The Albert Hall (Swansea) and the Plaza (Cardiff) were the two flagship cinemas of the Jackson Withers circuit. Whilst I worked in the Warner Pathe Vaults, the company always made a point of repair shop checking any print that was to go to these cinemas.
As far as the Withers projectionists were concerned, you had reached the top flight of the local projectionists ladder if you could secure a position at the Albert. The Albert being considered far more projectionist friendly than the strictly run Plaza under the managership of Dai John.
Reply to Allan.e
All of the big halls in the city centre (Park Hall, Gaumont, Odeon, ABC, Capitol and Queens) were normally operated by three projectionists at any one time. The staffing being headed by the chief projectionist managing a second and a third. The main task of the very junior third projectionist was rewinding the reels.
On a chief’s day off, command of the box was usually given to the senior second projectionist. None of the big halls used jobbing part time projectionists such as myself.
One of the joys of a relief session at the Monico was the opportunity to experiment with the lighting panel. By carefully manipulating the three main levers one could place a vast range of colours both on the drapes and the screen. The top of the board , if I remember correctly ,consisted of a number of levers connected to a drive bar and a wheel.This enabled the operator to dim all of the house lights at the same time as the colours were being faded down over the mono BB Film Censor Certificate.
Thank you for your constructive criticism. It is most appreciated.
During the very early 1960s I did two periods of holiday relief in Blackwood where I worked at the Capitol and the Maxine as a third projectionist and rewind girl. Of the two cinemas at that time, the Capitol was the easier to operate in my opinion and to my eyes, the nicer cinema.
Whilst I was at the Maxine there was a visit from the Fire Service who inspected the emergency lighting. They were particularly upset about the lack of red lenses in the aisle lights. The problem was solved by buying many tubes of Smarties, sanding down the rims of the red plastic tube lids and then fitting them in place of the missing lenses.
Scenographs , better known as Brennographs were the cinematic version of disco lighting. They could be used with colour wheels to give a variety of lighting effects such as swirls and flashes.
Many of these machines were also capable of being used as ordinary slide lanterns for projecting urgent news items over the running feature. I can remember using one to project news of Yuri Gargarin’s return to earth.
The Odeon was famous for it not having any form of doors to its front entrance. At night the departing staff simply wound down a portcullis type gate across the entrance, leaving the area behind open to the elements and visible to all.Thus in winter times the foyer was extremely cold to say the least.
In the mid 1960s I did a short relief stint at the nearby Forum. On one of my mornings off I wandered around Bath City and stood outside of the Little Theatre. A gentleman, who I believe may have been Michael Ball, told me about the cinema’s history and gave me a guided tour of the box and building. I was most impressed with the way that I was welcomed. Unfortunately I cannot recall the exact date of my visit but do recall that the cinema was showing “Citizen Kane” that week.
I did three weeks of work at this hall in 1966 and enjoyed every minute of my time there. The staff were most welcoming to a Welsh lady projectionist. Something I did not always experience when doing relief work.
In spite of it’s magnificence and size, the Forum was always overshadowed by the Odeon cinema which was located directly opposite and the Beau Nash (ABC) cinema which was also a short walk away. Thus both the Forum and the Bath Little Theatre were condemned to showing third run films whilst the majors were always given the first bite of the celluloid apples. I’m very pleased to hear that this building has survived the now demolished Bath Odeon and am wondering if the present owners have retained the projection equipment insitu?
The minor South Wales valley halls of the 1960s owed a great deal to Mr. Sankey who was known to all in the trade as “Sanks”. Most of these halls had antique projection equipment, long out of production but still in daily use.Spare parts were hard to come and it was Sanks who,from a warehouse in Atherstone,supplied the used parts that kept these ancient projectors going.Sanks himself was a lover of Ross equipment. Long after Ross had sunk into oblivion,Sanks was able to supply the odd sized mirrors that Ross’s diabolical Streamlight arcs were always quick to ruin with copper spatter. Without Sanks continuous supply of spare parts many of the small halls would never have lasted as long as they did. The cinema industry owed a lot to Mr. Sankey for the survival of the minor halls into the 1980s.
