Organ Concert Odeon Leicester Square

[orpheum]

Just to advise those interested in organ concerts that there is a concert on Monday 22nd March starting at 10.00am.Also ther is another one on Monday 5thMay also at 10.ooam.For those of you whom like me are suffereing withdrawl symptoms after the closure of the State Kilburn and the flood at the |Granada Tooting this comes as welcolme relief.

[orpheum]

The Concert on 5th May is organised by the Teatrical Organ Society as part of the 70th anniversary celebrations of the opening of the Odeon Leicester Square in 1937.Unfortunately yesterdays concert was sparsely attended,and i have to say that i thoroughly disliked the concept of having a violinist accompany the organ>I come to see and hear the organ not so memad old biddy fiddling away.

[ted]

The mention of the Leicester Square Odeon brought back memories. London saw a heavy snowfall 1938-39 for which she was ill-prepared and thus me old man, a dustman with the City of London, was called in for some heavy shovelling. With the overtime pay, he took us to the Odeon, among other excursions, which was playing "Drums along the Mohawk"; it might have been about moon exploration for all we Cockneys related to it but we were exotically "Up West".

I have a snowblower now which helps immeasurably to deal with Ottawa's 400 cm snowfall so far this year.

Ted, Ottawa, rambling as only 80 year olds are allowed to!

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by ted The mention of the Leicester Square Odeon brought back memories. London saw a heavy snowfall 1938-39 for which she was ill-prepared and thus me old man, a dustman with the City of London, was called in for some heavy shovelling. With the overtime pay, he took us to the Odeon, among other excursions, which was playing "Drums along the Mohawk"; it might have been about moon exploration for all we Cockneys related to it but we were exotically "Up West". I have a snowblower now which helps immeasurably to deal with Ottawa's 400 cm snowfall so far this year. Ted, Ottawa, rambling as only 80 year olds are allowed to!

Britain never handles snow very well. A light dusting is usually enough to cause chaos. But we hardly ever get more than an inch or two of the stuff. And that's usually only outside the main cities, the heat of the cities means it hardly ever settles in the built up areas. Even when it does settle there's usually a shower of rain not too far away which washes it all away.

Was that 400cm (13ft) all in one go? Or is it the total so far?

Steve

[orpheum]

Ted do you remember much about the time that you were inside the Odeon.I assume that there was an interlude with the organist.Was there a stage show ,was it on Cine-Variety.I would be interested for your recollections.

[ted]

No, fank Gawd, the 400 cms is the total for the winter. But Ottawa is superbly equipped to clear the stuff from roads although where to put it is a problem both for the city and the householder.

And, sorry, I don't remember the Odeon except that it was packed and we had seats
right down the front. Which reminded me of the










No. fank Gawd, 400 cm is for the winter. Ottawa is superbly equipped to clear the roads although where to put the stuff is the problem both for the city and the householder. They're trying snow melting machines now which reminds me of UK in 1946 when the country was so snow and iced-up the authorities actually tried using jet engines to melt the banks. The snow melted all right but the water immediately froze making a worse problem.

Sorry, I don't remember much about the Odeon except that it was packed and we had to sit down front up against the screen. Which reminded me of a WW2 joke about the soldier who has a date with a girl for the pictures and gets to the box office where he says "Two ninepennies, please" and the girl says "Ninepennies? I'm not sitting in no ninepennies!" whereupon the soldier says "One ninepenny, please."

Do you still have cinema seats allocated by price? That system never existed here.

Ted, Ottawa




ww2

[orpheum]

I dont know about the West End but certainly the system has otherwise died out.This of course is mainly because of multiplexs.Also there are virtually no cinemas which have a circle as well as stalls,and cinemas are now seated in such a way that you dont spend most of the performance trying to see the screen between 2 big heads in front of you.In the 1950s it was 1/9,2/9 and 3/9.Today the price differentiation is between whether or not you are a senior and what time you go into the cinema.With a voucher i can get in for as little as 4-15 in my nearest Vue cinema.

[ted]

Talking about what time you can now get to the cinema reminds me that in my day the shows were all continuous and you went when you felt like it. Hence the expression, still in use but referring more to a deja vu situation: "This is where I came in." A popular place to go, particularly at the main railway termini were the newsreel places where for an hour or so you could get Movietone and a cartoon or so.

Blimey, I must sound like Methusala.

Ted, Ottawa

[orpheum]

Yes there wrer continuous performances.In the foyer of the ABC Golders Green there were 2 clocks.The top clock had the legend"You go in at".The bottom clock had the legend"You come out at".I went to all the newsreel cinemas.In the West End there was Studio 1,the Jaycees,the Tatlers.There were newsreel cinemas at Baker Street tube station atWaterloo and Victoria.At Waterloo at 3pm the programme changed from cartoons to rep cinema.So you might see Will Hay or the Crazy Gang or Arthur Askey>The last news cinema was at Victoria Station in i think 1979 and i was at the final performance>Cinemagoing was much more fun in those daysGenerally speaking the news cinema performance would last an hour and admittance would be 1/-.You would get a Laurel and hardy,a Donald Duck,Movietone news,maybe a Pathe Pictorial and a Bugs Bunny.

[Steve Crook]

Originally Posted by ted Talking about what time you can now get to the cinema reminds me that in my day the shows were all continuous and you went when you felt like it. Hence the expression, still in use but referring more to a deja vu situation: "This is where I came in." A popular place to go, particularly at the main railway termini were the newsreel places where for an hour or so you could get Movietone and a cartoon or so. Blimey, I must sound like Methusala. Ted, Ottawa

Or the other expression, saying that someone "came in half way through the picture" and so doesn't understand what's going on

Steve

[orpheum]

Just to remind those interested in the cinema organ that there will be another concert on Bank Holiday Monday May 5th commencing at 10am at the Odeon Leicester Square.

[shinerchina]

Donald McKenzie puts on a very jolly entertainment - unfortunately the last
show was marred by not one but two long long guest spots by an absolutely ghastly lady violinist.

Does anyone know if DM intends to have this woman ruin his next recital in May,
or has the very poor applause that she recieved, made him realise the awful mistake he made, and disuaded him from dragging her back again -

hope so

A.G.

[julian_craster]

Is she his wife/girlfriend ?

[orpheum]

Originally Posted by shinerchina Donald McKenzie puts on a very jolly entertainment - unfortunately the last show was marred by not one but two long long guest spots by an absolutely ghastly lady violinist. Does anyone know if DM intends to have this woman ruin his next recital in May, or has the very poor applause that she recieved, made him realise the awful mistake he made, and disuaded him from dragging her back again - hope so A.G.

Fully agree.It was the worst concert ever at the Odeon.We have hardly any cinema organs in the London area,so i only come along to her the organ.Certainly not some silly old biddy fiddling away.She would have been better outside playing to any queues.I seem to recall that this is a 75th anniversary concert,not sure of what.I am going and hoping it is the organ alon.

[ShirlGirl]

Originally Posted by shinerchina Donald McKenzie puts on a very jolly entertainment - unfortunately the last show was marred by not one but two long long guest spots by an absolutely ghastly lady violinist. Does anyone know if DM intends to have this woman ruin his next recital in May, or has the very poor applause that she received, made him realise the awful mistake he made, and dissuaded him from dragging her back again - hope so A.G.

Was she actually a poor violinist or was it just that you dislike the violin?

Originally Posted by orpheum Just to remind those interested in the cinema organ that there will be another concert on Bank Holiday Monday May 5th commencing at 10am at the Odeon Leicester Square.

I hope there'll be another one in September.... I'm planning to be in London then.