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446 and 448 Union Street
2615 This photograph of Union Street was taken in 1936 and shows the premises of John Raffan, shoe fitting specialists, at 446 and Dugan & Mitchell, clothiers, at 448 Union Street.
James Dugan and Duncan Mitchell entered into partnership around 1919. Mitchell had previously been in the former's employment as a cutter.
Dugan had worked as a tailor on his own account since about 1907 in premises in Bon Accord Street, Rose Street and 443 Union Street. Prior to this he was a commercial traveller representing two local tailoring firms; Messers Milne and Low and Messers Kenneth McLean and Sons.
He became a well respected figure in the tailoring and clothing trade in Aberdeen and the North East. He was the son of a china merchant in George Street called Hugh Dugan. James was married and had a daughter. He died suddenly at his residence at Glen-Shiel, Bieldside on 10th May 1927.
Duncan Mitchell was a native of Largs, Ayrshire and served his apprenticeship in Glasgow. He was a keen golfer and was a member of the Deeside Golf Club. He died aged 73 after a short illness in January 1955.
John Raffan died on Sunday 10th June 1906 after suffering an apoplectic seizure in his Union Steet shop the preceding Friday. He was 52 years old at the time of his death. He was born in the parish of Ordiquhill and his father was a shoemaker named James Raffan.
He served his apprenticeship in Portsoy with a draper called James Guthrie before coming to Aberdeen. He worked with Messers J. & A. Gibb and Mr James Saint, warehousemen and silk mercers, prior to starting his own business as a boot and shoe merchant in Market Street and then Union Street.
Beyond his business, Raffan was deeply involved in religious and philanthropic work. He was a force in the establishment of Union Grove Baptist Church and was connected to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, as a life member, the Aberdeen Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor, the Seabank Home, and Stronach's Close Mission. He was married and had a daughter and two sons.
Above the shop fronts is a sign for Imperial Typewriters. The buildings in this photograph were across the road, just west, from the Capitol Cinema. They are still visible today. In more recent times they have been occupied by general food shops such as the Co-operative and Costcutters. Union Street
2932 A James Valentine postcard showing Union Street. The Capitol Cinema and a number of schools can be seen. Union Street
2945 A postcard image looking east on Union Street. The Capitol Cinema is on the right. Aberdeen Theatres: His Majesty's Theatre
3356 Seating more than 1400, His Majesty's Theatre is the largest theatre in North-East Scotland and is now a category A listed building.
Situated on Rosemount Viaduct, it was designed by the architect Frank Matcham and costed £35,000. It was originally built as a replacement for the former Her Majesty's Theatre (now the Tivoli), meeting the need for a larger venue and better staging facilities.
Robert Arthur, the theatre impresario, submitted the plans for the new theatre in 1901. Construction started in 1904 and it opened on the 3rd December 1906 with a production of the pantomime Little Red Riding Hood, of which you will see the programme next in this exhibition. The pantomime played to a full house on its opening night and ran until the end of the year to great success.
Arthur's company presented plays, opera and pantomimes until 1912, when it ran out of funds. Robert Arthur Theatres Ltd. sold the theatre in 1923 to Walter Gilbert, managing director of the Tivoli Theatre. It changed hands again in 1932, after Gilbert's death, when it was bought by Councillor James F. Donald. The new owner refurbished the venue and introduced new features such as a revolving stage and a cinema projector.
In 1975, Aberdeen City council bought the venue, then allocated £3.5 million to give it a new life. After being closed for 23 months, His Majesty's Theatre was reopened on the 17th of September 1982 by Prince Charles.
In 2004, the theatre was once again closed for refurbishment. It reopened in 2005, renovated and modernised with a new green room, a coffee shop and re-upholstered seating. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3397 A photograph of the Union Street entrance to the ABC Cinema in around 1963. The canopy above the entrance advertises It Happened at the World's Fair with Elvis Presley and Joan O'Brien. This was an MGM film and the ABC had first rights to films from this company, a big draw for the public.
Prior to ABC's arrival in Aberdeen in 1954, MGM films were previously first shown in Aberdeen Picture Palace's Capitol on Union Street.
This cinema on Shiprow and Union Street had been known as the Regal since opening in 1954. In March 1962 ABC rationalised the names of its cinemas and this venue, along with many Regals around the UK, became known simply as the ABC. An earlier Regal vertical sign was replaced by the new one we can see in this photograph.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: Electric / Capitol
3401 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Capitol cinema at 431 Union Street in February 1980. At this time the Capitol was in more regular use as a concert venue than as a cinema. This image shows large numbers of people queuing to get tickets for a performance by the band Genesis.
