CF100, To put the conversion in context, the “stage” end of the new Empire, in which the screen frame sat, occupied basically the upper part of the old stage house i.e. the Empire Theatre’s fly tower. That, of course, would not have precluded creating a new proscenium arch – possibly by having one further cove, nearest the screen, narrowing slightly to form an opening with vertical sides and shallow arched top reflecting the other coves in the auditorium. Having said that, and it is a very moot point, I did like the dips that ran all the way up to the ceiling like perpendicular footlights and lit the folds of the side drapes and main curtains very nicely. Like the footlights themselves, concealed behind the slightly raised termination of the carpeting, the dips were wired in three circuits and filtered primary red, medium amber and bright blue. These gel colours were the nearest match to the three colours of the cold cathode tubes used in all the ceiling and wall coves and this meant the illumination appeared seamlessly coordinated and extremely effective.
I don’t think the lighting system ever changed, only its control by means of the new console you referred to. I’m guessing 1988 was when the stars appeared in the ceiling, the contour curtain was taken down and the lighting control upgraded. The new lighting system’s memory and pre-set facilities enabled them to run those brief “pre-show displays” when the rather unimaginative new style of lettering for “Empire” was flashed across the tabs by means of a modest laser system while the other stage lighting flashed from colour to colour.
The cove lighting’s colour sequences were hardly ever used prior to 1988. Instead, all the lighting would be constant before the programme started (usually red + amber) giving a rich, golden glow everywhere. Typically, the amber would be faded out with the white downlighters which constituted the house lights, leaving a dense red glow as the curtains began to open.
In the days when screen curtains were closed for several seconds between ads., trailers etc. and the feature film (which still happens at the Odeon when 2D product is being shown), the curtains and coves would usually be lit blue. This procedure was used whether or not there was any need to change the masking setting and was a very civilised pause prior to the main film, unlike most cinemas today where the entire programme runs conveyor belt fashion. It was always possible to have the different coves in differing colours or combinations and wall and ceiling coves could also be differently coloured so the permutations were almost limitless. It was also always possible to run the colour changes in automatic sequences – certainly the cold cathode elements – but that option was rarely used in my experience. No lighting in the new Empire was ever green and no primary blue gel was ever used, only bright blue. The colours were less saturated than in cinemas where the three primaries were used to mix and blend all the colours of the rainbow so the Empire sparkled brightly.
I wasn’t aware the tiles had ever changed colour – the mink or pastel grey with random gold tiles was perfectly neutral – but I would think any repainting might well have taken place in 1988 – there was certainly a great deal of scaffolding in the auditorium at that time.
You may well have seen them elsewhere but among my “favourites” on Flickr are some pictures of the 1962 Empire including one of the contour curtain set with the cables at various drop lengths and creating a very sumptuous spectacle which belies Mr Atwell’s opinion of the cinema!
Flickr member “Fanatical about Odeon” – naturally!
CF100 I concur exactly with your view on David Atwell’s opinion, as I do with your own opinion of Lamb’s cavernous and overpowering Empire Theatre.
Having often seen the new Empire’s auditorium under the cleaners' lights in the ‘60s and '70s, the description of the “tiles” you quote sounds to me to describe them perfectly.
Although I’ve only seen live productions at Radio City Music Hall, for me, it wins by a very short head. The one element of the new Empire with which I was never at ease, architecturally, was the lack of a proscenium arch. It always seemed as though George Coles failed to find a more satisfactory way of marrying the coved ceiling and walls with the screen end. The plain plaster, slightly concave, elongated half-domed ceiling “bridge” appeared to me as something of a quick-fix although from the late '80s, the installation of twinkling stars (at about the time the contour curtain was removed) did make it more of a feature.
This becomes extremely esoteric and subjective, of course, but the zenith of cinema design for me was the 1937 Odeon designs for their York and Leicester Square theatres – naturally!
CF100, George Coles is widely credited with being responsible for the design of the 1962 Empire, Leicester Square (later to become Empire One). Whilst it may not bear resemblance to his practice’s other works, if you really want to see just how diverse schemes from his stable could be, just compare the Odeons at Bournemouth or Muswell Hill with the Trocadero, Elephant and Castle or Gaumont State, Kilburn.
According to David Atwell’s “Cathedrals of the Movies”, Coles virtually came out of retirement to design the new Empire (he died in 1963). I think you might be interested in a passage from the 1980 publication.
“…he (George Coles) split the old theatre horizontally into two, with a new Mecca ballroom in the old stalls area, and a new stadium-style cinema auditorium on the site of the circle. The new cinema seated 1336 and, compared to his earlier work, finds Coles in very restrained mood. It is grandly conceived, but the blandly tiled walls and ceiling with their modest changing coloured light sequences create little sense of occasion. However, one great success is the luxuriously sprung seating. Typical of the new breed of plain, utilitarian post-war cinemas, it fails to achieve real distinction through either its decorations or its modernity”
This was an opinion of the Empire whose loss so many of us clearly mourn and shows how each generation tends to regret the passing of familiar and well-loved architectural styles. Some years ago now, I mentioned my affection for the Odeon, Leicester Square to an older London gentleman. He raised his eyebrows and said “Oh, you should have seen the Alhambra that used to stand there, it was wonderful!” He went on to say he’d seen “Scott of the Antarctic” at the Odeon and found it a great barn of a place – very plain. His one and only visit to the flagship Odeon had been prior to its 1968 modernisation!!
