You Only Live Twice did not reach the midlands until October 1st 1967, when it opened at the Odeon, New Street for a four week run. It would not have played local Birmingham cinemas until after this.
This was the only one of the Ex-Paramounts to become the city’s Rank roadshow house. In Birmingham it was the West End and later the Gaumont, in Manchester the Gaumont and the Oxford, in Leeds the Majestic, in Newcastle the Queens and the Pavilion and in Glasgow the Gaumont. Usually smaller seating capacities were preferred for roadshows.
The ABC Bristol Road played three strip Cinerama from September 14th 1963 to January 9th 1965. It was then converted to 70mm single lens Cinerama. The Three strip presentations were:– How the West Was Won, 27 weeks. Seven Wonders of the World, 8 weeks. South Seas Adventure, 4 weeks. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 16 weeks. Windjammer, 7 weeks. Search For Paradise, 3 weeks. This is Cinerama, 3 weeks and finally The Best of Cinerama, 4 weeks.
The conversion to three strip Cinerama was an expensive waste of money. ABC had already converted the ABC Bristol Road and had access to the best film in the process (How the West Was Won). The Gaumont opened with Cinerama Holiday, played it for nine weeks and then closed again for ten days while the 3 strip kit was ripped out and replaced with 70mm for the opening of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World on December 26th, which at least could be advertised as “in Cinerama” (albeit single lens). In June 1964 when The Fall of the Roman Empire opened, the Cinerama tag had to be dropped.
Further research shows that the ABC Coleshill St. (as it was known by then) closed for 70mm installation from October 11th to October 21st 1964. It opened the next day with Cheyenne Autumn in 70mm for a three and a half week run. The ABC Bristol Road closed for Cinerama installation in May 1963, so if the 70mm kit came from there it must have been in store somewhere for over a year.
Between 1954 and 1958 the Futurist was the Birmingham outlet for 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films, following the bust up between Fox and Rank over the cost of ‘Scope installations and the extended run policy.
From 1954 to 1958, La Scala was the Glasgow home of 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films. This followed Fox and Rank falling out over the cost of ‘Scope installations and extended runs and the creation of the Fox (or Fourth)circuit.
The Regal can be seen in several movies of the fifties/sixties including The Sound Barrier and several B movies shot at Walton studios. One of these, The Third Alibi, also has a scene shot in the foyer.
Alan Baker
commented about
1958on
Nov 2, 2017 at 9:17 am
It should read cannot be admitted, At that time X certificate meant 16 or over and applied to the whole programme even if the support (as in this case) was an “A” (which meant that under 16’s had to be accompanied by an adult). Somebody has screwed up with the copy.
A couple of small points. As the 70mm kit came from the ABC Bristol Road (which was being converted to 3 strip Cinerama), the projectors were almost certainly DP70s rather than the later DP75. As for only having the 70mm kit for eighteen months, Allen Eyles ABC book says the Gaiety had the Midlands premiere of My Fair Lady, which would not have been until 1966.
Difficult for Mike Todd to appear, considering that he had been dead for ten years. Was it Mike Todd Jr.? This was the first 70mm presentation of Around the World in 80 Days in London, the 1957 – 1959 roadshow presentation at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road having been in 34mm (yes really).
All VistaVision films were advertised as being in VistaVision, and carried an on screen credit to that effect. The fact that they were standard 35mm vertical reduction prints was irrelevant, the process was promoted as Motion Picture High Fidelity as it produced sharper images than standard 35mm blown up to widescreen. Paramount’s recommended ratio for VistaVision was 1.85:1. London actually had two horizontal eight perf VistaVision venues, Paramount’s Plaza, Lower Regent Street and Rank’s Odeon Leicester Square (Rank had adopted VistaVision as a snub to 20th Century Fox who had taken their CinemaScope films away from the Rank circuits in a dispute over full ‘Scope installations and extended runs).