The Capitol was built as a cinema back in 1933. A few days before its opening, it was advertised in local papers as "Aberdeen's wonder cinema". Opened to large crowds on Saturday 4th February 1933, the Capitol was then the largest venue of its kind in the north of Scotland and had a stage that could be adapted for both film and variety entertainment.
The Capitol was built by Aberdeen Picture Palaces Ltd. on the site of an earlier upmarket cinema called the Electric Theatre that dated from 1910. When the Capitol opened, it was regarded as the most up-to-date theatre in the country due to its complex lightning system, organ music and other modern features, some of them being introduced for the first time in Scotland.
The venue could accommodate more than 2,000 people. The building's plans were prepared by Aberdeen architects Alexander Marshall MacKenzie and Clement George. Local newspapers stressed the local ownership of the cinema and the local craftsmanship that went into its construction.
Aberdeen City Libraries hold a souvenir brochure of the cinema's opening. One interesting feature of the brochure is the inclusion of specially created adverts for all the companies involved in the construction and furnishing of the new cinema. Some of the adverts provide rich information on the history of the companies and give an insight into how the companies saw themselves. The brochure details the companies behind every aspect of the buildings from the cinema seating and terrazzo work to the innovative lighting.
On the opening day, Mrs A. D. Hay, wife of the chairman of the Aberdeen Picture Palaces, unlocked the main entrance door with a gold key. This key is still held by the Hay family today. The cinema's first, busy evening featured a variety of entertainment. In addition to the showing of films, there was a ballet performance by the Henrietta Fuller Dancers and Mr Edward O' Henry played the theatre's new top of the line Compton organ.
During the opening ceremony, Bert Gates, another director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, said: "It was a long lane that had no turning. They had built the Capitol not for to-day, but for the generations of Aberdeen people to come. The company had dedicated the Capitol to the people of Aberdeen, their children, and their children's children in the hope that in generations to come they might appreciate what had been given them."
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Electric / Capitol
3402 A photograph showing the Capitol façade in January 2021.
By the 1960s and 70s the Capitol was increasingly being used as a venue for live events. Michael Thomson credits its survival over the Majestic, closed down in September 1973, as due to the Capitol's superior stage facilities. The Donald family, the venue owners, had the stage enlarged in 1975.
Appearances by popular groups like the Bay City Rollers in 1974 suggested the future for the venue at the time. The Capitol also saw performances by the Rolling Stones, Roy Orbison, Queen, Boyzone and Chuck Berry among many others. The Capitol ceased showing films in 1995.
The Capitol contained a restaurant, and subsequently bar, in the cinema's former café area around this period. 1993 saw the opening of the Art Deco and cinema themed bar Oscars in this space.
The Capitol functioned as a wonderful venue giving North-East audiences the chance to see top performers for many years. It became increasingly uneconomic to run and the curtain finally came down on the venue on Monday 15th December 1997.
The building was later converted into a nightclub and restaurant called Jumping Jaks and the Chicago Rock Café that opened in around 2003. These closed down in 2008 and the Capitol laid empty for some time.
In 2013 Knight Property Group began plans to redevelop the site as a modern office complex. The £30m project retained and restored the cinema's original façade and employed an Art Deco style in its foyer entrance to reference the history of the building. The venue's auditorium that had been much altered and had fallen into disrepair was demolished. The launch of the new office complex was held on 10th June 2016. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picture House / Gaumont
3403 The Picture House was opened on 14th December 1914 with an inauguration ceremony chaired by Lord Provost James Taggart. It was built at 181 Union Street by the rapidly expanding English firm, Associated Provincial Picture Houses. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) explains that construction of the cinema was delayed due to the war.
As seen here in 1937, the cinema's entrance was dominated by two squat white marble finish pillars topped by bronze capitals. The atmosphere inside was said to be cosy and luxurious. After conversion, the pre-existing building on Union Street contained the cinema's large foyer and within this was retained a large, original fireplace to warm visitors.
The 900-seater auditorium stood side-on between Union Street and Windmill Brae. With a budget of £12,000, the Picture House was designed by English architects Robert Atkinson and George Alexander. Thomson explains that the architects were inspired along Classical theatre lines and the building featured dark wood walls hung with French tapestries. A large tea-room, called the Tapestry Room, took up the first floor of the Union Street building. Above that, on the top floor, was the manager's office.
Thomson suggests that an early strength of the Picture House was its highly competent orchestra, originally led by pianist W. G. Ross. These were pre-radio days, with recording still in its infancy, so the orchestral playing would have been a significant attraction.
