Art Deco celluloid lady

This nude figure entwined with celluloid film is one of two that have been mounted in a wall in a new retail development in Cheltenham. They are Art Deco style sculptures made of stone, the work of Newbury Abbot Trent (1885-1953) and were originally on the front elevation of the 1932 Odeon cinema. They were saved when the cinema was demolished in 2014 and placed in their current location in 2015. The ladies make a striking pair and re-using them in this way was the right thing to do. It's just a shame that they have to be covered with plastic sheets. Perhaps a higher location that didn't necessitate a covering would have been better.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Nikon Z 5

Cinema or gasholder?

I remember the evening I took this photograph. We had left St Thomas' Hospital in London and were walking to the Tube line that we needed. I hadn't thought we'd come upon the British Film Institute IMAX cinema. I had never seen its illuminated exterior before, but once seen I saw the potential for a shot or two. I posted what I considered to be my best shot on my PhotoReflect blog of the time: the one above is the second best. Looking at it again as I prepared it for posting it occurred to me that the cinema has the look of an illuminated gasholder, right down to the lattice-work supports.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Canon 5D2     2013

Odeon Cinema, Weston-super-Mare

When the Odeon cinema was built in Weston-super-Mare in 1935 (architect T. Cecil Hewitt) it must have looked like the future had arrived. Its size, its Art Deco/Streamline aesthetic, its presence on the street corner, and the virtual absence of ornament, all marked it as different from most of the buildings being erected around that year. Only some of the blocky "Moderne" houses with their flat roofs, horizontal windows and glazing bars, and their stark white paint could compete. The Odeon still looks great today. The faience tiles in basket weave pattern have lasted well, as has the original windows and glazing and the lettering on the tower. The crowning glory (literally) is the tower with its twelve short columns and flat roof, the climax of a necessary vertical accent among all the horizontals.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

Palace Theatre, Newark on Trent

The Palace Theatre at Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire was built in 1920 as a cinema, but with the facility to offer stage shows too. To furnish additional income two shops were added to the building. Unlike many cinemas and theatres it appears to have weathered the ups and downs of public taste and continues to offer a wide programme of shows. The Palace stands on a corner and its decorative facade wraps around it. As befits a building dedicated to fun and fantasy it is ornate, the most striking ornament being the three slender towers topped with onion domes.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Olympus OMD E-M10

The organist at the Kinema in the Woods

We recently went to see the film, "La La Land", at the Kinema in the Woods in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire. This timber building was re-modelled as a cinema in 1922 and has been showing films ever since. In 1984 an old Compton Kinestra organ was installed. When the intermission came along it rose up through the stage in front of the curtains with the organist playing. During his performance he made use, from the keyboard, of the glockenspiels and xylophones (and perhaps other instruments) on a wooden form out of shot at the right of the stage. A great musical performance, a great film, and a great little cinema well worth visiting.

photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Sony DSC-RX100