Sorry, Fanatical, you may need even more medication. When Oklahoma! was shown at the Odeon Leicester Square in the 35mm CinemaScope version, it was the European premiere on September 6th 1956 and the run was not a roadshow, it was continuous with four shows a day. After eight weeks (a long run at the time) it transferred to the Odeon Marble Arch for a further twelve weeks. The Todd-AO 30 fps version of Oklahoma! opened at the newly DP70 equipped Metropole on December 26th 1959, the first appearance in the UK of the 70mm version. This was a roadshow presentation (i.e. two shows a day, advance booking). It ran for a fairly modest ten weeks.
Following the Royal Film Performance on February 26th 1962, West Side Story began its public roadshow run the next day at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, not the Metropole. The Odeon didn’t run 70mm again until Lawrence of Arabia which opened on December 10th 1962. After eight weeks Lawrence transferred to the Metropole for a 98 week run!
The drop wall dividing the rear stalls was brought forward to make a bigger bingo section. This still left a total of around 1,800 seats with the circle and remaining front stalls seating and live shows continued until the end, although some acts objected to playing to “the wall”. Rank’s Training Centre was located here and I was on an Assistant Manager’s course in the spring of 1979. Course manager was Keith Cheney, but Bill Weir took some sessions. WW, as he was referred to, moved on to the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road and then the Odeon Leicester Square. The projection box was located at the back of the dome and I remember being impressed at what looked like a near 45 degree projection rake!
The first Odeon to be tripled was Glasgow, an expensive rebuild. Sutton Coldfield was the first of the much cheaper “drop wall” triplings which Rank applied to over fifty cinemas in the following three years.
Rank had two cinemas in Bromley, the Gaumont and the Odeon. Until January 1959 there were separate weekly Odeon and Gaumont releases, but in that month Rank reorganised its cinemas into two new release streams, Rank release and National release. The best Odeons and Gaumonts were combined to form the Rank release, while the rest got the (usually) inferior National release. In Bromley the Gaumont took the Rank release, leaving the Odeon with the National. For years the Gaumont release had been generally inferior to the Odeon release, so this was a reversal of fortune for the Bromley cinemas. This, of course, only lasted for a couple of years as the Gaumont was sold off for redevelopment and the Odeon took the Rank release (the National release was in any case dying on its feet by this time).
The original auditoria here had raked flat floors. The stadium seating was achieved by building wooden stepped sections in the centre of the floor with passages either side for access. I know the manager and saw the work in progress. This method is very wasteful of floor space hence the marked reduction in seating capacity, though no doubt wider seats and increased seat pitch also played their part.
The picture is not that early! The car parked in front of the cinema is a Mk.1 Ford Consul, introduced in 1951. The cinema was renamed Gaumont in 1952, so there is a very short window for this picture to have been taken.
Through the good offices of a Cineworld friend, I was able to take a brief tour of this new cinema. Considering that it occupies space which used to be the upper floor of Tesco’s they have done a remarkable job of raising the roof and creating an impressively large space. The three auditoria that I saw were spacious and lofty with large screens which, of course, lack tabs or masking. Two of the three were proper 2.35:1 screens but the third was a 1.85:1 screen which was playing a ‘scope film stripped across the middle. Wheelchair provision is via a lift at foyer level which gives access to projection level where separate boxes with a few seats and wheelchair space are provided alongside the projection boxes which are small separate boxes for each screen with the space which would have been occupied by a full box taken up with storage, staff rooms and office space. The seating is on the wasteful “stadium block” principle with access passageways at either side leading to the screen end from which one ascends aisles alongside the seating block. Presumably wall to wall seating with access from a central vomitory would be too expensive, but would have increased the capacity markedly. At least the method used gives good sightlines.
The foyer and lobby areas are typically murky (as presumably are the auditoria, I didn’t see them with houselights up) which no doubt saves money on cleaning and maintenance as you cannot see the grime which will develop.
The Cineworld here has now been joined by a brand new 6 screen Cineworld on the upper level of the Harvey Centre in the town centre. This opened on December 9th 2016.
The former manager of this theatre, Bill Geoghegan,(later of Odeon Bury and Odeon Barking) recently died at the age of 89. I well remember his stories of the winter of 62/3, wading through the snow to bank the previous days takings of about 3s/6d.
You Only Live Twice did not reach the midlands until October 1st 1967, when it opened at the Odeon, New Street for a four week run. It would not have played local Birmingham cinemas until after this.