I’ve heard before the comparison of the new Empire to Radio City but have never discovered anything conclusive. The parallel lighting coves and long-removed gold satin contour curtain at the Empire were certainly reminiscent of the New York cinema/theatre.
When I first visited the Empire during the ‘sixties, the contour curtain would rise to reveal the plain, satin house tabs at the beginning of the programme and usually unfurl again to the strains of the National Anthem. There was even a pair of legs in plain satin and a matching pleated border above the screen so that the image was always beautifully framed. The screen masking, at that time, was in maroon felt rather than the more common black.
Couldn’t agree more. George Coles' wonderful swansong destroyed and such a high quality cinema experience lost forever to provide two unsatisfactory rooms in which to be dazzled. Such screens belong in theme parks, not Leicester Square. The IMAX brand is now being diluted by being applied to so many cinemas (including suburban locations) – it is no longer all that special except perhaps at the National Media Museum and Odeon BFI IMAX where the sheer scale is spectacular and where, unlike Empire’s single IMAX room, the seating configurations are much more conducive to viewing IMAX processed films.
How silly to replace the word CINEMA on the Empire canopy with IMAX when only one room in the complex has the system. The cobbled together multiplex will not be seeing the colour of my money again!
Yes – ear to the ground! It must be THE Ken I’ve not seen for 49 years!!
You will, I think, have heard that Everyman are attempting to get the funds together (and Landlords' permissions) to acquire Odeons Barnet, Esher, Gerrards Cross and the iconic original Muswell Hill cinema from Odeon Cinemas Ltd.
I will hope to come to you within the next couple of weeks – hospital appointments permitting.
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!
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.
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”.
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…!
CF100, Photographs of the 1987 house curtains with the three appliqued stripes terminating in vertical wavy lines towards the centre (and the orange neon stripes on the splay walls which replicated the pattern) are scarce as hens' teeth I’m afraid. I do have a faded copy of a photo' of those tabs taken during an organ concert and they can be seen opening and closing (as well as the neon installations rippling in and out) at the end of a DVD I have of numerous cinemas filmed by the late Tony Moss.
I have a home cinema and when those tabs were in use, between 1987 and 1998, J. C. Joel, who produced them for Rank, also made a pair for me to the same specifications but for a 12' track. If you’d like to see mine, I’m on Flickr as “Fanatical about Odeon” and there is a shot of them in my photostream. I always liked the look of those tabs (hence having them in my Odeon) but thought the neon gimmicky. The design was typically art deco with a hint of arts and crafts which, to my mind, would have gone well with the restored flying ladies.
Coincidentally, I’ve just spent most of today at the Odeon and I learned that the planned refurbishment has been postponed until early 2016. Things are quite fluid with the parent company (to float or sell?) at present and this may have had a bearing on the
decision. With the Odeon West End finally gone and Marble Arch doomed, Odeon’s presence in the West End is
now really a clutch of small complexes and the flagship. With “Spectre” and “Star Wars the Force Awakens” on the horizon, there is, at present, much for my favourite cinema to look forward to. They’re still putting on a good show and using screen masking and screen tabs (for 2D product)and when I watched “Marigold Hotel II” earlier, the ‘Scope image was stunning and the sound excellent.
Probably the Astoria’s longest run of all was “Paint Your Wagon” (blown up to 70mm.) in the early ‘seventies. Paramount “four-walled” the cinema in order to showcase their musical-western and it ran for over a year. For this, and the revival of a single-lens version “How The West Was Won”, a six-sided screen was used which, for me at least, was unsatisfactory. The reason for the unconventional image was the stalls level projection room. By this time, the proscenium had disappeared behind a large and deeply curved screen frame complete with semi-circular curtain track and further curtaining concealing the side walls. The screen was huge but, following its installation, in order for the wide beam to be accommodated, the already cut-away front of the balcony would have had to be even more cut away and, as this meant losing more top price seats, Rank refused to allow it. The resulting compromise resulted in a “carpet to ceiling” 70mm. image with the top corners chamfered and masked as such. I would have preferred a slightly smaller, rectangular image. 'Scope and wide screen product were able to be screened normally with a four-sided image.
As “Paint Your Wagon” was my first visit to the Astoria, I do not know when the “six-sided” image first appeared but my best guess would be that it followed Rank’s “zing” treatment which produced the plainer auditorium in time for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” to open there following its gala premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square in December 1968.
The plan is indeed for the present Odeon and ABC cinemas to close once the ten screen Odeon multiplex is completed on Exeter Road in 2016. I for one can’t imagine Westover Road without its two impressive cinemas overlooking the Pavilion fountains and gardens. No doubt we’ll be told the facade of the Regent/Gaumont/Odeon will be retained to “maintain the streetscape” but what good is that when the cinema itself is gone? The thought of a mega Tesco or the south’s largest Macdonalds sitting behind the famous colonnade is not a happy prospect.
Yes, the main foyer did become rather bare and chilly. The 1998 revamp/rebranding included illuminated friezes around the new entrance to the stalls and the sales counter, projected signs for stalls and circle and Optikinetics projected version of Odeon clock. Also installed, and still there, above the entrance doors was a Miniscan effects projector which originally panned the new style name across the floor and walls. The coloured, cold cathode lighting for the friezes and various projected images along with the fibre-optic illuminated circle stairs were principally the reasons for the plain, light treatment of the walls and floor – it was meant to gleam and glitter with so many different reflected lights. Unfortunately, all too soon several elements of the lighting scheme failed and repair/replacement proved difficult or impossible to carry out so only the stair lighting and STALLS sign remain today making the rest of the foyer somewhat drab. The ten parallel lighting coves above the circle lounge all originally changed colour through numerous beautiful hues. The light sources for the fibre-optic light cabling all had colour wheels attached to provide what was an eye-catching effect. Once again, with constant use, the colour wheels began to stick which spoilt the effect and the light sources (in some very difficult to access places)were switched to white. Sadly the sources for the three coves nearest the front of the theatre’s glazed frontage are now impossible to reach safely hence those coves remain dark.
