Good to hear that The Clive still stands – I had been told that it had been flattened but haven’t visited the area for some time.
I worked at the Regent in the late 60s/early 70s – so post Scope – but went to the theatre as a punter for some years before that. Scope installation would have made no difference to the lines of sight. The prosc was ideally proportioned to take the new format and the auditorium was parallel sided – so no seat would have had a restricted view. The scope screen frame was positioned immediately behind the main tabs – the fixings for the original academy frame were visible futher upstage. The front row of the stalls was about 3 feet from the original fixed orchestra pit and the back row was right against the back wall. Seating ran from side wall to side wall with two gangways. The circle seating was also wall to wall with a single centre aisle and on a fixed stepped structure. The only way the capacity could have been originally 800 would be if the space between rows in the stalls had been smaller – which would have made things very uncomfortable to say the least… but that’s not to say that it might not have been done!
This cinema re-opened a few months after the closure detailed above. Its revised policy of showing full length features in the IMAX format seems to have been successful. See http://www.imax.ac/ (official site).
I’d love to know where they put the 800 Ken – both the Pola and its sister cinema the Regent in Newtown seated 560 in tightly packed rows – I worked at both and I’m certain that the formation hadn’t changed since opening… in fact very little changed at any of the Paramount theatres until after Guy B’s death. Times were lean and seats were recovered using unmatched reclaimed cloth (the effect was like a giant unplanned patchwork)– the original seats were in their original places right up to 1983.
I seem to recall that the entrances at street level were amalgamated but that you still went down a separate staircase to the two tiny Cinecenta screens.
In the 70s and 80s this was the best cinema in Brum – it had a well proportioned auditorium and good picture and sound. We used to wait for films to move from the Gaumont where 35mm films strained to fill the giant screen.
The 1983 refurb followed a fire caused by a dropped cigarette end in the auditorium – couldn’t happen today!
I was brought up in Newtown and was projectionist/odd job man at the Regent in the late 1960s/early 1970s – so can offer the following clarifications and additions:-
The Scala occupied only the rear part of the building (the portion that became the Regent’s stage). Local oldies used to tell of the fun to be had in pushing over the unfixed bench seating – if you pushed the back row the rest went over in a domino effect. It could never have held 200. There was no stage.
Paramount Picture Theatres (North Wales) was founded by a Mr Baylis. Guy Baker acquired it soon after the second world war. It had 21 theatres in 1952 but had dwindled to 9 by 1970. Paramount also owned the town’s other cinema, the Victoria Hall in Park Street (demolished c1975). This closed when the larger Regent opened.
The 1937 conversion created a 560 (not 800) seater theatre (210 in the circle) with stage and dressing rooms – two small and two larger ones. There was no ballroom – there were the remnants of a sprung floor dating from one of the building’s previous incarnations. The basement was used for storage from 1937 until the River Severn decided to flood (1964 I think)and drenched a local furniture store’s carpet stock.
The first manager was George Black – a Londoner who soon became a Newtown institution. The Regent was commonly known as Georgie’s and he was to be seen every morning, in pinstripe suit and black homburg, carrying the takings to the bank in a rather obvious cloth bag. Georgie stayed at the Regent until his death in the late 1960s. Mrs Black ruled the box office.
For years the cinema ran a split week – one programme Mon, Tues, Wed which was then crossed over with its sister cinema in Welshpool (The Pola) for Thur, Fri and Sat.
Bingo started in the mid ‘60s and was on a Thursday night (my night off) – the first session was graced by Pat Phoenix of Coronation Street. The theatre always ran a limited programme of stage shows – Charlie Chester appeared there during the war and there were concerts and variety shows. There were locally produced pantos from the early 1970s until the closure in 1983.
The current night club occupies the stalls area and there’s a pub in the foyer basement.
Good to hear that The Clive still stands – I had been told that it had been flattened but haven’t visited the area for some time.
I worked at the Regent in the late 60s/early 70s – so post Scope – but went to the theatre as a punter for some years before that. Scope installation would have made no difference to the lines of sight. The prosc was ideally proportioned to take the new format and the auditorium was parallel sided – so no seat would have had a restricted view. The scope screen frame was positioned immediately behind the main tabs – the fixings for the original academy frame were visible futher upstage. The front row of the stalls was about 3 feet from the original fixed orchestra pit and the back row was right against the back wall. Seating ran from side wall to side wall with two gangways. The circle seating was also wall to wall with a single centre aisle and on a fixed stepped structure. The only way the capacity could have been originally 800 would be if the space between rows in the stalls had been smaller – which would have made things very uncomfortable to say the least… but that’s not to say that it might not have been done!
This cinema re-opened a few months after the closure detailed above. Its revised policy of showing full length features in the IMAX format seems to have been successful. See http://www.imax.ac/ (official site).
I’d love to know where they put the 800 Ken – both the Pola and its sister cinema the Regent in Newtown seated 560 in tightly packed rows – I worked at both and I’m certain that the formation hadn’t changed since opening… in fact very little changed at any of the Paramount theatres until after Guy B’s death. Times were lean and seats were recovered using unmatched reclaimed cloth (the effect was like a giant unplanned patchwork)– the original seats were in their original places right up to 1983.
I seem to recall that the entrances at street level were amalgamated but that you still went down a separate staircase to the two tiny Cinecenta screens.
In the 70s and 80s this was the best cinema in Brum – it had a well proportioned auditorium and good picture and sound. We used to wait for films to move from the Gaumont where 35mm films strained to fill the giant screen.
The 1983 refurb followed a fire caused by a dropped cigarette end in the auditorium – couldn’t happen today!
Correction to the above: The Pola seated 560 – not 800
I was brought up in Newtown and was projectionist/odd job man at the Regent in the late 1960s/early 1970s – so can offer the following clarifications and additions:-
The Scala occupied only the rear part of the building (the portion that became the Regent’s stage). Local oldies used to tell of the fun to be had in pushing over the unfixed bench seating – if you pushed the back row the rest went over in a domino effect. It could never have held 200. There was no stage.
Paramount Picture Theatres (North Wales) was founded by a Mr Baylis. Guy Baker acquired it soon after the second world war. It had 21 theatres in 1952 but had dwindled to 9 by 1970. Paramount also owned the town’s other cinema, the Victoria Hall in Park Street (demolished c1975). This closed when the larger Regent opened.
The 1937 conversion created a 560 (not 800) seater theatre (210 in the circle) with stage and dressing rooms – two small and two larger ones. There was no ballroom – there were the remnants of a sprung floor dating from one of the building’s previous incarnations. The basement was used for storage from 1937 until the River Severn decided to flood (1964 I think)and drenched a local furniture store’s carpet stock.
The first manager was George Black – a Londoner who soon became a Newtown institution. The Regent was commonly known as Georgie’s and he was to be seen every morning, in pinstripe suit and black homburg, carrying the takings to the bank in a rather obvious cloth bag. Georgie stayed at the Regent until his death in the late 1960s. Mrs Black ruled the box office.
For years the cinema ran a split week – one programme Mon, Tues, Wed which was then crossed over with its sister cinema in Welshpool (The Pola) for Thur, Fri and Sat.
Bingo started in the mid ‘60s and was on a Thursday night (my night off) – the first session was graced by Pat Phoenix of Coronation Street. The theatre always ran a limited programme of stage shows – Charlie Chester appeared there during the war and there were concerts and variety shows. There were locally produced pantos from the early 1970s until the closure in 1983.
The current night club occupies the stalls area and there’s a pub in the foyer basement.