Devon Cinema Gazetteer

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DAWLISH

Scala

Previously a girls school, the cinema was built behind the existing house on Lawn Terrace.  The house does not appear to have been used as the entrance, more likely the doorway by the lamp post on The Strand.  The roof we see today is not original, the building is now a library.  The side wall however is original and the metal fixings for the canopy running along the wall can still be seen. Built as a replacement for the Picture Palace, it is believed to have been built by Mr J I Lewis (Archie Lewis) but was leased first by L J Shapter in 1928 and by Arthur R Phern (Lyceum, Teignmouth) from the mid 1930s until after the war.

Advertisment for the Dawlish Scala cinema from 1932.

The first film was Vaudeville.  The sound was Mihaly, the proscenium was 26' wide, the stage 18' deep with 4 dressing rooms, there was seating for 400.  Archie Lewis Cinemas Ltd are then listed as actually operating the cinema using British Thompson Houston sound.  The cinema closed September 1962, but Cinemascope was installed.

Gone but not forgotten:        Picture Palace

Operated by Clarence EV Walford the cinema may have operated from as early as 1910.  Situated in Chapel Street, the building had been a chapel and Salvation Army Hall before being converted into a cinema.  It closed when replaced by the Scala, and was demolished for a Spiritialist Church.  The site can be seen in Brook Street.

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