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Chris Strachan 0:00
My name is Chris Strachan. I was born in Aberdeen in on the 25th of April 1939,
Derek Threadgall 0:09
Chris, how did you get involved with the Harwich Electric Palace?
Chris Strachan 0:15
My professional career was in medicine. I was a GP and a surgeon, and I was working actually in plastic surgery in Sheffield when a job came up. Two Jobs came up at the same time. One was in Berwick Upon Tweed, and the other was in Harwich. And these were jobs which combined the two disciplines of general practice and surgery. So we came and saw Harwich, and we thought, what an amazing place. And we decided that this was the one that we would choose when I was shown around on my induction tour. I suppose you'd call it one of the buildings that was pointed out to me, was there it is. That's the oldest cinema in the world, to which I replied, Why is it falling down then? Because it was in a terrible state. It really looked dilapidated. And that was the start of it. My involvement in it,
Dan Thurley 1:20
Chris, if you just keep looking at Derek the whole time. Derek, okay,
Derek Threadgall 1:26
Right now, the Palace was built in 1911 for about £ 1500 , wasn't it?
Chris Strachan 1:35
That's correct.
Derek Threadgall 1:36
So what did people do for entertainment in Harwich before the cinema was built?
Chris Strachan 1:47
Wow, that's an interesting question. I think there probably was a small theater. And I think mostly, as people did in those days, they made their own entertainment at home, They had pianos in their front rooms, and there's always been a very strong social life in harridge Based on the various groups in the community. And it's a very close knit community because of the size of the town and the connection with the sea,
Derek Threadgall 2:23
The fairground people, they used to put on bioscope shows.
Chris Strachan 2:32
That's absolutely right. Yes, they in the days between 1896 and 1909 This is how films were shown throughout most of the land. It was traveling showmen like Charles Thurston with their bioscopes on village greens and shows in village halls. And
Derek Threadgall 2:54
they did show films, I believe in down in Harwich before the Palace was built in the Salvation Army.
Chris Strachan 3:03
That's, that's absolutely correct. The Salvation Army Citadel was the first building in Harwich to show moving pictures.
Derek Threadgall 3:12
And all that came to an end, really, in 1909 Yes, the cinematograph act. Yes,
Chris Strachan 3:20
There had been so many tragedies because of the it was the dangerous combination of nitrate based film and 1000 degree Celsius arcs between the two carbon rods, and having these two things in close proximity was extremely dangerous, and fires were actually very common, and many people died as a result of those fires, with the end result being that the whole thing was taken to Parliament in 1909 and an Act was actually went through in 1910 with numerous amendments. And the main purpose of this act was to make sure that the audience was totally separated from this dangerous material by a solid brick wall
Derek Threadgall 4:17
Nitrate film for people who are not aware of nitrate film, it was highly inflammable, wasn't it, and it was replaced by safety film, I think, in about 1951 which means that every film that was made up to 1951 was on nitrate film, yes,
Chris Strachan 4:42
yes, nitrate was notorious. It was so combustible, it could spontaneously combust under water. Mind boggles. And I think that's right, it was replaced by celluloid, and then it. In the final years of 35 mil. It was polyester. I think I've got that point
Derek Threadgall 5:07
we let's go back to when the Palace was built. Let's go back to 1911 when it opened. Think it was in November. Was it?
Speaker 1 5:22
Yes, that's right, 29th of November, 1911
Derek Threadgall 5:29
What was the staffing of the cinema there?
Speaker 1 5:33
It was phenomenal. It the cinema supported a very considerable number of staff, and this was captured for all time and a wonderful photograph that was lent to us by Robert Barker. I think it's Robert Barker, sorry, better cut that. I need to get his name right.
Chris Strachan 6:00
Have you got it in the book? So, yeah,
Derek Threadgall 6:03
yeah, yeah, it was Robert Barker. I
Chris Strachan 6:08
think it was, yeah,
Derek Threadgall 6:08
it was Robert Barker.
Chris Strachan 6:09
We need to get this right, yeah, yeah. I need to say it now, yeah, I'll say it. Robert Barker, right. So, yeah, this photograph was lent to us by Robert Barker, and it shows the staff as it was in 19 early 1912 and this consisted of the manager, the manager's wife, the cashier, the engineer, who had the very important job of supervising the crossly engine in the basement, which supplied the electric current that ran the projectors. And then there were page boys, commissioners and usherettes, of course.
Derek Threadgall 7:02
So what was the equipment they used then in those early days,
Chris Strachan 7:07
I think the first projector was a Gaumont Chrono projector. And, of course, there was only one projector, and at the end of every 10 minute reel, there would be a break, and this was an opportunity for any gifted, talented customers to get up on the stage and do a turn. And then it's gradually that became the norm, and cine variety became a very real thing, and they then brought in professional people to do a turn. And the legend is that one of the greats who did a turn on this stage was Will Fife, who was stationed at Felixstowe right there we go. Couldn't predict that. She just wait till it goes off. Yeah, might be a long time
Dan Thurley 8:06
you've got the radio mic. Yeah,
Chris Strachan 8:16
right, okay,
Derek Threadgall 8:17
sorry, Will Fife? Will Fife? Yeah.
Speaker 1 8:21
He was apparently stationed at Felixstowe. I suspect this was during the First World War.
