MERCIA
CINEMA SOCIETY
Press
Release
from
Kate Taylor
Issued 31 May
2006
01924-372748
kate@airtime.co.uk
New
book traces history of Medway picture houses
Entertainment
in the past flourished in the Medway towns of Chatham,
Gillingham,
Rochester and Strood, in response to the presence of the
armed
services, claims local historian John Clancy in his new
book, The Cinemas
of the Medway Towns. Certainly the choice of
film for the opening night of
the Chatham Picture House on 19
February 1917 seems appropriate: it was
'Advance of the Tanks'
showing aspects of life on the Western Front! The
naval barracks
in Chatham had its own brick-built cinema, HMS Pembroke,
which
could be used also for talks and live entertainment.
The
area attracted showbiz entertainers as well as the top films of
the
day. Ralph Lynn attended the opening night of the Majestic,
Rochester, in
April 1935. In March 1937, Jack Buchanan opened the
Ritz, Chatham. John
Mills dropped in at the Plaza, Gillingham, in
1945 to see 'Meet me in St
Louis'.
Touching only briefly on
the theatres which preceded the days of the silver
screen, Mr
Clancy provides a detailed history of the early screening of
films
in the first years of the twentieth century and the picture
houses
which were established from 1910. He traces the
first showing of film to
Gillingham Hippodrome where moving
pictures were shown in 1906 as part of
music-hall entertainment.
Strood people saw films in the early years of the
twentieth
century at the fairground. At Rochester a visiting
company
screened films in October 1910 in the Corn Exchange. The
first venue in the
area to be dedicated solely to films was the
Cinema de Luxe (later named
the Cornerhouse Cinema) in Chatham
which was a conversion of a shop and
which opened in 1911.
The
first super cinema in the Medway area was the 1800-seat Plaza,
in
Duncan Road, Gillingham, which opened on 12 October 1931 and
was the first
to have a sound-system incorporated in its original
design. It was unusual,
too, in having a woman projectionist, a
Miss Barnes who had been an
usherette at the Invicta Cinema.
The
book speaks of the 'magic' of going to the pictures in the
depression
of the 1930s when 'people needed something to get them
out of the rut of
day-to-day life' and found it in 'escapist
fiction' ? romance, adventure,
westerns, musicals and comedies,
which they found in cinemas built like
palaces with their plush
seating, vast foyers and lounges, central heating
and
air-conditioning not found in the average home of the day.
Built
originally by independent proprietors, cinemas were subject from
the
1920s to take-overs by national circuits. The New Regent,
Chatham, became
part of the Associated British Cinemas circuit in
1929. Chatham's National
Electric Theatre of 1911 was acquired by
a subsidiary of the
Gaumont-British circuit in the early 1930s.
Gaumont-British itself bought
the Majestic, Rochester, in 1950. In
March 1938, Odeon took control of the
recently built Embassy in
Gillingham.
Mr Clancy write, too, of the reasons for the
collapse of the cinema
industry in the 1950s: the impact of
entertainment tax, the high
import-duty on American films and the
advent of television.
Memories of some of those who worked in
the theatre and cinema industries
are included in the book. Mrs
Joan Cook was an usherette at Chatham Empire
in the 1930s when,
dressed in her red and gold, she sold cups of tea as
well as
ice-cream during the intervals. Les Bovis, a stage-door
keeper,
recalls the annual staff outings. Mrs Maureen Saunders,
employed as an
usherette at the Palace in Chatham in the 1950s,
remembers the daily
inspections when the manager checked the
cleanliness of the staff uniforms
and tested the batteries in
their torches. At the Globe Cinema in Cliffe,
Mrs Joyce Wilson
experienced the cold winters when staff and customers
brought
blankets to wrap round their legs
Although writing primarily
about Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester and Strood,
Mr Clancy
includes a section on the surrounding area including Rainham,
Cliffe,
Snodland and Cuxton.
As an Appendix, the author provides an
account of the Croneen family who
were pioneers of moving pictures
in the Medway towns, building Invicta
Cinemas in Gillingham,
Chatham and Strood and the area's first
super-cinema, the Plaza in
Gillingham.