One of the problems faced by this cinema during it’s Cinerama existence was the high cost of staffing the box.The cinema ran most days from about 2pm until approximately 10.30 pm. The operating system was complex and therefore beyond the skills and abilities of most South Wales jobbing projectionists. These part timers only had experience of the older Kalee, RCA and Westar equipment as used in the minor halls.For this reason the cinema was unable to make use of the many relief projectionists who worked the Cardiff and Vally areas.Thus the Park Hall box carried far more expensive full time,in house, trained staff than any other cinema.
CORRECTION
After posting the above in the early hours of this morning, I’ve later today blown the picture up and examined it more closely. The rusty vertical bar to the left of the head is probably the extension bar that held the Anamorphic lens. I was always accustomed to these bars being shiny chrome plated objects.I’ve not been in a box since 1974 hence my confusion as I rely purely on my memory. This bar is rusty. Therefore the answer to my question is probably “Yes” – the Elysium was more than likely equipped for Cinemascope.
I’ve looked closely at the Flickr.com photograph of the derelict projection equipment at the Elysium. Although they are not easy to see, to my way of thinking the heads look as if they are Kalee 12s. My reason for this line of thought is that only the Kalee 12s were designed with a cover over the head driver wheels and belting. Kalee 8, 10 and 11 machines had open belts and wheels.
The arc looks like an old Regal Mk 1 dating from the pre war era. In the 1950s and 60s there were dozens of these arcs being used in the South Wales Valley Halls. The pattern of events being that the Regals were originally supplied with Kalee 8s and then retained when a hall upgraded to Cinemascope and fitted new Kalee 12 heads.
The front of the head is also interesting in that it displays a standard flat screen lens holder but not the required extension bar for holding a second Anamorphic lens. Without an Anamorphic lens scope could not be shown.I am therefore posing the question – was the Elysium equiped for Cinemascope?
As a teenager living in Pontardawe in the early 1950s, we would sometimes go into Swansea on a Saturday to watch a film that was more up to date than those offered by the local halls. My parents always refused to consider the Elysium, claiming it was a fleapit unsuitable for children, so normally we ended up in the cheap seats at the Albert Hall.
Later, I did a few sessions at the Elysium as a bingo checker circa 1962-1963. It was a bit of a mess then – only the stalls area being utilised. The original cinema seating was still in use. Business was good with the blue rinse brigade filling the place every night. At that time the Bingo desks, suspended ceilings and automated bingo equipment had yet to arrive. Sadly I never gained access to the balcony or the box. The hall possessed poor acoustics which meant that checkers had to shout out very loudly when confirming a line or house with the caller.
To my mind, the Elysium was amongst the most unattractively designed and decorated houses that I ever worked in. It had nothing to recommend it even as a Bingo hall. Most of the little valley Workmen’s Halls were often of a better design and maintained in a superior condition.Therefore I’m amazed to learn that the building is still extant. I was always sad to see a hall close and later be demolished. However, in the case of the Elysium demolition years ago would have been a kind act.
The slide lantern and the microphone were housed in a separate area, to the right of the box,for two reasons.Firstly there was no room/port for the lantern in the main box.Secondly the interval slide presentations were quite extensive when compared with the way slides were commonly used in other halls that I visited. Not even the Cardiff Plaza with its famous slide shows used public address.
Usually Castle presentations were accompanied both by background music and a live commentary made via the sound system.The noise from the projectors would almost certainly have made using the microphone from the main box an almost impossible task.
Whilst at Warner Pathe I met some of the projectionists who worked at the Central. They were always complaining about the set up at the cinema. For much of the time they used to switch the automatic system off and worked the box manually. I was told the device, which I never saw, had to be set up by inserting pegs into a drum which then revolved and triggered lights, drapes etc. Every time the programme changed it was a nightmare working out where next to put the pegs.They claimed it took longer to solve the peg problem than it did to spool up the prints.
The top reels above the projection heads were fitted with bells that rang when the reel emptied to a prefixed level and a changeover was imminent. The bells being set off as the near emptied reel began to revolve at higher speeds.
During my time in Cardiff (1955 – 1962 ) I was often regaled with a story that the building had been originally opened as the “Theatre Royal”. Can anyone say that this was indeed the case or alternatively confirm it was just another local myth?