Derek Threadgall 8:29
For people who don't know, Will Fyffe, he was a Scottish, popular Scottish comedian on the halls. Yes. So Will Fyffe made his debut. So the legend goes, so the legend may be apocryphal on this little stage, yeah, okay, can you remember examples of the variety acts they had here? What do you can remember what the opening days program was?
Chris Strachan 9:05
in one word? No, I wasn't here.
Derek Threadgall 9:10
I think one was the Death of Nelson,
Speaker 1 9:12
wasn't it? Ah, yeah, if you're talking about films, the very first film shown in this building was had the wonderful title of the Battle of Trafalgar and the Death of Nelson. And this was a very well made silent film. And we actually showed it for one of our big anniversaries, our 100th anniversary, we showed this film. We managed to trace the only existing copy, and it was on 16 mil, and it was in Munich, and we managed to get it from there. And of course, it was in German, with German intertitles, and we happened to have a disused bank across the road, which had been turned into an antique shop. And this was run by a very nice German couple. And we had this wonderful idea. I don't think it's original. It had been done before, but we had the silent film with Hans, the German from across the road, translating the intertitles live. And he was he and the film were accompanied by a pianist. And this was a very, very special occasion. And then we also have in the town a very well known naval author, Richard Woodman, and and he described in detail the relationship between what he had seen on the screen of the film and his knowledge of the Battle of Trafalgar. And then we took the unprecedented step of then showing the film for a second time, and the audience were absolutely entranced by this, because they said, after hearing Richard's talk and seeing it the second time, we got so much more out of it, and of course, Hans did his translation again, so it was a wonderful, unique occasion.
Derek Threadgall 11:15
Did they have the so called special effects with that film?
Speaker 1 11:22
I Well, yes, the special effects were the brainwave of Syd Mills, who was the sound man, and he had all sorts of thunder sheets that he would use. And also the legend is that he had a small circular railway track behind the screen, which he would push a bogey around on train scenes. So yes, I'm sure they did have special effects. The most spectacular ones ever were for a film called The Battle of Jutland, and they let off bombs, I suppose is the word in dustbins, fireworks and dustbins. And the legend has it that this cleared the auditorium, but there were no casualties.
Derek Threadgall 12:20
So we have some the names of some of these people as I suppose, in their own way, they're legends in their own lifetime. I can recall a doorman called Thomas Gardner, who, I think he was here from 1930 to 34 and he was very concerned about the so called Tuppenny Rush, which I think was that, yes, with the Tuppenny Rush, when the kids came in, they didn't come in through the front. They came in through the side door. And Thomas decided that he'd had enough of being hustled and bustled with these kids, and decided to try to put a gate up. Unfortunately, the kids ignored all that, and Thomas found himself lying on his back with the kids running over him.
Chris Strachan 13:16
Yes, yes,that is almost certainly based on a true story. And Blue Peter came here when we first opened, and spent the whole day here doing a special edition just about this cinema it's opening, and they recreated that incident. So this is on archive film somewhere.
Derek Threadgall 13:42
With the silent films, obviously they there was a pianist Yes, and his name was Billy Good.
Chris Strachan 13:52
Billy good, yes,
Derek Threadgall 13:53
And Billy good was with us for some time.
Chris Strachan 13:56
Billy Good was a legend in his own time. He he had played the piano here in this building in 1920 21 - 22 and he was, it was absolutely wonderful to find him still around and playing in the early and mid 1970s so we managed to get him back here to accompany silent movies, and he actually also appears in the the Blue Peter Special Edition. One of the, again, probably apocryphal or maybe true legends about Billy, is that he doubled up. He had a day job as well as his evening job, and that was peeling potatoes in the chip shop. And one day, by accident, he peeled off the pulp tips of three fingers and. he was determined to carry on with his duties as a pianist, so he turned up with blood stained bandages, and Mr. Gilbert, the then manager, poked his head over the piano and said, "you've got a bloody cheek," and sacked him on the spot because he wasn't playing the piano properly because of his injured fingers. Now, Billy told us that story, and I'm sure there must be something in it. He also, he told us, and again, this is illustrated in a small booklet I wrote a number of years ago, how extremely cold it was, and it was very difficult actually playing the piano in 1921 but when he came back, we've got film of him playing and he recounted all sorts of stories. A wonderful character. He was a late, blossoming star. He was rediscovered by television companies who all wanted to come and interview him. So he went out with a on a very high note,
Derek Threadgall 16:08
It's also the story of, was it Mr. Benton, the original manager? Yes, that's who Frederick Benton. Yeah, Frederick Benton and he used to accompany the audience at times on was it a violin?
Speaker 1 16:25
Yes, I think that's right, yes. So they had a little trio, I think it was Mr. Benton, his wife, and perhaps one of the page boys. And they had drums, violin and probably banjo as well as piano
Derek Threadgall 16:43
There have been some stories about what used to go on here, behind the scenes. And I don't know whether you recall the story of the maybe again, the legendary story of one of the projectionists who was having an affair with a fisherman's wife, and the fisherman found out, and the entrance to the projection box was by a an iron ladder outside. And as we know, the film that was being shown was delivered by by van or train or bicycle. Sometimes, yeah, bicycle. And apparently, on a Saturday evening, the film has been shown for the last time, and the projections had to get it back to the train the train station to go on. And the fisherman found out about his affair and stood at the bottom of the iron ladder and shouted up to him," I know you're up there. You there's only one way out, you know, and I'm waiting for you" type thing. So the projectionist decided the only way to get the film back to the station was to get a film can and drop it on the fisherman's head, which knocked him out. Yes, so he got his he got his film back to the station on time. But there's lots of stories like that. Isn't there? It wasn't the usherettes. Didn't they have a perfume, little bowls of perfume, which they they used to.