The profits from the Picture House's first screening back in December 1914 were distributed to Aberdeen charities. The first talking picture to be shown at the cinema was The Singing Fool in 1929. The Picture House was an upscale operation and one of the key early venues for cinema exhibition in Aberdeen.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: Picture House / Gaumont
3404 Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson explains that by 1950 the Picture House was owned by the Rank Organisation. The British entertainment conglomerate had acquired various cinema exhibition companies: British-Gaumont, Odeon, and the Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (successor company to Associated Provincial Picture Houses). As part of business rationalisation, on 22nd March 1950 the Picture House was rebranded as The Gaumont.
Thomson's Silver Screen indicates that the Gaumont's vertical neon sign dates from the time of the rebranding. In 1956 the design of the cinema was further updated. This saw the introduction of the illuminated canopy and use of the beech design shown here in the redeveloped interior and exterior, replacing the pillars of the Picture House era. A new marble backed fireplace replaced the old one that had been a well-known feature of the cinema since its opening in 1914. The projection equipment and seating were also modernised. This night-time image from the Aberdeen Journals Archive accompanied an article about the Gaumont's new look in the Evening Express of 19th April 1956.
The image shows promotion for a number of films on the cinema's updated exterior: The Rose Tattoo with Burt Lancaster and Anna Magnani, Flight from Vienna and Aberdeen Photographic Service's presentation of A Photographic Review of the Royal Tour of Nigeria.
The manager at the time of the Gaumont's redesign was Mr. R. E. Miller. He had managed the cinema since January 1948. In early 1951 Miller converted the upstairs restaurant area, which had laid empty since 1928, into a gallery space. Known as the Gaumont Gallery, it was ideal for photographic exhibitions and was in frequent use well into the 1960s.
Thomson states that during this period Mary Garden, the retired opera singer who returned to Aberdeen in 1939, was something of a regular at the Gaumont. This well-known and much-loved figure would be escorted to her seat by the cinema's commissionaire George Repper, who was also a popular and familiar figure. Repper worked at the Gaumont from 1940 to 1964 and his job was to shepherd queues, attend to patrons and ensure all progressed smoothly.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: West End / Playhouse
3415 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Playhouse at 475 Union Street in January 1959. The venue originally opened on 12th November 1915 as a cinema called the West End. This was the first venture into full-time picture-hall proprietorship by James F. Donald, a key figure in the history of independent cinema exhibition in Aberdeen.
Donald was born in Newhills and came to Aberdeen for an apprenticeship with a coachbuilding firm. He had a varied career before coming to prominence as a highly successful dancing teacher. He was the leader of the Gondolier School of Dancing and Deportment.
He moved into the cinema business after acquiring the necessary projecting equipment and occupying a former billiard hall above the Aberdeen Dairy at 475 Union Street. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) describes the cinema as a "strictly utilitarian affair", but a successful one at that. It was only heated by stoves, and coupled with being above a diary, it became known as "The Tuppenny Freezer".
Donald's lease on the cinema expired in September 1920 and he was immediately followed as proprietor by Bert Gate's Aberdeen Picture Palaces. It was a time of expansion for the incoming company. They had recently purchased The Picturedrome on Skene Terrace and shortly looked to transform the West End. The latter closed on 2nd April and reopened on 14th September 1921 as the 1,000-seater Picture Playhouse.
The opening ceremony was attended by Gates, the cinema's architects George Sutherland and Clement George, and various local VIPs. The opening films were A Yankee in the Court of King Arthur, a comedy called Jerry on the Spot, Pathé news, and another short. Thomson states that Aberdeen Picture Palaces were "now the proud possessor of a large, well-situated 'flagship' house, and Union Street now sported a fine up-to-date cinema."
The design of the Playhouse was "classical" and up-market, in accordance with its prominent west-end location. As seen here, the Union Street entrance was surrounded by white Sicilian marble facings on a black marble base. The paybox was oval in shape with one end in the vestibule and the other in the front foyer.
The main foyer was through the Union Street part of the building and up a 12-feet wide carpeted, marble stairway. This way was a tea room called the Ingleneuk, the manager's office, and the ornately decorated auditorium. The plush new cinema represented competition for the nearby Picture House.
Bert Gates, the manager of the Playhouse, was somewhat sceptical of the talkies but fully embraced the new development in February 1930 with the installation of a full Western Electric sound system.
The opening of Aberdeen Picture Palace's Capitol down the road in 1933 saw a reduction in ticket prices at the Playhouse. The two partner cinemas were advertised at the time as "Aberdeen's Premier Pair".