The only attempts to recall the Odeon’s original splendour in the auditorium were the replicated golden ladies on the splay walls, fibre-optic lighting tails in the coving above the circle and around those ladies and the leopard skin design of the new seating. The seating was completely replaced some years back with more leopard skin upholstery except for the royal circle where the new seats were blue. It’s worth remembering the entire circle was expensively re-stepped to increase legroom early this century and much valuable capacity was lost in the process.
I hope the forthcoming refurbishment will retain the things which make the Odeon so special while restoring some of the warmth the public areas used to have.
The Empire is indeed just another multi-screen venue and, yes, the potential confusion is no different to numerous other such venues with one IMAX screen, however, it is in Leicester Square and seems to be regarded by Empire Cinemas as something of a flagship so did the operator expect always to be showing an IMAX film when they decided/agreed to replace “CINEMA” on the canopy with “IMAX” I wonder. I would have thought, when investing so much money, they would have been well aware what would be available to them from the distributors, though I may be wrong. THX certification, though very worthwhile and a valuable asset was altogether more subtle – to the man in the street – and didn’t have quite the same marketing dynamism as a full IMAX installation, I’m not aware a higher price was charged for compliant product and the THX sign on the Empire’s front-of-house was actually quite discreet in comparison.
I earlier omitted to say I thought the sound in Empire 3 (which, as you say, the auditorium should be called in ALL publicity when not showing IMAX) was terrific.
Perhaps it’s a shame that most of the IMAX branding at the Empire is semi-permanent when only one of their many screens is so equipped and even then not used exclusively for IMAX product. Replacing the word “CINEMA” on the canopy with “IMAX” might lead the less technically informed, i.e. the majority of customers, to assume everything there was somehow presented in the format and thus necessitating the announcement I find negative. I certainly didn’t expect “The Imitation Game” to be in IMAX and understand the visual and audio differentials you describe but I question whether a complex that was not showing a single IMAX film should be so “adorned” with such branding.
I can understand the IMAX Corporation wanting their magic word to be emblazoned in Leicester Square and, on the surface of it, Empire Cinemas' willingness to have their West End premises associated with the brand but with all previous “value-added” formats like CinemaScope and Todd-AO, their names were given along with the appropriate film titles rather than becoming part of the cinema’s own overall offering. Trading standards legislation could also be behind the need to remind audiences they are not seeing something in IMAX on the Empire IMAX screen.
I enjoy IMAX documentaries at Bradford and Waterloo and the Empire IMAX auditorium appears successfully to replicate such spaces but forty five minutes is about my limit for the effect on neck and eyes!
I sampled the Empire’s IMAX auditorium recently, albeit not to watch an IMAX film, and my impressions were mixed. The screen is large of course, too large. “The Imitation Game”, in ‘scope, certainly filled most of the screen but, from two thirds of the way back in the centre block and sitting on the right-hand aisle, there was a distinct loss of light over to the left during what is admittedly a fairly dark film and, given such a huge image, the resolution at such close quarters was “soft” rather than sharp. The guy checking tickets and helping people to find their seats was enthusiastic and welcoming but for him to be spotlit just prior to the programme starting, in order to say “Welcome to the Empire Leicester Square, enjoy "The Imitation Game”, whoop!“ was well intentioned but amateur and unnecessary as was the on-screen reminder that "This film is not enhanced by IMAX” – a negative announcement presumably to protect the IMAX system’s potential advantages. Had I sat nearer the screen or in one of the side blocks, I would have been requiring a refund. On the credit side, the seats were extremely comfortable and the constantly colour changing LEDs in wall and ceiling coves were a thoughtful way of recalling the far more effective cold-cathode lighting which so beautifully lit the former Empire One. No tabs, of course, although a single track with tastefully lit tabs would, in my opinion, add greatly to the presentation and create a sense of occasion in place of today’s utilitarian feel. Remembering that the Curzon, Mayfair, Warner West End and Rendezvous and Odeon, St Martin’s Lane were all either modernised or opened with no provision for curtains, these were later added at all these venues and enhanced the presentation, could the Empire follow suit? I rather doubt there is space or will for this to happen.
My conclusion is that Empire’s IMAX screen is too large and too close to the seating. I prefer not to have my eyes “popped” and if I wanted to “be part of a film”, I would join the union and apply to the relevant organisation. The Empire will doubtless entertain thousands, especially with IMAX enhanced films, sadly it’s no longer a cinema of choice for me.
The Odeon, Leicester Square is due to close in March for an expensive refurbishment during which Dolby Atmos sound system will be installed. There are no plans to sub-divide the auditorium which remains the West End’s sole remaining large cinema still offering its original configuration of stalls and circle. The Odeon’s seating capacity, reputation, position and celebrity are invaluably important to all major distributors. I’m already relishing the prospect of travelling two hundred miles to enjoy “Spectre” from an armchair in the theatre’s royal circle.
The Leicester Square Theatre/Odeon West End will close in January to be demolished.