The proper name of this cinemas was indeed “The New Hall Cinema.” However the sign on the front of the hall read “ Cafe Cinema.”
Thus it was known to most Bargoed residents as The Cafe Cinema and was very rarely referred to by its correct name
During the intervals, when stage shows were being presented, the New Theatre always lowered a fire safety curtain in front of the stage area.This curtain was white with the word “Safety Curtain” written on it in black. Normal practice was then to project slides, via a slide lantern located in the box, advertising forth coming shows, the availability of refreshments and occasionally local traders. Dyers book shop nearly always had an advertisement shown. Some of the slides were professionally made and others were clearly home made. These homemade slides followed the local projectionists' tradition of coating a piece of glass with white shoe cream, letting it dry, and then scratching the message on the glass with a nail.
I am not that surprised that the box survived the fire. Prior to the advent of non flammable film stock, all cinemas had boxes that were designed to contain an outbreak of fire. All ports were defended by drop down shutters and the boxes also had heavy fireproof metal doors. The shutters were usually linked by an over head latch system that could be operated from either the balcony or the back of the stalls. After the advent of non flammable most of these fire prevention measures remained in place. In most Withers cinemas circa 1960s, it was still standard practice to drop the shutters at the end of an evenings showing.
The gallery was better known to all and sundry as “The Gods”. It had a separate entrance from the other auditorium areas which was obviously intended to prevent the local cheapskates from mixing with the quality.I can recall experiencing Shirley Bassey’s first return to Cardiff from the New Theatre Gods some time around 1958.It was a bit like sitting in a sardine tin for humans.
I did briefly once visit the box as a guest, pre 1960, whilst working as a Warner Pathe employee. If my memory serves me right (?) the projectors were old black BTH machines of pre Supa vintage. I was not much into projectors at that time but can confirm that I never saw similar machines anywhere else during my cinema career.
Towards the end of Willis era at the Grand, the manager was a gentleman named John Chilvers. He was reportedly one of the busiest men in the South Wales cinema /theatre industry. Not only did he manage the theatre but also acted as a producer to the Grand repertory company that performed a wide range of plays at the theatre. At pantomime times the Grand staff were given the task of fly posting advertising bills where ever they could find some wall space to paste them. One Christmas, both the managers at The Elysium and the Albert Hall were surprised to find the Grand pantomime posters pasted to the walls of their respective halls. The posters were quickly removed and protests made.
Some of the staff working at the Splott around 1960 could remember the Clifton and that is how I first learned of its former existence. Apparently the entire frontage of the cinema was painted blue, earning it the local nickname “The Blue Palace.”
I later walked down Clifton Street and at that time the upper part of the facade, above Woolworth’s windows, was very obvious as being the remains of a cinema frontage.I’m wondering if this upper frontage is still existing in 2009.
The Willis Circuit was famed for the way that it cut corners and wasted nothing. In the mid 1960s I had moved to Swansea and was friendly with several of the staff who worked at the Grand Theatre.I heard many tales of the unusual cost cutting practices at this hall.Several friends related a story of the Grand Theatre sometimes issuing admission tickets which carried the words “Empire Theatre.” The box office staff were instructed to cut the word “Empire” off the ticket top,using a pair of scissors,once it had passed through the ticket machine.However,during busy times this was not possible and the tickets were often issued to surprised patrons as was.
This hall was originally built as a theatre and up to the late 1950s ran a mix of film and live theatre. After that time it mainly ran film and then later Bingo up until the time of it closing. The Willis circuit operated it as a flagship hall. Their other flagship hall being the Grand Theatre in Swansea. In the 1960s I was told several times over that W.E.Willis (circuit founder)was rumoured to have come from this area of the Rhondda Valley and therefore had a special affection for the Tonypandy Empire. It was also said that Mr. Willis (senior) had an interest in boxing and that the hall interior displayed a number of pictures of Tommy Farr who was a Rhondda Valley boxing champion.
The Albert Hall (Swansea) and the Plaza (Cardiff) were the two flagship cinemas of the Jackson Withers circuit. Whilst I worked in the Warner Pathe Vaults, the company always made a point of repair shop checking any print that was to go to these cinemas.