Speaker 1 18:30
Yes, one of the scourges of small cinemas like this was fleas, of course, and the seating was fairly segregated. You had the cheap seats, the Tuppenny Rush, which you referred to, was at the front on wooden benches. Then you had the middle classes who paid sixpence in the middle, very appropriately, and then the toffs, or the posh people who paid a shilling, were in the back rows. Now the only people who didn't recognize this Well, people, it's not the right word, but didn't recognize this segregation were the police. They were ubiquitous throughout all the seating, and it was pretty rough, I think, from all accounts I've heard.
Derek Threadgall 19:19
Well, when I used to come here as a kid, it was known as the flea pit, right? Yes. And every town had a flea pit, yeah? Well, most of them did.
Chris Strachan 19:27
Well, this was the Harwich flea pit.
Derek Threadgall 19:28
This was the Harwich flea pit. Yeah. The story was that when people came through the front of the cinnabar, bought their ticket, the manager gave them a little hammer to be returned. After decimating the flea brigade and
Speaker 1 19:46
then going back to the sprays at the usherettes They used to spray the whole cinema with Jay's fluid, which is pretty powerful stuff, and then to counteract the stench of the Jay's fluid, they. Um, sprayed perfumes,
Derek Threadgall 20:04
I think they have that is,
Chris Strachan 20:05
I think that's a true story. Yeah,
Derek Threadgall 20:07
I think, I think so. I've read it elsewhere as well. There were other people involved, but I can't. Can you think of any other anecdotal incident that might have happened here during that, that first period.
Speaker 1 20:27
I'm sure there must be many, but, I mean, I didn't arrive in heritage till 1973 so it would need to be somebody local who could recall that.
Derek Threadgall 20:38
Well, I know when I used to come here that if you if you had a show and the film didn't break, or there was no, there wasn't a problem, and they went through the whole film, it was a miracle, because it didn't happen very often.
Speaker 1 20:58
So did they throw rotten tomatoes at the screen. Well,
Derek Threadgall 21:02
they didn't actually throw tomatoes. What they did do was the kids, anyway, would jump up and down on the seats and run around, etc, etc, and bang things to making a noise, which I think most kids did in cinemas in those days. I
Speaker 1 21:19
think Saturday morning pictures, that was the norm, wasn't it? These would be running all over. Oh
Derek Threadgall 21:25
yes, yes. Saturday morning pictures is another, another issue altogether. Yeah, so moving on. When sound came in, did was it delayed coming into the theater like this, or cinema like this.
Chris Strachan 21:44
I think, yes, we were always whatever new developments came about. We were always a year or two behind. Now, my colleague David Luther could tell you more about this, because he's gone into the development of sound here, I think it was the first film here. Was probably the jazz singer, but it was, I would have thought, probably two years after it was first shown in London.
Derek Threadgall 22:15
So the other jazz singer was the first sound, yeah, for most first cinemas at the time, but it wasn't a fully sound film, though. Was it? No, no, it was only when he was singing. So we move on to the First World War. There were certain things. There were certain things happening here during the First World War, especially with warnings about the zeppelins coming over. Yes, I think there were three warnings given, weren't there? Yes,
Chris Strachan 22:51
that's right. The first warning would say that the zeppelins were thought to be approaching Suffolk. The second one would be something to the effect that the zeppelins are now over Woodbridge. And for those first two warnings, Nobody moved. Then the third warning was the zeppelin is really coming close. And then they evacuated. I
Derek Threadgall 23:15
think on one occasion, they abandoned one show, and people wanted to come back in. And so they had two or two sets of audience, that's right, sort of like, yeah. So they had about what, 400 400 500 people, oh, yes, more than that. What was the original capacity of the Well, that's
Speaker 1 23:40
very interesting. The there were two reasons for this building being listed in 1972 one was the architecture. The other one, which was equally important, or possibly even more important, was the sociology of it, and that was all connected with the entrances, the exits and the seating plan and the way it was originally, there were 452 seats. Now there are 200 so the question is, how did they do that? And the way they did it was that the first 10 rows were simple wooden benches, and the children and people who could only afford that kind of ticket price were herded down through and entered through a separate entrance, and then they were pushed in along the benches by these two very hefty commissioners. So that accounted for a large number of the seats. Then in the middle you had the middle classes who had paid sixpence and came in through their entrance, which is still there in the foyer. And then the third stratum of this segregated society was the posh and wealthy people who paid a shilling. Per seat, and they had the seats at the back. And this proved very interesting to the people who administered the listings. And as I say, that was part of why this building became listed. It was also interesting that each of these strata of society had their own entrance and their own exit and their own toilet. So the whole building was over endowed with toilets and exits. And another interesting statistic is that on the very first night when the mayor had cut the ribbon and opened the cinema on November 29 1911 they did a test run of how quickly they could evacuate the audience, and they completely cleared the building in 43 seconds. This is well documented in the local press following week.
