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Picture Palaces Revisited
In his talk to the Society on 16th January,
Tony Moss, President of the Cinema Theatre Association, took
us on a tour of the many different types of building used for
cinema entertainment from 1896 to the present day.
In the ear ly days, around the turn of the
century, the Bioscope days, films formed part of the programme
at variety theatres, or were shown in fairground booths or pier
pavilions. But purpose-built cinemas soon followed. In London
the Polytechnic Cinema was established in the Regent Street building
of the Polytechnic - and in Croydon the Station Picture Hall
in Station Road West Croydon - the facade of which still exists
- were representative of them. The films, silent in those days,
required musical accompaniment, usually by piano; but pipe organs
began to be installed from about 1909 onwards. The American firm
Wurlitzer was the dominant name in this field, but British Compton
and Christie organs were also used with varying success. The
cinema organ after the coming of sound to the cinema in 1928
became a feature in its own right, and the organ interlude became
an essential element of an evening at the pictures
After the relatively plain cinemas of the
early days, the picture palaces run by large and powerful chains
grew in size and magnificence, the sumptuous decor exemplified
by such cinemas as the Granada Tooting, built 1931, with a neo-classical
facade, behind which lay a palatial interior, designed by Theodore
Komisarjevsky, comprising a huge foyer like a baronial hall with
a grand staircase, a hall of mirrors, and a vast auditorium seating
over 3000 with gothic arches and a touch of Moorish influence.
This cinema, a grade 1 listed building, remains in use as a bingo
hall. Its equally magnificent Croydon contemporary, the Davis
Theatre, with its grand entrance foyer , ballroom and impressive
interior was wantonly destroyed in 1959, depriving Croydon of
a building of outstanding merit and great practical value as
a venue not only for cinema, but also orchestral concerts, opera
and ballet .
Cinema design in the twenties and thirties
was marked by the developrrient of the "atmospheric"
interior, with architectural features representing exotic locations
- in many ways reflecting the character and locations of the
films shown there. Such feature as twinkling stars and in one
case moving representations of human figures exotically clad,
traversing the battlements during intermissions in the programme.
Other architectural trends were quick to reach the cinema, art
deco interiors becoming popular, the most outstanding example
of which was the Odeon Leicester Square, recently restored to
something of its former magnificence. The Odeon chain specialized
in streamlined exteriors, with a tower whenever local conditions
permitted .
The golden age of cinema building came to
an end with the second world war, although a few new cinemas
of more chaste design than their predecessors were opened up
to the end of the fifties. Television was thought by some to
have ended the era of the cinema, but they have been proved wrong
and the muti-screen cinema, at first formed by division of existing
buildings, but more recently by purpose-built multi-screens such
as the Warner at Valley Park have proved popular .
Tony Moss's talk was a delight: entertaining
as well as instructive, well illustrated by a plethora of excellent
slides and, let it be said, awakening the fond memories of not
a few of us of the great days of the picture palaces.
Geoffrey Myers
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