The roof replacement will, presumably, involve a period of closure for at least part of the work so, if that is the case, any reconfiguration of the auditorium might be timed to coincide. Full marks to Odeon for continuing to invest in the West End’s last remaining, currently intact super cinema.
No plans whatever for any degree of demolition btw!
Was given a tour of the Regent yesterday by the new owner who is very keen to move ahead with step-by-step restoration. When he removed the false ceiling to reveal the part of the original ceiling forward of the balcony, he was delighted to find the rectangular frieze of chariot-hauling horses above the proscenium arch perfectly intact (painted gold this now looks wonderful)but less impressed by the crude way the steelwork, from which the false ceiling was suspended, had been anchored by hacking away at the ceiling and wall decoration – obliterating sections of beautiful mouldings. He has taken impressions of sections which match those destroyed and is in the process of having sections made to complete the ceiling once again. We were in the balcony whose steppings all appear sound and just waiting for seats to be installed and carpet laid – once the ceiling has been fully repaired/redecorated and given a clean bill of health. The two little corners of “extra” seating are still intact at front right and rear left of the balcony. The plan is to open up the 12' deep stage and install a screen in a way that would enable acts and bands to also use the stage. Currently, more space at first floor level is being renovated in the adjoining building to extend/relocate the second hand stalls at present on the ground floor but perhaps only the balcony is to be used for the digital screenings/live performances.
If in the area, do go in and have a look, the cafe on the ground floor is very comfy and they serve delicious coffees and toothsome, homemade cakes! An enterprise very deserving of support.
In fairness to the Empire conversion, I should add that my friend attended an “invitation” Impact screening either just before or just after the cinema went public so things may well have been tweaked by now.
The substance within the double wall at Harrogate was indeed foam but it also contained an added ingredient which was, I believe, something of an innovation at the time.
Your thoughts on a two-auditorium O.L.S. make perfect sense but, alas, your reservations about the steelwork are spot on! The main balcony girder, which is anchored within the side walls of the building, sits immediately below the wall at the front of the balcony. The wall describes an arc whereas the girder has a straight centre span and, roughly where the two aisles separate the centre and side seating blocks, changes direction at either side very slightly to enter the walls nearer the stage. This “front” girder is something of a linchpin to which several sloping girders emanating from a second, slightly shorter and straight primary girder below the rear circle promenade, are riveted. There are several sets of bracing girders running side to side in threes between front and back and a third, huge girder beneath the central cross gangway (not strong enough to act as main girder at the front of a foreshortened circle). Any interference with the Odeon’s brilliant skeleton would be unthinkable in engineering terms short of a re-building amounting to demolition and starting again. Given what happened eventually to the old Warner (and what it’s replacement is like now) I mention rebuilding in extremely hushed tones! Other than the obvious insertion of a second screen somehow, below the balcony or, heaven forbid, on the stage as happened with the Paramount/Odeon Glasgow’s expensive tripling or Odeon Swiss Cottage more recently, it’s hard to think of any other palatable options.
I too think the last remaining really big West End cinema would lend itself to creating an extra special experience on the lines you mention. The Odeon itself is already a celebrity cinema in its own right and with the option of fine dining and perhaps more use made of the circle lounge with its panoramic views of the Square and more regular use of the organ, the cinema could offer something no other London cinema now can.
It appears the reason Odeon want to keep the stage end intact is mainly the ability to retain both 2D and 3D screens with the one not in use stored at the rear of the stage or flown respectively. Distributors prefer their 2D product on a white screen and 3D on silver. It makes very good sense and I personally wouldn’t want to loose the proscenium arch or orchestra pit/organ.
Like you, my friend was none too impressed with the projection or sound in the Impact cinema. Tolerance of sound leakage, like so many other things, is partly a generational thing and my own personal requirement is zero, but then when almost every cinema was a stand-alone and sound systems far less dynamic, the problem only reared its head when a railway line ran near the cinema (having been the manager of the single screen Havana/Odeon in Romford I can certainly vouch for this!).
When the balcony of Harrogate Odeon was divided to provide two of the current five screens, I understand two steel partitions were built and coated on the outside before the narrow void between them was pumped full of a very dense substance (?) to absorb sound and sound vibration. This was demonstrated for me when I stood in a dark screen one while a “thumping blockbuster” boomed away next door and only when both side-by-side entrance doors were simultaneously open could anything remotely be heard. I was amazed that even the original circle floor steppings didn’t carry the least vibration either and was told the steel partitions were anchored deep within the balcony void. This was without any structural reinforcement which says a lot for the transverse main balcony girder positioned in 1936!
I’m given to understand that Odeon are, at present, keen to retain Leicester Square’s stage house and orchestra pit/organ housing which begs the question of where a second auditorium would fit as, more than once in the past, the theatre was only saved from twinning/tripling by the fact that clearance in the rear stalls area was less than that in the average original Odeon. One scheme which came close to fruition in the mid-‘seventies proposed a second screen, sideways on in the rear stalls with front stalls seating retained for the main screen. Apparently, the complexities of lowering the floor (no excavation needed as there are usable spaces below) and creating a lateral rake were great enough to confine that plan to history. The presence of the “new” Odeon, St. Martin’s Lane with 700+ seats and a release pattern which still allowed O.L.S. very lucrative exclusive opening runs, all combined to ward off any meddling with the near 2,000 seater. The capacity made O.L.S. the obvious choice for the biggest charity screenings including the annual Royal Film Performance but, of course, that has now decamped to a concert hall in Kensington and an arena in SE10 – how things change! We can only watch and wait…
CF100, To put the conversion in context, the “stage” end of the new Empire, in which the screen frame sat, occupied basically the upper part of the old stage house i.e. the Empire Theatre’s fly tower. That, of course, would not have precluded creating a new proscenium arch – possibly by having one further cove, nearest the screen, narrowing slightly to form an opening with vertical sides and shallow arched top reflecting the other coves in the auditorium. Having said that, and it is a very moot point, I did like the dips that ran all the way up to the ceiling like perpendicular footlights and lit the folds of the side drapes and main curtains very nicely. Like the footlights themselves, concealed behind the slightly raised termination of the carpeting, the dips were wired in three circuits and filtered primary red, medium amber and bright blue. These gel colours were the nearest match to the three colours of the cold cathode tubes used in all the ceiling and wall coves and this meant the illumination appeared seamlessly coordinated and extremely effective.
