The Sign Colour A B C should be more orange. Brick colour is not to far out.. The Canopy would have been Maroon and the centre band a sky blue. Leyland Colours. The tall publicity frames on the centre curve and Exit door on the left are the wrong ABC House colour but may have been given a lick of paint by an enthusiastic Manager. :)
The Cinema had a water cooled rectifier .. Above was a leaking U bend that dripped on the mercury bulb. :) It closed because of the cost cinemascope….. bearing in mind that the circuit mostly did Cinemascope properly to Fox specifications
Paul Stevenson The Manager was the owner.. He was one of the Dents. he retired and one of Our companies took over the cinema briefly (Stratford Picture House Co.,) Then it passed to Stephen Witchouson please forgive the spelling then the rest I have lost track of.
AndreaP Normal practice There is always a double entry on a complete rebuild.. Where walls of the old theatre are used again then there is only one entry..
It is interesting to note. That the leading lights of the Save the Regal trust had never watched a film at the cinema… Gordon Minturn our Manager told the press if this group have actually purchased tickets in the past to watch films then it would not be being sold. With the passing of the old owner B T Davis There was no sentiment They still own one Theatre The Savoy Monmouth that is now leased out to a Trust after I retired…
I have found the pictures of the two Theatres. I have just put them on.. When We took over these theatres They were given a complete makeover by Modernisation Ltd., Including New Tabs, Screen, masking, Seats in the Circle Stalls refurbished Carpets Pay Box and Kiosk and re-wired.
John Angle took over the building from EMI and installed 35mm Projection . These were supplied by Les Castree who kept a lot of independents cinemas in business with his sensible terms
It was an operating mosque within 2 – 3 years of us selling.. There is no misinformation in the above article. I was one of the owners of the Cinema.. We sold the site December 1996. what happened after was no concern of us. We took the money and ran.
Simon. BT Davis Family (51%) Ken Jones Family 25% , Dr Rowe (24%) bought the Theatre not sure of the exact year. Ken Jones Jr Managed the theatre.. I was B T Davis’s General Manager of his Birmingham Interests. I am just wrong with the year. It is a shame there are no Interior pictures of how it was. Considering it was an Andrew Mather design, the same architect that did Odeon
Leicester square. These details are now correct. as being 1968. That question is now solved.
Hmm The First 7 Cinemas of what became The Odeon Circuit from Kingstanding onwards was really owned by Clifton of Birmingham . Sir Sidney Clift a Birmingham Solicitor appointed Deutch as Chair in Place of Leon Salberg of the Alexandra Theatre Birmingham who was dying. Clift being a practicing Solicitor it was not the done thing to do.. All Built Odeon had a large Clifton Syndicate presence, It must be remembered That Deutch and his wife Lillie had only 200 shares between them in each project.. Lillie ran a theatre furnishings company with Clift that supplied both Clifton’s and Odeons and that why they looked the same. J. Arthur Rank only purchased Deutch’s shares in the Management company in 1942.. 1947 Rank promoted shares in Odeon properties Ltd., During 1948 the complex process of buying out and share swapping took place. The share rights were offered to shareholders of the individual Odeon projects The Odeon Circuit history is very complex and not what it seems.. The Architects Clevering and Mather were also associates of Satchwell and Roberts Architects of Birmingham.. They created the Odeon Look. Not Weedon. Andrew Mather solely designed Odeon Leicester Square. Harry Weedon’s job was to manage the projects and produce the budget for the share holder prospectus’s
I will have a look through the files..
I remember Patrick he worked for me part time I have some photos of Patrick I think with the rest of the staff
surf digby Have put comments on your picture of the exterior.
That is a sad sight as I used to do Management Reliefs there.
