Everyman Cinema, Hampstead

Last updated

The Everyman Cinema Everyman Cinema front, Hampstead, July 2021 (02).jpg
The Everyman Cinema

The Everyman Hampstead is the original site of the Everyman Cinemas group, a boutique independent cinema chain, located in Holly Bush Vale, Hampstead, in North West London.

Contents

It shows new releases, as well as classic films and special events, such as the New York Metropolitan Opera, National Theatre Live, film festivals, live Q&As, and seasons.

The venue features two public screens (a 122-seat room with club suites, gallery seating and a vaulted ceiling; and a more intimate 72-seat screen), as well as a private hire room, a licensed bar and restaurant, Sony Digital 4K projectors, and Dolby Digital surround sound.

History

The building was first opened as the Hampstead Drill Hall and Assembly Rooms in the 1880s. Later it was transformed into a theatre, the Everyman Theatre, which opened in 1920 under the direction of Norman MacDermott (1890–1977), with the first British production of Jacinto Benavente's The Bonds of Interest (Los intereses creados, 1907). You Never Can Tell , opened two weeks later and was a success, leading to the performance of more revivals from George Bernard Shaw. Another notable performance is that of Noël Coward's The Vortex, which was first performed there.

Screen 1 Everyman Hampstead Screen 1.jpg
Screen 1

The Everyman opened as a cinema on Boxing Day 1933. The opening programme consisted of Rene Clair's Le Million, Turbulent Timber, a Mack Sennett comedy, a Disney cartoon and Paramount News. The Everyman had been bought by a local solicitor, James Fairfax-Jones. "FJ", as he was known, lived with wife, Tessara (Tess), in a sprawling manor house in the secluded Vale of Health. He ran the Everyman as a hobby rather than as a business, hoping that its 302 seats would generate enough money to pay the staff and the overheads as well as his annual treat – attending the Venice Film Festival, which he surveyed from the splendour of the Cipriani Hotel. His staff, principally projectionist Tom Robinson and manager Dennis Lloyd, stayed with him for decades. Usherettes were all part-time and were an extraordinary mix – some were wartime refugees, others local au pairs, language students and so on. One woman who worked in the cash desk selling tickets owned the West End furniture store Heals.

Fairfax-Jones died in April 1973. His son, Martin, took over as Managing Director of the cinema, which was programmed until 1977 by one of its managers, Adrian Turner, and subsequently by Tony Dalton and Peter Howden. Since 1933 the Everyman always showed a wide range of movies in repertory seasons - the Marx Brothers, the Maxim Gorky Trilogy, Jean-Luc Godard, Humphrey Bogart and Ingmar Bergman being especially popular with the local Hampstead crowd. Local residents such as John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole and Melvyn Bragg were regulars. HRH Princess Margaret brought her two children to see High Society .

In the 1980s, the Everyman had various owners, with one turning the basement into the second auditorium.

When the cinema was threatened with closure in 2000, [1] it was bought by entrepreneur Daniel Broch as the flagship for the new Everyman Cinemas group, a company that has seen subsequent rapid expansion.

Cultural references

The cinema is referred to in the song, "Hampstead Incident" by Donovan, with the line: "Standing by the Everyman, digging the rigging of my sails."

The 1960 Michael Powell psychological-horror classic Peeping Tom , credited as a founder of the slasher genre, [2] mentions the cinema twice by name. Two original posters for the film used to hang in the lobby but since the cinema was refurbished during August-September 2022, these have been kept in storage.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampstead</span> Area of Camden in London, England

Hampstead is an area in London, England, which lies four miles northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough of Camden, a borough in Inner London which for the purposes of the London Plan is designated as part of Central London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everyman Theatre, Liverpool</span> Theatre and building in Liverpool, Merseyside, England

The Everyman Theatre stands at the north end of Hope Street in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It was founded in 1964, in Hope Hall, in an area of Liverpool noted for its bohemian environment and political edge, and quickly built a reputation for ground-breaking work. The Everyman was completely rebuilt between 2011 and 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ByTowne Cinema</span> One-screen repertory movie theatre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The ByTowne Cinema is a one-screen repertory movie theatre located in Ottawa, Ontario, The cinema is one of Ottawa's main venues for independent and foreign films. The 650-seat cinema is located on Rideau Street at Nelson, several blocks east of the Rideau Centre. It was closed on December 24, 2020, with a final week of screenings shown on February 26 to March 7, 2021. The cinema reopened under new ownership on September 8, 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Electric, Birmingham</span> Cinema in Birmingham, England