Derek Threadgall 26:02
Okay? Now also during the first, first World War, there were obviously a lot of servicemen, yes, in harridge and, of course, Felixstowe. So I should imagine then that the audience figures grew quite considerably. This
Speaker 1 26:24
was an absolute peak of attendance the First World War. The other place, of course, was Shockley. So there were a lot of naval personnel, so the electric Palace was doing fantastic business, so much so that they had a serious debate whether they it would be worth their while to close down for a short period and build a balcony, which would have been quite a major thing to do. And they obviously took it very seriously as a plan, because they, we still have the architects drawings of the proposed balcony, but I think the financiers prevailed, and they said, What, look, we're doing such good business. We can't really afford to close down for three months to build a balcony. So it never happened. But that just shows I
Derek Threadgall 27:15
was going to ask that actually, about the balcony, because I seem to remember reading somewhere that that was planned. It was that wasn't so can we get it straight here regarding the the the age of the cinema, in relation to the bike, the Biograph in Victoria and the what was it? The electric and Portobello Road. Which one? This was about 1911
Speaker 1 27:49
Yeah, as far as I know, the Biograph, which has gone from Victoria, was several years older. As great pity that went the electric Portobello Road, as far as I know, was something like February 1911 so it predates this one by at least six months. Is that still there? Oh, the electric Portobello Road is really thriving. Yeah,
Derek Threadgall 28:18
there's another aspect of this cinema which I found fascinating, that it didn't actually convert with the with all the new ratios, CinemaScope, etc, etc, didn't actually convert to those. Did it well?
Speaker 1 28:38
I mean, that's a very interesting question, because it just wouldn't be practically feasible, because you couldn't put in a CinemaScope screen and retain the price arch. What they've done at the electric portal fellow road is absolutely fascinating. They've got a screen that is on the stage, and I think it came from France. All the mechanics that what happens is that the screen actually comes out in front of the proscenium arch on the stage, and then it goes laterally on each side. So if it were to happen here, the screen would come out through the opening, and then it would get expand to fill the whole width of the building. Now, the the sort of pros and cons of this is that it wouldn't be in keeping with the building, so we wouldn't want to do it from that point of view. The other, even bigger disadvantage is the whole stage would be occupied by this very high tech mechanical apparatus. To do that, we'd lose the ability to use the stage, and we use it quite a lot for live events. So CinemaScope in here was just the same width, but the top. Bottom were brought down so it became more of a letterbox.
Derek Threadgall 30:04
Yeah, that was Yeah. A lot of sort of mas did, okay, can we just hold it there for a moment? Dan, Dan, right, if you do that correction first, yes,
Chris Strachan 30:19
the photo of the staff in 1912 was very kindly lent to us by John H Barker, who, at that time lived in Felixstowe, and it is the most wonderful photo of a typical small cinema staff of the time.
Derek Threadgall 30:42
Right going back to when you were talking about the picture shows that were on the green and elsewhere before the palace was built. Yes, I understand that. This is from Billy Goode. He says that Mr. Barker showed first on harridge Green in a marquee, a picture was called The Great Train Robbery, which, of course, was the first, yeah, Western. So this predates the elect, predates the electric Okay, yeah, and, but the story I like you probably know about this one about going back to when we were talking about the fleet bit. This is from Mr. Frank Trinder of High Wycombe. He says I remember it when Jay Barker was manager, when he borrowed three pounds off me to pay his rates, as his wife had backed a treble with his money. And I had a brainwave and backed it as well, and won 93 pounds. And so did she. It was known as the flea pit, and my wife searched the top of her stockings when she got home, point somewhere, dear, anything else up to the first part that you want to add, add to or comment on, bearing in mind we're talking we're really talking about people, but yeah,
Speaker 1 32:26
well, I mean, personally, haven't really mentioned us. How Harold Hooper,
Derek Threadgall 32:32
would he come in in the second half? Oh,
Derek Threadgall 32:36
no, of course. Yeah, Harold, yeah, yeah, he
Derek Threadgall 32:40
was the architect? So a little bit yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1 32:45
yeah. The architect of this building was a very energetic young man of 26 major Harold Hooper, and this was his first major building, and it was built for 1500 pounds over the course of 18 weeks, he then went on to build the laceton cinema, and then he branched out into other types of buildings, but this remains one of his greatest achievements, at the age of 26 to Build this purpose built cinema.
Derek Threadgall 33:22
Well, I think it's amazing try to get a place like this built in 18 weeks today. Okay, anything else from first part? I really I know for hours, but about Charles Thurston? Yes, I was going to mention that, just to go back to Charles Thurston and the fairground? Yeah, I think we should know. But
Speaker 1 33:44
Charles Thurston was from a dynasty of fairground showmen, I suppose, is the right word, and he was most energetic, and he had pioneered the bioscope circuit in East Anglia, and then when the 1910 act went through, he started to build purpose built cinemas or commission them to be built. It was a strange coincidence that on this very site, there was a furniture depository that caught fire, and that was in May 1911 this left a complete empty site. Charles Thurston saw it and said, That's it. That's the place where we'll build our picture palace. And they moved very quickly. And he had the building built during the summer of 1911 and it was formally opened in November by the mayor and all the councilors and great pomp and circumstances speeches and for. Success because
Derek Threadgall 35:00
there are other buildings around the palace which were due to be demolished. I think, yes,
Chris Strachan 35:07
the plan at the time was that the whole of this block was going to be raised to the ground in order to build a lorry Park for the docks up the road. So the palace is by no means the eldest building, two buildings down is the Humphrey Parsons School, which would have been demolished as well. And it was sheer luck that Gordon Miller happened to recognize the palace and and he worked with the Harris society, and eventually, what remained of the block was saved. They actually had started to clear the other end of the block. And it was a real cliffhanger. It was quite dramatic that they would have come back the following week and bulldozed the rest of it, if Gordon Miller hadn't known people in Whitehall and submitted an application for a listing,
Derek Threadgall 36:09
well, if we will go into more detail with Gordon Miller in the second part, are you happy With the first part?
