When I was at the ABC, Huddersfield, one of the staff members, one Mrs Harvey, often used to speak to me about her time at the Curzon, Huddersfield. She worked there for a number of years, the last few being for Hutchinson’s Ltd for whom she was Acting Manager during the final year before the Curzon’s compulsory purchase by Huddersfield Council ( a Philistine lot by any standards when you consider the lost opportunities at both the ABC Ritz and the Palace).
She told me about the hair raising instances involved by sharing the ‘Pathe News’ with the ABC Ritz (where she eventually ended her cinematic years)in addition to the occasion when FTS inadvertently delivered ‘Summer Holiday’ to the Curzon instead of the ABC. She said to the Curzon manager “Can’t we show it as it has been delivered here?”. You can imagine his response!
Anyway, Hutchinsons Ltd valued Molly Harvey enough to invite her to assist her former Manager at the Regent Fleetwood following closure of the Curzon and this she did for a year or so from 1967.
3 photos uploaded. ABC presented many live shows here at one time; the capacity (including standing room) was over 3,000. Their smaller Regal (2,200 seats) was pressed into more extensive live use following the closure of the Commodore.
The Gaumont’s Cinerama screen, whilst having the largest sheet size in the UK (84' x 34' = 2,856 square feet) did not have the greatest width which was that at the ABC Coliseum Glasgow , namely 90'. The screen depth at Glasgow, however, was only 30' giving it only 2,700 square feet overall.
Union did indeed build some very impressive cinemas and I would agree that many were more elaborate than some of the purpose built W R Glen ABC’s. However, many of the latter were the equal of the Union houses, for instance Plymouth, Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton on the South Coast whilst in Yorkshire the Regals in Halifax and Harrogate were of equal architectural merit to the Ritz, Huddersfield.
Whilst ‘Ritz’ was the favourite name of Union, they were going to replace it with the corporate name, ‘Union’ and this they did in Kingston on Thames which was a Union acquisition. ABC reinstated the original ‘Regal’ name when they took over. ABC also often used the ‘Ritz’ name, for example in Leeds, Bradford, Sunderland, Gateshead and Wallsend.
This, in the early 1950’s, was the first full Manager’s post for Norman Cully, my boss at ABC, Sunderland. He transferred to the Coliseum, Whitley Bay from the Olympia where he spent quite a few years before becoming Manager of the ABC Ritz, Sunderland, ABC’s most important theatre in the North East after the Haymarket, Newcastle.
I refrained from making similar comments about this photo when it first appeared as I often feel I am the ‘Voice in The Wilderness’ when it comes to the absence of screen tabs and variable masking. I would never have believed that Odeon, of all circuits, would have gone along this particular road but it is just a name now and unlike when I was a little lad and used to be taken to my local Odeon in Bishop Auckland and wonder at the huge illuminated stage curtains when they opened and closed. In those days even the older style cinemas in the town (Essoldo, Kings and Eden) had tabs. It was unthinkable NOT to have these features!
I am glad that for once others have made the comments as I sometimes fear being labelled ‘curmudgeon’ myself (I suppose it is different when it is a ‘nom de plume’ of your own choosing, curmudgeon!)…..
The last film to play at the Gaumont in 1960 was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ and staff at the ABC told me that on the very last night the queue was round the block.
Ian; I have only just, after eight years, seen your request (on ABC Eccles page) for John McIntosh’s e-mail address which I would gladly have given you!
I am sure that you are now well aware of his passing 3 years ago. He was a good friend over the years and we used to stay at each other’s homes. John was, like many of the ‘old timers’, one of the great characters in the business and his experience both with film and stage shows was vast, having served with Donalds (Aberdeen - his mother’s cousins), CMA (Rank) and ABC.
Gordon Coombes was finally George Lennox’s Assistant and part of his remit was dealing with the written complaints of cinema patrons. The latter increased proportionately with the decrease of staff complements. They really should have got the pruning shears out at Golden Square as no customer ever paid money to see that lot; strange that they always seemed to find room for more people there….
I could go on about that subject at great length but , returning to Mr. Coombes, it is worth mentioning that he also booked the stage shows at the remaining active live venues, the last two being Blackpool and Great Yarmouth. Of course, before the mass subdivisions and closures, there was a whole department devoted to this activity headed by Joseph Seal.
Appearing in the above: Peter Gordeno & Dancers, Tony Hancock, John Junkin and Bob Sharples & the ABC Television Orchestra. I believe that others appearing on the same bill included Freddie Davis and Jeannie Carson.
“Who were they?”, I hear many people asking…..
