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The Conacher Theatre Organ  of the Odeon Theatre Blackpool was originally installed in the Ritz Cinema Southend in 1934.  The Ritz Cinema was part of the County Cinemas Circuit, which in 1933 consisted of thirty cinemas, but was eventually taken over by the Odeon Theatre Circuit in 1937.

Left & Top Right: The Odeon Theatre Blackpool; Bottom Right: The Ritz Cinema Southend

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DETOUR – A VISIT TO SOUTHEND

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I used to love going to Southend-on-Sea as a child.  Southend was very popular at the time of my childhood and many Factory Owners took their workers here for the annual Day-Out, known as a Beano in those days.   Southend was an ideal choice for such events, as it was close to London and offered lots of entertainment that appealed to the visitors.  The Owners often hired a Char-a-banc, which is what we inhabitants of the East End of London still called Motor Coaches, and would buy a number of crates of Brown Ale to be consume en route to the destination.

A Beano generally meant a great deal of pub-crawling, where most of the men ended up drunk and followed by a number of bouts of vomiting, while the women wandered the Promenade, or Front, as it was called, linked arm-in-arm and singing popular songs-of-the-day while wearing supposedly funny hats made of paper with comments such as, Kiss Me Quick, on the brims written in glitter.  Everyone seemingly had a great time and many a romantic liaison was said to have began during such trips.

Cockney Beanos
These photographs are reproduced from www.spitalfieldslife.com

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We went to Southend by a variety of transport modes including coach, train and bus.  I liked the train and bus, but was always ill with Travel Sickness when I traveled by coach.

We often took Grey-Green Coaches and I was usually ill mostly on the return journey

The bus was also interesting, as we took the London Transport Underground to Hornchurch and then took the bus.  I was very interested in London Transport Buses at this time and was delighted to find that the vehicle on the route to Southend was an RLH-type, which was a small series of buses used on routes with low bridges.  The bus we took was in red livery, but many were produced in green, which I found elegant and preferred.

RLHs had an upstairs gangway which dipped down into the lower deck 
Reproduced from Ian’s Bus Stop

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We also took the train from Liverpool Street Station, which was an electrified line to Southend Victoria Station (Great Eastern Main &, Shenfield-Southend Lines), but I much preferred the route from Fenchurch Street Station to Southend Central (originally The London, Tilbury & Southend Railway), which went through the East End.  I also preferred this route since the train was pulled by a steam train.

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The Kursaal Amusement Park as I remember it
This photograph was reproduced  from George Plunkett’s Photographs

The Kursaal Amusement Park Today
This photograph appears with permission of Mr. Paul Bland

I always enjoyed a Day Out at Southend.  We would spend time at the Kursaal Amusement Park, where I enjoyed some of the rides including a small railway, which I enjoyed the most!  The Park had, to me, a huge and deep Scenic Railway, which my parents said that I was too young to ride it.

Entrance to The Harton Scenic Railway (1910-1973)

I also wanted to go and see the motorcyclists ride The Wall of Death, but again, I was not allowed.

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We also took the long green train used by the Railway, which ran 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from the entrance to the Pier Head of the World’s Longest Pier (1.35 miles; 2.16 km) , where we played the Penny-Slot-Machines.

The Southend Pier Train, as I remember it, in green and cream livery introduced in 1949

The Pier in 1933 

Penny Slot Machines
This photograph is reproduced from the Merrivale Model Village Penny Arcade

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In the late afternoon, we would always go to Westcliff-on-Sea, which was a much more classy part of Southend , and sit and enjoy looking at the sea.  I would go into the sea here and later tried hard to make a sandcastle, which my father always seemed to take over!

Westcliff-on-Sea Promenade c 1900
My mother loved to sit here and would do so for hours when given the chance

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Occasionally we would stay the night in Southend and when we did we often went to the cinema in the early evenings.  I remember well the Ritz Cinema with the gardens in front of it and proximity to the seafront.  I liked its design, the sweep around the corner, and I recall seeing Walt Disney’s Peter Pan there.  I didn’t have the heart to tell my parents that I had already seen the film, as I could see that they were eager to see it.  Actually, I enjoyed it again, I have to admit.

The Ritz Cinema Southend reproduced from Cinema Treasures & Posters of the Film

Click here to see the You Can Fly segment from Walt Disney’s Peter Pan

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What allows me to recall the Ritz Cinema Southend with both affection and clarity was the audience with whom we shared the seance for the Second Feature.  Unfortunately, its name escapes me, but I do recall that it was a short Walt Disney Animated Feature.  We came into the cinema at the start of this feature while most of the audience had entered earlier and had already seen the main film.  The audience consisted of a huge number of Teddy Boys who were in roarous mood and yelled and shouted at the characters when they appeared on the screen.  The Youths around us, although loud, were actually polite, as I remember that when one of the group accidentally kicked my mother’s seat, the whole group immediately apologised for annoying her.  I remember the gang well, as the comments they shouted were actually apt and very funny.  My mother smiled too, but my father, as usual, was totally lost in the plot and did not seem to notice the merriment around us.

Unfortunately, I do not recall the Theatre Organ being played!

CSPJ