Coventry Cinemas

It wasn't until 1931 that religion took a crushing blow when they tried to stop cinemas from opening on Sundays. After much discussion the bill was dropped and great crowds flocked to the cinemas. Huge queues lined the streets in Coventry.

When did cinemas stop playing the National Anthem at the end of the performance? I'm 68 and I can't recall ever hearing it in a cinema.

When my dad came out of the Marines one of his first jobs was hauling a huge statue of Mighty Joe Young around the cinema circuit in the Midlands area. He'd drop it off for a week and then take it off to a different venue. I bet that lorry got some funny looks with a big ape on the back. I wish I had some photos.

I went to see "Sword in the Stone" at the Gaumont, Prof. "Pass the port".

Wow, that's a blast from the past. I have lost count of how many time we queued outside there on a Saturday night.

Paul Stevenson on FB has let me post this one of his here - a great period image looking north on Cox Street. Not many include that old row of terraces on the right. After a lookup the film 'Joanna' is showing on the Alexandra frontage, meaning this must be circa 1968.

So was the Alexandra diagonally opposite the Sydenham Palace?

Yes, Helen

Don't think I've ever seen this one before of the Rex Cinema ticket office in 1937. Lovely deco touches.

Great find of The Crown from CliffB. Post copied from topic Far Gosford Street on 21st Dec 2022 1:27 pm

Rex Cinema Opening 1937

Fancy buying the old Paris/Empire?!

Hello, I was in discussion yesterday regards our one time Gaumont, renamed Odeon cinema. The image I have copied, looking at the top floor & to the left, show two balustrade sections that both the Coliseum & the Gaumont shared. That was what was called the winter-gardens & tea rooms. There used to be a rooftop lawn & a goldfish pond. It was also home to the Coventry bridge club for many years. I remember it as a young child. Mr Deakin the cinema manager was a friend of my family. My conversation on Saturday, was in context to at possibly my earliest age, hearing the sound of the mighty pipe organ being played, which was usually for an hour before the start of the matinee film time. Everyone left the winter-gardens to descend to the auditorium to sit & listen. Sometimes more folk for the organ than the matinee. Thursday afternoons were often a full house, Thursday being Coventry half day closing.