On 23 May 1941 it was announced that James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. had bought a controlling interest in Aberdeen Picture Palaces. This meant that the Playhouse, along with the other APP venues, were now in the Donald circuit of cinemas.
This photograph dates from 1959 shortly before the cinema was relaunched as the Playhouse Continental, showing popular, often more risqué, films from Europe. This only lasted for a couple of years and the cinema reverted to being the Playhouse in 1961. This photograph shows the cinema advertising The Wind Cannot Read with Dirk Bogarde and All for Mary.
By 1973 the profitability of the Playhouse was eroded by spiralling costs. The owners of the building, builders James Scott & Son, had moved premises and were looking to dispose of the Union Street property. The cinema's lease was terminated at the end of 1973 and the cinema closed on 9th May 1974. Ownership of the block passed to Devanha Properties Ltd. and after lying empty for a few months the Playhouse was demolished to make way for a new block of shops and offices.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon
3417 The Regent was opened as the second, companion cinema of Jack Poole, after his transformation of the Palace on Bridge Place that had opened in 1931. The Justice Mills location was selected and the cinema was constructed on the eastern end of the historic Upper Mill. A cinema was able to utilise the sloping nature of the site in the way few other projects could.
Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) states that work progressed on the new cinema at an excellent rate with virtually all material and labour coming from local sources. The sparkling Rubislaw granite frontage was the work of masons Edgar Gauld of Gilcomston Terrace. Wood for the joinery work came from Sweden and Finland.
The Regent was Aberdeen's first all-new cinema since the Torry Picture House a decade before. It was also the first cinema designed by Thomas Scott Sutherland, who had previously been a designer of, and dealer in, houses, notably the granite bungalows of the Broomhill estate.
The impressive new cinema opened on Saturday 27th February 1932, to an audience mostly of guests, with the main feature being a melodrama called Over the Hill. Reporting on the opening, the Evening Express wrote the following:
"Even though Aberdeen has many magnificent edifices, there is nothing quite so distinctive as the modern design of the front of the new Regent. Fine use has been made of straight lines and curves placed in sharp contrast, and the face that looks through the entrance to Justice Mill Lane on Holburn Street has an imposing dignity about it and yet an elusive gaiety in its composition. It is built of grey granite decorated with bands of red terracotta, and a polished black granite base."
The frontage was floodlit by night and outlined by Aberdeen's neon display. Above the gantry was the large, neon "Regent" sign which made the cinema a beacon at night. The Regent and the Palace were then advertised as "Aberdeen's Super Two".
The Regent's manager John K. Stafford Poole, son of Jack Poole, was aged only 21 when the Regent opened and his innovative promotion and displays became a signature of the cinema. The younger Poole regularly invited the Gordon Highlanders to screenings and in return they would afterwards march, pipes a-skirl, through the cinema and along Union Street back to their barracks.
The Regent proved hugely popular and was soon out-performing the Palace. The success of Poole's Regent prompted Aberdeen Picture Palaces to undertake the creation of their own super-cinema, the Capitol, which would open in 1933. The same year also saw the release of King Kong and the publicity stunt of a human dressed as an ape rampaging on the frontage of the Regent.
On 16th July 1936 it was announced that another southern company called County Cinemas had acquired all the Poole picture houses, those in Devonport, Derby and Plymouth, as well as the Palace and Regent in Aberdeen. In 1939 County Cinemas merged with the larger Odeon chain. In July 1940 the "Regent" sign came down to be replaced with one that read "Odeon". As part of this powerful national circuit, the cinema could rival any in Aberdeen for showing major features.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson] Aberdeen Cinemas: Astoria
3430 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Astoria in around 1943. This super-cinema in Kittybrewster was opened in 1934 and was located at the end of Powis Terrace, at the start of Clifton Road and at its junction with Great Northern Road. This photograph looks towards Clifton Road from this location.
The film being shown at the time is Air Force with John Garfield. The premises of Birrell, confectioners, and George A. Davidson, provision merchant, can also be seen in the image.
Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) tells the story of the cinema. The Astoria was primarily the brainchild of Bert Darley who had quit Poole's, proprietors of the Palace and Regent, and started up a new company called the Aberdeen Astoria Cinema Ltd. with various local businessmen and financial backers.
The giant cinema, designed by Thomas Scott Sutherland, was intended to serve the growing population of Kittybrewster, Powis, Woodside and Hilton. Construction on the £45,000 building proceeded quickly and it was opened on 8th December 1934 with screenings of a film called I Give My Love.
