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Shiprow
693 This view from about 1890, shows one of Aberdeen's historic streets - the Shiprow.
For centuries this was the main street leading from the harbour into the centre of Aberdeen at the Castlegate, until the building of Marischal and Market Street.
At the left is William Arthur's City Bar. This block was demolished around 1900, and most of the other buildings in the photo were also removed in the 1920's as the area had became very rundown.
Further demolition of the area at the left hand side took place in the 1960s to make way for a multi-storey carpark and supermarket.
The buildings on the right hand side were replaced by the Regal/ABC Cinema which was demolished for further redevelopment in 1999.
The only building which remains would have been just round the corner. It is known as Provost Ross' House and now houses Aberdeen Maritime Museum.
It appears that granite cobbles are being laid down in the photograph. Shiprow
1276 Shiprow, looking North to Provost Ross' House, one of only two surviving ancient lodgings in the city. Originally built in 1593, the arcade is early 18th century. Acquired by Aberdeen City Council in the 1950s from ABC Cinemas, by whom it was to have been made into staff accommodation for their adjacent Regal, a plan halted by the outbreak of war in 1939. Now incorporated into Aberdeen Maritime Museum. Abbey Place
1815 This 1900 image shows a rundown block of flats known as Abbey Place, situated on the Shiprow just up and east from the building known today as the Maritime Museum and next door, to the west, of Provost Ross's House.
The name is a bit of a mystery since there is no evidence that there ever was an abbey on the site. In the 13th century there was a chapel on St Katherine's Hill behind this area, but it is not thought that there is a connection.
Abbey Place was strictly speaking the name of the court that was to the rear of Provost Ross's House and was accessible through the pend visible on the right of this image.
The court was demolished in the late 1930's to make way for a cinema. However, because of delays caused by the Second World War, the Regal, later the ABC Cinema, was not opened until 1954. It was subsequently demolished in 1999 for further redevelopment.
The tenement in this image was refurbished and still stands between the Maritime Museum and Provost Ross's House.
Thanks to correspondent Ed Fowler for additional information on this image. ABC Cinema
2817 The shiprow entrance to the ABC Cinema. It is advertising showings of It Happened at the World's Fair, The Scarlet Blade and The Son of Captain Blood. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3396 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Shiprow entrance to the Regal cinema in February 1961. The cinema is advertising showings of Saturday Night, Sunday Morning with Albert Finney, Linda with Carol White and Alan Rothwell, and Pathé News.
The Regal was opened on Monday 26th June 1954 by Associated British Cinema (ABC). The opening of this substantial cinema was the conclusion of a long and much delayed enterprise.
This Shiprow site was previously the location of Aberdeen's first permanent cinema, Dove Paterson's Gaiety. It had later become the Palladium and had laid shuttered for close to seven years when the owner put the site up for sale in early 1937.
Bert Gates of Aberdeen Picture Palaces (APP) put in an offer and made plans to build a very large cinema at the location. Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) suggests that had this plan gone ahead it would have made the local company a force with which to be reckoned.
Gate's plans were thwarted however when another offer for the property from ABC (Cinemas) was accepted. ABC were a major cinema operator throughout the UK, at the time second only to the Rank Organisation, which owned the Odeon and Gaumont chains. ABC's arrival in Aberdeen would offer stiff competition to local companies such as APP. Both in terms of having the best venues and having the best films to show in them.
ABC's arrival in Aberdeen did not go smoothly, however. It was not until 1939 that the cinema's plans received official approval. War was declared not long after construction had begun and in 1941 the project was stopped by government restrictions that halted the construction of non-essential buildings where roofing had not already been started. Only the outer shell had been built at Shiprow and the building would subsequently lie incomplete for over a decade.
After much campaigning, including by local MP Hector Hughes, the government finally gave its consent and on 28th October 1953 ABC announced that work on the Regal would recommence. The plans for the cinema were modernised and construction was quickly finished.
The completed Regal was an impressive, modern cinema with a seating capacity of 1,914. Its inaugural film was The Knights of the Round Table and the opening gala was attended by stars Richard Todd and Anne Crawford.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. 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: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3399 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of two baby elephants, from the Robert Brothers Circus, attending a matinee screening of The Tales of Beatrix Potter at the ABC Cinema in Union Street on Wednesday 28th July 1971. This was a promotional stunt for the cinema and circus that was performing at the Queen's Links from 26th July to 7th August.
The two elephants were called Maureen and Catzeila and were accompanied by staff from the circus. The Tales of Beatrix Potter was a ballet film directed by Reginald Mills based on the children's stories of English author and illustrator Beatrix Potter. The elephants sat in the front row for the screening of the film.
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regal / ABC / Cannon
3400 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the interior of the ABC Cinema on Shiprow and Union Street in 1976. This was shortly after the "tripling" of the cinema which was completed on 8th July 1974. This was the process of dividing the cinema's original, single large auditorium into three distinct screening rooms. This allowed cinemas to show a greater variety of films and to cater to smaller audience numbers. The Odeon on Justice Mill Lane had been the first cinema in Aberdeen to be tripled, reopening as such on 8th April 1974.
