St Julian's Theatre

From Jerripedia
Jump to: navigation, search

St Julian's Theatre stood in St Julian's Avenue, St Peter Port. It became the Gaumont, one of the island's two cinemas, for most of the 20th century, finally closing in 1985.

St Julian's Theatre

It originally opened in 1876 as a live theatre, designed by architect William Robillard. It began screening films around 1913 and was taken over by the British-owned Albany Ward circuit in 1915 and they began cine-variety shows. Taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres, they were taken over by Gaumont British Theatres in 1929.

Gaumont Cinema

The theatre was closed in 1930 for a complete internal reconstruction to the plans of architects William Edward Trent and Ernest Tulley, re-opening on 30 June 1930 as the Gaumont Palace. There were 570 seats in the stalls and 188 seats in the balcony. It was re-named Gaumont in 1937.

During World War II it was the German language cinema, showing feature films in German, as well as German newsreels and propaganda to the troops. Islanders were also permitted but the seating was segregated: islanders on the right hand side of the stalls, German soldiers on the left hand side. Only German troops were pemitted to sit in the Circle. It occasionally showed a small number of English and American films, that had been left behind.

After the end of the war it reopened in October 1945, again operated by Gaumont British Theatres.

Decline

Following the decline of the cinema due to the rise in popularity of home videos during the late 1970s, the Odeon Cinema closed, and Gaumont was split into two smaller cinemas, the circle seating 157, and the stalls seating 391. It closed on 15 March 1980, reopening on 2 June 1980. It continued to struggle, and was finally closed by the Rank Organisation on 5 January 1985.

The building was finally demolished to make way for the offices of Bank of Bermuda.

Personal tools
other Channel Islands
contact and contributions
Donate

Please support Jerripedia with a donation to our hosting costs