The final Mercia Gallery is courtesy of John Matthews from the Northumberland Society. To set the scene, read the article in the last post which is is on the verge of publication in the Society’s City & County magazine.

He apologises for the poor quality of the photos which were taken on a very small digital camera under difficult conditions.

Here is the first shot, taken in the main lobby looking up to the Royal Circle Lounge. Note that the balustrades have been removed, along with the decorative ceiling fittings upstairs.

This is the Grand Staircase up to the Royal Circle Lounge. The ornate handrail has been removed along with the substantial ceiling pendant fittings.

This is screen 2, which is the rear stalls to the left.

The dividing wall between screen 2 and screen 3 has been removed. This is standing in screen 2 looking across to screen 3.

A piece of projector debris in a stairwell on the way up to screen 1.

Up in screen 1, the circle of the original auditorium. Note the stacked chairs and the partially removed wall sconces.

Looking to the right hand wall. The screen can be seen, which is mounted in front of the original proscenium.

Looking back towards the upper Circle.

At front Circle, looking across to the left wall

Centre circle, looking towards the (damaged) screen

One of the ornate cast seat row ends, with integral aisle downlighter

A view into the auditorium from one of the projection room ports.

Another port view towards the screen.

In the projector room access stairwells each side, there is a large Paramount mountain stylised metal screen. This is the view looking out.

One of the control panels for lighting, screen masking and Tabs.

The Cinemation unit- the automated system for running the show, as well as most of the building electrics.

The projection room, with one of the Victoria 8 machine plinths moved out of the way, probably to ease dismantling. (The mechanism and lamphouses were taken to Doncaster Odeon backstage for storage after the Cinema closed)

After the Cinema was quadrupled, the upper circle lounge was converted into a licensed bar. This stencil is in one of the sofa niches and the decoration was carried out by the Cinema staff.

Once again, a massive thank you to John Matthews of the Northumberland and Newcastle Society for agreeing to let these photos be shown. Many of us will be delighted to see them, and saddened by the removal of the fixtures.

“It is with some sadness that we have to report that our long running campaign to save the former Odeon cinema in Pilgrim Street has now come to an unsatisfactory end. Brookfield, the current owners of the East Pilgrim Street development site invited Geoffrey Purves and John Matthews along with John Burns of Mackellar architects to have a look at the interior on Tuesday 25^th of May. The building has been stripped of anything of value, and more importantly the specific fixtures and fittings which were so crucial in English Heritages original listing decision in 2000. We believe that Cinven, the owners at the time, who along with the Rank Organisation successfully appealed to the DCMS to controversially de-list the former Grade II listed Odeon, took the opportunity at that time to ensure that nothing remained worth listing. We understand from Brookfield that they do have some items “in storage” but as yet they haven’t indicated what they themselves have removed or indeed the condition of the interior when they themselves took possession. The elegant and elaborately worked ornamental balustrades manufactured by local architectural metalworkers M Aynsley and Company of Heber Street which many members will remember leading up to the foyers from the main Pilgrim Street entrance have been ripped out leaving gaping holes in the concrete stairs. Shadows on the walls are all that remain of the decorative lighting sconces and other original fittings.

Geoffrey and John visited the former screen 2 and 3 on the ground floor, now with their separating wall removed, (probably because of the asbestos insulation used in the 70’s conversion) and now returned back a single space as it was when first opened, then upstairs to screen 1, the largest which still could seat over 1000 patrons at the time of closure in 2002.  Some of the original ornate metal side cheeks which graced the row ends were stacked awaiting removal along with other remnant of the auditorium seating. The highly ornate decorative fixtures above the lighting columns which were also original fittings when the cinema was opened in 1931 by Paramount have all been removed. The last part of the tour was at the top of the building in the projection room where, apart from some electrical control units, nothing remains.

It seems that anything which could be taken has been taken, which of course as owners of the building at the time Cinven were perfectly entitled to do. However the fact that the Society had submitted a document to the DCMS providing additional information to substantiate our request for them to return the Odeon’s Grade II listed status,  and it was therefore still “under consideration” we still feel it was a cynical act of wanton destruction by the owners. It took the DCMS seven years to respond to this report despite numerous letters and telephone calls from the Society as each time we were told “no decision has yet been made”.

