PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
|
|
PAGE 2 Mr Cyril John Charters, late of the Gaumont, took up an appointment as chief projectionist on Monday November 29th 1954. His pay was £8 per week. Following Mr Sullivan's sudden death while at work, Mr Charters took over as manager and he later took over the lease as well when Mr Mather retired. The projectionist at this time was Mr Les Gillard. The beginning of the end probably came in early 1963. The Watch Committee of Plymouth City Council decided that as from April 1st the Sunday charity levy should be fixed at two shillings per seat for cinemas with a capacity of 1,250 or more and one shilling for those with less. This was vastly more expensive than the old system, where the City's cinemas as a whole just had to find £2,000 per year between them, the larger ones subsidising the smaller units. Mr Charters found this new levy 'unjust' and argued that if he opened on a Sunday for any other form of entertainment, he would not have to pay the levy. Despite problems like that, Mr Charters continued to attempt to draw people to his small cinema. Read more....... Unfortunately, Mr Charters was fighting a losing battle in his efforts to encourage the local population into his cinema. Visits to cinemas were declining largely due to the advent of television. Why go out when you could sit in the warmth and comfort of your own home and watch the small screen? The only advantage in going to the pictures was that the films were in Technicolour. And so it was that on Monday November 15th 1964 the Ford Palladium shew its last film. The cinema was open the following day but as only one person turned up Mr Charters decided that the end had finally come and closed down. Mr Cyril Charters, died on December 29th 1991. He had started his working life in 1931 as an ice cream boy at the old Palladium in Ebrington Street. This he did for only a few weeks as he was soon able to go up into the projection box. His career then took him to the Gaumont Palace and eventually to what became his very own Palladium. The premises became, and still are, a builders' merchants depot but the frontage remains to remind passers by of its more glorious past. That was until January 20th 1994 when some young arsonists set fire to the premises. As his widow, Eileen, said in a letter to the Evening Herald: 'I am glad Cyril was not here to see the sad end to the dear Ford Palladium, but all those connected in any way have happy memories I am sure'.
|