I don’t think the lighting system ever changed, only its control by means of the new console you referred to. I’m guessing 1988 was when the stars appeared in the ceiling, the contour curtain was taken down and the lighting control upgraded. The new lighting system’s memory and pre-set facilities enabled them to run those brief “pre-show displays” when the rather unimaginative new style of lettering for “Empire” was flashed across the tabs by means of a modest laser system while the other stage lighting flashed from colour to colour. The cove lighting’s colour sequences were hardly ever used prior to 1988. Instead, all the lighting would be constant before the programme started (usually red + amber) giving a rich, golden glow everywhere. Typically, the amber would be faded out with the white downlighters which constituted the house lights, leaving a dense red glow as the curtains began to open. In the days when screen curtains were closed for several seconds between ads., trailers etc. and the feature film (which still happens at the Odeon when 2D product is being shown), the curtains and coves would usually be lit blue. This procedure was used whether or not there was any need to change the masking setting and was a very civilised pause prior to the main film, unlike most cinemas today where the entire programme runs conveyor belt fashion. It was always possible to have the different coves in differing colours or combinations and wall and ceiling coves could also be differently coloured so the permutations were almost limitless. It was also always possible to run the colour changes in automatic sequences – certainly the cold cathode elements – but that option was rarely used in my experience. No lighting in the new Empire was ever green and no primary blue gel was ever used, only bright blue. The colours were less saturated than in cinemas where the three primaries were used to mix and blend all the colours of the rainbow so the Empire sparkled brightly.
I wasn’t aware the tiles had ever changed colour – the mink or pastel grey with random gold tiles was perfectly neutral – but I would think any repainting might well have taken place in 1988 – there was certainly a great deal of scaffolding in the auditorium at that time.
You may well have seen them elsewhere but among my “favourites” on Flickr are some pictures of the 1962 Empire including one of the contour curtain set with the cables at various drop lengths and creating a very sumptuous spectacle which belies Mr Atwell’s opinion of the cinema!
Flickr member “Fanatical about Odeon” – naturally!
CF100 I concur exactly with your view on David Atwell’s opinion, as I do with your own opinion of Lamb’s cavernous and overpowering Empire Theatre. Having often seen the new Empire’s auditorium under the cleaners' lights in the ‘60s and '70s, the description of the “tiles” you quote sounds to me to describe them perfectly. Although I’ve only seen live productions at Radio City Music Hall, for me, it wins by a very short head. The one element of the new Empire with which I was never at ease, architecturally, was the lack of a proscenium arch. It always seemed as though George Coles failed to find a more satisfactory way of marrying the coved ceiling and walls with the screen end. The plain plaster, slightly concave, elongated half-domed ceiling “bridge” appeared to me as something of a quick-fix although from the late '80s, the installation of twinkling stars (at about the time the contour curtain was removed) did make it more of a feature. This becomes extremely esoteric and subjective, of course, but the zenith of cinema design for me was the 1937 Odeon designs for their York and Leicester Square theatres – naturally!
CF100, George Coles is widely credited with being responsible for the design of the 1962 Empire, Leicester Square (later to become Empire One). Whilst it may not bear resemblance to his practice’s other works, if you really want to see just how diverse schemes from his stable could be, just compare the Odeons at Bournemouth or Muswell Hill with the Trocadero, Elephant and Castle or Gaumont State, Kilburn. According to David Atwell’s “Cathedrals of the Movies”, Coles virtually came out of retirement to design the new Empire (he died in 1963). I think you might be interested in a passage from the 1980 publication.
“…he (George Coles) split the old theatre horizontally into two, with a new Mecca ballroom in the old stalls area, and a new stadium-style cinema auditorium on the site of the circle. The new cinema seated 1336 and, compared to his earlier work, finds Coles in very restrained mood. It is grandly conceived, but the blandly tiled walls and ceiling with their modest changing coloured light sequences create little sense of occasion. However, one great success is the luxuriously sprung seating. Typical of the new breed of plain, utilitarian post-war cinemas, it fails to achieve real distinction through either its decorations or its modernity”
This was an opinion of the Empire whose loss so many of us clearly mourn and shows how each generation tends to regret the passing of familiar and well-loved architectural styles. Some years ago now, I mentioned my affection for the Odeon, Leicester Square to an older London gentleman. He raised his eyebrows and said “Oh, you should have seen the Alhambra that used to stand there, it was wonderful!” He went on to say he’d seen “Scott of the Antarctic” at the Odeon and found it a great barn of a place – very plain. His one and only visit to the flagship Odeon had been prior to its 1968 modernisation!!
