CHAIRMAN OF MOUNT COMMUNITY GROUP, TAKES US ON A TOUR OF THE CINEMA HISTORY OF HUDDERSFIELD
NO cinema operates in Huddersfield town centre today. However, the listed facades of those like The Empire and The Grand recall a time when the townscape was full of picture palaces. These cinemas brought glamour and entertainment to the people of Huddersfield in a new, exciting age of moving images.
Cinemas as we know them did not exist in the late 1890s and early 1900s. To see moving pictures, the wonder of the age, crowds flocked to a strange assortment of venues. Theatres like the Hippodrome and Palace showed films but so did Temperance Halls like the Victoria Temperance Hall on Buxton Road. Many halls later adapted to become permanent cinemas.
Purpose-built cinemas began to appear in Huddersfield and its suburbs from 1910. The Picturedrome, in Buxton Road (Primark site today), opened in 1910. It was the first purpose-built cinema in Huddersfield. The first Charlie Chaplin film to be seen in Huddersfield was shown there in 1914, but Bamforths comedy shorts, about the adventures of Winky, were just as popular.
Businessmen were eager to exploit the new film craze. In 1912, two new cinemas opened. They were The Picture House and The Olympia. In 1915 The Empire opened. Its managing director, Mark Freedman, was a key figure in the Huddersfield cinema world. He was a Jewish tailor and immigrant from Eastern Europe.
Critics said the people of Huddersfield would not accept longer films, but Freedman thought otherwise. He brought The Battle of the Somme and the great silent epic The Birth of a Nation to Huddersfield.
Freedman’s career in early cinema management was extensive. In 1912, he opened The Olympia before going on to manage The Empire. Later, he became managing director of The Princess cinema, and finally The Savoy in Marsh. His rags to riches story came to an end when he died, aged 70, in 1942.
The austerity years of World War I were forgotten as The Grand cinema was built on Manchester Road in 1921, at a cost of £21,000. In 1923, The Princess cinema, on
Northumberland Street, was built at a greater cost of £34,000, as it tried to surpass The Grand. Huddersfield’s public became enthralled with the opening of its new cinemas. Usually its Mayor or Mayoress opened the cinemas. However, film stars provided the glamour. When matinee idol Peggy Hyland opened The Princess cinema with a golden key in 1923, Huddersfield came to a standstill.
The Princess was also rivalled by The Empire in claiming to be the first cinema to show talking films in Huddersfield.
The Princess was the first Huddersfield cinema to convert to sound. Al Jolson’s The Singing Fool was the first full-length talking and singing picture shown in Huddersfield, in May 1929. Controversially, a month before, in April, The Empire synchronised The Jazz Singer film with sound effects on the Majestone sound recorder to give the impression of a talking film.
The 1930s saw the building of two super cinemas, with seating capacities for 2,000 people. The first, The Tudor House Super Cinema, opened in 1930. Over the years it changed its name many times, from The Essoldo to The Classic to The Cannon. When it finally closed, in 1997, it had reverted back to its original name, The Tudor.
The Ritz Cinema was the second super cinema to open in the 1930s. It was built on the site of the Cloth Hall in 1936.
Many people
in Huddersfield opposed its building, including the Mayor. Once built it was praised as the greatest cinema of the North. The staggering cost of £100,000 shocked people. It could hold over 2,000 people (larger even than The Tudor) and had a cafe and dance hall, following the example of The Princess with its ‘cafe dansant.’
Jessie Matthews, Britain’s second most popular film star, was guest of honour at the grand opening. Her film It’s Love Again, with Robert Young, was the main feature. The Billy Cotton Broadcasting Band were among celebrities on stage adding to the entertainment. Nevertheless,