the forward, sloping section of Coles' “stalls”. This is pure speculation on my part.

The foyer arrangements seem almost incomparable as the old, more spacious foyer seems to have been on a level somewhere in between the present casino floor and Empire Cinemas foyer/lounge/bar area which used to be the old circle lounge. As one would have presumably descended the grand staircase from street to foyer level, did this mean circle patrons had then to ascend stairs to reach the circle lounge or were they provided with separate access to the circle lounge enabling them to avoid the main foyer altogether? This is my greyest area, having no first-hand experience of the former theatre.

The LEDs behind the seats in the IMAX cinema puzzled me too – why? Yes, the “christmas tree” sequence of the new cove LEDs would benefit, I think, from changing. It struck me as gimmicky and somewhat amateur. Why not a constant colour combination, reducing through the spectrum during the dimming out of the downlighters just prior to the image appearing?

The Odeon Stockton’s floor, forward of the “circle” section’s echelons, did slope screenwards somewhat more than it appears to do in the photo'. The Odeon’s construction costs were low for a 1,300 seater – £150,000 – and the whole needed to be as light as possible due to the relative instability of the ground. Having the Regal/Odeon’s footprint meant the new cinema could be spacious and a seating arrangement fully tiered like, e.g. the smaller and slightly older Odeons at Merrion Centre, Leeds and St. Martin’s Lane in London, would have dictated a shallower auditorium and reduction in capacity. Fewer seats would, sadly, seldom have been a problem in the event although the new Odeon showed what it could do with the right product when “Funny Girl”, “Oliver!” (70mm. blow up) and “Battle of Britain” all had roadshow runs of up to seven weeks. The vestibule and foyer were large, though rather low, and there was ample room for licensed bar, advance booking office, cloakroom and spacious offices, staff and stock rooms. Roughly the first half of the foyer had its own, flat roof, that beyond was housed beneath the tiered “circle” section. Behind the ribbed steel facade above readograph level was fresh air. The overriding consideration during planning was the need to keep weight to a minimum. I suspect the Empire, Leicester Square would, by now, have disappeared without trace had it occupied the same ground!