Chris Strachan 36:20
Yeah, that sounds fine, right?
Derek Threadgall 36:24
Because we are doing it, as I said, a bit differently to the norm. So what I'll talk to Alan isles, and then I'll send a list of pictures through to you. Yeah, right. So should we move on then to the second part, okay, okay, so the second part,
Derek Threadgall 36:52
right, okay, second part. First question is, how was the palace discovered? We were talking about 1972
Dan Thurley 37:03
Yeah,
Speaker 1 37:05
the way that the building was in inverted commerce discovered was quite interesting and very timely. It was pure chance that a lecturer in 3d design from Kings then Kingston Polytechnic was here doing a town study in Harwich. These town studies dated back several years and had taken place all over the country. The lecturer in question was Gordon Miller, and he brought his students from Kingston Polytechnic to do a very detailed study of the old town of Harwich. Harwich, it's, in many ways, it's a bit like Rye or Sandwich or other coastal towns that have steeped in naval history. So it was a very interesting challenge for the students. Gordon Miller saw this building, this particular building, and he immediately recognized its significance. So he spoke to his colleagues back in Kingston, and said, I've discovered a gem. I want to really look into it in depth. So he then peeled himself off from the main study and concentrated on this one building, and the importance of him doing this at this particular time was highlighted by the fact that he discovered it was about to be raised to the ground. The notices were up that this whole block was going to be knocked down. He stepped in and spoke to people in London who said, I've found a gem. It's got to be saved. And they said, well, you'll need to send in a very detailed report about why you believe it needs to be saved. And from talking to Gordon himself, I understand that he's stayed up the whole night that night, writing this very detailed report on his opinion as to why this it was essential that this building was saved. It went through and was very quickly processed, and an emergency listing was the term used is slapped. It was slapped onto this building, and that saved it just within a very, very short period of time, the people who were in charge of bulldozing the other buildings in the block and the Palace were immediately thwarted, and this caused an absolute uproar in the town. I have to say that this is all second hand, because I. Actually here at the time. I arrived in heritage the following year, but it became extremely controversial, and there are lots of newspaper reports about the pros and cons. It went on national television, and the people who had been had taken up the cause of saving this building were detailed as the lunatic fringe. So this was an absolutely head on confrontation between the people who wanted to raise the building, and the people who wanted to preserve it, it. There's a tradition in Harwich that every November roundabout Guy, Fawkes Night, there is a carnival that goes through the town. This goes back a long time, and it was in the ethos of this carnival was that it gave the apprentices in the town permission to lampoon the bosses. So this took on a new aspect with regard to the Electric Palace, and it became the subject of several floats, which all added to the great excitement about what was going on. So that's how it was saved in 1972 then it all went very quiet, and obviously Gordon Miller and his students completed their town study and went off back to Kingston Polytechnic. The Harwich Society were delighted with the outcome, because they had for a long time wanted to ensure that the Humphrey Parsons School was saved and having the Electric Palace saved as well. This was much more pattern than elbow and that then, as I say, the deterioration continued, and the vandalism, if anything, escalated. The main problem was not vandals. It was more natural elements. There was a very large hole in the ceiling at the back of the auditorium there, when I say very large, this hole was eight to 10 feet in diameter, and every time it rained, just water poured in. So the fabric of the building was really beginning to deteriorate quite rapidly. I met, I came to the town in 1973 and met an architect, Andrew Cardin, who had been working in London his before he retired, his last big project was the restoration of the Brompton Oratory. So we're talking about a very high level architect, and I met him at a dinner, and we got talking about this building, and we said, Well, really, we ought to do something about it. And we spent the next year drawing in people to assess whether restoration of this building was a practical was going to be practical. And having got a board, lawyers, an architect, people from the film world, we decided yes, it can happen. So we then went public and said, We're going to form a charitable trust with the object of restoring this building. We don't know how long that will take, because it's in such a state, but when we have restored it, we will then restore it to being used for the purpose for which it was built. And that's briefly how it happened between 1973 and 1981
Derek Threadgall 44:10
So you also got a patron involved? Is it John Betjeman,
Speaker 1 44:15
yes, the we decided that we'd like to broaden our horizons, if you say, and if you like. And we thought a patron would be very useful. I wrote to several people, notably Spike Milligan, who wrote back a very nice letter, saying that he thought it was a wonderful thing to do if he was going to be involved in something like that. He wanted to be part of it and hands on. And he really was at the height of his people with the Goon Show, etc. So he didn't have the time to get involved to the extent that he would want to. So he declined. Time, but he wished us all the very best love, peace from spike, etc. So I then thought, Well, why don't we ask Sir John Betje````min? And I wrote to him, and he replied, Yes, I'd love to do that. He was becoming rather frail then, and he said, I may not be able to actually come to see the building, but I'll be with you in spirit. And this was a tremendous boost for us, because having a name at that national level on our headed note paper, if you like, opened up all sorts of doors to get grants in order to be able to progress the restoration work. We've always made the one patron of the cinema a job for life. And when Sir John passed away, then John Huntley, the well known film archivist and very charismatic speaker, agreed to be our next patron. He came and addressed our annual dinners. At that time, we used to have an annual fundraising dinner to promote the restoration, and he held everyone in the palm of his hand, a wonderful speaker, great knowledge of transport films especially, and had his own archive. And then, if I just carry on with the patrons, when John Huntley passed away, by coincidence, film star, Clive Owen, film and theater star Clive Owen had, his family had a property fairly near to Harwich, and he and his then to be wife, used to come to the cinema here, and when the post of patron became vacant, we approached Clive and he agreed to carry on, and that has also been a tremendous success, because he very kindly arranges for us to have preview screenings of his new films as they come out, and This is a great boost to the popularity of the cinema.
