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Gazetteer
Street, operated by William Lindsdell who had worked for
Horace Andrew of Union Street. The screen at this time was
23' by 30' and the cinema boasted a cloakroom and parcel
office, as Ebrington Street was an important shopping street
in Plymouth. There were 860 seats.
In 1916 Hele & Son built a cinema organ for the cinema. The
first film it accompanied was Eternal City on 8th January
1916. The organ was a 2 manual 16 stop. By 1923 W J Crose
and Thomas Hoyle ran the cinema. Western Electric sound
was installed. The cinema was damaged by bombing on 27th
March 1941 and did not reopen. Converted to shop use,
currently Gould's.
The exterior today retains a lot of the original design. The
entrance was beneath the sign, with two arches, either side
were small shops. This street plan is a typical example of
shop extensions in the front gardens of older residential
properties, visible behind. It is likely that the auditorium
was in the rear garden of the property.
Week of Grace & The Ship of Wanted Men with 943 seats, 710 stalls and
233 in the balcony. The project was undertaken by Mr W Mumford and
Gwyther Eastlake Prance, under their Sound & Movement Cinemas Ltd.
Mr Prance became the manager.
The building was a substantial conversion of existing structures at 139
Exeter Street completed by Mexboro Ltd. The cinema featured
Halophane coloured lighting system and a covered car park. The
proscenium was 30' wide and the architect was H J Hammick.
The cinema was soon leased to Associated British Cinemas from 3rd June
1935 and they sold the lease on to Star Group in 1964 who renamed it
Studio 7 from 10th September 1969 to show X rated films. The cinema
passed to Shipman & King on 28th March 1976 who continued the same
programme, but reverted to the original cinema name.
position on Exeter Street was now a quiet back water called Breton
side. The cinema closed on 4th October 1981 with Sex on the Rocks &
Blue Movie Star. Became a snooker hall upstairs and a shopping
arcade downstairs. The arcade is now a restaurant.
The cinema has a pleasing frontage and still retains its flag pole.
post war.
Photo: Cinema Theatre Association
note corner shop not occupied and a 1960's
shot of an organ concert.
Photo: Cinema Theatre Association
extract of his signature tune Smiling
Through played on the Compton.
Organs new home can be found here
being removed and restored, including a
shot in colour of the auditorium in original
form along with Dudley at the instrument.
Organ, featuring an interview with Dudley
Savage
www.blackheath-compton.org.uk
building is a conversion and contains a 73 seat auditorium.
The films shown are mainly foreign and art house style titles.
established to promote the study of Arts, Literature, Science
and Technology. The original building was destroyed in the
Plymouth blitz.
This new building is situated on the site of the original at
Derrys Cross and the entrance is in the exact position of the
entrance to the original building. Opened by Lord Mayor
Alderman A Goldberg on 1st June 1961. The building contains
a 352 seat lecture theatre, with 190 seats in the stalls, 162 in
the balcony. Stage facilities include a revolve and orchestra
pit.
The building is equipped for projection and occasional film
shows take place. Briefly from December 1971 the building
became Plymouth Film Theatre sponsored by The British Film
Institute.
the Plymouth Film Theatre. Plus a rare
photograph of the projection box.
Photos: Cinema Theatre Association
building. The operation was run by William Caston for the Cinema de Luxe from around December
1910 to June 1927
Theatre Elite Picture Playhouse ~ Gem
was The Man. The cinema was operated by Alfred Ernest Bryant as Theatre Elite Ltd. and had a
string orchestra. It closed when the New Palladium opened further along Ebrington Street. The
building survived the war time bombing as a shop, but was later demolished. No. 11 Ebrington
Street stands, however it is understood to have been renumbered. Does anyone know for certain?
Wycliffe Hall Electric Theatre ~ Picturedrome
also provided a dance hall upstairs. It opened around December 1910 and was operated by Mr E A
Conybeare it later became known as just Electric Theatre. It was renamed Picturedrome in 1911.
The operator, Mr William C Smith found himself in court on 17th February 1914 following an
inspection of the cinema by the council surveyor Ernest Carder on 20th January. the issues are as
follows:
An exit door in the building was secured other than by automatic bolts -
Mr Smith claimed surprise, suggesting one of his staff may have fastened it as children would open the
doors to let others in without paying.
Film storage boxes were not shut from flame entering -
Mr Smith said that the box was open as a film had only just been placed there.
Finally, not having a screen of fire resistant material that could be released from within or without
the operating box to cover front facing openings -
Mr Smith said nothing.
Fined £2 5s.
