Next week would have marked the 21st anniversary of the opening of the Odeon cinema, Rickmansworth, and there were plans to celebrate the "birthday".

But the cinema closed down last Saturday [January 5, 1957] and instead of the jollifications there was a sad little farewell party at which the manager, Mr R Farmer, thanked the staff for their loyalty and friendship.

After the final handshakes and good wishes, Mr Farmer turned out the lights and locked the doors. The time was 10.20pm. It was the end of a cinema which had so narrowly missed its coming-of-age.

[From the Watford Observer of January 11, 1957]

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