Cinema in Kingston 

Great stuff, as a Kingstonian this was real nostalgia for me.

Wonderful! I was born and grew up in Kingston and Surbiton and remember most of these cinemas. My dad was a projectionist at the Tolworth Odeon in the early '50s before he became a projectionist in the dubbing theatre at Shepperton Studios. My first job was in what had been the Empire Theatre when it was a Mac Markets supermarket!

Studio 7 was a little slice of gritty heaven. 1978 -1988

excellent work, the commoner's history preserved for the future.

Wow, I study at kingston college, and just YESTERDAY we got a breif for a project to revitalise the regal theatre, and this just happened to appear in my reccomended. What are the chances, with me not searching this up, and getting a totaly random project breif yesterday, that i would get an hour long documentary given to me exactly on the subject of this film??

wonderful ... clearly made by creatives ... more please!

Excellent

As for pigeons (Nigel at 43:10), I'm pleased report that they never got into the auditorium. If they did it would have been down to FOH to sort it. I can recall them flying in to the 'box' on hot summer nights when the fire escape doors were open. And, YES, they would always go straight for the projection beam. Strange creatures; .. rats with wings!

Wonderful documentary but, I was a projectionist in the U.S. and I worked solo my entire career. And I considered our union (the IATSE) quite strong. Still, what am I missing? THREE projectionists on duty during a showing? What on Earth did 3 people do? I also assume that as normal practice, projectionists didn't strike a carbon-arc with the door of the lamphouse open. Certainly the intense light would have easily spilled into the audience. But back to 3 operators. I assume one to thread (you folks call it "lace") up, one to rewind and maybe the other to re-trim the lamps? If the British projectionists were/are union-represented, then maybe I should chalk it up to a great job by the union in offering employment to as many people as possible? If that's the case, kudos to you. I also thought the large black and white stills that appear at 42:45 and 43:47 were fascinating. I see the "old" Peerless Magnarc carbon-arc lamps appear to have been converted to xenon judging by the blowers attached to the lamphouses and the monster power supplies? In the very early days of xenon, it took a huge amount of voltage to strike the lamps and hence the monster enclosures. I also commend my British counterparts (at least in these images) for the meticulous maintenance of the booth. Hell, they're pristine enough to eat off the floors! Us Americans mostly didn't follow the same standards. That's why you can still find nice things in Britain. Again, a superbly entertaining video!