In 1919 the cinema was taken over by Sidney Mather, and in 1927 by Henry Bambridge Mather of Ford
Palladium. In December 1932 the Cinematograph Licence was revoked by the council for failing to
meet certain conditions. The last film was shown 1st April 1933.
Foulston, with a grand facade in a classical style with large
Ionic columns. and held a cinema licence from 1918 yet
mainly put on live shows. It was leased by Henry Reed
having been its Musical Director. It closed around 1933 and
was demolished 11th April 1937 to make way for a new ABC
Theatre. More recently a new Theatre Royal has been built
on an adjacent site.
1922 with Poor Little Peppina, and became a Burton tailors shop. The screen was at the entrance end,
situated in 19 George Street. Later blitzed and redeveloped.
ran a drapers shop on the premises decided to convert the
shop into the Criterion Kinema, opening 10th February 1921.
There was seating for 600 and featured a frontage with three
arches with a central pay box. British Talking Picture sound
was installed later British Thomson Houston sound and finally
closed September 1939 as the property had been sold for
conversion back into a shop. However it was bombed 27 &
28th March 1941 and damaged, demolished 1945.
Photo: Cinema Theatre Association
Street a property was converted by American Roller Rink. The rink featured a brass band
accompaniment and afternoon tea was served.
This was a large property and in 1922 the Second Investment Syndicate converted the building into a
cinema, including the installation of a balcony. The seating capacity was listed as 2,458 with a
further 1000 standing. The cinema opened on 11th December 1922 with Foolish Wives and had a
church organ installed from the Church of St Peter in Croydon. The instrument was a 3 manual 22
stop organ.
Taken over by Denman Pictures Ltd. in 1929, an Optrics sound system was installed, the first sound
films shown on 1st November 1929 were Desert Song and Behind the Curtain. 3-D films were also
shown here in the 1920's. Denman cinemas were passed to Gaumont British Picture Corporation Ltd.
by 1932 and RCA sound installed. The proscenium width was 32'. Later Western Electric sound was
provided.
The cinema was closed by bombing on the night of 27/28th March 1941 and the site cleared.
A truly huge cinema in every respect, the roof was made of corrugated iron and resounded like
thunder with heavy rain. The throw from the projection box to the screen was over 150yds so the
projectionists had to use binoculars to focus the picture of the screen.
building of a truly enormous cinema for Plymouth. It was said to be numbered with the 10 largest
cinemas in Europe when it was buil and was the second biggest cinema in Britain. It seated 3,254,
possibly more when first opened, 1390 of whom were in the circle alone, which spanned 150'.
Furthermore there were lounge areas to accommodate another 2000 patrons awaiting seating. The
waiting audience never came in contact with the exiting audience.
While being built a leat constructed by Drake was found on the site. It had been designed to take
fresh water from Dartmoor into the city. Built by Mexboro & Co. and designed by W Watson of
Messrs. Chadwick, Watson Co. of Leeds it opened on 21th November 1931 with City Lights. The
exterior facade was 70' high and clad in glazed terra cotta. Three sets of mahogany doors lead to
the foyer past mahogany pay boxes on either side. The foyer featured Aluminium domed ceiling,
Ivory coloured panels and blue cornices, across the mosaic floor were marble steps for stalls and
circle passages lined by waiting lounges. Outside was a car park for 100 cars and on the roof a 5' high
neon sign
The auditorium was 125' deep colour scheme was aluminium and ivory. The proscenium was 48' wide
in aluminium and 500 coloured lights with stage facilities (48' wide, 20' deep - extending to 45') and
dressing rooms, above were bas relief panels in tinted ivory. On either side of the proscenium were
sunken panels containing massive urns. The sound system was RCA with Kalee projectors. No organ
was installed. The stage curtains were gold and blue plush. The large dome in the ceiling was
illuminated with 260 lights. The orchestra pit could accomodate 40 musicians.
With stiff competition and the rising power of the major circuits this huge independent could only
survive with help from a major operator. This partly came about with a lease by County Cinemas
Ltd, of London from June 1936. With County taken over by Odeon and the outbreak of war
destroying any chances of Oscar Deutsch being able to build a new Odeon in Plymouth a take over
was on the cards. Mr Prance met Oscar Deutsch in Exeter and agreed a sale, becoming an Odeon on
17th June 1940, the film showing was Contraband.
not destroy the Odeon. Glenn Miller entertained American troops here
and General Montgomery, briefed his officers on 26th May 1944 here as
Commander in Chief of the Allied Invasion Army, prior to the D-day
landings.
