New Coliseum Cinema

What a pity, no interior photos survive, I`d love to see the inside again…

The one person who may have been able to answer, Norman Cully, is no longer with us but I am guessing , going by the style of the facade (Ionic pilasters etc), that it would indeed date back to 1919 when the building was modified as a silent cinema.

I am thus inclined therefore to ‘stick my head above the parapet’ and assume that the date on the aeriel view shot is incorrect as in 1929, when ABC acquired the place, Art Deco was becoming all the rage and much more modern looking than the architectural style of the – admittedly impressive – Coliseum FOH.

Norman said that the building would have had severe limitations even as a theatre, for whilst the stage depth was considerable, there was no fly tower (once again the Essoldo had the advantage). However, it had been an important concert venue, he told me, and the likes of Billy Ternent and his Orchestra made frequent appearances there during WW2.

I was the Assistant to Norman Cully at the ABC Sunderland many decades ago and he had managed the Coliseum for a lengthy period prior to his Sunderland appointment. He told me some very amusing stories about the place and the characters who met up in ‘The Victoria’ next door.

Re the Coliseum: Norman always said that the best part of it was the foyer and , having once had a ‘peep’ inside the place when it had gone over to Bingo, I would be inclined to agree as the ‘Scope screen must have been a real 'Letterbox’ affair. In stark contrast , another Coliseum cinema (Glasgow) owned and operated by ABC was, after Cinerama conversion, to boast (at 90 feet) the widest screen in the UK.

The Assistant Manager of the Coliseum, Cathy Taylor,long before the Coliseum’s closure, transferred to the Haymarket Newcastle where I got to know her very well. She and Norman remained good friends throughout her lifetime.

One of the Coliseum’s projectionists, Fred Norris, also transferred to the Haymarket (at around the same time as Miss Taylor) where he became ‘Second’ to Chief, Arthur White and upon whose retirement Fred succeeded him. He later transferred to the ABC Westgate Road (former Essoldo) where he was my Chief for a number of years. I was recently informed that he had sadly passed away on Christmas Eve 2019.

I can recall visiting this cinema in 1970 to see “Where Eagles Dare” does anyone know for sure the exact date this was shown..

I used to go to the ABC Minors matinees held every Saturday at the Coliseum during 1948/49.

Doctor Zhivago was of course in Panavision not Cinemascope. One Wide screen film that was very poular here was Zulu, which was shown several times. The last time that I saw it at the New Coliseum, the opening scene following the titles, which features bare-breasted Zulu women performing a dance, was missing. Were there objections to this scene, or could someone have removed it for their personal collection? Curiously, despite this scene, and the violence in some other scenes, it was still given a U certificate.

This cinema was the last ABC cinema in the region to be equiped for cinemascope pictures. From May 1955, Cinemascope pictures that would normaly be expected to screen here were shown instead at the Essoldo and the New Coliseum did not screen them here until October 1956 when an MGM picture “Viva Las Vegas” was shown. It is possible that because of it’s origins as a theatre, it was difficult to fit a reasonable sized Cinemascope screen, which may also be why it had a rising festoon curtain (which I think was red) rather than the more usual side opening tabs. It was certainly the case that the Essoldo had a larger screen. Nevertheless in the summer of 1967, Doctor Zhivago was shown here and ran for four weeks. The last programme to be shown was Dirty Dingus Magee + The Extraordinary Seaman.