On the site once occupied by the Olympia Pleasuredrome there now stands what was once one of the biggest and most luxurious cinemas in Sunderland's history, the new cinema in Holmeside called Black's Regal. It was designed by architects Gray and Evans and built by local builders A. J. Rankin at a cost of £100,000. It had the most up to date projection equipment and staff of more than sixty with seating for 2,550 people. Alfred and Edward Black were the managing directors, Roland Jennings M.P. the chairman. The Regal cinema opened on Easter Monday 28th March 1932 and the opening ceremony performed by mayor, Alderman E. H. Brown was seen by a large gathering crowd. The first program featured Laurel and Hardy in One Good Turn, the Paramount News and Fisherman's Paradise an item of interest.
The first film to be shown at the Regal was Out Of The Blue starring Gene Garrard and Jessie Mathews. The organist was Arnold Eagle who became known as 'Eagle of the Regal', it was thought that he designed the Regal's mighty 3 manual, 9 ranks Compton organ. The Regal continued to show extravagant stage shows until around 1945 when wartime Sunday concerts were popular with people of Sunderland. The Black's were taken over by the Rank Organization in 1959 when the Regal became the Odeon, and the seating capacity was cut down by 300. In 1964 the front stalls entrance in Park Lane was closed.
The Odeon closed on 8th February 1975 for conversion to three screens, the last film shown was James Bond The Man With The Golden Gun starring Roger Moore. It was reopened on 9th March 1975 as the Odeon Film Centre with screen one showing The Taking Of Pelham 1.2.3. screen two The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, and screen three The Odessa File.
Ritz ABC Cannon - Holmeside on the site of a former cattle market was built the Ritz cinema owned by Union Cinemas, fitted lavishly with deep pile carpets and chandeliers, the Ritz opened on 1st March 1937 showing Swing Time starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
In October 1942 for the first time in Sunderland, Gone With The Wind was shown and lasted a record breaking six weeks. The early sixties saw a takeover of Union Cinemas by Associated British Cinemas and the Ritz became the ABC with a seating capacity of 15,000.
Another change was seen in 1974 when the ABC was taken over by EMI and it was converted to a two screen cinema and renamed the Cannon, with the seating capacity reduced to 762. Over the next twenty years saw the introduction of no smoking in the cinema and easy access to hired video's, which started showing a marked reduction in cinema audiences. As one of the last surviving cinemas in Sunderland, the late 1990's sadly saw the closure of the Cannon cinema also.
The Odeon On Sunday 28th March 1982 a special 50th anniversary concert was held. Three months later the Odeon showed it's last three films due to the announcement that the Odeon was to become a bingo hall.
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