GALLERY- February 2005

In memoriam: Arthur Ernest Northover January 16 1924 - 1 February 2005

NORTHAMPTON’S NEW SUPER!
Mervyn Gould

Week commencing Monday 6th December, as we say in the business, marked the return to life – and the start of a new life - to the 1936 Savoy Abington Square Northampton, which opened originally on with Broadway Melody of 1936. Designed by William R. Glen with an imposing façade and built by the local firm Glenn’s, it opened with much publicity on Monday 4 May 1936, complete with Compton 3c/7 + Melotone organ. The seating capacity was 1,954 — 1,258 stalls and 696 in the circle.

Arthur Northover describes the Savoy at opening:
The main entrance on the corner of Lower Mounts and Abington Square was flanked on each side by three shops. Overhead, a semi-circular canopy contained the words Broadway Melody of 1936, the opening film. On the steps leading to the vestibule twin signs proclaimed 'Wilfrid Southworth at the Compton Organ’ on one side, and the other read ‘It’s Cooler Inside. Fully Air-Conditioned’. Within yards of passing the cinema building passers-by and patrons were aware of the hygienic aroma, a scent distinct to the Savoy, which pleasantly filled the place.
The spacious vestibule had two pay desks for stalls and circle. The 6d front stalls had their own entrance 20 yards along Lower Mounts, where frequent queues heard the hissing of the plenum chamber entrance above. Front stalls patrons did not sit lying back suffering aching necks as at the Exchange: the Compton organ console in the centre of the flower-decked orchestra pit meant there was an 18 yard depth to the screen set back on the full-sized stage. Three pairs of tabs (curtains) were available—massive house tabs filling the proscenium with screen tabs behind for cinema, controlled from the box, and another pair could be used for live performances.
The sixpennies merged under the circle with the 1/- rear seats, totalling over 1200 on the ground floor. The front (2/-) and rear (1/6) circle patrons, separately divided, approached through a large, thickly-carpeted vestibule to enter the 700-seat balcony. Front circle seats were bookable. All seating was in staggered rows, ensuring a clear view of the screen with its straight corners: the only cinema in town not to have rounded corners. Pathé Gazette news was shown, also Pathé Pictorial and The March of Time every few weeks.
Seated in stalls or circle patrons were encircled by the massive ante-proscenium, with two arched lighting coves tastefully lit by ever-changing colours, outstanding during intervals and organ interludes. The entire cinema walls and ornate ceiling were in orange and yellow. All seating comprised identical chairs with padded arms, and each row was nicely carpeted.
A staff of twenty-five, including two page boys, but excluding projectionists, was paraded daily at 1.45 in the circle foyer by the manager.
The Grade II-listed Savoy / ABC (tripled in 1974) / Cannon / M.G.M. closed in 1995. It sat boarded-up for nearly ten years, whilst a succession of schemes, including demolition, use as a Wetherspoon’s public house, discovery of a crack in the foundation raft caused by a nearby WWII bomb, and conversion to a night-club, which would have involved the removal of the balcony!, were debated and re-debated by the local council.
Now, this reopening of the restored building was the start of the Jesus Fellowship Centre, after many delays, council complications, and the expenditure of over £3 million.

The writer had the thrill of being present with Arthur Northover, who has described being alone in the Savoy’s box at the age of 16 at the outset of WWII both in an earlier Bioscope and his autobiography The Picture Man, John Knight, junior projectionist 1942-44, and Ken Osborne, who had managed the Regal round the corner for Essoldo.

The restoration was thorough – all the existing plasterwork that could be saved, was, and exploration revealed boarded-up features such as the grand staircase side balconies, and the ‘Circle’ sign above the vomitory doors, which has been restored and re-lit, as in the photograph above. Fortunately, the skyscraper-motif ports in the doors had survived, too, in many cases, as seen here at the rear of the circle. In the auditorium, part of the fibrous plaster had collapsed under a leaking portion of the roof, pigeons nested, and a vixen and her cub had taken up residence. No sign of any of this now – the plaster is restored, all the old paint taken off, and a completely new paint job done.

The reconstruction may be compared – very crudely – to a combination of bingo and drop-wall conversion, in that most of the former stalls space has been divided into two, and down from the original circle parapet run staircases either side to the former front stalls. In front on the circle a balcony has been thrown out, the centre of which housed the lighting and sound control desks at the opening.

A suspended F.O.H. LX bar has been provided, fully lanterned, with some moving lights and scrollers, and booms, empty as yet, run up the ante-proscenium coving. Back stage, the original counterweight sets (right) have been over-hauled and recabled, and new brakes installed at gallery level, rather than floor operation cinema-style. The stage has the original boards, painted black all over, and another reminder of the 1936 LX installation is a Major 4-colour dip-trap sill in situ on stage left. The horn chamber has been converted to a get-in, with double doors in the outside wall, and across this at a high level is the ‘shelf’ for a rear projection video installation. Black and grey neutral drapes are set off by a pair of old gold velour house tabs.
The orchestra is covered, to form a fore-stage, but can still be uncovered and used. The original organ lift is still there, but another lift above it brings the baptismal tank to stage level.

The firms involved were local – the architect is GSS Architecture, 35 Headlands, Kettering, Northants NN15 7ES telephone 01536513165 contact Richard Phillips (rpp@gotch.co.uk ), and the contractor is Deejak, Francis Court, Norris Way, Rushden, Northants NN10 6AY. Telephone 01933358818 Contact Steve Dix (stevedix@deejak-builders.co.uk).
The 900-capacity performing side of the building is to be known as The Deco. The address is Abington Square Northampton NN1 4AE; telephone 01604 622 749 Fax: 01604 624 627 (e-mail: enquiries@thedeco.co.uk). Paul Scarbrow has been appointed the General Manager after a successful theatre administration career (e-mail: paul@thedeco.co.uk), and Delphine Brulet is the Events & Marketing Executive (e-mail: delphine@thedeco.co.uk).