Princess Cinema
168 North Promenade,
Blackpool,
FY1 1RE
168 North Promenade,
Blackpool,
FY1 1RE
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 35 of 35 comments
Hello ‘Love Cinema’.
It is good to see someone extolling the virtues of ABC Theatres for a change…….
They were really underrated, having ‘missed the boat’ in certain larger cities where the Paramounts were acquired by Odeon although ABC did have ‘first refusal’ on those properties back in the early 1940’s.
I started in the industry as a Trainee Manager in the early 1970’s and became an Assistant Manager of various grades (ABC had four grades below that of ‘House Manager’ which was the ‘launching post’ to becoming a Manager – or General Manager – in key locations). During this period I carried out relief duties all over the north of England and Scotland and there were too many places to list here…..
ABC’s where I was Manager & Licensee were South Shields, Darlington, Chester and the two large venues in Newcastle upon Tyne.
The two in Newcastle (Westgate Road and Haymarket) had at one time seated 2200 and 2002 respectively whilst the smallest (Darlington) was a ‘mere’ 1620.
I saw the very end of the ‘proper cinema’ era when presentation with the use of house and screen tabs was the norm whilst you actually could experience a ‘sense of occasion’ that is now sadly lacking, notwithstanding the comfort and state of the art digital projection and sound of today. As far as I am concerned nothing can match the 70mm and 6 track magnetic stereo we had in many of our ‘key’ theatres back then.
The venues I have mentioned are included together with photos on this site.
Best regards
Terry
That’s the word I was looking for “so atmospheric” – the Princess Theatre. Thanks Terry.
The ABC/Church Street: Used to see wonderful Summer Shows whilst staying in Blackpool with my british stepfather and family in the 70’s. I experienced it being converted into Cinema and saw “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” back in 1984 in “Screen 1” of ABC.
Personelly I was so shocked reading about “The ABC” to be demolished (Blackpool Gazette) to make way for another…. car park! So, the iconic and historical ABC- Building is “History” by now and I wonder if the council will regret their foolish decision. It’s a disgrace, really.
You worked for the ABC? What was your profession at ABC, may I ask? I’ve grown up in a family with Cinematic Background here and the cinematic history dates back to 1928, when my Great-Grandfather opened the first Cinema in our small town of Balingen. Well it doesn’t date me, :), but I grew up with Cinema, I’ve always loved it and always will love it.
It was a new and lovely experience to visit one or two of Blackpools cinematic “Crown-Jewels”, which I will never forget.
It was a very nice cinema and I remember it well. I worked for ABC for many years and they had some very nice theatres indeed. Blackpool had to be one of the jewels in the crown with the wonderful ABC Theatre, Church Street and the atmospheric Princess, North Shore.
Well Terry, I think you’re right, must have been in the ODEON, Dickson Road (another very impressive building). Still, I’ve been to the Princess Cinema, must have been so impressed, that I forgot about the movie :)
‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ would have played at the Odeon, Dickson Road.
There seems to be no interior photograph/s of this beautiful cinema from the 60’s or late 70’s. What a shame, really. I saw “James Bond – The Spy Who Loved Me” at the “Princess”,while staying in Blackpool for the summer. I was sitting in the vast Balcony with my mother and we were very impressed by it’s beautiful interior and big screen. Greetings from Germany Christina
I saw The Shining and The Exorcist and Exorcist II here as well as, I think it was here, a double bill of Assault on Precinct 13 and Halloween. Happy memories!
Finished off my work as a projectionist here in 1978.
Saw ‘Paint Your Wagon’ at the ABC Princess in 70mm in 1969. Not the best of 70mm theatres, though the sound was reasonable.
Here is photograph I took of the ABC Princess Cinema in June 1963:
http://flickr.com/photos/kencta/244008287/