This is John Clancy's second book about cinemas
written for the Mercia
Cinema Society, his previous being 'The
Long-gone Cinemas of Swale'. John
is a freelance writer with a
particular bent for local history, a passion
that goes back only
eight years, but in that time he's written two major
books for
Sutton Publishing Ltd, this his second book for the Mercia
Cinema
Society and several leaflets and booklets for local
museums. He took early
retirement from his former job in local
government and it's this that
enables him to devote much of his
time to his favourite subject. John is so
passionate about local
history he enrolled on a degree course in
archaeology with Exeter
University and has been awarded an Undergraduate
Certificate; he
is currently studying at Diploma level.
John's interest in old cinemas developed in around 2000 when he
first
read about the Mercia Cinema Society in a history magazine.
Having found
out that the society publishes a range of books about
long gone cinemas in
different towns, he volunteered to write one
about his home town,
Sittingbourne in Kent. The town's three
former cinemas could not supply
enough information to fill a book
so John expanded it to include Faversham
and the Isle of Sheppey,
the three areas making up the civic authority
known as
Swale.
He said: 'Local history is
such a fascinating subject to study. You
are forever on an upward
learning curve, discovering new snippets of
information all the
time. It's very much like doing a giant sized jigsaw
puzzle in
which you are forever adding new pieces, hoping to eventually
reveal
a complete picture.'
Although John
currently resides in Sittingbourne, his home town, he
spent over
30 years in the Medway Towns following his marriage in 1965. He
lived
in Gillingham.
The Cinemas of the Medway Towns ISBN
is 978-0-946406-57-9 price £8 95p
is
published by Mercia Cinema Society, the country's leading publisher
of
books in the history of cinemas. The Society, which is a
registered
charity, was founded in 1980 to foster research
into picture-houses and
their proprietors.
The Cinemas of
the Medway Towns is available at £8 95p from
local
booksellers or by post from Stuart Smith, Mercia Cinema
Society, 100
Wickfield Road, Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, S12 4TT.
Cheques should be made
payable to Mercia Cinema Society.
MERCIA
CINEMA SOCIETY
Press
Release
from
Kate Taylor
Issued 31 May
2006
01924-372748
kate@airtime.co.uk
New
book traces history of Medway picture houses
Entertainment
in the past flourished in the Medway towns of Chatham,
Gillingham,
Rochester and Strood, in response to the presence of the
armed
services, claims local historian John Clancy in his new
book, The Cinemas
of the Medway Towns. Certainly the choice of
film for the opening night of
the Chatham Picture House on 19
February 1917 seems appropriate: it was
'Advance of the Tanks'
showing aspects of life on the Western Front! The
naval barracks
in Chatham had its own brick-built cinema, HMS Pembroke,
which
could be used also for talks and live entertainment.
The
area attracted showbiz entertainers as well as the top films of
the
day. Ralph Lynn attended the opening night of the Majestic,
Rochester, in
April 1935. In March 1937, Jack Buchanan opened the
Ritz, Chatham. John
Mills dropped in at the Plaza, Gillingham, in
1945 to see 'Meet me in St
Louis'.
Touching only briefly on
the theatres which preceded the days of the silver
screen, Mr
Clancy provides a detailed history of the early screening of
films
in the first years of the twentieth century and the picture
houses
which were established from 1910. He traces the
first showing of film to
Gillingham Hippodrome where moving
pictures were shown in 1906 as part of
music-hall entertainment.
Strood people saw films in the early years of the
twentieth
century at the fairground. At Rochester a visiting
company
screened films in October 1910 in the Corn Exchange. The
first venue in the
area to be dedicated solely to films was the
Cinema de Luxe (later named
the Cornerhouse Cinema) in Chatham
which was a conversion of a shop and
which opened in 1911.
The
first super cinema in the Medway area was the 1800-seat Plaza,
in
Duncan Road, Gillingham, which opened on 12 October 1931 and
was the first
to have a sound-system incorporated in its original
design. It was unusual,
too, in having a woman projectionist, a
Miss Barnes who had been an
usherette at the Invicta Cinema.
