Flea pits
London cinemas we liked
London was once full of cinemas. A roll-call of the deceased from London-RIP's neck of the woods includes the Finchley Gaumont, Hendon Classic, Golders Green ABC, Golders Green Ionic, Muswell Hill ABC, Hampstead Classic... I think you can see where we're coming from here. It's the same story all over London.
London cinemas RIP: Odeon Temple Fortune - Scouts, Digby and HRH
One suburban cinema that sticks in the mind is the Odeon Temple Fortune. This is partly because it was an absolutely massive place, more stadium than flea pit, in the middle of nowhere (or somewhere between Golders Green and Finchley, same thing). This obscure picture palace was also noteable for some of the live shows it hosted, including a memorable evening with the Red Army Dancers in the middle of the Cold War, and the Gang Show. This played here after moving from the nearby Golders Green Hippodrome. For those of you who don't know, the Gang Show is when Cubs & Scouts sing, dance and what have you. At least, I think it is. To tell the truth, I never saw the Gang Show and I'm not sure how many times it came to the Odeon, but I remember that on one occasion at least, the queen was guest there. Imagine - queenie in our little corner of the world. Sadly, London-RIP never did actually see the queen either. But I did see the last film ever shown at the Odeon Temple Fortune before it was demolished and turned into sheltered housing in the late 70s. It was called Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World. It should have been called Digby, the Biggest Turkey in the World.
London cinemas RIP: Arty art houses - the Camden Plaza
Before multiplexes, cinemas were different from each other. And you couldn't get something more different to the Odeon Temple Fortune than the Camden Plaza. It always seemed such an arty art house. It's impossible to imagine going to the Saturday morning pictures at the Camden Plaza or being carried out of there screaming after the shooting scene in Bambi. Like others of its ilk, it sold flapjacks and coffee rather than Coke and Kia Ora and showed obscure foreign films, but it always had more cachet than the Screens etc.
It was right in the middle of Camden and, like Compendium, was an integral part of the area, doing much to give it its 'alternative' credentials. In fact, the Camden Plaza was such an arty art house that it featured in one of the ultimate art house movies - Radio On, by Chris Petit, but London-RIP remembers it more for 80s films like Diva. It closed circa 1994. Around this time, there was a sort of desperation about keeping a cinema in the area. I recall that at the cinema in Parkway the genial manager would introduce every flim - trying to personalise the atmosphere, I suppose and drum up some enthusiasm about movies, which was flagging at the time. I guess it worked, because, although it was closed for a time, the Odeon on Parkway remains today.
London cinemas RIP: Late night line-up
The late night movie was an essential feature of many a Friday and Saturday night in the 70s, partly because videos hadn't been invented yet, and partly because cinemas provided somewhere to go when the pubs closed. I think mainstream cinemas ran late-night showings of their regular programmes, but being an arty type, I usually opted for the independent flea pits - Screens, Everyman, Scala, even the Rio if I was feeling adventurous. They always seemed to show the same films - Peformance, the Night Porter, Don't Look Now - and foreign ones such as works by that arch-miserablist Fassbinder which made you ardently wish you were back in the pub. They were good movies, but not terribly exciting, especially if you'd seen them a dozen times, and one had to rely on nasty art house coffee and other stimulants just to stay awake as Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie got it together one more time.
The Odeon St Albans: save a cinema
This stylish cinema has been closed for a decade and the building is now under threat from developers. Ben Stevens has started a campaign to save and restore this little gem. He told London-RIP: "I understand that St Albans is just outside the London border but it's this that is contributing to the rise in housing requirements and the pressure to demolish historic landmarks like this cinema.
"The Odeon cinema was built in 1935 and is a classic example of Art Deco. The cinema was a direct replacement for the Alpha Picture Palace which burnt down in 1927 and was one of the first cinemas in Britain.
"It was built by Arthur Melbourne Cooper to show the films he produced from across the road in his Alpha Trading Company Studios. Arthur Melbourne Cooper was a film pioneer and is responsible for the first stop motion animation, and use of a tracking shot. He is something of a forgotten name, and some of his films have been credited to other filmmakers wrongly.
"The restoration of the Odeon would be a fitting tribute to his name and would not only preserve a landmark, but also give the people of the town a place to see a film in style."
What you can do
Sign a petition and watch a video about the cinema at www.ohfilm.co.uk The local council will decide on the cinema's future on May 31 2007.
