Pictures of the Forum Cinema

Forum Cinema

The Forum Cinema was located in St Helier, and was the largest cinema to operate in the Channel Islands. It opened on 25 March 1935 and was independently operated.

It had a 38-foot wide proscenium, a stage 31 feet deep, upon which occasional stage shows were held, and there were six dressing rooms. The cinema was equipped with a Compton 3Manual/8Rank theatre organ with a Patent Solo Cello unit and an illuminated console, which was opened by Edward O'Henry. The cinema also boasted a cafe/restaurant.

The Forum was taken over by the Rank Organisation in the 1970s and they closed it on 17 January 1981. It was demolished and offices were built on the site.

Opening

The queue for tickets

This article was first published in March 2025 on the Bailiwick Express website

The ticket office of a new “super-cinema” in Jersey had to be temporarily closed after islanders in a queue outside the building could not contain their excitement three days ahead of the opening night. Booking was suspended at The Forum, which opened in St Helier 90 years ago this month, when the queue descended into chaos and the police had to be called to restore calm.

It followed months of excitement building up to the opening of the movie theatre in Grenville Street on Monday, 25 March 1935. The Evening Post dubbed it a “super-cinema” and reported that it “had been the almost sole topic of conversation in the local entertainment world for many months”.

The building of the cinema began on 27 June 1934, the same day that contracts with the builders were passed. It was designed by W F Hedges and built by Thomas and Edge, of London and Woolwich. Building work was completed on 10 March 1935. The cinema could seat 1,500 people, with 500 in the balcony and 1,000 in the auditorium.

Newspaper preview

The impressive auditorium

The Evening Post was given a preview of the cinema and the reporter wrote: “There can be no doubt that the Forum is one of the finest theatres in the kingdom in design, decorations and comfort, and Jersey may well be proud of this latest addition to her amenities.”

Frequent updates had been published in the newspaper leading up to the opening, including the arrival of new furniture and the new Compton organ to accompany the entertainment. On 13 March 1935 it was announced that Edward O’Henry was to be the organist at the cinema. It was reported that he would take charge of the musical programmes at The Forum and his baggage included 8,000 pieces of music, weighing two tons.

O’Henry had become known nationwide after regularly featuring on BBC programmes playing at the cinema at Madame Tussaud’s and later at the Paramount Theatre in Newcastle. He also made gramophone records for the HMV Broadcast and Panachord companies. He was an Associate of the Royal College of Music and had been playing theatre organs since the end of the First World War.

On 19 March, an advert appeared in the Evening Post entitled “Girls Wanted”. Smart and good workers were invited to apply to be usherettes and waitresses at the new cinema.

The public were keen to attend the opening night and this led to the chaos in the ticket booking queue a few days later. It was reported that the queue of people waiting to buy tickets began to form outside the cinema at 9.15am on 22 March. The doors were due to open at 10am. When the doors had still not opened by almost 11am, people started pushing forward.

When a side door opened, those at the head of the queue were pushed aside and lost all chance of booking seats. Such was the rush on the cinema, booking had to be suspended and customers had to wait until a policeman had arrived to restore calm. The manager of the cinema, E H Greaves, apologised for the incident.

Opening night

The opening night of the cinema went much more smoothly. Special guests included the Lieut-Governor, Major-General Martelli, and his wife, who was due to perform the opening ceremony. They arrived at 8.30pm together with the Government Secretary, Lieut-Colonel Hulton, and Mrs Hulton. As they entered, organist O’Henry played the National Anthem.

Chairman of the board of directors Mr L J Sparke Davies made a brief introductory speech, acknowledging a number of people in the audience who had helped in the construction of the cinema.

Mrs Martelli then came forward and said: “I am sure you will all join with me in congratulating those responsible for the construction of The Forum. I have great pleasure in declaring this theatre open.”

She was presented with a basket of flowers by Bunny Le Marchand before joining the rest of the crowd to sit down and enjoy the entertainment.

The programme started with a Pathé Gazette newsreel showing the historic trip to Germany of Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon to meet Hitler. It was boasted that the reel was being shown concurrently with London cinemas, thanks to help from Jersey Airways; cinemagoers were getting news that was more up-to-date than ever before.

At the close of the newsreel, O’Henry’s organ rose from the orchestra well and he played a medley of tunes, including Beautiful Jersey, accompanied by vocal solo parts that were perfectly synchronised via a sound film.

Film criticised

The star picture was Abdul the Damned, a story about the rising of the Young Turk party and the deposing of the sultan, Abdul Ahmed, in 1908. This received a mixed reaction and the Evening Post reported that it was “long drawn out” and that “it seems a pity that some more popular form of picture could not have been obtained for the opening week”.

The night was a great success and the newspaper reported: “The function must be written down as the most brilliant send-off any local place of entertainment has ever had: in fact, it was as if one were attending a London “premiere”.

“It was difficult to realise this was actually taking place in Jersey and, what is more, on a site which only a few months ago was occupied by houses and gardens.”

The Forum became a fixture in Jersey’s entertainment world for the next 46 years, hosting movies and variety performances alike.

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  The last night in 1981
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  Edward O'Henry
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  The clock
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  Stanley Sackett at the organ on the night the cinema closed
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  Construction starts
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  The auditorium before it was divided into separate screening rooms
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  The imposing frontage
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  A projector is loaded
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  The bar
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  The entrance hall
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  An early drawing of the cinema
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  Edward O'Henry at the organ
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  A booking plan
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  Stanley Sackett at the organ
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  Harold Fielding presented many shows at the cinema
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  George Brasford, pantomime dame
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  The organ
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  Demolition under way at the Forum
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  The Forum during the German Occupation
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  The Forum
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  An advertisement for the Forum
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  The Forum
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  The Forum
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  The Forum in 1935 photographed by Albert Smith
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  The foyer of the Forum Cinema shortly before it closed
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  A concert at the Forum during the Occupation
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  Edward O'Henry on the Forum's Compton organ
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  Demolition
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  The cinema's bar
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  1948
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  Hank Terry and the Mainliners on stage
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  1949 poster
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  A plaque on an office block marks the site where the Forum Cinema once stood. Sadly the plaque itself is now in need of some tender loving care
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  Forum live entertainment programme
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  1949 Forum programme