I’ve heard before the comparison of the new Empire to Radio City but have never discovered anything conclusive. The parallel lighting coves and long-removed gold satin contour curtain at the Empire were certainly reminiscent of the New York cinema/theatre. When I first visited the Empire during the ‘sixties, the contour curtain would rise to reveal the plain, satin house tabs at the beginning of the programme and usually unfurl again to the strains of the National Anthem. There was even a pair of legs in plain satin and a matching pleated border above the screen so that the image was always beautifully framed. The screen masking, at that time, was in maroon felt rather than the more common black.
Couldn’t agree more. George Coles' wonderful swansong destroyed and such a high quality cinema experience lost forever to provide two unsatisfactory rooms in which to be dazzled. Such screens belong in theme parks, not Leicester Square. The IMAX brand is now being diluted by being applied to so many cinemas (including suburban locations) – it is no longer all that special except perhaps at the National Media Museum and Odeon BFI IMAX where the sheer scale is spectacular and where, unlike Empire’s single IMAX room, the seating configurations are much more conducive to viewing IMAX processed films. How silly to replace the word CINEMA on the Empire canopy with IMAX when only one room in the complex has the system. The cobbled together multiplex will not be seeing the colour of my money again!
Hi Terry,
Yes – ear to the ground! It must be THE Ken I’ve not seen for 49 years!!
You will, I think, have heard that Everyman are attempting to get the funds together (and Landlords' permissions) to acquire Odeons Barnet, Esher, Gerrards Cross and the iconic original Muswell Hill cinema from Odeon Cinemas Ltd.
I will hope to come to you within the next couple of weeks – hospital appointments permitting.
Best regards,
James
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 – 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,
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…!
CF100, Photographs of the 1987 house curtains with the three appliqued stripes terminating in vertical wavy lines towards the centre (and the orange neon stripes on the splay walls which replicated the pattern) are scarce as hens' teeth I’m afraid. I do have a faded copy of a photo' of those tabs taken during an organ concert and they can be seen opening and closing (as well as the neon installations rippling in and out) at the end of a DVD I have of numerous cinemas filmed by the late Tony Moss. I have a home cinema and when those tabs were in use, between 1987 and 1998, J. C. Joel, who produced them for Rank, also made a pair for me to the same specifications but for a 12' track. If you’d like to see mine, I’m on Flickr as “Fanatical about Odeon” and there is a shot of them in my photostream. I always liked the look of those tabs (hence having them in my Odeon) but thought the neon gimmicky. The design was typically art deco with a hint of arts and crafts which, to my mind, would have gone well with the restored flying ladies. Coincidentally, I’ve just spent most of today at the Odeon and I learned that the planned refurbishment has been postponed until early 2016. Things are quite fluid with the parent company (to float or sell?) at present and this may have had a bearing on the decision. With the Odeon West End finally gone and Marble Arch doomed, Odeon’s presence in the West End is now really a clutch of small complexes and the flagship. With “Spectre” and “Star Wars the Force Awakens” on the horizon, there is, at present, much for my favourite cinema to look forward to. They’re still putting on a good show and using screen masking and screen tabs (for 2D product)and when I watched “Marigold Hotel II” earlier, the ‘Scope image was stunning and the sound excellent.
Probably the Astoria’s longest run of all was “Paint Your Wagon” (blown up to 70mm.) in the early ‘seventies. Paramount “four-walled” the cinema in order to showcase their musical-western and it ran for over a year. For this, and the revival of a single-lens version “How The West Was Won”, a six-sided screen was used which, for me at least, was unsatisfactory. The reason for the unconventional image was the stalls level projection room. By this time, the proscenium had disappeared behind a large and deeply curved screen frame complete with semi-circular curtain track and further curtaining concealing the side walls. The screen was huge but, following its installation, in order for the wide beam to be accommodated, the already cut-away front of the balcony would have had to be even more cut away and, as this meant losing more top price seats, Rank refused to allow it. The resulting compromise resulted in a “carpet to ceiling” 70mm. image with the top corners chamfered and masked as such. I would have preferred a slightly smaller, rectangular image. 'Scope and wide screen product were able to be screened normally with a four-sided image.
As “Paint Your Wagon” was my first visit to the Astoria, I do not know when the “six-sided” image first appeared but my best guess would be that it followed Rank’s “zing” treatment which produced the plainer auditorium in time for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” to open there following its gala premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square in December 1968.
The plan is indeed for the present Odeon and ABC cinemas to close once the ten screen Odeon multiplex is completed on Exeter Road in 2016. I for one can’t imagine Westover Road without its two impressive cinemas overlooking the Pavilion fountains and gardens. No doubt we’ll be told the facade of the Regent/Gaumont/Odeon will be retained to “maintain the streetscape” but what good is that when the cinema itself is gone? The thought of a mega Tesco or the south’s largest Macdonalds sitting behind the famous colonnade is not a happy prospect.
Yes, the main foyer did become rather bare and chilly. The 1998 revamp/rebranding included illuminated friezes around the new entrance to the stalls and the sales counter, projected signs for stalls and circle and Optikinetics projected version of Odeon clock. Also installed, and still there, above the entrance doors was a Miniscan effects projector which originally panned the new style name across the floor and walls. The coloured, cold cathode lighting for the friezes and various projected images along with the fibre-optic illuminated circle stairs were principally the reasons for the plain, light treatment of the walls and floor – it was meant to gleam and glitter with so many different reflected lights. Unfortunately, all too soon several elements of the lighting scheme failed and repair/replacement proved difficult or impossible to carry out so only the stair lighting and STALLS sign remain today making the rest of the foyer somewhat drab. The ten parallel lighting coves above the circle lounge all originally changed colour through numerous beautiful hues. The light sources for the fibre-optic light cabling all had colour wheels attached to provide what was an eye-catching effect. Once again, with constant use, the colour wheels began to stick which spoilt the effect and the light sources (in some very difficult to access places)were switched to white. Sadly the sources for the three coves nearest the front of the theatre’s glazed frontage are now impossible to reach safely hence those coves remain dark.
