The Regal Hammersmith is a rare (possibly unique) example of a purpose built ABC which, for decades, did not play the ABC release. In the absence of an Odeon cinema in Hammersmith, the Regal played the Odeon release while the ABC release played the Commodore and the Broadway (and the Gaumont release obviously played the Gaumont). When Rank reorganised its circuits in January 1959 the new Rank release went to the Gaumont, leaving the Regal with the National release or off circuit releases. It was not until the Commodore closed in 1963 that the Regal finally played the ABC release.
The Odeon Glasgow closed on Saturday September 13th 1969 for reconstruction into three cinemas. Originally intended to take six months, the work lasted over a year and the new Odeon Film Centre reopened on Friday October 2nd 1970 (Gala Opening) and to the public the following day.
Now that the British Newspaper Archive has belatedly got around to putting the Birmingham Post from 1965 online, it can be seen that My Fair Lady opened at the ABC Coleshill St. for it’s 70mm roadshow run on April 18th 1965 and ran for five weeks before transferring to ABC Bristol Road on May 23rd (it ran there for a further 21 weeks). It would seem that this was the old Gaiety’s last 70mm presentation.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning played the Regal from Feb 27th to March 11th 1961, an unusual (for the time) two week run. “Linda” was the title of the supporting film.
After Rank and 20th Century Fox fell out over CinemaScope installations and length of runs the Capitol became the home of Fox CinemaScope films in Aberdeen from 1954 to 1958/9.
The Odeon Aberdeen closed for two weeks from May 25th 1959 for the installation of Todd-AO 70mm screen and projection. On June 8th 1959 South Pacific opened for a 16 week run.
To clear up a misconception, the circle at the Odeon was never extended forward. When the tripling was done the roof of the minis protruded in front of the circle. When the fourth screen was added, a floor was built from the roof of the minis forward to the original proscenium and the screen raised to sit on this with a new false proscenium around it. The fourth screen was in the old front stalls area, which had retained seats after the original tripling. The original circle seating area remained as built through all these changes. How all this work raising the screen to it’s new position was done without Odeon 1 closing is puzzling, but my records indicate that it never closed.
The Pavilion was not a roadshow house following its early 1961 refurbishment (it was closed from January 8th until Monday January 30th when it reopened with a special evening show of The World of Suzie Wong, regular show began the next day). For the next two and a bit years the Pavilion was a weekly change house with an occasional longer run. An attempt at a roadshow presentation of Judgement at Nuremberg had to be aborted after two weeks in January 1962 due to poor business (it was replaced with a quickly cobbled together double bill of Pillow Talk and Doctor at Large). The Pavilion became a roadshow house when it took over Lawrence of Arabia from the Queens Hall on May 26th 1963, having been equipped for 70mm. Curiously the Queens carried on with three weeks of run of the mill 35mm films until closing for the Cinerama conversion.
You Only Live Twice did not reach the midlands until October 1st 1967, when it opened at the Odeon, New Street for a four week run. It would not have played local Birmingham cinemas until after this.
This was the only one of the Ex-Paramounts to become the city’s Rank roadshow house. In Birmingham it was the West End and later the Gaumont, in Manchester the Gaumont and the Oxford, in Leeds the Majestic, in Newcastle the Queens and the Pavilion and in Glasgow the Gaumont. Usually smaller seating capacities were preferred for roadshows.
The ABC Bristol Road played three strip Cinerama from September 14th 1963 to January 9th 1965. It was then converted to 70mm single lens Cinerama. The Three strip presentations were:– How the West Was Won, 27 weeks. Seven Wonders of the World, 8 weeks. South Seas Adventure, 4 weeks. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 16 weeks. Windjammer, 7 weeks. Search For Paradise, 3 weeks. This is Cinerama, 3 weeks and finally The Best of Cinerama, 4 weeks.
The conversion to three strip Cinerama was an expensive waste of money. ABC had already converted the ABC Bristol Road and had access to the best film in the process (How the West Was Won). The Gaumont opened with Cinerama Holiday, played it for nine weeks and then closed again for ten days while the 3 strip kit was ripped out and replaced with 70mm for the opening of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World on December 26th, which at least could be advertised as “in Cinerama” (albeit single lens). In June 1964 when The Fall of the Roman Empire opened, the Cinerama tag had to be dropped.
