Some of these comments are very mixed up. This was the Classic cinema, when it closed, Classic moved to the Essoldo which went on to run the rocky horror show.
I was a part time projectionist at the original Classic in 1963. We had Kalee 12 projectors on Western 1b bases that were still equipped to run sound off synchronous disk. Along with peerless arclamps, the mercury rectifiers were crammed into the projection box.
Their was a small rewind room with a trapdoor under the bench leading to an almost vertical shaft dropping to another trap door in the side street. In event of a nitrate fire, you could have escaped with a couple of broken legs.
This brought back memories of having to rush over from marble arch Odeon to show the films when they had no permanent projectionist. They must have had the smallest projection rooms on the planet
The Forum is in Kensington, more than a mile from Fulham.The opposite side of the road is in Chelsea.
Fulham road starts just north of Putney bridge, running through fulham until Stamford bridge, then along the Kensington, Chelsea border until it meets Brompton road near south Kensington underground station.
Chelsea football ground is on the Kensington Fulham border and actually in Fulham, about 50 yards from Chelsea.
Regarding the cinema, the off-licence on the Fulham road elevation was the projection rooms for the original cinema. It was rear stalls and below the circle.
It was one of the first cinemas equipped for Cinemascope with the 4 track magnetic sound. Due to the reluctance of the chains to include the new sound systems, the optical track was put back, reducing the ratio from 1:2.55 to 1:2.35.
One problem was that magnetic Cinemascope had a true optical center, not offset by the optical soundtrack, thus causing problems for changing from one to the other and for the adverts, newsreel and trailers. Later magnetic prints solved the problem by adding the optical soundtrack and offsetting the optical center to match standard 35mm layout.
At the start of 70mm, projectors and sound systems could play 35mm stereo, but distributors did not see the additional costs of recording and striping the prints justified for a few theaters.
My memory of the cinema was when a friend was working there as a projectionist and I helped him lighting the secondary lighting prior to opening one afternoon. It was the first and only cinema that I have come across with gas secondary lighting.
The 1962 conversion was done at the same time as the Odeon Haymarket (London). Many items, such as seating used identical design and fabrics. The projection rooms and equipment were also similar. One of the last Victoria 10 installations
The map at the top of the entry is incorrect. The cinema stood at the junction of Chamberlayne Rd and Kilburn Lane. The Google maps street view is correct (a picture of the houses that now replace the cinema)!
I worked there as a relief projectionist in the 1960s I remember the Kalee 11 projectors and very ancient arclamps (I can’t remember the make). At the time I was a part time projecionist at the (old) classic Chelsea. I was still at school and was not allowed to enter the auditorium if an “X” certificate film was playing!
The site or the main frontage is now Waitrose’s The pharmacy is on the corner where the fire exits were. I always remember a letter that was kept in the projection Rooms, complaining about modern western’s and refering to last weeks film, where the sequence of events for the cowboy were, Riding arround on his horse, getting buried, riding arround on his horse again and finally getting killed. Only those of us who ran film on 2000ft reels will understand!
I was told that the ABC (Regal) was built using the same set of drawings as the Regal Plymouth, in the rush to get the theatres open and that only the canopy had to be revised due to adjacent buildings. I don’t know which theatre came first!
I agree with all the negative comments regarding the replacement building!
I have realised that my comment (above) must be refering to the Gaumont, that was re-named when this building was demolished and stood on the site of the original Andrews' picture house. Why is there no page allocated to the Gaumont building? Does it still exist? I have not been back to Plymouth since my visit in the 60s.
I visited the cinema in the late 60s. It had been divided in half to include a bingo hall. The design and film equipment (including 70mm) was a close copy of the Odeon Haymarket in London that was converted at roughly the same time. It was one of the few Odeon’s to be equiped with Victoria 10 projectors and Duosonic sound.
I visited the Plaza in the mid 60s and it was the only time that I have ever seen Ross FC projectors They had no framing mechanism and if the film went a perforation out the entire gate and lens was moved up or down
The photograph is of the premier (local) of 2001. The mayor and several local dignitaries attended and the event was covered by the Kilburn times. (Hence the photograph) The event won first prize in the ABC publicity competition, the manager (Wally Jones) won a new Ford Capri and was promoted to the new ABC that had opened in Falmouth. I was the projectionist at the time.
Your explanation of the cinemas evolution is almost “spot on” The foyer of the new ABC was the auditorium of the old cinema and still had projection portholes from what was now the manager’s office. The stained glass window (halfway up the circle staircase) was the loudspeaker gallery of the original that had its 1.37:1 screen laced directly onto the front wall. The entrance lobby was in turn the foyer of the old building. The entire original was “terraced into Chamberlain Rd and closely resembled the Gate (Notting Hill) The "new” cinema was built on spare land at the rear of the main road. Your one error was the original seating capacity which was around 300 and increased to 1600 when the new building opened.
I have the original opening brochure that gives details of everything including the cinema orchestra. Like most cinemas the stage was lost at the introduction of cinemascope. At the time of its closure it was one of only a few cinemas to still be running film on 2000ft reels. I also believe it was the only ABC to be heated by coke boilers. Although oil fired heating was installed on the reconstruction, it was removed at the outbreak of the Second World War.
