Comments from edithapearce

Showing 26 - 50 of 191 comments

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Neuadd Dwyfor on Mar 28, 2011 at 3:04 pm

Solomon (Solly) Andrews died in 1908. I can remember once seeing his grave at the Cathays Cemetery. Afterwards the Andrews family business was continued for many years by his sons Francis and Emile.When I worked at the Warner Pathe offices in Cardiff between 1955 and 1960 the WP management still referred to the Andrews current and past cinemas as ‘the Solly Halls’.
In the mid 1950s the Andrews halls booked via the Central Cinema in Cardiff.The king pin of the business at that time was a Mrs. Andrews who lived somewhere near to Roath Park. I can recall visits from the Central Cinema projectionists who complained about the Projectomatic system they had to use. They hated it and as a consequence switched it off and ran the hall manually when the management was not about.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Albert Hall Cinema on Mar 19, 2011 at 3:23 pm

Is the Albert’s projection box, complete with projectors, still intact? In the early 1960s it was regarded by Withers projectionists as being the best positioned box South Wales.

Have there been any attempts to make the Albert a listed building?

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Plaza Cinema on Feb 22, 2011 at 2:19 pm

The Plaza drew many of its patrons from areas well away from the cinema. This being mainly due to the fact that the hall lay very close to a major bus route intersection linking north Cardiff, Llandaff and Cathays. The hall had a car park on its south side plus there was also more than adequate on street parking in North Road. All that changed circa 1968 when the Western Avenue / North Road junction was modified to include a flyover and a bypass. Parking in North Road became impossible and the Plaza car park was too small to cater for (by then) a larger number of car owning patrons.This had a severe effect on the Plaza’s patronage as car owning patrons abandoned the cinema in droves.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Pavilion Cinema on Feb 12, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Thank you for your very helpful and informative posting.
I was born in 1940, grew up in Pontardawe, and was by 1953 an avid cinema fan. Had the Pavilion Cinema been operational during my childhood I’m sure I would be able to remember it. I last visited Pontardawe in 1964 but still have vague memories of the buildings in Church Street. Sadly I cannot recall any building that might once have been a cinema.What I can recall is my father describing it as a tin box of a cinema with constantly failing projectors and always freezing cold in the winter.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Palace Theatre on Jan 29, 2011 at 4:09 pm

I was undertaking relief work at the Forum Cinema in the 1960s and attended the wedding of a fellow Forum projectionist. The reception was held at the Regency Ballroom. The building gave the impression of being an awful example of a 1930’s purpose built ballroom with diabolical acoustics, an inadequate stage for the DJ and an overall air of being poorly maintained and past its sell by date. It did not give an indication of being a former cinema in any way whatsoever.Therefore I was most surprised to learn this evening that it was once a cinema. The Regency was notorious for its Saturday night alcohol free ‘Hops'where the local teenagers met and fought after pre fuelling sessions at the local pubs.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Monico Cinema on Jan 22, 2011 at 3:52 am

The Monico’s four track magnetic sound system was in place when I was doing casual work at the cinema in the early part of the 1960s. I can never ever recall it being used or even a hearing a mention of it being used in past times. The amplifier, in a tall silver cabinet, stood at the back of the box adjacent to the tall black cabinet that contained the Westrex Sound System. The grey magnetic sound head pickup boxes on the projectors were located below the optical sound heads. The Westars and optical boxes required a two finger loop between the feed sprockets. The magnetic units requiring a three finger loop. The Monico projectors had a fast take up from the start so it was common to lace the leaders with six in the gate.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Pavilion Cinema on Jan 21, 2011 at 11:38 pm

I’m now some 7000 plus miles away from South Wales and unlikely ever to return to the UK, let alone my home town of Pontardawe. However, the mystery of the Pavilion Cinema is still haunting me. I’ve looked every where on the internet but apart from a few name only mentions in local history documents ……. I’ve yet to find out any real details of its location or size. I note that Alan Turner appears to be on the spot and an expert at Welsh cinema research. Would he kindly consider looking into this long forgotten hall’s history with the aim of finally satifying an old lady’s curiousity?

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Monico Cinema on Jan 21, 2011 at 11:21 pm

It is interesting to note Eric Evans mention of an organ at the Monico Cinema. I knew the hall quite well from the time I started work at Warner-Pathe in 1955 until I left Cardiff around 1963. I’m one hundred per cent certain that the Monico did not boast an organ whilst I visited the cinema; firstly as a spectator and later as a casual projectionist. Looking back over my career as a jobbing projectionist, I can only ever recall visiting two cinemas in South Wales that boasted working organs.Those were the Capitol and Park Hall cinemas in Cardiff. Alas! I never had the oportunity of working these halls as they did not employ jobbers.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Rialto Cinema on Aug 30, 2010 at 5:57 pm

