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In 1935, the Sidney & Cecil Bernstein together with Theodore Komisarjevsky and the architects William T. Benslyn and James Morrison built a Super Cnema in Manchester.  The site of the new Theatre was that of Sir Oswald Stoll’s Hippodrome, which the Bernsteins had bought and then demolished.

Although the interior resembled the Standard Granadas, it was reputedly decorated in a far more lavish style.  While construction was proceeding, the Bernsteins sold the theatre to Gaumont-British.  

The Gaumont Manchester opened in October 1935, closed in 1974 and was demolished in 1990.

Bottom Right: The Wurlitzer Theatre Organ once installed at the Gaumont Manchester

The Theatre had been equipped with a Wurlitzer Theatre Organ  with 4 Manuals, 14 Ranks and a Grand Piano.  The organ had been designed by Harold Ramsey and opened by Stanley Tudor who was to remain in residence until 1953.

Stanley Tudor

Ms Doreen Chadwick at a Compton Theatre Organ

Click here to hear Ms Chadwick play The Wurlitzer Theatre Organ of the Gaumont Cinema Manchester

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When the cinema closed, the Organ as bought by the Lancastrian Theatre Organ Trust and loaned to Granada Studios Manchester where it was installed in the Baronial Hall in 1988.  When the studios closed, the Organ was placed in storage for seven years.  It was eventually sold to Mr. Paul Kirner who has allowed it to be on long-term loan to Folly Farm in South Wales where it was played for the first time in May 2009.

Click here to hear Paul Kirner play The WurlitzerTheatre Organ of the former Gaumont Manchester

Click here and here to listen Nigel Ogden talk about the cinema and its organ

Click here to see the video, The Last Days of the Theatre

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