Angel comes to rescue (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Angel comes to rescue

3:56pm Thursday 14th August 2008

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Devizes is one of those fortunate small market towns to have held on to its cinema when many others have been converted to carpet warehouses, pubs and solicitors' offices.

The town has a long history of hosting public entertainment and it was in at the beginning of the cinema boom.

According to Devizes Local History Group, the town's first cinema, the New Electric Theatre, was built by local contractors W E Chivers and opened in the Market Place on November 20 1912.

The balcony seated 112 and the main auditorium 300.

Patrons sat in relative comfort, surrounding by Art Nouveau murals of ladies holding lamps aloft, while mirrored walls and tables and chairs adorned the balcony.

It was advertised as being "the place to spend a pleasant evening!"

Because of the highly inflammable nature of film stock in those days, fires in cinemas were not uncommon.

One at the Palace in 1930 did little damage, but on September 28 1932 a more serious fire broke out at 1.40am, causing an estimated £10,000 worth of damage, around £500,000 in today's money.

It reduced the building to a shell, though the frontage remained relatively intact.

It took five fire crews to extinguish the blaze, but Chivers rebuilt the cinema in just 12 weeks.

Until 1939, silent films were shown with a resident pianist providing accompaniment, although occasionally extra sound effects would be produced backstage.

One of the regular pianists, Mrs Gould, later became a cashier and held the post for the rest of her working life at the same cash desk that serves bingo customers now.

The first talkie, Gold Diggers of Broadway, attracted big audiences and cinemas again became popular.

The fact that Devizes was a garrison town and the scarcity of other entertainment during the Second World War made "the pictures" a mecca for both soldiers and civilians.

Live performances were also mounted, including plays by Devizes Amateur Dramatic Society - now the Wharf Theatre Company - and talent shows with local skiffle, jazz and rock'n'roll bands playing live on stage.

By the late 1950s TV was starting to make inroads into cinema's popularity and in 1962 bingo sessions were introduced to supplement the revenue from films.

By 1975 bingo company Zetters had taken over at The Palace, but were persuaded to split the building, leaving the upstairs area as a cinema.

Robins took over in the 1980s but, when they gave up their lease in the 1990s, there was genuine concern that cinema in Devizes would become a thing of the past.

Thankfully, bingo club owner John Angel lived up to his name and continues to operate the cinema, still attracting new releases as well as giving space to Devizes Film Club for more artistic movies.

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