I understand that these TV recordings survive intact and, if so, one would have thought that the enterprising married couple who own and operate the wonderful (I think) ‘Talking Pictures’ TV channel would try and acquire them for Sunday evening screenings as a refreshing change from the third repeat of the same episodes of ‘Sunday Night at The London Palladium’. The ABC Blackpool shows were equally as good and often featured the ‘revolve’ (yes, like the London Palladium had).
New ‘fly through’ of how the theatre may appear when it reopens:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_1SjZQzPZQ
This, I have to say, looks slightly better than the previous one although if ATG DO intend to fit replicas of the house tabs famously associated with the palatial Globe Theatre when ABC owned and ran it (identical to the London Palladium bullion carrying ‘swags’) they are certainly not shown………
There appears also to be a ‘mix up’ with the foyers as the one shown as the ‘main foyer’ is actually the ‘stalls foyer’ (subterranean) whilst the actual ‘main foyer’ (at street level and which doubles as the ‘front circle foyer’) is not shown. What we are led to believe is the ‘circle foyer’/bar is the ‘rear circle foyer’ which also served as the main bar area in ABC’s time.
The Paloma Faith performance which will reopen the venue sold out within three hours whilst I am unaware of how the advance is going for the second ATG booking, ‘Diversity’ (pardon my ignorance for not having heard of them). I believe that Jools Holland (presumably with his associates including Ruby Turner) will be another early attraction and that should be worth a visit.
The above presupposes that we shall have returned to some kind of normality by late next year. Here’s hoping!
They don’t have any curtains, working or otherwise, at this venue now, unfortunately. At the nearby Odeon, there were initially no curtains at all after its recent multi million pound refurbishment but, following much criticism, they fitted blue velvet ones which they used for a few weeks before leaving them hanging permanently at each side!
The best places to see these attractive features which, in my opinion, add that ‘finishing touch’ and a ‘nod’ to past presentation standards are at a handful of independent cinemas which I hope will reopen when the pandemic ends.
I felt I had to add some corrections after the online article whilst putting other errors to one side in a bid to confine my comments to the Globe itself.
I am, however, still of the same opinion I have held for a long time i.e. that , at least as far as cinemas are concerned, journalism tends to be very lazy.
In this article, for example, it is said that the owners of the original Globe built the current structure as a huge provincial Variety Theatre following the rebuilding of the town’s Hippodrome as a cinema in 1932 after a disastrous fire. Yes,the Hippodrome was rebuilt in the Art Deco style but it retained full stage facilities and was often still used as a theatre. It was not unknown for both the ABC and the Hippodrome to present live shows concurrently, most notably during the Festive Season when big name pantomimes were presented at both venues.
Another point I chose not to pick up upon is the statement “1937, April 5. The Globe reopened as an ABC – an Associated British Cinema, a fully fledged cinema. But the cinema craze was also nearing the end of its run.”
This remark is beyond me, given that admissions in the UK would not peak until 9 years later in 1946 with 1,635 million. Even in the year 1937, 946 million is over 5 times the 176 million recorded in 2019. I shudder to think what the final number will be in 2020 and I do feel extremely sorry for those independent exhibitors who continue to fly the flag here in the UK notwithstanding the pressure from the ‘Mighty Multiplexes’.
This Essoldo plus two others in Spennymoor and Shildon all closed on the same evening in 1969. Shildon Essoldo, by far the smallest of the three venues, bowed out with a week of James Bond films including ‘Goldfinger’ which I believe was the last to be screened. I wonder if Essoldo Ltd also booked these for the other two cinemas?
3 photos uploaded of the Essoldo when it was still open. One shows the theatre in its ‘heyday’ as the Hippodrome whilst another taken in the early 1960’s features the adjacent railway line (which went to Bishop Auckland) with a British Railways ‘Standard Class 4 2-6-4’ tank loco running ‘light engine’. Small market towns like Crook somehow seemed ‘lost’ after their cinemas and rail connections ceased to be……
It wouldn’t be so bad if the extra £1.2 million were to be spent on some decent decor instead of that ice cold, bland, devoid of atmosphere and warmth interior as seen in the video on the ATG site…..
I have to add that , cheapened as the ABC Circuit had become by this time, the worst was yet to come four years later when that bunch of spivs, Cannon took over. In Newcastle, the change in attitude at the Odeon was palpable. I wonder if a similar situation prevailed in Wolverhampton….
The M-G-M CinemaScope musical, ‘Silk Stockings’ showing in 1957.
When I was at the ABC, Huddersfield, one of the staff members, one Mrs Harvey, often used to speak to me about her time at the Curzon, Huddersfield. She worked there for a number of years, the last few being for Hutchinson’s Ltd for whom she was Acting Manager during the final year before the Curzon’s compulsory purchase by Huddersfield Council ( a Philistine lot by any standards when you consider the lost opportunities at both the ABC Ritz and the Palace).