This was the only one of the Ex-Paramounts to become the city’s Rank roadshow house. In Birmingham it was the West End and later the Gaumont, in Manchester the Gaumont and the Oxford, in Leeds the Majestic, in Newcastle the Queens and the Pavilion and in Glasgow the Gaumont. Usually smaller seating capacities were preferred for roadshows.
The ABC Bristol Road played three strip Cinerama from September 14th 1963 to January 9th 1965. It was then converted to 70mm single lens Cinerama. The Three strip presentations were:– How the West Was Won, 27 weeks. Seven Wonders of the World, 8 weeks. South Seas Adventure, 4 weeks. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 16 weeks. Windjammer, 7 weeks. Search For Paradise, 3 weeks. This is Cinerama, 3 weeks and finally The Best of Cinerama, 4 weeks.
The conversion to three strip Cinerama was an expensive waste of money. ABC had already converted the ABC Bristol Road and had access to the best film in the process (How the West Was Won). The Gaumont opened with Cinerama Holiday, played it for nine weeks and then closed again for ten days while the 3 strip kit was ripped out and replaced with 70mm for the opening of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World on December 26th, which at least could be advertised as “in Cinerama” (albeit single lens). In June 1964 when The Fall of the Roman Empire opened, the Cinerama tag had to be dropped.
Further research shows that the ABC Coleshill St. (as it was known by then) closed for 70mm installation from October 11th to October 21st 1964. It opened the next day with Cheyenne Autumn in 70mm for a three and a half week run. The ABC Bristol Road closed for Cinerama installation in May 1963, so if the 70mm kit came from there it must have been in store somewhere for over a year.
Between 1954 and 1958 the Futurist was the Birmingham outlet for 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films, following the bust up between Fox and Rank over the cost of ‘Scope installations and the extended run policy.
From 1954 to 1958, La Scala was the Glasgow home of 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films. This followed Fox and Rank falling out over the cost of ‘Scope installations and extended runs and the creation of the Fox (or Fourth)circuit.
The Regal can be seen in several movies of the fifties/sixties including The Sound Barrier and several B movies shot at Walton studios. One of these, The Third Alibi, also has a scene shot in the foyer.
It should read cannot be admitted, At that time X certificate meant 16 or over and applied to the whole programme even if the support (as in this case) was an “A” (which meant that under 16’s had to be accompanied by an adult). Somebody has screwed up with the copy.
That would appear to be the great Ray Allan with Lord Charles.
A couple of small points. As the 70mm kit came from the ABC Bristol Road (which was being converted to 3 strip Cinerama), the projectors were almost certainly DP70s rather than the later DP75. As for only having the 70mm kit for eighteen months, Allen Eyles ABC book says the Gaiety had the Midlands premiere of My Fair Lady, which would not have been until 1966.
Difficult for Mike Todd to appear, considering that he had been dead for ten years. Was it Mike Todd Jr.? This was the first 70mm presentation of Around the World in 80 Days in London, the 1957 – 1959 roadshow presentation at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road having been in 34mm (yes really).
All VistaVision films were advertised as being in VistaVision, and carried an on screen credit to that effect. The fact that they were standard 35mm vertical reduction prints was irrelevant, the process was promoted as Motion Picture High Fidelity as it produced sharper images than standard 35mm blown up to widescreen. Paramount’s recommended ratio for VistaVision was 1.85:1. London actually had two horizontal eight perf VistaVision venues, Paramount’s Plaza, Lower Regent Street and Rank’s Odeon Leicester Square (Rank had adopted VistaVision as a snub to 20th Century Fox who had taken their CinemaScope films away from the Rank circuits in a dispute over full ‘Scope installations and extended runs).
Sorry, Fanatical, you may need even more medication. When Oklahoma! was shown at the Odeon Leicester Square in the 35mm CinemaScope version, it was the European premiere on September 6th 1956 and the run was not a roadshow, it was continuous with four shows a day. After eight weeks (a long run at the time) it transferred to the Odeon Marble Arch for a further twelve weeks. The Todd-AO 30 fps version of Oklahoma! opened at the newly DP70 equipped Metropole on December 26th 1959, the first appearance in the UK of the 70mm version. This was a roadshow presentation (i.e. two shows a day, advance booking). It ran for a fairly modest ten weeks.