The Society believes that the DCMS’s record in this sad affair has been lamentable and wish to see the new Government resurrect the proposed Heritage Bill (quietly dropped by the Labour Government a year or so ago) which would remove the DCMS (and its transient Ministers) from the equation and allow English Heritage to be the final arbiter in listing and delisting decisions. We are well aware that the Minister at the DCMS at the time was heavily lobbied by the previous owners Rank and venture capitalists Cinven (the new owners of the Odeon and ABC cinema and theatre estates), (including a former Government Heritage Minister) and rather than accepting two separate reports from English Heritage recommending the Odeon’s protection and Grade II listing, she preferred to accept a professionally commissioned report from the owners on appeal. Cinven went on to sell off the Odeon /ABC to other cinema chains but sold the most valuable sites on to developers (including the Newcastle site) which is why they lobbied strongly to get listed status removed.

The Society’s concern is that if this can happen to the Odeon, which at the time considering its age was remarkably intact and certainly worthy of listing, other buildings are therefore potentially at risk. As owners (and councils) see no commercial advantage in retention, other buildings which currently have listed building protection could be at risk if they stand in the way of new development. They could have their listed status challenged and subsequently removed in the same way as the Odeon on appeal to the DCMS. In this way we could loose other important fine examples of art décor 20th century architecture on the Pilgrim Street site  Carliol House and the Magistrates Court, a group of buildings which including the Odeon are arguably as important historically to the architectural heritage of Newcastle as the much valued Grainger Town.

To end on a more positive note, Brookfield have provisionally agreed an offer of financial support to capture all of the available information, be it photographic, written or spoken memories relating to the Paramount/Odeon over it’s 80 year lifespan; and to assist in the creation of an exhibition somewhere in the city, possibly leading to finding a permanent home for any memorabilia we can obtain from former employees and members of the public. We are certainly in agreement with Brookfield that IF the building must be lost to future generations, its sad demise MUST be recorded in a professional and complete manner. We have lost too many buildings in the past without proper studies being carried out. It is the least this fine historic building deserves. The Northumberland and Newcastle Society have offered our assistance in this initiative.

A more complete history of the Societies campaign to “ Preserve the Paramount” will be complied by John Matthews who was Chair of the Tyneside Committee at the time of the Odeon’s de-listing and will be posted along with his series of black and white images of the Paramount in 1931 in the near future.”

(From John Matthews)

This was taken by Ian Meyrick in September 2009 at the CTA Archives. Ian describes Mervyn as being very engrossed in items from the Tony Moss Collection. This is possibly the last known photo of Mervyn before his unfortunate demise the following month.

The following photographs were taken by Colin Sutton at the Society EGM last month.

The following appeared in The Stage last week.

Mervyn Gould

Former stage manager and writer of books on cinema history, Mervyn Gould has died at the age of 62.

Mervyn Stockbridge Gould was born on December 14, 1946 and, having been fascinated with technical theatre from his early teens, Mervyn landed his first paid backstage job aged 17 in 1963 as ASM (and props) for a two-week run of Babes in the Wood at Boston Regal, touring into Crewe, Buxton and Leek. He remained a casual showman at the venue (and number two lime boy) until moving to London in 1965 to study history at Marjons in Chelsea.

Having had the foresight to join the National Association of Theatrical Television and Kine Employees, he was able to get work in numerous West End theatres, although it impacted on his degree, as he just scraped through the finals.

After several years of touring, residences and even walking Schnorbitz – a period he described as “the painful death throes of variety” – he spent three seasons at Sunderland Empire as CD operator, then a year as deputy chief engineer at the Palace Theatre during the run of Jesus Christ Superstar.

He joined Loughborough University English and Drama Department in 1979 as a technical tutor, which gave him the opportunity to gain an MA and still work occasional summer seasons or pantos. He remained there for 17 years before taking early retirement due to ill health.

As an author, he wrote four books on cinema history as well as numerous articles for the theatrical press, including The Stage, Tabs, Cue and Cueline.

In 2007, he was interviewed for the Theatre Archive Project and his colourful memories can be found online at www.bl.uk/projects/theatrearchive/gouldm.html

He died peacefully at home in Loughborough on October 29.

(This is currently online on their website here).