Myself and a colleague were looking for a cinema to lease in 1986, we approached ‘Star’ in Leeds to see if they had anything, they offered a twin screen we said yes, all was looking good, then they cancelled, they had sold out to Cannon. They offered another 3 screen in a mining town, (the strike had just ended) we said no, then we were offered a single in Pontefract but the terms of the lease were unacceptable. Watching the local tv news one day we saw some footage of the Palace which was being turned into a shopping mall with a cinema. The next day I phoned up the local council, they gave me the name of the company that was doing it, we arranged to meet, had a look and said yes. It was in such a state, all the seats from the stalls had been dumped there plus other rubbish and with the broken windows pigeons too. We got it rent free until we opened. The seats and tabs came from the then close Tower cinema in Leeds, other fittings came from the ABC in York being demolished at the time. There were five rows of tip ups and two of pullmans, 142 seats. The projector, FP25 came from Nottingham and the tower from Liverpool. Business was very good until the Warner multiplex opened in York.
The first film was ‘Crocodile Dundee’.
The rainbow coloured slats which can be seen above the screen in some photos were off one of the sets of ‘321’ the YTV quiz show.
My mother worked at this cinema as a cashier in the late 40’s, much later when we moved to Whitley Bay in the early 50’s I think I must have been 7 maybe 8 we had a neighbour who used to be the organist there and I can remember one morning with my newly acquired tape recorder going with him and sitting in the front of the circle recording while he played. I was also shown the organ chambers, amazing!
I remember this cinema after it closed we asked if we could buy some seats and had two Sundays there removing them from the stalls and the pullman seats from the balcony. We also got the gold screen tabs and the wall drapes. All went into the Palace at Malton.
Great images ‘28 Days Later’ I did some projection shifts here when Northern Morris had it, it was a nice cinema to work in. I remember the screens with bottom moveable masking, up for scope, down for wide screen.
Myself and a colleague approached Star to see if they wanted to rent out any of there cinemas, they offered this one, downstairs it was King Bingo and upstairs the balcony was divided creating two auditoriums, both served by the original projection box. The screens were painted on the plasterboard walls with a speaker underneath. Projection in screen one was ok but in screen two it was angled from the corner of the auditorium. We thought it had potential and agreed to rent it, however, a few weeks later we received a letter withdrawing it for rental. We asked what else they had and we were offered a single screen in Pontefract which was'nt to bad but the terms of the lease were!
We ended up a few months later with the Palace in Malton.
I remember this cinema in the mid 90’s, it had a floating screen with masking for wide screen that should have dropped down but was broken. My self and a colleague were asked if we could add side masking and tabs. To get the tab track from the original stage we had to go through a small door at the side of the bingo set, climb up a vertical ladder to the fly floor and dismantle a track that like the screen had been flown out of the way to enable the bingo set to be constructed.
I worked at a theatre in the town in the early sixties and went to this cinema a lot, it was very stylish. I can remember being one of the follow spot operators for the Rolling Stones concert mentioned above.
I use to go to this cinema in the 50’s 60’s it was the best Essoldo in the area, the others being the Regal in Monkseaton and the Picture House in the Spanish City complex. Presentation was always superb, two sets of tabs, a big curved screen and projected lighting effects on the proscenium arch. I saw The Robe here when it played for it’s two weeks.
The Picture House was a rather tatty Essoldo, it had exit doors that opened on to the Spanish City amusement park so in the summer you could here the pop music from the rides. It had a downstairs projection box, When scope was added it was built well forward in front of the proscenium, if you sat in the small balcony the sight lines were such that if you wanted to see all of the picture you had to sit with the seat up! There was no masking for wide screen and when change overs happened the image would shift side ways. I think this was a third run, one program on Monday & Tuesday, another on Wednesday & Thursday, another on Friday & Saturday and finally a Sunday only but not until 4 o'clock. The Regal was a lovely cinema, no mention of it anywhere or the Carlton in Tynemouth, gone forever.