Derek Threadgall 47:23
So the actual restoration, as I know, took many years, six years, six years. And when did it open again?
Speaker 1 47:37
Well, we opened it. We it was a bit of a rush at the end, because we had to get redecorations done, put in seating, and we reopened it on the 70th anniversary of the first opening. So that was the 29th of November, 1981
Derek Threadgall 47:55
because the irony of all this, as I said, is that the two other cinemas, the Regal and the Regent, of course, which were superior to the palace at the time they went and you benefited from some of the stuff that they got, some of the stuff that you have here from them whenever Yes, there were,
Speaker 1 48:25
Yes, there were quite a few things that came to us. The clock that's up on the wall there came from the Regent. It's not quite the same era as this building. It's more art deco, but it fits in very nicely. Yeah. The other cinema, of course, is very interesting. This respect is the Empire. Now, the Empire, as I understood it, closed in about 1937 - 38 and the reason, the direct reason, was the opening of the Regent, no, not the Regent - the Regal. So those two things coincided. One was a consequence of the other. The Empire closed, but it then, then it's a mystery what happened it, I suppose, with the war intervening, it just stood there empty for a very long time, and I don't think it was finally demolished until about 1961 that's a long time for a building to stand in, yeah, because that that's and it's a pity that that went, because that was a very interesting building. But it go, it did so well. We were left then with only one cinema.
Derek Threadgall 49:36
I knew. I knew nothing about the Empire. I always thought that there were just the three cinemas. But of course, if it closed in 1938 that's when I appeared in the world, same year, so I wouldn't know anything about it. So the restoration was completed, and you reopened. And. And from you've gone from strength to strength since that time. Yes,
Speaker 1 50:03
it's been a slightly bumpy road, I suppose, because in a building of this age, there's always going to be something that's happening that needs correction. And although we when we first opened, it was serviceable, it has needed to be improved over the years. We're very fortunate. Around about the time the millennium, we got a very handsome grant from the Heritage no The Lottery Funding administered by Arts Council England - ACE, and that allowed us to upgrade the 35 millimeter projectors. A bit ironically now, but we've It's one reason why we elected to hold on to the 35 mill projectors, because who knows, in 50 years time, there may not be very many around, and that will be a real, really good example. We keep them well serviced. And then another example of things going wrong is that the main metal beams that hold up the frontage started to deteriorate and corrode in about 2000 between 2000 and 456, and we then launched an appeal. That appeal was launched by Clive Owen and worked very well, raised quite a bit of money. We applied to the Heritage Lottery Fund, and they gave us a grant of £50,000 pounds having done a survey by English Heritage, and they very kindly paid for 50% of the cost of the survey. And then we were able to replace all these metal beams that were beginning to corrode, and we actually took it a step further and put in more metal beams than there had been originally, in order to make sure that that frontage is absolutely safe.
Derek Threadgall 52:17
Well, the tragedy is that, of course, this the Palace closed in. What was it? 1955 ?
Chris Strachan 52:26
56
Derek Threadgall 52:27
56 Yes, and that was because of what?
Speaker 1 52:31
Well, it was a combination of things. The first thing that it never really recovered from was the East Coast floods of 31st of January, 1953 now, as you know, the surge of that flood happened at about midnight. This auditorium where we're sitting now was under six, no eight, feet of seawater, so we would have been halfway down that. And one interesting feature that we preserve, we don't redecorate it is the mark of where the sea water got up to in 1954 that shows you it was eight feet deep. It never really quite recovered from that. They, the local authority were extremely good. They got pumps in and cleared the water out within a matter of days, so the damage was minimized. The second thing that happened was fairly obviously television. That's when it was at its peak. And that was partly when the Coronation, everybody went and bought a telly. Having bought a television set, they then opted to stay at home and looked at that rather than come to the Electric Palace. So it never quite recovered from that either. No that. And the final thing was that in those days, there was a very steep levy on admission ticket prices. I think it was the tax, was probably about 50%
Derek Threadgall 54:12
That was the entertainment tax.
Chris Strachan 54:14
and the combination of those three things, and that was it. And of course, this wasn't, this was happening all over the country.
Derek Threadgall 54:22
Well, the other interesting thing about about it, when it closed is that they just went, locked up,
Chris Strachan 54:35
Yes,
Derek Threadgall 54:36
and they left.
