A number of posters have been added to the “For Sale” section of Collectors Corner.

(Entries are FREE for members, and 4 x 34p. stamps per ten words (name & address free) for non-members. Copy for this service to the Administrator.

This also appears in the Bioscope colour supplement)

An enquiry about Francis Percival, Ashington Theatre Manager, has been added to the notes and queries page.

On the fringes of legality, urban exploration is an unusual hobby where people get into abandoned spaces and document them. Provided that the UrbExer doesn’t actually break into a premises, they are only committing the civil offence of Trespass for which the owner can sue but the Police cannot arrest. (There are a number of building types and locations where this doesn’t apply, of course, such as a nuclear power station).

UrbExers are drawn to large buildings like abandoned hospitals, factories – and theatres. Often the photos taken of a venue are the last ones ever likely to be seen before demolition or internal destruction beyond recognition.

The Society are grateful to the site www.exploremanchester.co.uk for giving us permission to publish a number of photographs taken of an incursion into the derelict Manchester Odeon, the original 2,920 seat Paramount Theatre of 1930. The CTA broke the story of how much of the decorative interior plasterwork had been stripped out (to minimise the risk of re-listing) and these photos collaborate this (but also show that much remains).

The photographers were not intimately acquainted with the building before their visit so have not always been in a position to clarify where the photos were taken inside. The commentary is therefore speculative based on the Webmaster’s intimate knowledge of the similar 1931 Paramount Newcastle.

The original building had three audience levels (two balconies) and over the last thirty years or so was progressively carved up into seven screens. Here are the details from Odeon Cinemas: From J. Arthur Rank to the Multiplex:

Opened 10 June 30. Architects: Sam Beverley & Frank Verity. 2,920 seats.
To Odeon 27 Nov 39. Re-named 8 April 40.
By 1966: 2,737 seats.
Closed 21 July 73.
Re-opened 25 Jan 74 – 1,030 (2: ex-stalls), 1: 629 ex-circle
10 June 79 – 3rd screen in mezzanine
1992 – ex-stalls (No 2) closed for tripling + on-stage & ex-restaurant screens:
So:
3 in former stalls – 326, 145, 142
1 in former circle – 629
1 in former mzzanine 211
1 on stage – 97
1 in former basement restaurant – 97

Closed 2 Sept 04.

Note that all photographs are taken using improvised lighting conditions and are presented in camera sequence order. Because there are a large number of photographs which would make the page slow to load, please click on the read the rest of this entry below to unfurl the posting.

Read the rest of this entry »

BASINGSTOKE ENTERTAINED

Mervyn Gould

Mercia Cinema Society, 2007

Paperback, 98pp., £8.95

ISBN 10: 0-946406-62-6

Since Basingstoke has never had a purpose built theatre this book, perhaps naturally, centres on the history its cinemas. However there is a record of plenty of live entertainment within its pages and its author, long time SMA member, Mervyn Gould, in his fourth book (and there are three more in the pipeline!) has, as usual, spared no effort in his research to provide an exhaustive study of his subject. We may read about strolling players, live entertainment at the Hiring Fairs, and fit-ups in various venues both under cover and al fresco, long before the moving pictures came on the scene. Later there was still room for variety, pantomime and even weekly rep. and no theatre history is complete without a fire.

For this reader a gazetteer would have been useful to help keep track of the frequent changes of name and the rebuilds at the numerous sites enumerated in this work. Much at the centre of cinematic activity in Basingtoke for more than twenty years was George Casey, who in 1913 converted the Corn Exchange, at that time a skating rink, into a cinema and variety theatre. He later converted the old Drill Hall into a variety theatre before it was reconstructed as a cinema. His other interests and activities are fully explored.

Appended is a lengthy newspaper report of the fire which all but destroyed the Grand Cinema, formerly the Corn Exchange, in 1925. The fire occurring at night, there were no fatalities, but a touring revue company, currently in occupation, lost all their props and costumes. The shell of the building was later redeveloped and eventually renamed the Haymarket.

The expansion of the cinema industry, developments in sound technology, the rise of the national circuits and the more recent arrival of the multiplex cinema, are all subjects examined in as far as they were manifested in Basingstoke.

The book concludes with a study of the formation of the Horseshoe Theatre Company at the Haymarket, later developments at that venue, the building of the Anvil concert hall in 1994 and the current provision of public entertainment in Basingstoke.

The author’s thoroughly readable style, is, as usual, enriched by the provision of numerous illustrations, from photographs, plans, programmes and advertisements. Interwoven throughout are details of both amateur and professional live entertainment and wider aspects of social history, making this a valuable aid to our understanding and a wider knowledge of our national culture.

(Reviewed by Graeme Cruickshank)

Basingtoke Entertained is available from: Mervyn Gould, 29 Blackbrook Court, Durham Road, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 5UA.

Tel/fax: 01509 218393
e-mail: Mervyn.Gould@virgin.net

At £8.95 post free (payable to Mercia Cinema Society)

As announced in the flyer accompanying the brand new February Bioscope (now posted out), the website has a fresh new look and articles are progressively being decanted into WordPress, our content management system (which also doubles as a Weblog).

Further developments are in the pipeline, pardon our dust…