I used to go to this cinema when I lived in the town, it was the first projection box I was shown, amazing!. Memories of this Gaumont are the house lights, no dimmers just switched on or off, the same with the dressing on the tabs, side spotlights on or off. The stage was more of a shelf, very small, scope was as wide as the proscenium and the tabs had wires on the bottom to clear the screen, on some shows the doorman would appear with a long stick and poke them back into the small space provided. Later a festoon was added which I think came from the Gaumont, Newcastle. Top Rank records were played in the intermission and timed to perfection when the feature started.
What ever happened to presentation!.
I also used to go to ABC Minors at this cinema, I can remember how, no matter what the running time of the feature was (mainly westerns) they were always over by midday, if there was any love interest scenes towards the end of a reel an early changeover seemed to happen. When scope was added right at the front of the stage the sides of the proscenium were cut back for extra width, the tabs were mainly black and hand wound and the screen was flat not curved with the top masking fixed resulting in a very cropped wide screen picture.
My first visit to this wonderful cinema was a school trip to see a film about the Bolshoi Ballet which would have been 1955 ish. I then saw many shows in the years after in all it’s formats. Presentation always impressed me in those days, not any more! The multiplex way seems to be just slap it on the screen!
I can remember going to this cinema in the 60’s just to watch the cartoons, there was another news cinema at the Haymarket end of town, I think it was called the Tatler.
I can remember looking at this cinema with a view to renting it from Star in the mid 1980’s, the auditorium was really nice if not a bit tatty, the screen was a good size. The projection box before the building was altered must have been at the rear of the stalls so another one had be created in the roof space with the entrance to it at the rear of the seating area.
It had mirrored projection system.
The box to me was strange as it was the first one I had been in where the projectors were not pointing downwards and looking though the ports saw nothing!.
I can remember going to this cinema when it was being demolished taking down light fittings and toilet signs pulling up the ABC style carpet which all went into the Palace at Malton which myself and colleague had just leased to re-open as a cinema.
Myself and a colleague were looking for a cinema to lease in 1986, we approached ‘Star’ in Leeds to see if they had anything, they offered a twin screen we said yes, all was looking good, then they cancelled, they had sold out to Cannon. They offered another 3 screen in a mining town, (the strike had just ended) we said no, then we were offered a single in Pontefract but the terms of the lease were unacceptable. Watching the local tv news one day we saw some footage of the Palace which was being turned into a shopping mall with a cinema. The next day I phoned up the local council, they gave me the name of the company that was doing it, we arranged to meet, had a look and said yes. It was in such a state, all the seats from the stalls had been dumped there plus other rubbish and with the broken windows pigeons too. We got it rent free until we opened. The seats and tabs came from the then close Tower cinema in Leeds, other fittings came from the ABC in York being demolished at the time. There were five rows of tip ups and two of pullmans, 142 seats. The projector, FP25 came from Nottingham and the tower from Liverpool. Business was very good until the Warner multiplex opened in York.
The first film was ‘Crocodile Dundee’. The rainbow coloured slats which can be seen above the screen in some photos were off one of the sets of ‘321’ the YTV quiz show.
My mother worked at this cinema as a cashier in the late 40’s, much later when we moved to Whitley Bay in the early 50’s I think I must have been 7 maybe 8 we had a neighbour who used to be the organist there and I can remember one morning with my newly acquired tape recorder going with him and sitting in the front of the circle recording while he played. I was also shown the organ chambers, amazing!
I remember this cinema after it closed we asked if we could buy some seats and had two Sundays there removing them from the stalls and the pullman seats from the balcony. We also got the gold screen tabs and the wall drapes. All went into the Palace at Malton.
Great images ‘28 Days Later’ I did some projection shifts here when Northern Morris had it, it was a nice cinema to work in. I remember the screens with bottom moveable masking, up for scope, down for wide screen.