Thomson states that the Astoria's emphasis was on "spaciousness, relying upon simplicity of form to create a pleasing impression of clean-lined functionality." The space of the site allowed Scott Sutherland to enlarge on ideas first used at the Regent. The concept was again a tall central section, incorporating three main windows, with smaller side portions on either side.
The Astoria, along with the Capitol, was one of only two Aberdeen cinemas with a theatre organ. Both were equipped with top-of-the-line Compton organs at the time of their opening.
In March 1936 James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. acquired a controlling share interest in the Aberdeen Astoria Cinema company. Richard Donald replaced Bert Darley as the manager at the Kittybrewster venue.
The programmes of the Astoria and the Kingsway on King Street were regularly linked, both being Donald cinemas. In the 1950s they showed Cinemascope films such as King of the Khyber Rifles and Beneath the Ten Mile Reef.
The cinema's last film was The Moving Target, with Paul Newman and Lauren Becall, shown on 13th August 1966. On the 29th of that month the venue reopened as a bingo hall. This was at the height of the game's popularity, however not even it could save the Astoria. At the end of the year the Donalds the site for redevelopment as a shopping complex. Demolition on the cinema was begun in April 1967.
Michael Thomson explains that all removable fittings and materials were salvaged. Additionally, the Compton organ was transferred to the school hall of Powis Academy. It served the school well for many years before unfortunately being destroyed in a fire during the night of 20th November 1982.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. His Majesty's Theatre: Auditorium c.1933
3441 Note the addition of the cinema projection booth at the back of the Upper Circle. The theatre at this period was redesigned to enable use as a cinema. [Image from the Aberdeen Performing Arts Archive.] Treasure 17: A souvenir of Aberdeens Cinema
188 This excellent brochure was a souvenir from the opening of the Capitol cinema on Union Street. It was opened on Saturday 4th of February 1933. Despite inclement weather a large crowd gathered for the launch of perhaps the grandest cinema in the history of the city. The ambition of the new establishment is reflected in the design and extent of this brochure.
The Press and Journal reports: "The Capitol was opened to the public in the early evening, and for over two hours before the opening there was a queue in Union Street, while in the heavy rain in the evening hundreds of people were content to wait in the street queues."
The newspaper article stresses the local ownership of the cinema and the local craftsmanship that went into its construction. The Capitol was the undertaking of Aberdeen Picture Palaces Ltd., and was designed by A. G. R. Mackenzie and George Clement.
In the introduction to the souvenir brochure the chairman of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, A. D. Hay, writes "Here then stands the 'Capitol,' a proud, vital and stately landmark in the World of Entertainment. The 'Capitol' was built for you, it is your Theatre, an Aberdeen enterprise incorporating every known value of comfort, and every modern device for the presentation of 'Super Entertainment,' in the interests of Aberdeen patrons whom we feel confident will ever remain, loyal patrons of the 'Capitol.'
The cinema was official declared open by Baillie Watt and he echoed the above sentiments, stating that the Capitol was "the last word in the cinema world, and reflected greatest credit on all concerned in its design and construction."
One interesting feature of the brochure is the inclusion of specially created adverts for all the companies involved in the construction and furnishing of the new cinema. Some of these adverts, such as that for S. B. Russell, bricklayer and contractor on Affleck Street, provide rich information on the history of the companies and give an insight into how the companies saw themselves. The brochure details the companies behind every aspect of the buildings from the cinema seating and terrazzo work to the innovative lighting.
"With a gold key, presented by Mr G. A. Wilson, advocate, one of the directors of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, Ltd., the proprietors of the new cinema, Mrs A. D. Hay, wife of Mr A. D. Hay, chairman of the directors, unlocked the main entrance door, and the Capitol, an Aberdeen-owned and Aberdeen-built hall of entertainment, was opened to the people of Aberdeen and the North of Scotland."
The opening day of the new cinema featured a varied evening of entertainment. The Press and Journal states "All the magnificent possibilities of the new theatre were embraced by the items of the opening programme. There was ballet, cinema and organ playing, each of notable worth." The ballet performance by the Henrietta Fuller Dancers was particularly praised. Mr Edward O' Henry played the theatre's new top of the line Compton organ.
At the opening ceremony, B. H. Gates, a director of Aberdeen Picture Palaces, said: "It was a long lane that had no turning. They had built the Capitol not for to-day, but for the generations of Aberdeen people to come. The company had dedicated the Capitol to the people of Aberdeen, their children, and their children's children in the hope that in generations to come they might appreciate what had been given them." |