She told me about the hair raising instances involved by sharing the ‘Pathe News’ with the ABC Ritz (where she eventually ended her cinematic years)in addition to the occasion when FTS inadvertently delivered ‘Summer Holiday’ to the Curzon instead of the ABC. She said to the Curzon manager “Can’t we show it as it has been delivered here?”. You can imagine his response!
Anyway, Hutchinsons Ltd valued Molly Harvey enough to invite her to assist her former Manager at the Regent Fleetwood following closure of the Curzon and this she did for a year or so from 1967.
3 photos uploaded. ABC presented many live shows here at one time; the capacity (including standing room) was over 3,000. Their smaller Regal (2,200 seats) was pressed into more extensive live use following the closure of the Commodore.
Yes, a Happy 2021 to all!
The Gaumont’s Cinerama screen, whilst having the largest sheet size in the UK (84' x 34' = 2,856 square feet) did not have the greatest width which was that at the ABC Coliseum Glasgow , namely 90'. The screen depth at Glasgow, however, was only 30' giving it only 2,700 square feet overall.
Union did indeed build some very impressive cinemas and I would agree that many were more elaborate than some of the purpose built W R Glen ABC’s. However, many of the latter were the equal of the Union houses, for instance Plymouth, Bournemouth, Brighton and Southampton on the South Coast whilst in Yorkshire the Regals in Halifax and Harrogate were of equal architectural merit to the Ritz, Huddersfield.
Whilst ‘Ritz’ was the favourite name of Union, they were going to replace it with the corporate name, ‘Union’ and this they did in Kingston on Thames which was a Union acquisition. ABC reinstated the original ‘Regal’ name when they took over. ABC also often used the ‘Ritz’ name, for example in Leeds, Bradford, Sunderland, Gateshead and Wallsend.
This, in the early 1950’s, was the first full Manager’s post for Norman Cully, my boss at ABC, Sunderland. He transferred to the Coliseum, Whitley Bay from the Olympia where he spent quite a few years before becoming Manager of the ABC Ritz, Sunderland, ABC’s most important theatre in the North East after the Haymarket, Newcastle.
For what it is worth, please see my comments in the photos section.
I refrained from making similar comments about this photo when it first appeared as I often feel I am the ‘Voice in The Wilderness’ when it comes to the absence of screen tabs and variable masking. I would never have believed that Odeon, of all circuits, would have gone along this particular road but it is just a name now and unlike when I was a little lad and used to be taken to my local Odeon in Bishop Auckland and wonder at the huge illuminated stage curtains when they opened and closed. In those days even the older style cinemas in the town (Essoldo, Kings and Eden) had tabs. It was unthinkable NOT to have these features!
I am glad that for once others have made the comments as I sometimes fear being labelled ‘curmudgeon’ myself (I suppose it is different when it is a ‘nom de plume’ of your own choosing, curmudgeon!)…..
The last film to play at the Gaumont in 1960 was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ and staff at the ABC told me that on the very last night the queue was round the block.
Ian; I have only just, after eight years, seen your request (on ABC Eccles page) for John McIntosh’s e-mail address which I would gladly have given you!
I am sure that you are now well aware of his passing 3 years ago. He was a good friend over the years and we used to stay at each other’s homes. John was, like many of the ‘old timers’, one of the great characters in the business and his experience both with film and stage shows was vast, having served with Donalds (Aberdeen - his mother’s cousins), CMA (Rank) and ABC.
Gordon Coombes was finally George Lennox’s Assistant and part of his remit was dealing with the written complaints of cinema patrons. The latter increased proportionately with the decrease of staff complements. They really should have got the pruning shears out at Golden Square as no customer ever paid money to see that lot; strange that they always seemed to find room for more people there….
I could go on about that subject at great length but , returning to Mr. Coombes, it is worth mentioning that he also booked the stage shows at the remaining active live venues, the last two being Blackpool and Great Yarmouth. Of course, before the mass subdivisions and closures, there was a whole department devoted to this activity headed by Joseph Seal.
The first five minutes of one of the 1960’s ABC TV ‘spectaculars’:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ql5vdAwFzQ&t=205s
Appearing in the above: Peter Gordeno & Dancers, Tony Hancock, John Junkin and Bob Sharples & the ABC Television Orchestra. I believe that others appearing on the same bill included Freddie Davis and Jeannie Carson.
“Who were they?”, I hear many people asking…..
I understand that these TV recordings survive intact and, if so, one would have thought that the enterprising married couple who own and operate the wonderful (I think) ‘Talking Pictures’ TV channel would try and acquire them for Sunday evening screenings as a refreshing change from the third repeat of the same episodes of ‘Sunday Night at The London Palladium’. The ABC Blackpool shows were equally as good and often featured the ‘revolve’ (yes, like the London Palladium had).