As far as the Withers projectionists were concerned, you had reached the top flight of the local projectionists ladder if you could secure a position at the Albert. The Albert being considered far more projectionist friendly than the strictly run Plaza under the managership of Dai John.
Reply to Allan.e
All of the big halls in the city centre (Park Hall, Gaumont, Odeon, ABC, Capitol and Queens) were normally operated by three projectionists at any one time. The staffing being headed by the chief projectionist managing a second and a third. The main task of the very junior third projectionist was rewinding the reels.
On a chief’s day off, command of the box was usually given to the senior second projectionist. None of the big halls used jobbing part time projectionists such as myself.
One of the joys of a relief session at the Monico was the opportunity to experiment with the lighting panel. By carefully manipulating the three main levers one could place a vast range of colours both on the drapes and the screen. The top of the board , if I remember correctly ,consisted of a number of levers connected to a drive bar and a wheel.This enabled the operator to dim all of the house lights at the same time as the colours were being faded down over the mono BB Film Censor Certificate.
Thank you for your constructive criticism. It is most appreciated.
During the very early 1960s I did two periods of holiday relief in Blackwood where I worked at the Capitol and the Maxine as a third projectionist and rewind girl. Of the two cinemas at that time, the Capitol was the easier to operate in my opinion and to my eyes, the nicer cinema.
Whilst I was at the Maxine there was a visit from the Fire Service who inspected the emergency lighting. They were particularly upset about the lack of red lenses in the aisle lights. The problem was solved by buying many tubes of Smarties, sanding down the rims of the red plastic tube lids and then fitting them in place of the missing lenses.
Scenographs , better known as Brennographs were the cinematic version of disco lighting. They could be used with colour wheels to give a variety of lighting effects such as swirls and flashes.
Many of these machines were also capable of being used as ordinary slide lanterns for projecting urgent news items over the running feature. I can remember using one to project news of Yuri Gargarin’s return to earth.
The Odeon was famous for it not having any form of doors to its front entrance. At night the departing staff simply wound down a portcullis type gate across the entrance, leaving the area behind open to the elements and visible to all.Thus in winter times the foyer was extremely cold to say the least.
In the mid 1960s I did a short relief stint at the nearby Forum. On one of my mornings off I wandered around Bath City and stood outside of the Little Theatre. A gentleman, who I believe may have been Michael Ball, told me about the cinema’s history and gave me a guided tour of the box and building. I was most impressed with the way that I was welcomed. Unfortunately I cannot recall the exact date of my visit but do recall that the cinema was showing “Citizen Kane” that week.
I did three weeks of work at this hall in 1966 and enjoyed every minute of my time there. The staff were most welcoming to a Welsh lady projectionist. Something I did not always experience when doing relief work.
In spite of it’s magnificence and size, the Forum was always overshadowed by the Odeon cinema which was located directly opposite and the Beau Nash (ABC) cinema which was also a short walk away. Thus both the Forum and the Bath Little Theatre were condemned to showing third run films whilst the majors were always given the first bite of the celluloid apples. I’m very pleased to hear that this building has survived the now demolished Bath Odeon and am wondering if the present owners have retained the projection equipment insitu?
The minor South Wales valley halls of the 1960s owed a great deal to Mr. Sankey who was known to all in the trade as “Sanks”. Most of these halls had antique projection equipment, long out of production but still in daily use.Spare parts were hard to come and it was Sanks who,from a warehouse in Atherstone,supplied the used parts that kept these ancient projectors going.Sanks himself was a lover of Ross equipment. Long after Ross had sunk into oblivion,Sanks was able to supply the odd sized mirrors that Ross’s diabolical Streamlight arcs were always quick to ruin with copper spatter. Without Sanks continuous supply of spare parts many of the small halls would never have lasted as long as they did. The cinema industry owed a lot to Mr. Sankey for the survival of the minor halls into the 1980s.
One of the problems faced by this cinema during it’s Cinerama existence was the high cost of staffing the box.The cinema ran most days from about 2pm until approximately 10.30 pm. The operating system was complex and therefore beyond the skills and abilities of most South Wales jobbing projectionists. These part timers only had experience of the older Kalee, RCA and Westar equipment as used in the minor halls.For this reason the cinema was unable to make use of the many relief projectionists who worked the Cardiff and Vally areas.Thus the Park Hall box carried far more expensive full time,in house, trained staff than any other cinema.