For this reason most Kalee Regal arcs (Models 11 onwards) had dowsing levers that were positioned on both sides of the arcs. Thus a projectionist could change to the number one machine and immediately afterwards dowse the number two machine. When changing back to the number two machine – as soon as the plates / choppers had been operated the projectionist had to race to the number one machine apply the dowsere and switch the arc off. Failure to quickly apply the dowser would lead to the arc burning through the plates or choppers.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Rialto Cinema on Aug 30, 2010 at 5:48 pm

I recall that the Rialto box contained five portholes. A set of two for each machine plus one larger port next to the dimmers. These dimmer boxes were still in position but derelict in 1963. The larger of the two had obvious controlled the house lights and the smaller box controlled the footies.In most halls the number one projector was the machine on the left of the box and was the opening machine at the start of a show. To effect a changeover the projectionist had to be adjacent to the machine to which the changeover was being made. After the change over, the immediate task of the projectionist was to apply the dowser to the machine that was being retired.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Rialto Cinema on Aug 30, 2010 at 5:38 pm

I am a little bit confused by Mickrick’s comments.I visited the Rialto box circa 1963. The projection equipment had long been removed but marks on the floor suggested that the equipment had been of Kalee origin. W.E.Willis (father of Rex)always favoured Kalee and, with the exception of the Swansea Grand, nearly always installed Kalee 8,11 or 12 machines with Regal arcs and RCA sound in his halls.I operated many of the South Wales 3rd level hall boxes and all were right hand laced machines when facing the screen. I never ever experienced a left hand laced machine throught my career.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Hippodrome Cinema on Aug 18, 2010 at 6:36 pm

PUB chain Wetherspoons has unveiled their ambitious plans for the conversion of the Hippodrome Bingo Club in March.
Wetherspoons have now applied to Fenland District Council for change of use and have detailed the changes they want to make.
A company spokesman said the principal changes include a new front entrance from Dartford Road to include period styled glazed double doors. However the company says the semi circular glazed panel and surrounding art deco feature will remain but will be repaired and repainted where necessary.
On the ground floor the existing sloping floor will be levelled to provide a large open plan customer area.
“The bar area will be designed to reflect the aesthetics of the existing architectural internal characteristics of the building,” said the spokesman.
Wetherspoons also plan to remove the staircase enclosure off Darthill Road and “in doing this it forms a large area where natural daylight can come through. It also allows the company to form a summer opening façade with side opening sliding doors.”
Existing asbestos roof sheets will be removed and replaced with a slate profiled roof system “to blend in with the surrounding roof scape”.
Wetherspons says the existing building is not listed and is not within a conservation area although their proposals will bring about a careful refurbishment.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Drive-In Cinema on Jul 1, 2010 at 8:15 pm

This cinema is now closed.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Pavilion Cinema on Jun 16, 2010 at 12:27 am

I’ve looked at the picture of the pavilion Cinema posted by Lost Memory with some interest. Although I never visited this hall, I spent some considerable time out side of it,trapped in buses that were passing through the A48 Cowbridge traffic bottleneck.
The hall was certainly closed by 1955 and had a considerable air of dereliction at that time. The one thing that I can recall was that the hall was entirely painted a dark shade of blue, which when covered with dust, made it very noticeable.The word “Pavilion” in large white letters was fixed to the front of the canopy ironwork.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Electric Theatre on Jun 13, 2010 at 11:21 pm

The former entrance to the Dominion’s Arcade film vaults can be very clearly seen on Google Earth’s Street View. Look for Crockherbtown Lane. The vault entrance is at the west end of the lane in what is now a blind alley. The words Dominion Arcade and the date are clearly visible.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Central Cinema on Jun 13, 2010 at 11:11 pm

Today I found out how to use Google Earth street View. I looked for the Dominion Arcade film vault’s entrance and actually found it in a street view of Crockherbtown Lane. The entrance is now at the end of very short blind alley. However you can clearly read the words Dominion Arcade and the date.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Ariana Cinema on Jan 20, 2010 at 11:11 pm

There are a number of other cinemas in Kabul apart from the Ariana and the Pamir. However the cinemas in Kabul do very poor business because of the activities of the Taliban and the fact that people prefer to watch DVDs in their own homes or in cafes. Many of them have closed down. The wrecked cinema in the link referred to by Ken Roe is actually named the Cinema Theatre and is located in south west Kabul.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Castle Cinema on Jan 18, 2010 at 11:43 am

I think Alun Turner’s guess about the cafe and dance hall is probably correct. In its early years the Castle Cinema building was split into two parts.One half housed the cinema and the other half housed a drill hall. Maybe it was the drill hall space that was later used as the dance hall and cafe?

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about ABC Cardiff on Jan 16, 2010 at 10:32 pm

Between 1955 and 1960 I worked at the nearby Dominions Arcade vaults. Every week the distributors gave two free passes, to each member of staff, which could be used at any one of the four remaining cinemas operating in Queen Street. The Olympia was at that time considered to be the best operated and most comfortable of the three halls on the north side of Queen Street and this was where I nearly always used my passes.

