The Cinemas of R. A. Thomas

A recent article that I contributed to the Portsmouth news and culture site, Star and Crescent, as an introduction to the work of architect, R. A. Thomas.

Really interesting photographic project on It’s Nice That that shows the hidden world of cinema projectionists. The series, captured by Richard Nicholson, is being exhibited as part of this year’s Flatpack Film Festival. 

Another of my local cinemas, in the 1960s, the Ritz Cinema, Gosport. The pictures above show a re-opening programme and ticket from Thursday March 20th. 1986. The Ritz had closed in 1984 but was re-opened again, under the ownership of a London businessman, with the film “Out of Africa”. My son and I had booked places for the re-opening and It was a most enjoyable experience - the film’s scenery was fantastic on the Ritz massive screen. The cinema originally opened in 1935 but was severely bombed during 1941. It was just a shell, I recall, for a number of years but was rebuilt, and re-opened again in October 1958. For a number of years it was part of the Shipman & King group of cinemas but closed again in 1984. Sadly, even though its new 1986 owner had ambitious plans for expansion, the Ritz closed forever in 1999 and was later demolished.  

A selection of cinema tickets from the 1960s. The December 29th. and January 4th. Empire Havant tickets were from 1967 and 1968 respectively and, I believe were for “The Sound of Music”. The Odeon Southampton ticket was for the re-opening of the cinema, after a massive refurbishment. Amongst other things, it had been given a new dark blue tiled ceiling, with small lights dotted in it, like stars and a huge, beautiful, diamond-patterned light satin curtain. The opening film was “Sink the Bismark” and it was the only time in my life that I had heard an organ played in a cinema, in the intervals - it was awesome, the whole place seemed to vibrate on the bass notes! The A.B.C. Southampton ticket was for a showing of “West Side Story”, on March 8th. 1968 -I saw this film over twenty-one times, in various cinemas. The Embassy Fareham was showing “Doctor Zhivago” for a period in October 1968, another film I saw more than once.  

The entertainment page from a February 1950 edition of The Hampshire Telegraph and Post, showing some of the Portsmouth and local area cinemas and theatres. The Kings Theatre and Theatre Royal continue to survive but ALL of the cinemas have gone (the fate of the three cinemas in the lower picture is discussed in my recent publication). Some exist in other guises but, in the main, most have been demolished. The Troxy exists as a shoe shop, the Gaiety as a supermarket, the Shaftesbury as a bingo hall, the Palace as a nightclub and the Plaza as a mosque. Thank goodness for the little No.6 Cinema that is still showing films in Portsmouth! 

A review published in “Fareham Past and Present”, the magazine of the Fareham Local History Group, by kind permission of Pamela Wenden. You can purchase a copy of the book here.

A recent review courtesy of the Cinema Theatre Association’s ‘Bulletin’ magazine. You can find out more information about the work they do and purchase a copy of the book from their website here.