CORRECTION
After posting the above in the early hours of this morning, I’ve later today blown the picture up and examined it more closely. The rusty vertical bar to the left of the head is probably the extension bar that held the Anamorphic lens. I was always accustomed to these bars being shiny chrome plated objects.I’ve not been in a box since 1974 hence my confusion as I rely purely on my memory. This bar is rusty. Therefore the answer to my question is probably “Yes” – the Elysium was more than likely equipped for Cinemascope.
I’ve looked closely at the Flickr.com photograph of the derelict projection equipment at the Elysium. Although they are not easy to see, to my way of thinking the heads look as if they are Kalee 12s. My reason for this line of thought is that only the Kalee 12s were designed with a cover over the head driver wheels and belting. Kalee 8, 10 and 11 machines had open belts and wheels.
The arc looks like an old Regal Mk 1 dating from the pre war era. In the 1950s and 60s there were dozens of these arcs being used in the South Wales Valley Halls. The pattern of events being that the Regals were originally supplied with Kalee 8s and then retained when a hall upgraded to Cinemascope and fitted new Kalee 12 heads.
The front of the head is also interesting in that it displays a standard flat screen lens holder but not the required extension bar for holding a second Anamorphic lens. Without an Anamorphic lens scope could not be shown.I am therefore posing the question – was the Elysium equiped for Cinemascope?
As a teenager living in Pontardawe in the early 1950s, we would sometimes go into Swansea on a Saturday to watch a film that was more up to date than those offered by the local halls. My parents always refused to consider the Elysium, claiming it was a fleapit unsuitable for children, so normally we ended up in the cheap seats at the Albert Hall.
Later, I did a few sessions at the Elysium as a bingo checker circa 1962-1963. It was a bit of a mess then – only the stalls area being utilised. The original cinema seating was still in use. Business was good with the blue rinse brigade filling the place every night. At that time the Bingo desks, suspended ceilings and automated bingo equipment had yet to arrive. Sadly I never gained access to the balcony or the box. The hall possessed poor acoustics which meant that checkers had to shout out very loudly when confirming a line or house with the caller.
To my mind, the Elysium was amongst the most unattractively designed and decorated houses that I ever worked in. It had nothing to recommend it even as a Bingo hall. Most of the little valley Workmen’s Halls were often of a better design and maintained in a superior condition.Therefore I’m amazed to learn that the building is still extant. I was always sad to see a hall close and later be demolished. However, in the case of the Elysium demolition years ago would have been a kind act.
The slide lantern and the microphone were housed in a separate area, to the right of the box,for two reasons.Firstly there was no room/port for the lantern in the main box.Secondly the interval slide presentations were quite extensive when compared with the way slides were commonly used in other halls that I visited. Not even the Cardiff Plaza with its famous slide shows used public address.
Usually Castle presentations were accompanied both by background music and a live commentary made via the sound system.The noise from the projectors would almost certainly have made using the microphone from the main box an almost impossible task.
Whilst at Warner Pathe I met some of the projectionists who worked at the Central. They were always complaining about the set up at the cinema. For much of the time they used to switch the automatic system off and worked the box manually. I was told the device, which I never saw, had to be set up by inserting pegs into a drum which then revolved and triggered lights, drapes etc. Every time the programme changed it was a nightmare working out where next to put the pegs.They claimed it took longer to solve the peg problem than it did to spool up the prints.
The top reels above the projection heads were fitted with bells that rang when the reel emptied to a prefixed level and a changeover was imminent. The bells being set off as the near emptied reel began to revolve at higher speeds.
During my time in Cardiff (1955 – 1962 ) I was often regaled with a story that the building had been originally opened as the “Theatre Royal”. Can anyone say that this was indeed the case or alternatively confirm it was just another local myth?
The proper name of this cinemas was indeed “The New Hall Cinema.” However the sign on the front of the hall read “ Cafe Cinema.”
