St James' Picturedrome

In the Dingle district of Liverpool, the St James' Picturedrome, a stadium-style cinema with 870 seats, opened on 6th March 1914, the date its Cinematograph Licence was granted to St James' Picturedrome Co. Ltd.

Initially a small orchestra accompanied the silent films, but in the mid-1920’s manager W. H. Lennon successfully applied for a singing and dancing licence, which permitted four variety acts per performance. A 7ft deep stage and a dressing room were constructed.

On 9th June 1930 the talkies arrived with the installation of a British Thomson-Houston(BTH) sound system, with Gloria Swanson in “The Trespasser”.

In the 1950’s, modernisation completely changed the cinema’s appearance. The central dome and glass verandah were replaced by a plain, ‘modern’ frontage. A neon cinema sign and a modern canopy were also added. Interestingly, the Kinematograph Year Book for 1953 indicates that the seating capacity had been increased, to 929.

Despite these efforts, the cinema closed on 5th March 1960, with a double bill of “The Mating Game”, starring Tony Randall and Debbie Reynolds, and Keith Larsen and Buddy Ebsen in “Frontier Rangers”.

The building was subsequently demolished to make way for a new road system.

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