Derek Threadgall 54:37
That's right, like, tickets in the machines. Yes. They just went,
Chris Strachan 54:40
Yeah, they just locked the doors, and that was it. There were films in the project, yeah, tickets on the floor, and they boarded it up, and that was it. That was it. Just walked away, and it then became forgotten.
Derek Threadgall 54:56
But when you opened it up, you. I think someone said, I don't know where there was, I don't know who it was, but said that it was like opening up Tutankhamun's tomb. It was a time warp, yes, yes, that's right. Because there were papers. Weren't newspapers on around with the date on, that's right. So it was like opening up a time warp, which was more attractive?
Chris Strachan 55:22
Yes, yeah. Gordon Miller describes it very graphically that he opened it up to inspect inside, and the first thing it hit him was the stench. It was absolutely appalling. And this was for all sorts of reasons, the rotting seats, there were some dead cats. There were some living cats who scurried about, and it was just utterly appalling. So that was the first major task that we had in the restoration. Was clearing out all this totally unusable rubbish, which included the seats. I mean, they were beyond repair.
Derek Threadgall 56:08
So did you get seats from other cinemas?
Speaker 1 56:11
Yes, we did. That's right. When we'd replaced the floor, the floorboards were giving way, so we had to take a lot of those out. And we decided the the raked floor was built of a sort of very rough, soft core, I think you'd call it or hard. It was very, very rough and ready, and it wasn't surprising that the floorboards had given way, so we took all that out and then replaced this floor with concrete, so it's now a very firm base for all the seats on the right floor. And when we got the seats from other cinemas, these ones came from the from a Mecca theater in Leeds, and I believe it's right that they date from the 1930s and then we had the three back rows, and we had a small van load full of seats came from the Plaza Lytham St Annes, and they were more luxurious seats than They date from the 1950s but we haven't thought of taking out seats and putting in Pullman ones like they do in Portobello Road, because we want to preserve the actual ethos of the cinema as it was in its heyday.
Derek Threadgall 57:46
No love seats.
Speaker 1 57:47
No, there never were any of those. Yes, I think we were offered some. And I think one or two of them did arrive here, but they just didn't fit in.
Derek Threadgall 58:01
Well, love seats were more in the Midlands and up north, that's right. Although I understand that the Troxy in Elephant Castle, yes, had love seats, right? Yes. And I also understand there's a cinema in Essex. I think it's Halstead, where they have one or two love seats, aren't you for pure comfort, there is a cinema near Southend, which has easy chairs and sofas.
Chris Strachan 58:38
Well, of course, the Electric Portobello Road now has devans and double beds. Look up the Electric Porter Portobello Road. Look at their seat plan booking, and of course, there's a bar in the auditorium, so different scene altogether.
Derek Threadgall 59:04
Oh, dear, you should do something here. So anything else you want to add about the restoration or other people have been involved? Was Ellis Ashton involved? He was with the
Chris Strachan 59:22
Ellis Ashton was a very interesting man. I remember him extremely well. He was the chairman of the British Music Hall Association, and he contacted us, and we got to know him quite well. He actually came and talked to one of our annual dinners. Very good speaker. And then he said, Why don't you come up to London, and I'll show you something very special. So we did. The whole family. Went up with the children, and we had a look round. We met up with him, and he showed us Wiltons. And this was when it was in a state of real dilapidation. It was, and it was fascinating because it was how I imagined this was when Gordon Miller found and Ellis very kindly showed us around Wiltons. And I'm very pleased to see what they've done there it's an absolutely wonderful job. We've been to a couple of shows recently.
Derek Threadgall 1:00:21
That's Wilton's Music Hall,
Chris Strachan 1:00:23
That's right, which is the oldest Music Hall in existence in London, as far as I know. Yeah. I mean, I was brought up, partly. I was born in Scotland, but I was brought up in Kilburn, and the Metropolitan Edgeware Road was an absolutely wonderful building. And again, great loss that that was demolished.
Derek Threadgall 1:00:46
And in Kilburn , of course, you've got the State.
Derek Threadgall 1:00:48
Well, that was my ,I mean, as a teenager, I had this wonderful choice of cinemas. I had the Gamont State, where not only were there four, 4004 seats and the biggest screen in the country measure. They measured the screen in units of double decker buses. And they said, This is an eight double decker bus screen. And it had a wonderful Compton organ it still worked. And it had all the great American jazz bands, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the lot, they all appeared there. And then across the road from that, I had the Grange cinema to go to, and we had a little classic arthouse cinema. And then we had another cinema up in Cricklewood. So yeah, as a teenager, I was totally spoiled by this absolute wealth of amazing cinema buildings. So maybe that's where it comes from.
Derek Threadgall 1:01:44
It could be. it's like me living in Brooklyn Road here with the Regal at the top of the road when I was living in Brooklyn Road during the war. So of course, coming out of my front door and immediately seeing this grand Cinema at the top of the road. It's probably why I went into the film business. I don't know.