Further research shows that the ABC Coleshill St. (as it was known by then) closed for 70mm installation from October 11th to October 21st 1964. It opened the next day with Cheyenne Autumn in 70mm for a three and a half week run. The ABC Bristol Road closed for Cinerama installation in May 1963, so if the 70mm kit came from there it must have been in store somewhere for over a year.
Between 1954 and 1958 the Futurist was the Birmingham outlet for 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films, following the bust up between Fox and Rank over the cost of ‘Scope installations and the extended run policy.
From 1954 to 1958, La Scala was the Glasgow home of 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films. This followed Fox and Rank falling out over the cost of ‘Scope installations and extended runs and the creation of the Fox (or Fourth)circuit.
The Regal can be seen in several movies of the fifties/sixties including The Sound Barrier and several B movies shot at Walton studios. One of these, The Third Alibi, also has a scene shot in the foyer.
Alan Baker
commented about
1958on
Nov 2, 2017 at 9:17 am
It should read cannot be admitted, At that time X certificate meant 16 or over and applied to the whole programme even if the support (as in this case) was an “A” (which meant that under 16’s had to be accompanied by an adult). Somebody has screwed up with the copy.
A couple of small points. As the 70mm kit came from the ABC Bristol Road (which was being converted to 3 strip Cinerama), the projectors were almost certainly DP70s rather than the later DP75. As for only having the 70mm kit for eighteen months, Allen Eyles ABC book says the Gaiety had the Midlands premiere of My Fair Lady, which would not have been until 1966.
The Regal Hammersmith is a rare (possibly unique) example of a purpose built ABC which, for decades, did not play the ABC release. In the absence of an Odeon cinema in Hammersmith, the Regal played the Odeon release while the ABC release played the Commodore and the Broadway (and the Gaumont release obviously played the Gaumont). When Rank reorganised its circuits in January 1959 the new Rank release went to the Gaumont, leaving the Regal with the National release or off circuit releases. It was not until the Commodore closed in 1963 that the Regal finally played the ABC release.
The Odeon Glasgow closed on Saturday September 13th 1969 for reconstruction into three cinemas. Originally intended to take six months, the work lasted over a year and the new Odeon Film Centre reopened on Friday October 2nd 1970 (Gala Opening) and to the public the following day.
Now that the British Newspaper Archive has belatedly got around to putting the Birmingham Post from 1965 online, it can be seen that My Fair Lady opened at the ABC Coleshill St. for it’s 70mm roadshow run on April 18th 1965 and ran for five weeks before transferring to ABC Bristol Road on May 23rd (it ran there for a further 21 weeks). It would seem that this was the old Gaiety’s last 70mm presentation.
“Home of premieres”! Except it won’t be because it doesn’t have the seating capacity anymore.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning played the Regal from Feb 27th to March 11th 1961, an unusual (for the time) two week run. “Linda” was the title of the supporting film.
Taken during the week of July 22nd to July 27th 1963. The Scarlet Blade/Son of Captain Blood was the following week’s programme.
After Rank and 20th Century Fox fell out over CinemaScope installations and length of runs the Capitol became the home of Fox CinemaScope films in Aberdeen from 1954 to 1958/9.
Actually installed May/June 1959. South Pacific opened June 8th 1959 for a 16 week run.
The Odeon Aberdeen closed for two weeks from May 25th 1959 for the installation of Todd-AO 70mm screen and projection. On June 8th 1959 South Pacific opened for a 16 week run.
To clear up a misconception, the circle at the Odeon was never extended forward. When the tripling was done the roof of the minis protruded in front of the circle. When the fourth screen was added, a floor was built from the roof of the minis forward to the original proscenium and the screen raised to sit on this with a new false proscenium around it. The fourth screen was in the old front stalls area, which had retained seats after the original tripling. The original circle seating area remained as built through all these changes. How all this work raising the screen to it’s new position was done without Odeon 1 closing is puzzling, but my records indicate that it never closed.
