Regal/Odeon Marble Arch (1928-1964)
The cinema was first known as the Regal, opening on 29 November 1928 with Al Jolson in The Singing Fool. A 100-foot (30 m) high facade was constructed in Portland stone. The auditorium was a riot of romanesque motifs and faux-decor, owing much to the atmospheric style of the USA. Structured in traditional circle and stalls, the cinema was a notable addition to the West End.
Within six months of opening, the cinema was taken over by ABC Cinemas, who operated it until early January 1945. It was then taken over by Odeon Cinemas. It was refurbished by the new owners, but shortly before re-opening it was damaged by one of the last V-1 flying bombs to hit London. So it remained closed until September 1945, when it was re-opened as the Odeon Marble Arch and continued as a first-run house.
However, by the early 1960s its interior was decidedly faded and neglected. Film-runs had by this point declined to minor circuit pictures or even dubbed foreign films: insufficient to fill its large house. So, on 22 March 1964 it closed with The Long Ships, was demolished and replaced by an office block and a new modern cinema, capable of playing the new widescreen formats.
Read more about this topic: Odeon Marble Arch
Famous quotes containing the words regal, marble and/or arch:
“A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring a costly parade, and he who depends on his own power to rule, must strengthen that power by bribing the active and enterprising whom he cannot intimidate.”
—James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
“See how the sacred old flamingoes come,
Painting with shadow all the marble steps:
Aged and wise, they seek their wonted perches
Within the temple, devious walking, made
To wander by their melancholy minds.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Prayer is the fair and radiant daughter of all the human virtues, the arch connecting heaven and earth, the sweet companion that is alike the lion and the dove; and prayer will give you the key of heaven. As pure and as bold as innocence, as strong as all things are that are entire and single, this fair and invincible queen rests on the material world; she has taken possession of it; for, like the sun, she casts about it a sphere of light.”
—Honoré De Balzac (1799–1850)