This place was awesome in the 60’s, though I rarely remember it being more than half full at the best of times. It felt really grand, even if seeming a bit of a white elephant by then. The foyer was like the entrance to a great opera house. I think seeing movies on a giant screen from hundreds of feet away still beats sitting in the matchbox auditoriums of modern multiplexes. But these movie palaces belong to a bygone age, killed off by TV. Will DVD and online streaming finish off cinemas altogether?
I remember seeing Lawrence Of Arabia here on a giant 70mm projection screen in the ‘60s. I am sure the management turned up the heating to enhance the effect of the movie because there was a big rush for ice cream during the intermission. The cinema though seemed rather old and uncared for, which may have suited the period setting of the movie, bit did not auger well for its future. Comfortable as many old movie old palaces were in a decaying sort of way. Part of a lost era I suppose.
I can remember visiting the old Empire about 1960 as a child to see the roadshow run of Ben-Hur. It seemed like a very old but very grand, and large, theatre that seemed to fit exactly the film it was showing. The one thing I most remember, sitting in the rear stalls, was the large projection booth that had been built downstairs to project the film in 70mm (Camera 65). The screen seemed enormous even from the back of the stalls. I suppose old theatres have to move on, but I’m sure it would be listed today if it still existed in its former glory.
This place was awesome in the 60’s, though I rarely remember it being more than half full at the best of times. It felt really grand, even if seeming a bit of a white elephant by then. The foyer was like the entrance to a great opera house. I think seeing movies on a giant screen from hundreds of feet away still beats sitting in the matchbox auditoriums of modern multiplexes. But these movie palaces belong to a bygone age, killed off by TV. Will DVD and online streaming finish off cinemas altogether?
I remember seeing Lawrence Of Arabia here on a giant 70mm projection screen in the ‘60s. I am sure the management turned up the heating to enhance the effect of the movie because there was a big rush for ice cream during the intermission. The cinema though seemed rather old and uncared for, which may have suited the period setting of the movie, bit did not auger well for its future. Comfortable as many old movie old palaces were in a decaying sort of way. Part of a lost era I suppose.
I can remember visiting the old Empire about 1960 as a child to see the roadshow run of Ben-Hur. It seemed like a very old but very grand, and large, theatre that seemed to fit exactly the film it was showing. The one thing I most remember, sitting in the rear stalls, was the large projection booth that had been built downstairs to project the film in 70mm (Camera 65). The screen seemed enormous even from the back of the stalls. I suppose old theatres have to move on, but I’m sure it would be listed today if it still existed in its former glory.