Thus it was known to most Bargoed residents as The Cafe Cinema and was very rarely referred to by its correct name
During the intervals, when stage shows were being presented, the New Theatre always lowered a fire safety curtain in front of the stage area.This curtain was white with the word “Safety Curtain” written on it in black. Normal practice was then to project slides, via a slide lantern located in the box, advertising forth coming shows, the availability of refreshments and occasionally local traders. Dyers book shop nearly always had an advertisement shown. Some of the slides were professionally made and others were clearly home made. These homemade slides followed the local projectionists' tradition of coating a piece of glass with white shoe cream, letting it dry, and then scratching the message on the glass with a nail.
I am not that surprised that the box survived the fire. Prior to the advent of non flammable film stock, all cinemas had boxes that were designed to contain an outbreak of fire. All ports were defended by drop down shutters and the boxes also had heavy fireproof metal doors. The shutters were usually linked by an over head latch system that could be operated from either the balcony or the back of the stalls. After the advent of non flammable most of these fire prevention measures remained in place. In most Withers cinemas circa 1960s, it was still standard practice to drop the shutters at the end of an evenings showing.
Some time around 1962 the Prince Littler management announced that they were closing the New Theatre and in due course all the staff duly lost their jobs.Many of them quickly found new employment in the other Cardiff cinemas and some with the BBC who had constructed a studio complex in an old chapel on the Broadway. The BBC decided that there was not enough room for the needed three studios at Broadway. The result was that they built a nearby third studio ©in what had once been the Stacey Hall Cinema in Stacey Road. This studio was used mainly for the Heddiw and Wales Today programmes. Jack Stediford, who for over 20 years had been the famed door man at the New Theatre found employment as doorman at this new TV studio.
The gallery was better known to all and sundry as “The Gods”. It had a separate entrance from the other auditorium areas which was obviously intended to prevent the local cheapskates from mixing with the quality.I can recall experiencing Shirley Bassey’s first return to Cardiff from the New Theatre Gods some time around 1958.It was a bit like sitting in a sardine tin for humans.
I did briefly once visit the box as a guest, pre 1960, whilst working as a Warner Pathe employee. If my memory serves me right (?) the projectors were old black BTH machines of pre Supa vintage. I was not much into projectors at that time but can confirm that I never saw similar machines anywhere else during my cinema career.
Towards the end of Willis era at the Grand, the manager was a gentleman named John Chilvers. He was reportedly one of the busiest men in the South Wales cinema /theatre industry. Not only did he manage the theatre but also acted as a producer to the Grand repertory company that performed a wide range of plays at the theatre. At pantomime times the Grand staff were given the task of fly posting advertising bills where ever they could find some wall space to paste them. One Christmas, both the managers at The Elysium and the Albert Hall were surprised to find the Grand pantomime posters pasted to the walls of their respective halls. The posters were quickly removed and protests made.
Some of the staff working at the Splott around 1960 could remember the Clifton and that is how I first learned of its former existence. Apparently the entire frontage of the cinema was painted blue, earning it the local nickname “The Blue Palace.”
I later walked down Clifton Street and at that time the upper part of the facade, above Woolworth’s windows, was very obvious as being the remains of a cinema frontage.I’m wondering if this upper frontage is still existing in 2009.
The Willis Circuit was famed for the way that it cut corners and wasted nothing. In the mid 1960s I had moved to Swansea and was friendly with several of the staff who worked at the Grand Theatre.I heard many tales of the unusual cost cutting practices at this hall.Several friends related a story of the Grand Theatre sometimes issuing admission tickets which carried the words “Empire Theatre.” The box office staff were instructed to cut the word “Empire” off the ticket top,using a pair of scissors,once it had passed through the ticket machine.However,during busy times this was not possible and the tickets were often issued to surprised patrons as was.
This hall was originally built as a theatre and up to the late 1950s ran a mix of film and live theatre. After that time it mainly ran film and then later Bingo up until the time of it closing. The Willis circuit operated it as a flagship hall. Their other flagship hall being the Grand Theatre in Swansea. In the 1960s I was told several times over that W.E.Willis (circuit founder)was rumoured to have come from this area of the Rhondda Valley and therefore had a special affection for the Tonypandy Empire. It was also said that Mr. Willis (senior) had an interest in boxing and that the hall interior displayed a number of pictures of Tommy Farr who was a Rhondda Valley boxing champion.