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Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon
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Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon

Historic Photographs
David Oswald
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Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon
Historic Photographs
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Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon
An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph showing the Odeon on Justice Mill Lane in 1973. The cinema is advertising screenings of Ohh... You Are Awful a comedy vehicle for Dick Emery.

Odeon had acquired control of the venue in 1939 when they purchased previous owners County Cinemas. The cinema's name had changed from the Regent to the Odeon in 1940. This photograph shows the cinema shortly before it was "tripled" to become the first multi-screen film centre in the north of Scotland. This was the process of converting a traditional single large auditorium into three screens of varying sizes.

This was the modern method of cinema development that had been introduced throughout Britain by the Rank and ABC-EMI chains. The Rank Organisation had acquired the Odeon company in 1938. The tripling of Aberdeen's Odeon cost £65,000 and was fully completed on 8th April 1974.

The Odeon had a long and successful time as a cinema. The 1960s saw it showing long runs of hit films like Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton and The Sound of Music. The cinema was also known for its Saturday morning children's show known as "The Mickey".

Being part of a nationwide chain, and its central location, enabled the Odeon to survive through the 1970s whereas many of Aberdeen's independent cinemas, unable to adapt, closed down and were either demolished or converted to a different use.

Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) states that the cinema had a close reprieve from Rank Organisation rationalisations in 1981. This enabled the cinema to celebrate its 50th birthday with a special gala evening on 13th March 1982. The film shown was a provincial premiere of On Golden Pond, starring Peter Fonda and Audrey Hepburn. The cinema's original manager, J. K. S. Poole, was a guest of honour.

Two new 215-seater screens were opened at the cinema in March 1991 at a cost of £350,000. Their opening was marked with a screening of Dances With Wolves. There were just two cinemas in Aberdeen at the time, the other being the Cannon at the other end of Union Street.

The Odeon continued up until the modern multiplex era. It finally closed down 13th June 2001. It was subsequently converted into a health centre and is currently occupied by Nuffield Health Centre.

[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]

Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd.
Justice Mill Lane
Cinemas
2. Copyright known - held by third party
Odeon 1973-00-00 (C)AJL
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