ABC Stourbridge
158 Lower High Street,
Stourbridge,
DY8 1TS
158 Lower High Street,
Stourbridge,
DY8 1TS
2 people
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The frontage and foyer now remain but the auditorium and the rest of the building are now gutted.Another great loss after the demolition of the Odeon to the fine cinemas Stourbridge once had.The original stage lay lost and forgotten behind the new widened cinemascope proscenium along with the dressing rooms. It was used in the 1920s and 30s for Variety and repertory.I remember it in the 60s as the ABC, being very smart and well run with its traditional long ornate auditorium, barrel-vaulted ceiling and ABC house style chandeliers and a steep balcony. The high new wide proscenium ,screen and curtains blended in well.
Prior to The ABC take over it was run as part of the BT Davis Circuit of Birmingham…
Does anyone have any pictures of the ABC/Scala/Savoy cinema auditorium on here? This was my first cinema encounter & i would love to see inside the auditorium again.
Have Loaded a picture of the Sales Kiosk.. The Scala before ABC. was part of the B.T. Davis Group of Birmingham…
The above photo of the old time commissionaire reminds me of the classic British picture “The Smallest Show On Earth” with the remarkable Bernard Miles standing outside the Bijou… a film I shall never tire of watching, especially as Peter Sellers is the drunk projectionist and Margaret Rutherford as the dotty old cashier.
In the early days The Theatre did Cine-Variety, When I did reliefs (Management) there I did a lot of exploring of the building. Behind the Pros that was built for Cinemascope. There was the original Theatre one intact complete with dressing rooms… Full of Junk… The Manager at the time had been told for years and years that it would be given a refurbishment. When it finally came.. He had a heart attack and died… Hmmm.. We always thought it was shock…
Joseph Lawden was my grandfather, though I never met him as he died suddenly of pneumonia in 1933 aged 45. He was apparently a kind father and a talented architect. In the depression he suffered financially when houses that he had built became unsaleable and he sadly took to drink. As a Methodist he would not have approved of his cinema becoming a lap dancing club.
This cinema was tatty and rather sad in its last years. However, for a local lad of 14, it had the major advantage of very lax standards and it was very easy to therefore waltz into X certificates. Strangely, it generally always seemed rather busy (at least in the evenings) therefore it’s closure seemed odd at the time.
The ABC photographed playing the ABC release in April 1968:
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