 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Gazetteer
from Exeter to Plymouth due to its important river crossing.
Evidence of this is still visible today with the numerous large
hotels and coaching inns in the town, who played host to
many of the towns cinema operations.
None was bigger or more imposing than the Seymour Hotel of
1856 on Bridgetown Hill. A flat floor theatre (the ballroom) in
this building was operated as a cinema until about 1912.
Known as Prince of Wales Theatre there was seating for 300
with a 15' deep stage and 16' wide proscenium.
The venue was later run as Seymour Picturedrome by
Palladium Picture Company of Dartmouth from 1914 and by
Mrs M Ramsden until closure around 1924. The building is
now flats.
original courtyard in the centre, the Royal Seven Stars is still
operating today. At the rear of the building is a large
ballroom that was adapted by Joe Tapley for cinema and
theatre and opened on 14th March 1925. The operation
ceased when he moved to Fore Street.
success of the Seven Stars Cinema. The cinema was constructed of Iron and
Concrete by local builder W J Goodridge & Son. The building featured balcony
and stalls with a proscenium featuring the towns coat of arms. There were
also stage and dressing room facilities, with seating for 450. The decorative
scheme being blue and gold.
Situated at 27 Fore Street the cinema opened by the Mayor although the date
of opening is not clear. It may have been 22nd or 27th December 1928, the
first film may have been The Rookies or Ben Hur or both. Sound was not
initially installed but the first sound film was Dark Red Roses using Phonofilm
sound, soon replaced with British Thompson Houston sound.
By the late 1930s the cinema was run by Cinema Totness Ltd, which was
associated with the Grand cinema Plymouth who undertook the booking. A
fire broke out in the auditorium in March 1944 destroying the cinema. The
remains of the building is now a Post Office and shop.
High Street was also once a hotel. In a building to the rear
was opened a 35mm cinema operation called the Central
Cinema in 1949. This had seating for 250 and was run by
Eagle Sound Film Services of Plymouth. The sound system
was Western Electric.
In 1951 the operation was taken over by Romany Film Unit,
based in Newton Abbot and seating reduced to 146. The
cinema was now running 16mm films using De Brie sound
system. The screen was 9 1/2' wide. By 1959 a wide screen
was installed 11' by 6' within a 15' proscenium.
The cinema closed on 3rd October 1964 and the building is in
the vicinity of or might even be the towns library. This was
the last cinema in Totness town.
cinema from the 1950s
arts centre. Dartington Hall, a magnificent medieval house
has for most of this century been run by Dartington Hall
Trust, a charity devoted to Education, Culture and Social
Living. There is today a college in the grounds, and the
house is used for all sorts of events.
The Chekov Theatre was opened in 1937 in a medieval barn
attached to the main buildings. It was named after the
Russian actor who was a teacher here. It became a BFI Film
Centre in 1970 and films have been shown ever since, making
this possibly the oldest building used as a cinema.
The building had seating for 250, now reduced to 185 with a
18' wide screen. The barn has recently been refurbished
with improvements backstage, wardrobe and workshops,
new seats and lighting. The cinema operation has had new
projectors installed. The part time cinema runs mostly art
house programme with both 35 and 16mm projection.
