An aerial view of the Palladium Cinema Pwllheli. A great example of pre-war art-deco architecture. The main foyer was tiled with black glass. To the right hand side is a small sweet-shop called “The Chocolate Box” . On the first floor there was a cafe – open all day.
I believe that a Mr Rigby – a native of Beaumaris was also a partner in establishing the cinema. It became part of the North Wales Paramount Circuit. At Christmas live pantomimes were performed on the rather confined stage.
I believe the current structure – illustrated in the Google photo – incorporates some of the original walls of the building. Entrance was via a foyer in the front of the building and patrons exited via this and emergency doors opening onto Post Office lane.
Here is John Hughes the Palladium’s projectionist – wearing jeans and denim in 1956 – long before they were in fashion.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=15fd87c5d4&view=att&th=11ec01698f7aa737&attid=0.5&disp=inline&realattid=file4&zw
John – or “John Palladium” as he was called – was also a diver and a lobster fisherman. He and jack Lewis used to go out to catch mackerell and empty their lobster pots every morning at 4.00am, then return home at 9am to start work at the Palladium where they finished their day at 10.30 pm. The Palladium’s manager, Jack Lewis is photographed here – working in his little office to the left of the cinema foyer.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=15fd87c5d4&view=att&th=11ec01698f7aa737&attid=0.14&disp=inline&realattid=file13&zw
Both John Palladium and Jack Lewis have now passed away – but this note is a salute to them and all the staff of the Palladium, Pwllheli
My uncle, J E (Jack) Lewis, was the manager of the Palladium Cinema. I spent much of my summer holidays in Pwllheli in the operating box – a hot and noisy place where the clatter of the Gaumont Kalee projectors was almost overwhelmed by the volume of the film audio coming from a speaker with the level cranked up to the max.
There was a first and second house each evening with matinees on Saturdays (for children) and at midweek. Each house closed with a film of the National Anthem – a short film of the Queen trooping the colour with the anthem playing on the sound track. The audience always stood up at this point.
Another job for the projectionist was to operate the switch to start the curtains closing. Because they took a while to close (the screen was a big one) this had to be done on the word at the point in the national anthem where the word “victorious” would have been sung. If he got it right the curtains would be fully closed by the time the anthem ended. There sound track was just a military band so the projectionist had to mentally “sing” the anthem in his head whilst the film ran in order to flick the switch at the right point.
Interval music was played in from 78rpm discs on a single turntable. Again it was a challenge to the manual dexterity of the projectionst (or more usually the assistant projectionist) to minimise the time between the end of one record and the start of the next.The new record was slid down onto the turntable from the left forearm of the projectionist whilst his left hand removed the old record and his right hand moved the arm of the gramophone. With practice there was a barely discernible gap between the two records.
The key job was to look after the 35mm film. The feature movie changed every two days – so there was a new programme to be put together every two days – along with shorts, travelogues, documentaries, (like the March of Time) and cartoons (eg “Mighty Mouse” or “Tom and Jerry”.
When each new batch of features and shorts arrived at the Palladium (delivered in metal containers in special fireproof delivery vans) they were run through on a winder before being put in sequence into one of a numbered rank of specially-made fireproof metal cupboards. Every join in the film was checked by John by hand and usually remade by him with film cement to make sure it didn’t break during the performance. (He never trusted the joins made by other projectionists on the Paramount Circuit)
When the show started it was a matter of starting at reel one and going on, reel by reel, until the end (the National Athem) . Each reel would be taken out in sequence, threaded into the projector. As the previous reel on the other projector came to an end e a round dot mark would appear on the top right hand of the screen. This was the signal to run the second projector and operate the lever to open the metal plate which protected the film from the hot light of the arc lamp.
The projectionist then had to watch for the second “dot” (top right hand of the screen again). This was the change-over signal – the point at which interconnected shutters were simultaneously operated on both prokectors – cutting off the light from the first projector and allowing the light from the from the second projector to hit the screen.
The light in each projector was generated by carbon arcs encased in glass which gradually burned down during each run. An automatic feed system kept the carbons towards the incandescent burn point – but they also needed constant manual adjustment to ensure the light was at the optimum. This was gauged by a simple transluscent indicator on the side of the projector which showed where the burn point was in relation to the optimum position.
The Palladium showed Pathe newsreels which arrived by Crosville bus – but which were sometimes up to 13 days old. The manager – Jack Lewis – always complained to head office when this happened
The Palladium also had a cafe at first floor level which was open all day and was a favourite haunt of local retired sea-captains who used to meet there for coffee most mornings.