The only attempts to recall the Odeon’s original splendour in the auditorium were the replicated golden ladies on the splay walls, fibre-optic lighting tails in the coving above the circle and around those ladies and the leopard skin design of the new seating. The seating was completely replaced some years back with more leopard skin upholstery except for the royal circle where the new seats were blue. It’s worth remembering the entire circle was expensively re-stepped to increase legroom early this century and much valuable capacity was lost in the process.
I hope the forthcoming refurbishment will retain the things which make the Odeon so special while restoring some of the warmth the public areas used to have.
The Empire is indeed just another multi-screen venue and, yes, the potential confusion is no different to numerous other such venues with one IMAX screen, however, it is in Leicester Square and seems to be regarded by Empire Cinemas as something of a flagship so did the operator expect always to be showing an IMAX film when they decided/agreed to replace “CINEMA” on the canopy with “IMAX” I wonder. I would have thought, when investing so much money, they would have been well aware what would be available to them from the distributors, though I may be wrong. THX certification, though very worthwhile and a valuable asset was altogether more subtle – to the man in the street – and didn’t have quite the same marketing dynamism as a full IMAX installation, I’m not aware a higher price was charged for compliant product and the THX sign on the Empire’s front-of-house was actually quite discreet in comparison. I earlier omitted to say I thought the sound in Empire 3 (which, as you say, the auditorium should be called in ALL publicity when not showing IMAX) was terrific.
Perhaps it’s a shame that most of the IMAX branding at the Empire is semi-permanent when only one of their many screens is so equipped and even then not used exclusively for IMAX product. Replacing the word “CINEMA” on the canopy with “IMAX” might lead the less technically informed, i.e. the majority of customers, to assume everything there was somehow presented in the format and thus necessitating the announcement I find negative. I certainly didn’t expect “The Imitation Game” to be in IMAX and understand the visual and audio differentials you describe but I question whether a complex that was not showing a single IMAX film should be so “adorned” with such branding. I can understand the IMAX Corporation wanting their magic word to be emblazoned in Leicester Square and, on the surface of it, Empire Cinemas' willingness to have their West End premises associated with the brand but with all previous “value-added” formats like CinemaScope and Todd-AO, their names were given along with the appropriate film titles rather than becoming part of the cinema’s own overall offering. Trading standards legislation could also be behind the need to remind audiences they are not seeing something in IMAX on the Empire IMAX screen. I enjoy IMAX documentaries at Bradford and Waterloo and the Empire IMAX auditorium appears successfully to replicate such spaces but forty five minutes is about my limit for the effect on neck and eyes!
I sampled the Empire’s IMAX auditorium recently, albeit not to watch an IMAX film, and my impressions were mixed. The screen is large of course, too large. “The Imitation Game”, in ‘scope, certainly filled most of the screen but, from two thirds of the way back in the centre block and sitting on the right-hand aisle, there was a distinct loss of light over to the left during what is admittedly a fairly dark film and, given such a huge image, the resolution at such close quarters was “soft” rather than sharp. The guy checking tickets and helping people to find their seats was enthusiastic and welcoming but for him to be spotlit just prior to the programme starting, in order to say “Welcome to the Empire Leicester Square, enjoy "The Imitation Game”, whoop!“ was well intentioned but amateur and unnecessary as was the on-screen reminder that "This film is not enhanced by IMAX” – a negative announcement presumably to protect the IMAX system’s potential advantages. Had I sat nearer the screen or in one of the side blocks, I would have been requiring a refund. On the credit side, the seats were extremely comfortable and the constantly colour changing LEDs in wall and ceiling coves were a thoughtful way of recalling the far more effective cold-cathode lighting which so beautifully lit the former Empire One. No tabs, of course, although a single track with tastefully lit tabs would, in my opinion, add greatly to the presentation and create a sense of occasion in place of today’s utilitarian feel. Remembering that the Curzon, Mayfair, Warner West End and Rendezvous and Odeon, St Martin’s Lane were all either modernised or opened with no provision for curtains, these were later added at all these venues and enhanced the presentation, could the Empire follow suit? I rather doubt there is space or will for this to happen. My conclusion is that Empire’s IMAX screen is too large and too close to the seating. I prefer not to have my eyes “popped” and if I wanted to “be part of a film”, I would join the union and apply to the relevant organisation. The Empire will doubtless entertain thousands, especially with IMAX enhanced films, sadly it’s no longer a cinema of choice for me.
Odeon West End is due to close in January to be demolished.
The Odeon, Leicester Square is due to close in March for an expensive refurbishment during which Dolby Atmos sound system will be installed. There are no plans to sub-divide the auditorium which remains the West End’s sole remaining large cinema still offering its original configuration of stalls and circle. The Odeon’s seating capacity, reputation, position and celebrity are invaluably important to all major distributors. I’m already relishing the prospect of travelling two hundred miles to enjoy “Spectre” from an armchair in the theatre’s royal circle. The Leicester Square Theatre/Odeon West End will close in January to be demolished.