Some of these comments are very mixed up. This was the Classic cinema, when it closed, Classic moved to the Essoldo which went on to run the rocky horror show. I was a part time projectionist at the original Classic in 1963. We had Kalee 12 projectors on Western 1b bases that were still equipped to run sound off synchronous disk. Along with peerless arclamps, the mercury rectifiers were crammed into the projection box. Their was a small rewind room with a trapdoor under the bench leading to an almost vertical shaft dropping to another trap door in the side street. In event of a nitrate fire, you could have escaped with a couple of broken legs.
This brought back memories of having to rush over from marble arch Odeon to show the films when they had no permanent projectionist. They must have had the smallest projection rooms on the planet
The Forum is in Kensington, more than a mile from Fulham.The opposite side of the road is in Chelsea. Fulham road starts just north of Putney bridge, running through fulham until Stamford bridge, then along the Kensington, Chelsea border until it meets Brompton road near south Kensington underground station.
Chelsea football ground is on the Kensington Fulham border and actually in Fulham, about 50 yards from Chelsea. Regarding the cinema, the off-licence on the Fulham road elevation was the projection rooms for the original cinema. It was rear stalls and below the circle. It was one of the first cinemas equipped for Cinemascope with the 4 track magnetic sound. Due to the reluctance of the chains to include the new sound systems, the optical track was put back, reducing the ratio from 1:2.55 to 1:2.35. One problem was that magnetic Cinemascope had a true optical center, not offset by the optical soundtrack, thus causing problems for changing from one to the other and for the adverts, newsreel and trailers. Later magnetic prints solved the problem by adding the optical soundtrack and offsetting the optical center to match standard 35mm layout. At the start of 70mm, projectors and sound systems could play 35mm stereo, but distributors did not see the additional costs of recording and striping the prints justified for a few theaters.
My memory of the cinema was when a friend was working there as a projectionist and I helped him lighting the secondary lighting prior to opening one afternoon. It was the first and only cinema that I have come across with gas secondary lighting.
One of the best Cinerama theatres that I ever visited. I think the problem was its location!
One of the last truly magnificent cinemas to have been constructed in the UK!
The 1962 conversion was done at the same time as the Odeon Haymarket (London). Many items, such as seating used identical design and fabrics. The projection rooms and equipment were also similar. One of the last Victoria 10 installations
The map at the top of the entry is incorrect. The cinema stood at the junction of Chamberlayne Rd and Kilburn Lane. The Google maps street view is correct (a picture of the houses that now replace the cinema)!
I worked there as a relief projectionist in the 1960s I remember the Kalee 11 projectors and very ancient arclamps (I can’t remember the make). At the time I was a part time projecionist at the (old) classic Chelsea. I was still at school and was not allowed to enter the auditorium if an “X” certificate film was playing!
The Cinerama screen didn’t look “at home” in this theatre! It somehow looked wider than the proscenium!
The site or the main frontage is now Waitrose’s The pharmacy is on the corner where the fire exits were. I always remember a letter that was kept in the projection Rooms, complaining about modern western’s and refering to last weeks film, where the sequence of events for the cowboy were, Riding arround on his horse, getting buried, riding arround on his horse again and finally getting killed. Only those of us who ran film on 2000ft reels will understand!
I was told that the ABC (Regal) was built using the same set of drawings as the Regal Plymouth, in the rush to get the theatres open and that only the canopy had to be revised due to adjacent buildings. I don’t know which theatre came first! I agree with all the negative comments regarding the replacement building!
Why are there no pages allocated to the Regal and Red Hall?
I remember seeing the half demolished building just after I moved to Fulham in 1957 (I was about 10 years old)
I have realised that my comment (above) must be refering to the Gaumont, that was re-named when this building was demolished and stood on the site of the original Andrews' picture house. Why is there no page allocated to the Gaumont building? Does it still exist? I have not been back to Plymouth since my visit in the 60s.
I visited the cinema in the late 60s. It had been divided in half to include a bingo hall. The design and film equipment (including 70mm) was a close copy of the Odeon Haymarket in London that was converted at roughly the same time. It was one of the few Odeon’s to be equiped with Victoria 10 projectors and Duosonic sound.
I visited the Plaza in the mid 60s and it was the only time that I have ever seen Ross FC projectors They had no framing mechanism and if the film went a perforation out the entire gate and lens was moved up or down
The photograph is of the premier (local) of 2001. The mayor and several local dignitaries attended and the event was covered by the Kilburn times. (Hence the photograph) The event won first prize in the ABC publicity competition, the manager (Wally Jones) won a new Ford Capri and was promoted to the new ABC that had opened in Falmouth. I was the projectionist at the time.
Your explanation of the cinemas evolution is almost “spot on” The foyer of the new ABC was the auditorium of the old cinema and still had projection portholes from what was now the manager’s office. The stained glass window (halfway up the circle staircase) was the loudspeaker gallery of the original that had its 1.37:1 screen laced directly onto the front wall. The entrance lobby was in turn the foyer of the old building. The entire original was “terraced into Chamberlain Rd and closely resembled the Gate (Notting Hill) The "new” cinema was built on spare land at the rear of the main road. Your one error was the original seating capacity which was around 300 and increased to 1600 when the new building opened.
I have the original opening brochure that gives details of everything including the cinema orchestra. Like most cinemas the stage was lost at the introduction of cinemascope. At the time of its closure it was one of only a few cinemas to still be running film on 2000ft reels. I also believe it was the only ABC to be heated by coke boilers. Although oil fired heating was installed on the reconstruction, it was removed at the outbreak of the Second World War.