The Gaumont possessed terrible sound amplification as it sometimes functioned as a theatre which led to it having mobile stage mounted speakers. The Odeon had a box with poor sound insulation. Patrons sitting in the balcony could often hear noises from the box during quiet interludes in the film presentations.

The operating skills of the Olympia projectionists were highly regarded by those in the trade. The hall had a large and permanent box staff so never hired outside jobbers. One of the features I can recall was the way that the projection staff seamlessly operated the cinema so that interval music and lighting was faded up and down almost as if it were a part of the opening or closing sequences of the films being presented. Joins in trailers and ice-cream advertisements were noticed to have professionally blooped out sound tracks that never treated the audience to the bangs and buzzes experienced in more minor halls. Changeovers were slick and almost unnoticeable to those without knowledge of projecting. In my later days as a jobbing minor hall projectionist I always tried, but rarely succeeded owing to inferior equipment, to emulate the standards which I’d previously admired at the Olympia.

Even now, some fifty years on, when I think of the Olympia, I can easily recall the Percy Faith version of “A Summer Place” being carefully faded out as the distributor’s title plate replaced the silent British Board of Censor’s certificate.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Bude Leisure Centre on Jan 10, 2010 at 3:30 am

Error.

Paragraph 2 of my recent entry re: generators should read…..

In my career as a projectionist (1960-75) I can only ever recall two cinemas that possessed engine driven DC generators – both of which had not been used for many years.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Bude Leisure Centre on Jan 9, 2010 at 11:10 pm

A comment about cinema generators. Most of the pre mid 1930s cinemas used DC generators to power their arcs. These generators were usually located within the halls and had their motors in turn powered by AC mains electricity.

In my career as a projectionist (1960-75) I can only ever recall two cinemas that possessed motor driven DC generators – both of which had not been used for many years. In each case the generators were located in out buildings away from the main hall so that the noise of the engine did not disturb the performance and so that the exhaust fumes could easily access the environment.

Halls that possessed AC mains driven DC generators usually housed them within the hall, in many cases in a purpose built generator room at the back of the box (example Cardiff Globe) or alternatively in the same location as the air conditioning plant (example Penarth Washington).

I would think that by the late 1930s the use of mercury arc rectifiers had become common and the expensive to operate DC generators made obsolete. Better financed halls usually installed two mercury arc rectifiers each of which could power two arcs and sometimes a slide lantern as well. One of the two rectifiers being kept as a standby and the devices alternated each week (example Cardiff Monico and Plaza) Less well off halls installed one mercury arc rectifier and retained their DC generator as the standby system should the rectifier(s) fail. Kalee with the advent of their later series of Regal Arcs introduced smaller rectifiers which were capable of powering one arc. Each arc having its own rectifier located in a cabinet immediately behind the arc and switched on only when the arc was in use (Caerphilly Castle and Workmens’ Hall). Usually most Kalee individual arcs were run on the medium rectifier setting with the rectifier being turned up to high when a cross wired lantern was additionally in use.

Long after the mains DC generators ceased to be used, they remained in halls corroding away. The reason probably being their extreme weight and the fact that it was too much of an effort, for too little a return, to move them.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Bude Leisure Centre on Jan 9, 2010 at 10:22 pm

Thank you for correcting my original entry. The last time I saw this hall was some time around 1964. I therefore made my entry to Cinema Treasures mainly from memory and from news of its later demise provided by a friend resident in Barnstable. Even now, some forty-six years on, the image of the white and sharply structured facade is still clearly burnt into my mind. It was indeed a beautiful building and rightly fit for purpose.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Capitol Cinema on Dec 29, 2009 at 9:50 pm

I heard today, from an old school friend,that the Capitol was demolished in 1995.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Kino Cinema on Dec 27, 2009 at 4:54 am

The Kino duly shut its doors for good after the 7pm showing of “Shine” on Sunday 29th of November 2009.

edithapearce
edithapearce commented about Kino Cinema on Dec 27, 2009 at 4:51 am

The local community in Cork City held a meeting on November 2nd at the Opera House to discuss a rescue plan for this cinema. further details at www.savethekino.com Below I attach a message from the would be rescuers.

It has been announced that the Kino is to close its doors this Sunday 29th November. We understand that discussions will continue between the owner of the Kino, Mick Hannigan, and the City Manager, Joe Gavin. We remain together as a committee, are still hopeful and will keep you up-to-date with any new developments.

The Save the Kino bank account will suspend accepting donations from close of business Monday 30th November next until we have a clearer picture of any progress. The current balance is E4384.44. To date E900 approx. has been incurred in expenses used to further publicize the Save the Kino campaign – leaflets, publicity t-shirts and website expenses. No further expenses have been incurred. The current balance of E4384.44 and any further contributions lodged before close of business on Monday 30th November 2009 will be held in trust (view trust document at www.savethekino.com)) to hopefully be put towards any viable project for re-opening the Kino.

A big thanks to all who have supported the campaign so far, financially and otherwise. We hope this will continue and that we will have some positive news soon!

The Kino will continue screenings this weekend.