Speaker 1 1:02:09
Oh, the other one I didn't mention was the Essoldo Maida Vale, which was just Essoldo Kilburn. I always remember that because that's where I saw my first 3d film. "House of Wax". They think that basically was a theater that converted into a cinema with a verysteep rake,
Derek Threadgall 1:02:30
Well, is anything else you'd like to add? Chris on this,
Speaker 1 1:02:36
On the sort of ongoing restoration? Yes, yeah, as I mentioned previously, there always are problems in buildings of this age, and you'll be very well aware of the Apollo disaster when parts of the ceiling fell in and that immediately triggered off a survey of all the London theaters, and we very quickly also decided that we would like to have a survey of this theater, especially with reference to the ceiling. And we had very good advice from our architect and who put us in touch with the people who had dealt with the London problems, and they came and did a very detailed survey for us last year. They're coming back to what they did was surveyed the whole of the surface of the ceiling and the roof that you can see from below. This was all done with heavy duty cherry pickers and people going up and manually testing every part of the whole ceiling and keeping a very careful record with still, photography and video, so we know what it's like, and there are a few problems are going to need to be dealt with, but there's nothing that is of danger, and there's there's been no indication that we need to close down, for instance, until this is dealt with, we can carry on. The next phase of the survey is they're going to survey the ceiling from above. Sometimes you can see more from above than below, and then that should be happening in the fairly near future. And then we have to decide what action we take. We'll have to take some action. It's not just the ceiling, it's the cornices as well need stabilization, and the best way, I'm advised that the best way of doing this is by a process of lamination, which will put the ceiling into a stable form for hopefully the next 50 or 60, or even 100 years. So that's what we're , where we're at at the moment. Yeah. And it'll also be an opportunity to redecorate the auditorium, which hasn't been done since we reopened in 1981. Prior to that, we suspect it hadn't been done since 1911 so there's time there on our side, but it's beginning to look a little bit shabby, and it'll be good to relaunch with everything in place.
Derek Threadgall 1:05:28
One thing I forgot to mention is that when you opened the place up, you discovered the original silent screen?
Chris Strachan 1:05:43
Yes and of course, that is still there. In those days of course you needed to put nothing behind the screen, so it was simply plaster on the rear wall. There was a gap behind the plaster bit, and we keep it in good condition. And just occasionally we do show an academy ratio silent film on that screen with live music. The last time we used the screen in real earnest was for the film "The Artist". Oh, and we used that screen what we did with the sound boxes, etc. We rolled up the new screen, took all the sound equipment off, and put it down, almost where you're sitting now. And we really majored with this. We said, This is how you can see "The Artist". I'd seen it in Portobello, no in Notting Hill, actually, at the Gate. And there were very few people there. There were less than a dozen people there. When we went to town and marketed this as this is how to see "The Artist" We ran five shows in a weekend, full house every time. And we actually had to put in an extra two shows. So we had over 1000 people in one weekend. That's incredible. And it was, it was a totally emotional, immersive situation where at the end of almost every performance, everyone would stand up, there was a standing ovation, amazing applause going on for a minute or two. Yeah? So, I mean, that's the point. We still use that screen.
Derek Threadgall 1:07:22
You do encourage people to, if they want to, to come and have a look at this cinema?
Speaker 1 1:07:29
Oh of course, yeah, we have a scheme whereby there's a firm come from London bringing a coach load of tourists, and they City and Village tours, and they come to Harwich, and one of the highlights, apparently, is their visit to the Electric Palace. So we show them the building, we do a little potted history, and we've got a very nice short film, lasts just a few minutes. It was made with money from the Arts Council to celebrate the millennium, but so it's a highly professional piece of film which has lasted very well, and we can still show that, and it's just the right length to show tourists and give them a little -
Derek Threadgall 1:08:19
Is that showed with the projectors or digital?
Speaker 1 1:08:25
We can show no, it's shown digitally.
Derek Threadgall 1:08:29
Yeah, are all the films now shown digitaly? .
Chris Strachan 1:08:33
Yes I mean, the main reason is, of course, that you can't get 35 mil, yeah, yeah. And the quality, I have to say, is absolutely stunning. We had an event cinema programme earlier this week where it was the subject was the Impressionists, the artists, and the quality of the reproductions of the pictures was absolutely stunning.
Derek Threadgall 1:09:01
So if anybody wants to organize a group to come and have a look, who do they contact?
Chris Strachan 1:09:08
Well, they should contact us here at the Electric Palace. Just write to us at the Electric Palace. Okay, say what they would like,
Derek Threadgall 1:09:21
Right? Well, as we say here's to the next 50 years, I'll interview you again in 50 years time. Okay, yes, Dan won't be with us.
Chris Strachan 1:09:35
We had Humphrey Lyttleton brought his band play in aid of the Palace, and the demand for tickets was so high that we couldn't actually have the show in the Palace, so we had it in the church. He was 86 at the time, and he put on a wonderful show at an excellent band, and at the end. He was in the church. This is in December, and it was quite cold. He was in his overcoat, and what a trooper he he sat there signing autographs for three quarters of an hour having just played a sort of two and a half year concert at the age of 86 and I bought one, I bought his latest book, and he I'd met him before, because we'd played in Dover Court way back in the 70s. And I said, Well, can you sign the book? So he said, he signed the book. And he said, See you in another 33 years.
Derek Threadgall 1:10:36
I'm actually reading his autobiography at the moment. All right, it's well worth getting.
Speaker 1 1:10:42
Yeah, well worth getting. He's got quite a bibliography. Yeah, He's written, about 10 books.
Derek Threadgall 1:10:49
Well, well, thank you very much. Chris.
Chris Strachan 1:10:51
Okay.