The Sign Colour A B C should be more orange. Brick colour is not to far out.. The Canopy would have been Maroon and the centre band a sky blue. Leyland Colours. The tall publicity frames on the centre curve and Exit door on the left are the wrong ABC House colour but may have been given a lick of paint by an enthusiastic Manager. :)
The Cinema had a water cooled rectifier .. Above was a leaking U bend that dripped on the mercury bulb. :) It closed because of the cost cinemascope….. bearing in mind that the circuit mostly did Cinemascope properly to Fox specifications
Paul Stevenson The Manager was the owner.. He was one of the Dents. he retired and one of Our companies took over the cinema briefly (Stratford Picture House Co.,) Then it passed to Stephen Witchouson please forgive the spelling then the rest I have lost track of.
AndreaP Normal practice There is always a double entry on a complete rebuild.. Where walls of the old theatre are used again then there is only one entry..
Correction It was Hickton and Farmer that did the 1910 frontage…
It is interesting to note. That the leading lights of the Save the Regal trust had never watched a film at the cinema… Gordon Minturn our Manager told the press if this group have actually purchased tickets in the past to watch films then it would not be being sold. With the passing of the old owner B T Davis There was no sentiment They still own one Theatre The Savoy Monmouth that is now leased out to a Trust after I retired…
Forgot 1979 B T Davis intended to twin Marlow but died before in could be done.
I have found the pictures of the two Theatres. I have just put them on.. When We took over these theatres They were given a complete makeover by Modernisation Ltd., Including New Tabs, Screen, masking, Seats in the Circle Stalls refurbished Carpets Pay Box and Kiosk and re-wired.
John Angle took over the building from EMI and installed 35mm Projection . These were supplied by Les Castree who kept a lot of independents cinemas in business with his sensible terms
The Mayfair Circuit as an Oddity They were all owned by Essoldo and Managed by ABC
The Cinema was Bombed twice during WW2 .. The last one was a total wreck..
It was an operating mosque within 2 – 3 years of us selling.. There is no misinformation in the above article. I was one of the owners of the Cinema.. We sold the site December 1996. what happened after was no concern of us. We took the money and ran.
The Shop is Now “Poundland”
The Actor Jack Leslie Managed the Theatre before joining the long running British Soap Coronation Street as Jack Walker Landlord of the Rovers Return.
The Empire was destroyed 24th October 1940 by enemy action.
The Theatre was owned by “The Stockland green playhouse co.,
David Simpson A good set of pictures :)
The conversion into a Triple was designed and carried out by Modernisation Ltd., The Freeze – Greene company.
Simon. BT Davis Family (51%) Ken Jones Family 25% , Dr Rowe (24%) bought the Theatre not sure of the exact year. Ken Jones Jr Managed the theatre.. I was B T Davis’s General Manager of his Birmingham Interests. I am just wrong with the year. It is a shame there are no Interior pictures of how it was. Considering it was an Andrew Mather design, the same architect that did Odeon Leicester square. These details are now correct. as being 1968. That question is now solved.
Picture taken 1904
Hmm The First 7 Cinemas of what became The Odeon Circuit from Kingstanding onwards was really owned by Clifton of Birmingham . Sir Sidney Clift a Birmingham Solicitor appointed Deutch as Chair in Place of Leon Salberg of the Alexandra Theatre Birmingham who was dying. Clift being a practicing Solicitor it was not the done thing to do.. All Built Odeon had a large Clifton Syndicate presence, It must be remembered That Deutch and his wife Lillie had only 200 shares between them in each project.. Lillie ran a theatre furnishings company with Clift that supplied both Clifton’s and Odeons and that why they looked the same. J. Arthur Rank only purchased Deutch’s shares in the Management company in 1942.. 1947 Rank promoted shares in Odeon properties Ltd., During 1948 the complex process of buying out and share swapping took place. The share rights were offered to shareholders of the individual Odeon projects The Odeon Circuit history is very complex and not what it seems.. The Architects Clevering and Mather were also associates of Satchwell and Roberts Architects of Birmingham.. They created the Odeon Look. Not Weedon. Andrew Mather solely designed Odeon Leicester Square. Harry Weedon’s job was to manage the projects and produce the budget for the share holder prospectus’s