Myself and a colleague approached Star to see if they wanted to rent out any of there cinemas, they offered this one, downstairs it was King Bingo and upstairs the balcony was divided creating two auditoriums, both served by the original projection box. The screens were painted on the plasterboard walls with a speaker underneath. Projection in screen one was ok but in screen two it was angled from the corner of the auditorium. We thought it had potential and agreed to rent it, however, a few weeks later we received a letter withdrawing it for rental. We asked what else they had and we were offered a single screen in Pontefract which was'nt to bad but the terms of the lease were! We ended up a few months later with the Palace in Malton.
I remember this cinema in the mid 90’s, it had a floating screen with masking for wide screen that should have dropped down but was broken. My self and a colleague were asked if we could add side masking and tabs. To get the tab track from the original stage we had to go through a small door at the side of the bingo set, climb up a vertical ladder to the fly floor and dismantle a track that like the screen had been flown out of the way to enable the bingo set to be constructed.
I worked at a theatre in the town in the early sixties and went to this cinema a lot, it was very stylish. I can remember being one of the follow spot operators for the Rolling Stones concert mentioned above.
I use to go to this cinema in the 50’s 60’s it was the best Essoldo in the area, the others being the Regal in Monkseaton and the Picture House in the Spanish City complex. Presentation was always superb, two sets of tabs, a big curved screen and projected lighting effects on the proscenium arch. I saw The Robe here when it played for it’s two weeks. The Picture House was a rather tatty Essoldo, it had exit doors that opened on to the Spanish City amusement park so in the summer you could here the pop music from the rides. It had a downstairs projection box, When scope was added it was built well forward in front of the proscenium, if you sat in the small balcony the sight lines were such that if you wanted to see all of the picture you had to sit with the seat up! There was no masking for wide screen and when change overs happened the image would shift side ways. I think this was a third run, one program on Monday & Tuesday, another on Wednesday & Thursday, another on Friday & Saturday and finally a Sunday only but not until 4 o'clock. The Regal was a lovely cinema, no mention of it anywhere or the Carlton in Tynemouth, gone forever.
I used to go to this cinema when I lived in the town, it was the first projection box I was shown, amazing!. Memories of this Gaumont are the house lights, no dimmers just switched on or off, the same with the dressing on the tabs, side spotlights on or off. The stage was more of a shelf, very small, scope was as wide as the proscenium and the tabs had wires on the bottom to clear the screen, on some shows the doorman would appear with a long stick and poke them back into the small space provided. Later a festoon was added which I think came from the Gaumont, Newcastle. Top Rank records were played in the intermission and timed to perfection when the feature started. What ever happened to presentation!.
I also used to go to ABC Minors at this cinema, I can remember how, no matter what the running time of the feature was (mainly westerns) they were always over by midday, if there was any love interest scenes towards the end of a reel an early changeover seemed to happen. When scope was added right at the front of the stage the sides of the proscenium were cut back for extra width, the tabs were mainly black and hand wound and the screen was flat not curved with the top masking fixed resulting in a very cropped wide screen picture.
My first visit to this wonderful cinema was a school trip to see a film about the Bolshoi Ballet which would have been 1955 ish. I then saw many shows in the years after in all it’s formats. Presentation always impressed me in those days, not any more! The multiplex way seems to be just slap it on the screen!
I can remember going to this cinema in the 60’s just to watch the cartoons, there was another news cinema at the Haymarket end of town, I think it was called the Tatler.
I can remember looking at this cinema with a view to renting it from Star in the mid 1980’s, the auditorium was really nice if not a bit tatty, the screen was a good size. The projection box before the building was altered must have been at the rear of the stalls so another one had be created in the roof space with the entrance to it at the rear of the seating area. It had mirrored projection system. The box to me was strange as it was the first one I had been in where the projectors were not pointing downwards and looking though the ports saw nothing!.
I can remember going to this cinema when it was being demolished taking down light fittings and toilet signs pulling up the ABC style carpet which all went into the Palace at Malton which myself and colleague had just leased to re-open as a cinema.