Our latest blog comes from college student Lola Moore, who has been working with us for the last few months. Lola looks at the history of cinemas here in Exeter, using researching in the collections we hold from Devon cinema historians Gordon Chapman and John Slater.
Cinema in Exeter has been a lively practice here for over a hundred years. Although many of the cinemas that have stood are no longer with us, their memory and impact lives on. Places like the Odeon Cinema on Sidwell Street have been running since 1937 and have hosted famous performers like The Rolling Stones and Dusty Springfield. Since the first film show at Victoria Hall in 1896, film in Exeter has grown and progressed.
To understand the evolution of the Cinema industry in Exeter, we must understand the evolution in film technology in Britain towards the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century that granted us access to the world of Film. Louis Le Prince was credited by some to have made the first motion picture film in Leeds, in 1888. The following year, some argue that the first pictures on Celluloid film were shot by William Friese-Greene in Hyde Park https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisurely_Pedestrians,_Open_Topped_Buses_and_Hansom_Cabs_with_Trotting_Horses . The Lumiere Brothers’ Cinematographe was brought to London in Early 1896, and by that October the first film show was occurring in Exeter. In recent years, the main cinemas in Exeter have been the Picturehouse, Odeon and the Vue. Exeter Phoenix, an arts venue centred in the middle of the city, runs an independent cinema within it called ‘Studio 74’. But within the vibrancy of Exeter's film past, it has bestowed the city with many places that are no longer with us but still live on in memory, such as The ABC/Savoy, Victoria Hall, Theatre Royal, Gaumont Theatre. Although many of these buildings no longer exist, because of disasters like fires and the Blitz, there are still records and stories of what these cinemas were like.
The Savoy, also called the ABC in later years, was built in 1936. It was built upon The New London Inn, which was demolished to make room for the cinema. The Savoy opened on the 23rd of November in 1936, and its first picture was Captain January, directed by David Butler and starring famous child actor Shirley Temple. It also showed A Star from Heaven, directed by Paul Merzbach, which was a remake of the 1934 Austrian film of the same name. The cinema was also equipped with a Compton ‘Super’ Organ. The cinema suffered damages from the Blitz in 1942 and was hit by 18 firebombs, but fire guards put out many of the fires and the steel structure of the building was commended for its strength. Despite this, the cinema did lose something important. The console of the organ was destroyed and could no longer be operated.
Savoy programme from 1949. Cover is the featured image (EXEBD 65417)
At some point in 1960, the Savoy was renamed the ABC and became an influential spot for live music, and not just film. In the 1960s many famous bands played at ABC. This included the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Cliff Richard, and Billy Fury. It hosted a popular Saturday morning show with cartoons, opened by organist Harold Stringer. The cinema started to decline in the 70s and 80s, and a slight remodel in 1972 removed the organ and brought in a Bingo Hall. The cinema showed The Godfather when it was released, but it began to degrade after that. After it was absorbed into the Cannon cinema empire (although it still retained the name), its closure was announced. Despite resistance from the population of Exeter, the last pictures were projected on the 4th of June 1987. These were Personal Services directed by Terry Jones and starring Dame Julie Walters, and Top Gun directed by Tony Scott with a star cast, most notably Tom Cruise. Demolished on August Bank Holiday Monday in 1987, the site is now a branch of Waterstones.
Demolition of the ABC in 1987 (EXEBD 65409)
As said earlier, the oldest cinema still running in Exeter is the Odeon on Sidwell Street. The exterior façade of the cinema now is very similar to what it was when it was built. It was made to have 1,176 seats and cost £70,000 pound. On the 30th of August 1937, the first film that was shown was the black and white picture The Charge of the Light Brigade with stars Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. 200 guests gathered outside for the opening night. As it was such a modern and new cinema at the time, special events like the opening of The Mikado (1939) in technicolour had a star of the film Jean Colin attend for the first showing. In the air raid on the 4th of May 1942, the cinema suffered bomb damage but was lucky to survive the Blitz, when the other side of Sidwell Street was destroyed.
The cinema also played a large part in supporting the troops, putting on talent shows for locals and servicemen to perform. The cinema would entertain twenty wounded men every Saturday for free. Devon’s Home Guard showed training films at the cinema, and a special concert played by the Band of the Devonshire Regiment to raise money for the Battalion Commander’s Fund. Post-war, the plan to rebuild Exeter did not affect the Odeon building, although the town planner described the building as an eye sore on the city’s skyline. The cinema was influenced by ABC (The Savoy) and they spent £6,000 so they could host their own live shows. Various well-known acts came to the Odeon, like The Rolling Stones in October 1964. More screens were added later in the 70s and 80s, and for a while, until the Vue opened in 2006, it was Exeter’s largest cinema chain outlet.
60 Years of the Odeon (EXEBD 65445)
The Gaumont was designed by William H Watkins, and opened on the 16th May 1932 by the MP of Exeter at the time. It was built to accommodate 1,499 people and had an organ installed to entertain people in-between shows and the intervals. The first films that were shown at the cinema were ‘Sunshine Susie, directed by Victor Saville and was the film who put protagonist Renate Muller into stardom in the UK. As well as this, Once Bitten directed by Leslie S Hiscott showed. When Frankenstein, directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff was released in Britain, it encountered a lot of controversy for its horror elements. Because of this the Watch Committee prohibited it from being shown in the Gaumont, but it was being screened in the Rex in Topsham. During the recession of the 1930s, the cinema did not suffer as many went to the cinema as a way of trying to forget the troubles. During this time, the Exeter Christian Scientists held many lectures at the cinema.
During the bombing of the 4th of May 1942, the building suffered damage that made its main ceiling collapse in and the organ be irreparable. After extensive repairs, the following year on the 24th of May 1943 it reopened. Later in the 1940s the cinema expanded their staff, and hired a wide range of people from projectionists to front of house staff. Sadly, the advancement of TV negatively affected cinemas, especially the Gaumont. BBC TV and Westward TV expanded into the Southwest in the 60s, and in 1963 it was converted into a bingo hall and social club. The building did withstand the war and is now a Grade 2 listed building and is still a bingo hall.
The Gaumont Cinema (EXEBD 65429)
Exeter has been home to many cinemas in its time. The harsh bombing on the City in April/May 1942 was because of Exeter’s historical and cultural features, as a result many of the cinemas were completely destroyed beyond repair or were unable to be rebuilt. Many of the buildings no longer stand, and we only have the memory and the records of the museums to understand what they might have been like. As of now, Exeter has 4 cinemas open to the public (excluding the Exeter University campus cinema).