New ‘fly through’ of how the theatre may appear when it reopens:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_1SjZQzPZQ
This, I have to say, looks slightly better than the previous one although if ATG DO intend to fit replicas of the house tabs famously associated with the palatial Globe Theatre when ABC owned and ran it (identical to the London Palladium bullion carrying ‘swags’) they are certainly not shown………
There appears also to be a ‘mix up’ with the foyers as the one shown as the ‘main foyer’ is actually the ‘stalls foyer’ (subterranean) whilst the actual ‘main foyer’ (at street level and which doubles as the ‘front circle foyer’) is not shown. What we are led to believe is the ‘circle foyer’/bar is the ‘rear circle foyer’ which also served as the main bar area in ABC’s time.
The Paloma Faith performance which will reopen the venue sold out within three hours whilst I am unaware of how the advance is going for the second ATG booking, ‘Diversity’ (pardon my ignorance for not having heard of them). I believe that Jools Holland (presumably with his associates including Ruby Turner) will be another early attraction and that should be worth a visit.
The above presupposes that we shall have returned to some kind of normality by late next year. Here’s hoping!
They don’t have any curtains, working or otherwise, at this venue now, unfortunately. At the nearby Odeon, there were initially no curtains at all after its recent multi million pound refurbishment but, following much criticism, they fitted blue velvet ones which they used for a few weeks before leaving them hanging permanently at each side!
The best places to see these attractive features which, in my opinion, add that ‘finishing touch’ and a ‘nod’ to past presentation standards are at a handful of independent cinemas which I hope will reopen when the pandemic ends.
The Northern Echo is running a series of articles about the theatre. Part 1 below:–
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18750001.raising-curtain-history-globe-stockton/?action=success
I felt I had to add some corrections after the online article whilst putting other errors to one side in a bid to confine my comments to the Globe itself.
I am, however, still of the same opinion I have held for a long time i.e. that , at least as far as cinemas are concerned, journalism tends to be very lazy.
In this article, for example, it is said that the owners of the original Globe built the current structure as a huge provincial Variety Theatre following the rebuilding of the town’s Hippodrome as a cinema in 1932 after a disastrous fire. Yes,the Hippodrome was rebuilt in the Art Deco style but it retained full stage facilities and was often still used as a theatre. It was not unknown for both the ABC and the Hippodrome to present live shows concurrently, most notably during the Festive Season when big name pantomimes were presented at both venues.
Another point I chose not to pick up upon is the statement “1937, April 5. The Globe reopened as an ABC – an Associated British Cinema, a fully fledged cinema. But the cinema craze was also nearing the end of its run.”
This remark is beyond me, given that admissions in the UK would not peak until 9 years later in 1946 with 1,635 million. Even in the year 1937, 946 million is over 5 times the 176 million recorded in 2019. I shudder to think what the final number will be in 2020 and I do feel extremely sorry for those independent exhibitors who continue to fly the flag here in the UK notwithstanding the pressure from the ‘Mighty Multiplexes’.
Paloma Faith to reopen the Globe:–
https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/18746097.paloma-faith-announced-first-act-stocktons-restored-globe-theatre/
I could not make out the number on the smoke-box but you are spot on as the BR design began with 80 ;)
This Essoldo plus two others in Spennymoor and Shildon all closed on the same evening in 1969. Shildon Essoldo, by far the smallest of the three venues, bowed out with a week of James Bond films including ‘Goldfinger’ which I believe was the last to be screened. I wonder if Essoldo Ltd also booked these for the other two cinemas?
Photo uploaded taken presumably in either the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
3 photos uploaded of the Essoldo when it was still open. One shows the theatre in its ‘heyday’ as the Hippodrome whilst another taken in the early 1960’s features the adjacent railway line (which went to Bishop Auckland) with a British Railways ‘Standard Class 4 2-6-4’ tank loco running ‘light engine’. Small market towns like Crook somehow seemed ‘lost’ after their cinemas and rail connections ceased to be……
Photo uploaded.
It wouldn’t be so bad if the extra £1.2 million were to be spent on some decent decor instead of that ice cold, bland, devoid of atmosphere and warmth interior as seen in the video on the ATG site…..
Cost has risen to £27.9 million now :–
https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2020-07-10/renovation-costs-of-troubled-stockton-globe-rise-again
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/gallery/new-pictures-show-stockton-globe-17661229
I have to add that , cheapened as the ABC Circuit had become by this time, the worst was yet to come four years later when that bunch of spivs, Cannon took over. In Newcastle, the change in attitude at the Odeon was palpable. I wonder if a similar situation prevailed in Wolverhampton….