The
book speaks of the 'magic' of going to the pictures in the
depression
of the 1930s when 'people needed something to get them
out of the rut of
day-to-day life' and found it in 'escapist
fiction' ? romance, adventure,
westerns, musicals and comedies,
which they found in cinemas built like
palaces with their plush
seating, vast foyers and lounges, central heating
and
air-conditioning not found in the average home of the day.
Built
originally by independent proprietors, cinemas were subject from
the
1920s to take-overs by national circuits. The New Regent,
Chatham, became
part of the Associated British Cinemas circuit in
1929. Chatham's National
Electric Theatre of 1911 was acquired by
a subsidiary of the
Gaumont-British circuit in the early 1930s.
Gaumont-British itself bought
the Majestic, Rochester, in 1950. In
March 1938, Odeon took control of the
recently built Embassy in
Gillingham.
Mr Clancy write, too, of the reasons for the
collapse of the cinema
industry in the 1950s: the impact of
entertainment tax, the high
import-duty on American films and the
advent of television.
Memories of some of those who worked in
the theatre and cinema industries
are included in the book. Mrs
Joan Cook was an usherette at Chatham Empire
in the 1930s when,
dressed in her red and gold, she sold cups of tea as
well as
ice-cream during the intervals. Les Bovis, a stage-door
keeper,
recalls the annual staff outings. Mrs Maureen Saunders,
employed as an
usherette at the Palace in Chatham in the 1950s,
remembers the daily
inspections when the manager checked the
cleanliness of the staff uniforms
and tested the batteries in
their torches. At the Globe Cinema in Cliffe,
Mrs Joyce Wilson
experienced the cold winters when staff and customers
brought
blankets to wrap round their legs
Although writing primarily
about Chatham, Gillingham, Rochester and Strood,
Mr Clancy
includes a section on the surrounding area including Rainham,
Cliffe,
Snodland and Cuxton.
As an Appendix, the author provides an
account of the Croneen family who
were pioneers of moving pictures
in the Medway towns, building Invicta
Cinemas in Gillingham,
Chatham and Strood and the area's first
super-cinema, the Plaza in
Gillingham.
This is John Clancy's second book about cinemas
written for the Mercia
Cinema Society, his previous being 'The
Long-gone Cinemas of Swale'. John
is a freelance writer with a
particular bent for local history, a passion
that goes back only
eight years, but in that time he's written two major
books for
Sutton Publishing Ltd, this his second book for the Mercia
Cinema
Society and several leaflets and booklets for local
museums. He took early
retirement from his former job in local
government and it's this that
enables him to devote much of his
time to his favourite subject. John is so
passionate about local
history he enrolled on a degree course in
archaeology with Exeter
University and has been awarded an Undergraduate
Certificate; he
is currently studying at Diploma level.
John's interest in old cinemas developed in around 2000 when he
first
read about the Mercia Cinema Society in a history magazine.
Having found
out that the society publishes a range of books about
long gone cinemas in
different towns, he volunteered to write one
about his home town,
Sittingbourne in Kent. The town's three
former cinemas could not supply
enough information to fill a book
so John expanded it to include Faversham
and the Isle of Sheppey,
the three areas making up the civic authority
known as
Swale.
He said: 'Local history is
such a fascinating subject to study. You
are forever on an upward
learning curve, discovering new snippets of
information all the
time. It's very much like doing a giant sized jigsaw
puzzle in
which you are forever adding new pieces, hoping to eventually
reveal
a complete picture.'
Although John
currently resides in Sittingbourne, his home town, he
spent over
30 years in the Medway Towns following his marriage in 1965. He
lived
in Gillingham.
The Cinemas of the Medway Towns ISBN
is 978-0-946406-57-9 price £8 95p
is
published by Mercia Cinema Society, the country's leading publisher
of
books in the history of cinemas. The Society, which is a
registered
charity, was founded in 1980 to foster research
into picture-houses and
their proprietors.
The Cinemas of
the Medway Towns is available at £8 95p from
local
booksellers or by post from Stuart Smith, Mercia Cinema
Society, 100
Wickfield Road, Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, S12 4TT.
Cheques should be made
payable to Mercia Cinema Society.
John
Clancy Tel: 01795 476812.