This photograph shows ABC 1, the largest screen, that sat 566 people. Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) explains that the largest screen (cinema one) would mainly show first runs. The smaller screens (cinemas two and three) would be used for less commercial attractions or the retention of popular features already shown in the main screen. This is the format of cinema exhibition that is most common today but marked a significant change from the tradition of single large auditoriums.
The tripling of major circuit cinemas like the ABC and Odeon had a knock-on effect on the viability of cinemas such as The Cosmo on Diamond Street. These smaller cinemas had previously been a home for the less commercial features that the larger venues were now taking on.
In 1986 the ABC Cinemas chain became part of the American-based Cannon company, which already had extensive cinema interests in the UK. The vertical ABC sign above the Union Street entrance gave way to the Cannon logo in June 1987.
Some highlights of the cinema's time as the Cannon included hugely popular runs of E.T., the Tim Burton Batman, and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves. The cinema's name reverted to the ABC for a period before closing for the final time in early 1998.
Aberdeen and cinema-going was shortly to experience a period of expansion. In August 1999 Aberdeen company Craiglair Properties got the go-ahead to demolish the abandoned ABC and build a new seven screen cinema on the site. The cinema was called The Lighthouse and opened in April 2001. Since 2004 it has operated as The Vue Aberdeen.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Casino
3410 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the Casino cinema in around 1963.
The Casino cinema was opened on Wales Street on 7th February 1916 by John Peter Kilgour, a dealer in various waste materials. It had close competition with Bert Gate's Star Picture Palace just around the corner on Park Street. Michael Thomson in The Silver Screen in the Silver City describes the Casino as the second of Aberdeen's purpose-built picture halls. It and the "Starrie" served the population of the city's east end for many years.
The Casino was built on the site of Kilgour's factory yards. The architects for the project were George Sutherland and Clement George. The building's "Spanish villa" design is described by Thomson as unique for Aberdeen and highly unusual throughout Scotland. One distinctive feature was the low square tower at the Park Street side of the building that was topped by a red-tiled concave pyramidal roof. Thomson writes that features of the building combined to "bring a welcome splash of colour and gaiety to an otherwise drab corner of the city."
Following the death of John Peter Kilgour in 1920, the running of the Casino and his waste business was taken over by his son, Ormande L. Kilgour.
In the silent era the venue was a stronghold of cine-variety, showing all manner of performances in-between film screenings. In February 1936 the cinema celebrated its 20th birthday and a cake was cut by Kilgour and one the Casino's oldest patrons, a Mrs Stewart.
In November 1939 Bert Gates and Aberdeen Picture Palaces bought a controlling interest share in the Casino. The Beach Boulevard, which opened on 25th May 1959, ran directly outside the cinema and gave the Casino a prominent location. In March of that year the cinema was given a thorough renovation.
Despite its new prominent location and recent renovation, the Casino closed down as a cinema on Saturday 3rd October 1959. A spokesperson for the Donald Cinemas Group stated in the Evening Express at the time that the closure was due to the housing in the area being pulled down and people moving to new estates. Michael Thomson suggests that the proximity of the relatively new first-run Regal in Shiprow might also have drawn away the hoped-for holiday crowds from the Casino.
In 1961 the empty Casino was sold to local bookmakers James Rennie and Arthur Forbes to be used as a bingo hall. This was at the height of bingo's popularity and the Casino proved too small. The bingo operation was moved to the Kingsway Cinema which had showed its final film, Warlord of Crete on 3rd February 1962.
The area around the Casino was earmarked for redevelopment by Aberdeen Town Council. The cinema building was compulsorily purchased and, after spending some time as a store, was demolished at the same time as the Star in 1971. The site is now occupied by a residential development.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Aberdeen Cinemas: Regent / Odeon
3418 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. Aberdeen Cinemas: City
3431 An Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph of the City Cinema on George Street in 1963. The cinema is showing a war film called Battle of the Beach starring Audie Murphy.
The City Cinema at 197-199 George Street was opened by Aberdeen Picture Palaces on 4th November 1935. The building, the main part of which was tucked away behind George Street, was designed by Thomas Scott Sutherland.
Michael Thomson in Silver Screen in the Silver City explains that until after the second world war, the City's stock and trade was showing second-runs and lesser features from the programmes of up-town cinemas. The City was also popular with Aberdeen's crowds of holidaymakers in the 1930s. See Thomson's book for more on the design and history of this cinema.
The final film shown at the City was Sign of the Pagan on 20th July 1963. The venue was then converted at a cost of £300,000 into a two-floor bowling alley. Originally called ABC Bowl (later known as the Aberdeen Bowl, Super Bowl and Mega Bowl), it opened on 1st May 1964 with celebrity guests Oliver Reed, Jess Conrad and Julia Foster.
The bowling alley, and with it what remained of the City cinema, was demolished in 2007 to make way for an apartment block and the Hilton Garden Inn hotel.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. Shiprow
111 Shiprow, looking North to Provost Ross' House, one of only two surviving ancient lodgings in the city. Originally built in 1593, the arcade is early 18th century. Acquired by Aberdeen City Council in the 1950s from ABC Cinemas, by whom it was to have been made into staff accommodation for their adjacent Regal, a plan halted by the outbreak of war in 1939. Now incorporated into Aberdeen Maritime Museum. |