The Electric is a cinema in Birmingham, England. It opened in Station Street in 1909, showing its first silent film on 27 December of that year. It was the first cinema in Birmingham, and was the oldest working cinema in the country until its closure on 29 February 2024. The Electric had two screens, both able to show digitally-shot films and one also able to show films in 35 mm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hillfield Court</span>

Hillfield Court is a prominent art deco residential mansion block in Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden, built in 1934. It is located off Belsize Avenue and can also be accessed from Glenloch Road. It is one of the many purpose built mansion blocks on Haverstock Hill between Chalk Farm and Hampstead. It is close to the amenities near Belsize Park tube station, as well as the shops of Belsize Village, South End Green and Hampstead.

Odeon Cinemas Limited, trading as Odeon, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Great Britain in 1930. As of 2016, Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Rex, Berkhamsted</span>

The Rex is a cinema in the town of Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, England. Designed in the art deco style by David Evelyn Nye in 1936, the cinema opened to the public in 1938. After 50 years of service, the cinema closed in 1988 and became derelict. The building was listed Grade II by English Heritage, and following a campaign to save the Rex by a local entrepreneur, the cinema re-opened to the public in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astor Theatre, Melbourne</span> Historic cinema in St Kilda, Victoria

The Astor Theatre is a classic, single-screen jazz moderne revival movie theatre in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, first opened in 1936 and still in operation today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiteladies Picture House</span> Cinema in Clifton, Bristol, England

The Whiteladies Picture House is a cinema on Whiteladies Road in Clifton, Bristol, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmospheric theatre</span> Type of movie theater

An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, architectural elements and ornamentation that evoked a sense of being outdoors. This was intended to make the patron a more active participant in the setting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlton Theatre</span> Theatre in London, England

The Carlton Theatre was a London West End dual-purpose theatre-cum-cinema built in 1927 for Adolph Zukor's Paramount Pictures. It continued in use as a cinema as the Empire Haymarket until its closure in May 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Capitol Theatre, Horsham</span> Arts centre in Horsham, England

The Capitol Theatre is a multi-purpose arts venue in Horsham, West Sussex, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham</span> Theatre in Cheltenham, England

Everyman Theatre is a theatre based in Regent Street, Cheltenham. There are two auditoria in the building - the 718 seat main auditorium and the 60 seat Studio Theatre, originally named The Ralph Richardson Studio after Ralph Richardson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Screen on the Green</span>

The Screen on the Green is a single-screen cinema facing Islington Green in the London Borough of Islington, London. The current building was opened in 1913 and it is one of the oldest continuously running cinemas in the UK. It is an example of the many purpose-built cinemas that followed the regulations set by the Cinematograph Act 1909.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaza Theatre (Atlanta)</span>

The Plaza Theatre is a movie theatre located in Atlanta, Georgia. Opened in 1939, it is Atlanta's longest continuously operating independent movie theatre and a city landmark.

Everyman Media Group plc is a cinema company based in London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BFI Southbank</span> Cinema in the UK

BFI Southbank is the leading repertory cinema in the UK, specialising in seasons of classic, independent and non-English language films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stanley Coombe Beard</span> English architect

John Stanley Coombe Beard FRIBA, known professionally as J. Stanley Beard, was an English architect known for designing many cinemas in and around London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rio Cinema, Dalston</span> Art Deco cinema in Dalston, London, England

The Rio Cinema is a Grade II listed independent Art Deco cinema in Dalston, east London. It is a popular independent cinema located on Kingsland High Street, with a history stretching back over 100 years. The Rio added a second screen in the unused basement space in December 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Everyman Gerrards Cross</span> Cinema in Buckinghamshire, England

The Everyman Gerrards Cross is a cinema located in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally known as The Playhouse, it has continually served Gerrards Cross as a cinema since it first opened in 1925 and is the oldest cinema in Buckinghamshire. It has been owned by several cinema chains and is currently operated by Everyman Cinemas.

References

  1. McLeod, Maurice (25 October 1999). "Everyman cinema faced with closure over losses". The Independent . London.
  2. Rockoff, Adam (2012). Going to pieces : the rise and fall of the slasher film, 1978-1986. Jefferson: Mcfarland. ISBN   978-0-7864-6932-1. OCLC   753637319.

Further reading

51°33′22″N0°10′44″W / 51.556°N 0.179°W / 51.556; -0.179