With Odeon's take over by Rank, the management passed to Circuits
Management Association Ltd, and CinemaScope was fitted. All the
buildings in the area had been cleared after the war exposing the giant
lump of the Odeon's auditorium. Originally on Frankfort Street, with the
new road layout it found itself at an angle to New George Street, and
causing problems for the planners. It closed 8th September 1962 with The
Loudest Whisper, the operation moving to the ex-Gaumont Palace in Union
Street. Rank had by this time taken control of 20th Century Fox's Drake,
which effectively became the new Odeon. The cinema was demolished for
a Littlewoods store July 1963.
(Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund)
Left is the Regent almost demolished with
just the outer steel structure remaining.
(Plymouth Guild of Social Service)
new Fox cinema circuit across Europe. It is said that Fox had earned so
much from the Uk release of its films that the government had stepped in
to prevent so much money being taken out of the country with the post
war economy in the state it was.
Another reason may have been its dispute with Rank over Fox's
Cinemascope films. Rank was prepared to install the screens but not the
all important Stereophonic sound systems. This left these films to be
released at more minor cinemas for several years. In Plymouth the large
Gaumont and former Regent cinemas, both ideal for Cinemascope were
unavailable as they were in the control of Rank, so Cinemascope films
were being shown at the decidedly down market Belgrave cinema.
So Fox decided to spend some of the money on a lavish new state of the
art cinema, and they built it in Plymouth, which was being rebuilt
following bombing during the war. Situated at Derrys Cross close to the
pre-war ABC cinema the building was designed by architect Leonard Allen
FIAA and built by A N Coles (Contractors) Ltd.
Opened by Mayor George Wingett on 5th June 1958 with what else? South
Pacific of course. The films starrs, Richard Todd and Jackie Collins were
present. The cinema had a Cinemascope screen 66' by 27' within a 68' wide
proscenium and the cinema was fitted with a Western Electric sound
system and the latest Todd AO instalation. The cinema had been named
after the local hero.
As Fox's plans for a cinema circuit never advanced, perhaps because they
had patched things up with Rank, they soon disposed of the cinema to
Odeon, who had to retain the cinema name. This was the only Odeon
cinema to have a different name, right up to its closure.
the auditorium running down Union Street. The frontage has the feel of a very non-Cinemascope
proscenium with the model of The Golden Hind placed upon the canopy, as if sailing out of the screen.
The foyer runs left from the entrance with a grand staircase and upper foyer looking out over Derrys
Cross. The auditorium was quit plain, rather typical of the period. The side walls curve in to meet
the giant curved screen perfectly.
Fox spared no expense on the fitting out of this cinema and even in later years the foyer in particular
still showed off its grand design. To access the front stalls there was a corridor running down the
right side of the building in Union Street. Set into the walls were large glass display windows, where
local firms and shops could advertise their wares to the passing patrons from inside and pedestrians in
Union Street outside. The pedestrians could also see the cinema customers as well. Quite unique?
An unusual wall covering I discovered when I visited was a sort of wallpaper placed outside the ladies
and Gents toilets. The patterns were a sort of montage of film images. This was however possibly a
later edition to the decorative scheme.
The Drake closed 1st March 1975 for a £60,000 conversion to 3 screens, reopening as Drake Film Centre
on 27th March 1975. The stalls were now screen 1 seating 919 and using the original projection box
and screen. Screens 2 & 3 were in at either side of the circle seating 168 each. To allow for
projection from the original box in screen1, the central area of the circle was not enclosed and could
seat 30. This space could be hired out as a private "box" for parties etc. Screen 1 reopened with
Escape to Witch Mountain, screen 2 played The Castaway Cowboy and screening in 3 was The Night
Porter.In 1991 the cinema was further subdivided into 5 screens by separating off the rear stalls under
the circle to create screens 4 (220 seats) 5 (120 seats). This reduced seating in screen 1 to 420. At the
same time part of the circle lounge was taken to build a larger box to serve screens 1,2 & 3 so more
than one screen could show the same print when necessary. Reopening 29th March 1991 with the films
Look Whose Talking Too, Duck Tales The Movie, Green Card, Awakening and Three Men & a Little Lady.
The Drake Odeon finally closed with Big Daddy 31st October 1999. Sold by the Council for £300,000 to
Rank Leisure the building has been demolished, however its replacement is quite stylish and of a very
similar look to the original, and has retained the ship in the same position above a corner entrance. A
sad loss of the only purpose built 20th Century Fox cinema in the UK, and a rare surviver of early post
war cinema design.
first built, and at night.
Photos: Cinema Theatre
Association
the Plymouth Drake cinema
5th June 1958.
Drake exterior at
Odeon Cavalcade
Cavalcade for
pictures of other
Odeon cinemas
mysite.freeserve.co
m/cavalcade
both old and new visit Stephen Johnson's
excellent website
web.ukonline.co.uk/stephen.johnson/drake/
