'Nothing is too good for Plaza patrons'

Look through the pages of the Watford Observer in the 1930s and they were all there – including, from the late 1920s, the Plaza, sitting in the High Street at the corner of Albert Road.

The Plaza opened on April 29, 1929, with a grand opening ceremony and on a recent visit to Watford Library, I was able to see the souvenir brochure given to those who attended the opening getting on for 86 years ago.

The brochure demonstrates very fully how the cinemas were battling for business in those days, trying to provide the best experience for their clientele.

“Nothing is too good for Plaza Patrons,” the souvenir programme declares and, judging by the fixtures and fittings, it sounds like they weren’t joking.

“Few things, even in the whirl of recent years, have been more rapid than the advance of the cinema,” the programme declares.

“Twenty years ago the Cinderella of the Arts, its patrons expecting no more than to watch a flickering screen from hard seats in a bare room, today it has come into its own.

“Every resource that luxury can suggest or entertainment can require is demanded, nay expected, by the modern cinema goer.

“To provide what is the prime essential in an entertainment of this nature, a first rate film programme will be the principal care of the Plaza management, but while emphasis is laid on this cardinal point, no less pains will be spared to ensure through the appointments of the building, the luxury of the accommodation and the perfect service of the staff, all that the most critical of cinema patrons can require.

“Standing in the heart of a populous and rapidly developing district with its frontage of over 100 feet facing the council offices in the High Stret, the Plaza is certain to become the centre of all the pleasure seeking possibilities of Watford.

“With its seating capacity of over 2,000 luxurious armchairs, the spacious balcony alone holding 500, the Plaza is prepared to receive the crowds it will undoubtedly attract, and not only receive but accommodate those crowds with the greatest of comfort.

“Specially designed by its able architects Messrs Emden, Egan & Co., of 7, Garrick Street, with the object of avoiding that all too frequent scanty space and leg room, which has to be endured, the auditorium presents the maximum of individual seating comfort attained in any cinema in the kingdom.

“Theatre Equipment Ltd trusts the patrons of the Plaza will appreciate the comfort of the seating supplied by them and which the management spent considerable time and care in selecting to ensure them having the most restful seat obtainable.”

No expense was spared, it seems, on style and decoration either.

“Modern principles of art demand not only that a building shall be beautiful in itself, but that it shall be suited to its surroundings. This requirement has been embodied to the full in the Plaza’s decoration. The entrance and vestibule richly panelled in mahogany, the auditorium has a touch of the real English in its warm panelling of oak.

“Only the coolest and softest of light is admitted through amber glazed windows.”

Despite all this expense, it’s clear the owners of the Plaza weren’t even sure whether “talkies” would catch on. Bear in mind this is 1929, and the first “100 per cent talkie” movie only came out nine months earlier (and that ran for less than an hour).

But whatever your feelings about these new-fangled talking films, the Plaza was clearly the place to be.

The programme continues: “Whether the public interest in them is a craze or whether it has come to stay, talking pictures are the rage at the moment and to erect a modern cinema without providing for them would seem almost akin to staging Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.

“Talkie fans at the Plaza may rest reassured, for thanks to the most complete and up-to-date installation the latest products of the studios will be heard as well as seen within its walls.

“As on every other side of this cinema, no expense has been spared to secure the best – and nothing but the best – for Plaza patrons.

“When all is said and done, the projection box is the heart of the cinema, for faulty projection can mar the best of films and every care that ingenuity can suggest has been lavished upon this aspect in the Plaza. Projectors and spotlights of the most modern description and all the numberless accessories that projection today requires, these will permit of every gradation of light and shade upon the Plaza’s spacious screen.”

It wasn’t just the projecting equipment that was top drawer. The Plaza management claimed to have secured “one of the best orchestras outside the West End of London” under the direction of Mr Harry Freedman.

And there’s a lot of praise too for the Plaza’s organ. “The finest organ in the world is the John Compton Unit Organ,” screams the programme, “of which a magnificent model has been installed at The Plaza.

“The organ is a two manual instrument of the latest type, built and installed by the John Compton Organ Co. Ltd  Chiswick, W4.

“The tone of the organ is produced by some 2,000 pipes varying from less than half an inch to 16ft in length and from 3/16in to 10in in diameter.

“These pipes are so voiced almost every instrument in a symphony orchestra has its counterpart in the organ; strings, woodwind and brass all being represented, in addition to some dignified pure organ tone being available when required.”

If you were still in any doubt as to which cinema to go to, there then follows “The Plaza Policy”.

“It will not be out of place here to emphasise how fully the management realise their dependence for success on the goodwill of the cinemagoer.

"'Nothing is too good for Plaza Patrons’ will be the motto of this enterprise and all classes of patrons alike will meet with the same courteous attention and ready service at the hands of the manager, Mr Bartlett, and his staff. Combined with comfort and courtesy, good programmes will be the first consideration, and to this end arrangements have been made to secure the highest class films obtainable immediately upon release. Besides films, the best type of variety turns will be included and presented amid luxurious surroundings, aided by superb orchestral and lighting effects, the programmes cannot fail to give a maximum of pleasure.”

Wow! Well they’ve sold it to me. The special premiere performance on that day began with the National Anthem and an official opening by the mayor (Alderman Hemming). Item 3 was listed as “Voice of the organ” which, as I can’t find a film of that name, was probably a short recital to show what “the finest organ in the world” was capable of.

This was followed by a now lost 1928 silent film, Hot News starring Bebe Daniels and Neil Hamilton. Then there was British Screen News followed by an item called “The Tatler”, which was presumably “British Screen Tatler”, a sister ‘cinemagazine’ to the newsreel, British Screen News, which only existed for two years, from 1928 to 1930.

After that came an “orchestral selection” featuring Plaza Melody by “Alford” followed by the 1928 British silent drama film Tommy Atkins, starring Jerrold Robertshaw and Lillian Hall-Davis.

So what happened to the Plaza? Was it the runaway success its management hoped?

Well according to www.cinematreasures. org, just seven years after opening, in September 1936, it was taken over by Oscar Deutsch’s chain of Odeon Theatres Ltd, and renamed The Odeon.

The Odeon survived until November 1963 when the name was transferred to the nearby Gaumont on Watford’s High Street, and the beautiful old Plaza/Odeon building demolished and replaced by a new building containing a supermarket [Caters – now Iceland] and Top Rank Suite, which later became a disco/nightclub [now Oceana].

As for “the finest organ in the world”, it seems it was removed from the building in 1960, and installed in the Victoria Hall Evangelical Church in Wandsworth.

The Victoria Hall is now known as West Side Church, and John W. Baigent, who attended there for many years – as a pastor from 1984 to 1991 – provided more information. “I can certainly confirm the Compton organ from the Watford Plaza was bought by one of our members – Francis Stunt, a solicitor – and installed in what was Victoria Hall Evangelical Church,” he said. “I am also an organist and used to play it for services.

“Eventually, after the death of Mr Stunt in 1977, the church felt the cost of upkeep, which he had been paying for, was too great – and anyhow, the organ was really too powerful for such a small building – so we sold it to a cinema organ enthusiast.”

Mr Baigent, who now lives in Witney, Oxfordshire, said he can’t remember when this happened. If anyone reading this knows any more, please get in touch.