Following the Royal Film Performance on February 26th 1962, West Side Story began its public roadshow run the next day at the Astoria, Charing Cross Road, not the Metropole. The Odeon didn’t run 70mm again until Lawrence of Arabia which opened on December 10th 1962. After eight weeks Lawrence transferred to the Metropole for a 98 week run!
The drop wall dividing the rear stalls was brought forward to make a bigger bingo section. This still left a total of around 1,800 seats with the circle and remaining front stalls seating and live shows continued until the end, although some acts objected to playing to “the wall”. Rank’s Training Centre was located here and I was on an Assistant Manager’s course in the spring of 1979. Course manager was Keith Cheney, but Bill Weir took some sessions. WW, as he was referred to, moved on to the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road and then the Odeon Leicester Square. The projection box was located at the back of the dome and I remember being impressed at what looked like a near 45 degree projection rake!
The first Odeon to be tripled was Glasgow, an expensive rebuild. Sutton Coldfield was the first of the much cheaper “drop wall” triplings which Rank applied to over fifty cinemas in the following three years.
Rank had two cinemas in Bromley, the Gaumont and the Odeon. Until January 1959 there were separate weekly Odeon and Gaumont releases, but in that month Rank reorganised its cinemas into two new release streams, Rank release and National release. The best Odeons and Gaumonts were combined to form the Rank release, while the rest got the (usually) inferior National release. In Bromley the Gaumont took the Rank release, leaving the Odeon with the National. For years the Gaumont release had been generally inferior to the Odeon release, so this was a reversal of fortune for the Bromley cinemas. This, of course, only lasted for a couple of years as the Gaumont was sold off for redevelopment and the Odeon took the Rank release (the National release was in any case dying on its feet by this time).
The original auditoria here had raked flat floors. The stadium seating was achieved by building wooden stepped sections in the centre of the floor with passages either side for access. I know the manager and saw the work in progress. This method is very wasteful of floor space hence the marked reduction in seating capacity, though no doubt wider seats and increased seat pitch also played their part.
The picture is not that early! The car parked in front of the cinema is a Mk.1 Ford Consul, introduced in 1951. The cinema was renamed Gaumont in 1952, so there is a very short window for this picture to have been taken.
Through the good offices of a Cineworld friend, I was able to take a brief tour of this new cinema. Considering that it occupies space which used to be the upper floor of Tesco’s they have done a remarkable job of raising the roof and creating an impressively large space. The three auditoria that I saw were spacious and lofty with large screens which, of course, lack tabs or masking. Two of the three were proper 2.35:1 screens but the third was a 1.85:1 screen which was playing a ‘scope film stripped across the middle. Wheelchair provision is via a lift at foyer level which gives access to projection level where separate boxes with a few seats and wheelchair space are provided alongside the projection boxes which are small separate boxes for each screen with the space which would have been occupied by a full box taken up with storage, staff rooms and office space. The seating is on the wasteful “stadium block” principle with access passageways at either side leading to the screen end from which one ascends aisles alongside the seating block. Presumably wall to wall seating with access from a central vomitory would be too expensive, but would have increased the capacity markedly. At least the method used gives good sightlines. The foyer and lobby areas are typically murky (as presumably are the auditoria, I didn’t see them with houselights up) which no doubt saves money on cleaning and maintenance as you cannot see the grime which will develop.
The Cineworld here has now been joined by a brand new 6 screen Cineworld on the upper level of the Harvey Centre in the town centre. This opened on December 9th 2016.
Seating capacities in this cinema were massively reduced when stadium seating was installed. Biggest is now around 240 seats.
The cinema closed in 1961! The Long and the Short and the Tall went on general release in North East London from March 12th 1961.
The former manager of this theatre, Bill Geoghegan,(later of Odeon Bury and Odeon Barking) recently died at the age of 89. I well remember his stories of the winter of 62/3, wading through the snow to bank the previous days takings of about 3s/6d.