An aerial view of the Palladium Cinema Pwllheli. A great example of pre-war art-deco architecture. The main foyer was tiled with black glass. To the right hand side is a small sweet-shop called “The Chocolate Box” . On the first floor there was a cafe – open all day.
I believe that a Mr Rigby – a native of Beaumaris was also a partner in establishing the cinema. It became part of the North Wales Paramount Circuit. At Christmas live pantomimes were performed on the rather confined stage. I believe the current structure – illustrated in the Google photo – incorporates some of the original walls of the building. Entrance was via a foyer in the front of the building and patrons exited via this and emergency doors opening onto Post Office lane.
Here is John Hughes the Palladium’s projectionist – wearing jeans and denim in 1956 – long before they were in fashion. https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=15fd87c5d4&view=att&th=11ec01698f7aa737&attid=0.5&disp=inline&realattid=file4&zw John – or “John Palladium” as he was called – was also a diver and a lobster fisherman. He and jack Lewis used to go out to catch mackerell and empty their lobster pots every morning at 4.00am, then return home at 9am to start work at the Palladium where they finished their day at 10.30 pm. The Palladium’s manager, Jack Lewis is photographed here – working in his little office to the left of the cinema foyer. https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=15fd87c5d4&view=att&th=11ec01698f7aa737&attid=0.14&disp=inline&realattid=file13&zw Both John Palladium and Jack Lewis have now passed away – but this note is a salute to them and all the staff of the Palladium, Pwllheli
My uncle, J E (Jack) Lewis, was the manager of the Palladium Cinema. I spent much of my summer holidays in Pwllheli in the operating box – a hot and noisy place where the clatter of the Gaumont Kalee projectors was almost overwhelmed by the volume of the film audio coming from a speaker with the level cranked up to the max. There was a first and second house each evening with matinees on Saturdays (for children) and at midweek. Each house closed with a film of the National Anthem – a short film of the Queen trooping the colour with the anthem playing on the sound track. The audience always stood up at this point. Another job for the projectionist was to operate the switch to start the curtains closing. Because they took a while to close (the screen was a big one) this had to be done on the word at the point in the national anthem where the word “victorious” would have been sung. If he got it right the curtains would be fully closed by the time the anthem ended. There sound track was just a military band so the projectionist had to mentally “sing” the anthem in his head whilst the film ran in order to flick the switch at the right point. Interval music was played in from 78rpm discs on a single turntable. Again it was a challenge to the manual dexterity of the projectionst (or more usually the assistant projectionist) to minimise the time between the end of one record and the start of the next.The new record was slid down onto the turntable from the left forearm of the projectionist whilst his left hand removed the old record and his right hand moved the arm of the gramophone. With practice there was a barely discernible gap between the two records. The key job was to look after the 35mm film. The feature movie changed every two days – so there was a new programme to be put together every two days – along with shorts, travelogues, documentaries, (like the March of Time) and cartoons (eg “Mighty Mouse” or “Tom and Jerry”. When each new batch of features and shorts arrived at the Palladium (delivered in metal containers in special fireproof delivery vans) they were run through on a winder before being put in sequence into one of a numbered rank of specially-made fireproof metal cupboards. Every join in the film was checked by John by hand and usually remade by him with film cement to make sure it didn’t break during the performance. (He never trusted the joins made by other projectionists on the Paramount Circuit) When the show started it was a matter of starting at reel one and going on, reel by reel, until the end (the National Athem) . Each reel would be taken out in sequence, threaded into the projector. As the previous reel on the other projector came to an end e a round dot mark would appear on the top right hand of the screen. This was the signal to run the second projector and operate the lever to open the metal plate which protected the film from the hot light of the arc lamp. The projectionist then had to watch for the second “dot” (top right hand of the screen again). This was the change-over signal – the point at which interconnected shutters were simultaneously operated on both prokectors – cutting off the light from the first projector and allowing the light from the from the second projector to hit the screen. The light in each projector was generated by carbon arcs encased in glass which gradually burned down during each run. An automatic feed system kept the carbons towards the incandescent burn point – but they also needed constant manual adjustment to ensure the light was at the optimum. This was gauged by a simple transluscent indicator on the side of the projector which showed where the burn point was in relation to the optimum position. The Palladium showed Pathe newsreels which arrived by Crosville bus – but which were sometimes up to 13 days old. The manager – Jack Lewis – always complained to head office when this happened The Palladium also had a cafe at first floor level which was open all day and was a favourite haunt of local retired sea-captains who used to meet there for coffee most mornings.