Wicklow cinemas appear in photographic history

A NEW book contains pictorial records of 139 Irish cinemas, including ones in Greystones, Arklow, Wicklow town and Bray.

‘Irish Cinemas: A History in Photographs’ by Jim Keenan is illustrated with over 200 images and includes an assorted array of buildings, ranging from luxurious urban picture palaces to modest, provincial cinemas.

The Royal (Bray), the Ormonde (Arklow), the Ormonde (Greystones), and the Abbey (Wicklow) are just some of the many old cinemas that feature in the book.

The 675-seat Ormonde Cinema in Greystones opened on May 5, 1947 and closed in 2007. Bozo the Clown (aka Max King) performed at a show there in May 1970. At one point during the show he appeared to somersault off the stage. The feat was greeted with enthusiastic applause from the hundreds of children in the audience. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, the incident was an accident; Bozo landed on his head onto the floor six feet below the stage. Ever the professional, he staggered back onstage and completed his performance. He later had to have seven stitches to his head wound.

Some memorable scenes in the first series of the television sitcom ‘Father Ted’ were shot at the Ormonde. In the third episode Fathers Ted Crilly and Dougall Maguire are shown outside the cinema holding placards protesting against the showing of the controversial film The Passion of Saint Tibulus, while Father Jack Hackett was inside enjoying the show.

In the mid-1930s, James J. Kavanagh and his brother purchased the site of the old Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Arklow with the intention of building a cinema and dance hall on it. The local parish priest objected to the development because of its proximity to the Catholic church, which stood directly opposite the site. Despite his objections, construction went ahead and the 600-seat Ormonde Cinema opened around 1938. It closed in the early 1980s, but in 1988 the Ward Anderson group reopened it as a two-screen cinema. It closed in 2003.

The 144-page, large-format hardback book is on sale now at bookshops nationwide, price €25.