The roof replacement will, presumably, involve a period of closure for at least part of the work so, if that is the case, any reconfiguration of the auditorium might be timed to coincide. Full marks to Odeon for continuing to invest in the West End’s last remaining, currently intact super cinema. No plans whatever for any degree of demolition btw!
Was given a tour of the Regent yesterday by the new owner who is very keen to move ahead with step-by-step restoration. When he removed the false ceiling to reveal the part of the original ceiling forward of the balcony, he was delighted to find the rectangular frieze of chariot-hauling horses above the proscenium arch perfectly intact (painted gold this now looks wonderful)but less impressed by the crude way the steelwork, from which the false ceiling was suspended, had been anchored by hacking away at the ceiling and wall decoration – obliterating sections of beautiful mouldings. He has taken impressions of sections which match those destroyed and is in the process of having sections made to complete the ceiling once again. We were in the balcony whose steppings all appear sound and just waiting for seats to be installed and carpet laid – once the ceiling has been fully repaired/redecorated and given a clean bill of health. The two little corners of “extra” seating are still intact at front right and rear left of the balcony. The plan is to open up the 12' deep stage and install a screen in a way that would enable acts and bands to also use the stage. Currently, more space at first floor level is being renovated in the adjoining building to extend/relocate the second hand stalls at present on the ground floor but perhaps only the balcony is to be used for the digital screenings/live performances.
If in the area, do go in and have a look, the cafe on the ground floor is very comfy and they serve delicious coffees and toothsome, homemade cakes! An enterprise very deserving of support.
In fairness to the Empire conversion, I should add that my friend attended an “invitation” Impact screening either just before or just after the cinema went public so things may well have been tweaked by now. The substance within the double wall at Harrogate was indeed foam but it also contained an added ingredient which was, I believe, something of an innovation at the time. Your thoughts on a two-auditorium O.L.S. make perfect sense but, alas, your reservations about the steelwork are spot on! The main balcony girder, which is anchored within the side walls of the building, sits immediately below the wall at the front of the balcony. The wall describes an arc whereas the girder has a straight centre span and, roughly where the two aisles separate the centre and side seating blocks, changes direction at either side very slightly to enter the walls nearer the stage. This “front” girder is something of a linchpin to which several sloping girders emanating from a second, slightly shorter and straight primary girder below the rear circle promenade, are riveted. There are several sets of bracing girders running side to side in threes between front and back and a third, huge girder beneath the central cross gangway (not strong enough to act as main girder at the front of a foreshortened circle). Any interference with the Odeon’s brilliant skeleton would be unthinkable in engineering terms short of a re-building amounting to demolition and starting again. Given what happened eventually to the old Warner (and what it’s replacement is like now) I mention rebuilding in extremely hushed tones! Other than the obvious insertion of a second screen somehow, below the balcony or, heaven forbid, on the stage as happened with the Paramount/Odeon Glasgow’s expensive tripling or Odeon Swiss Cottage more recently, it’s hard to think of any other palatable options.
I too think the last remaining really big West End cinema would lend itself to creating an extra special experience on the lines you mention. The Odeon itself is already a celebrity cinema in its own right and with the option of fine dining and perhaps more use made of the circle lounge with its panoramic views of the Square and more regular use of the organ, the cinema could offer something no other London cinema now can. It appears the reason Odeon want to keep the stage end intact is mainly the ability to retain both 2D and 3D screens with the one not in use stored at the rear of the stage or flown respectively. Distributors prefer their 2D product on a white screen and 3D on silver. It makes very good sense and I personally wouldn’t want to loose the proscenium arch or orchestra pit/organ.
Your views within the reconfigured auditorium are much appreciated – thank you.
Like you, my friend was none too impressed with the projection or sound in the Impact cinema. Tolerance of sound leakage, like so many other things, is partly a generational thing and my own personal requirement is zero, but then when almost every cinema was a stand-alone and sound systems far less dynamic, the problem only reared its head when a railway line ran near the cinema (having been the manager of the single screen Havana/Odeon in Romford I can certainly vouch for this!). When the balcony of Harrogate Odeon was divided to provide two of the current five screens, I understand two steel partitions were built and coated on the outside before the narrow void between them was pumped full of a very dense substance (?) to absorb sound and sound vibration. This was demonstrated for me when I stood in a dark screen one while a “thumping blockbuster” boomed away next door and only when both side-by-side entrance doors were simultaneously open could anything remotely be heard. I was amazed that even the original circle floor steppings didn’t carry the least vibration either and was told the steel partitions were anchored deep within the balcony void. This was without any structural reinforcement which says a lot for the transverse main balcony girder positioned in 1936! I’m given to understand that Odeon are, at present, keen to retain Leicester Square’s stage house and orchestra pit/organ housing which begs the question of where a second auditorium would fit as, more than once in the past, the theatre was only saved from twinning/tripling by the fact that clearance in the rear stalls area was less than that in the average original Odeon. One scheme which came close to fruition in the mid-‘seventies proposed a second screen, sideways on in the rear stalls with front stalls seating retained for the main screen. Apparently, the complexities of lowering the floor (no excavation needed as there are usable spaces below) and creating a lateral rake were great enough to confine that plan to history. The presence of the “new” Odeon, St. Martin’s Lane with 700+ seats and a release pattern which still allowed O.L.S. very lucrative exclusive opening runs, all combined to ward off any meddling with the near 2,000 seater. The capacity made O.L.S. the obvious choice for the biggest charity screenings including the annual Royal Film Performance but, of course, that has now decamped to a concert hall in Kensington and an arena in SE10 – how things change! We can only watch and wait…