Google Earth historic imagery from 1945 shows the Odeon Canning Town to be a complete ruin. I doubt that the condition of the raft came into it!
Remarkably, aerial photographs appear to show the 1967 ABC 2 has survived.
The Pavilion was not a roadshow house following its early 1961 refurbishment (it was closed from January 8th until Monday January 30th when it reopened with a special evening show of The World of Suzie Wong, regular show began the next day). For the next two and a bit years the Pavilion was a weekly change house with an occasional longer run. An attempt at a roadshow presentation of Judgement at Nuremberg had to be aborted after two weeks in January 1962 due to poor business (it was replaced with a quickly cobbled together double bill of Pillow Talk and Doctor at Large). The Pavilion became a roadshow house when it took over Lawrence of Arabia from the Queens Hall on May 26th 1963, having been equipped for 70mm. Curiously the Queens carried on with three weeks of run of the mill 35mm films until closing for the Cinerama conversion.
From Google earth imagery it would seem that the auditorium of the Princess was demolished in early 2003.
You Only Live Twice did not reach the midlands until October 1st 1967, when it opened at the Odeon, New Street for a four week run. It would not have played local Birmingham cinemas until after this.
This was the only one of the Ex-Paramounts to become the city’s Rank roadshow house. In Birmingham it was the West End and later the Gaumont, in Manchester the Gaumont and the Oxford, in Leeds the Majestic, in Newcastle the Queens and the Pavilion and in Glasgow the Gaumont. Usually smaller seating capacities were preferred for roadshows.
The ABC Bristol Road played three strip Cinerama from September 14th 1963 to January 9th 1965. It was then converted to 70mm single lens Cinerama. The Three strip presentations were:– How the West Was Won, 27 weeks. Seven Wonders of the World, 8 weeks. South Seas Adventure, 4 weeks. The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm, 16 weeks. Windjammer, 7 weeks. Search For Paradise, 3 weeks. This is Cinerama, 3 weeks and finally The Best of Cinerama, 4 weeks.
The conversion to three strip Cinerama was an expensive waste of money. ABC had already converted the ABC Bristol Road and had access to the best film in the process (How the West Was Won). The Gaumont opened with Cinerama Holiday, played it for nine weeks and then closed again for ten days while the 3 strip kit was ripped out and replaced with 70mm for the opening of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World on December 26th, which at least could be advertised as “in Cinerama” (albeit single lens). In June 1964 when The Fall of the Roman Empire opened, the Cinerama tag had to be dropped.
Further research shows that the ABC Coleshill St. (as it was known by then) closed for 70mm installation from October 11th to October 21st 1964. It opened the next day with Cheyenne Autumn in 70mm for a three and a half week run. The ABC Bristol Road closed for Cinerama installation in May 1963, so if the 70mm kit came from there it must have been in store somewhere for over a year.
Between 1954 and 1958 the Futurist was the Birmingham outlet for 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films, following the bust up between Fox and Rank over the cost of ‘Scope installations and the extended run policy.
From 1954 to 1958, La Scala was the Glasgow home of 20th Century Fox CinemaScope films. This followed Fox and Rank falling out over the cost of ‘Scope installations and extended runs and the creation of the Fox (or Fourth)circuit.
The Regal can be seen in several movies of the fifties/sixties including The Sound Barrier and several B movies shot at Walton studios. One of these, The Third Alibi, also has a scene shot in the foyer.
It should read cannot be admitted, At that time X certificate meant 16 or over and applied to the whole programme even if the support (as in this case) was an “A” (which meant that under 16’s had to be accompanied by an adult). Somebody has screwed up with the copy.
That would appear to be the great Ray Allan with Lord Charles.
A couple of small points. As the 70mm kit came from the ABC Bristol Road (which was being converted to 3 strip Cinerama), the projectors were almost certainly DP70s rather than the later DP75. As for only having the 70mm kit for eighteen months, Allen Eyles ABC book says the Gaiety had the Midlands premiere of My Fair Lady, which would not have been until 1966.