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Home][Start of Tour] [Rembrandt Cinema History] [West Ewell] [Hogsmill River] [Local History Discussion Forum] |
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The Thirties The first photograph available of the Rembrandt Cinema. No doubt taken on the day of its opening in October 1938. The description of the opening mentions a storm, and we can plainly see rain on the forecourt. It seems the photographer narrowly avoided being soaked! Note the absence of signage in the canopy compared to later photographs. On the original photo (rather than this low resolution version) you can see wires dangling for the neon lighting for the car park sign
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The Forties Its the summer of 1943, and the kerbs are painted in black and white to aid visibility in the wartime black out. This photo is part of a set that you will find dotted around this web site that were taken by the projectionist of the time. These photos show the staff as well as the building for a refreshing look at life around the cinema. Spot the car park sign on the canopy now in place.
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The Fifties Ten years later the cafe is just about still open. The name Rembrandt has been lost from the front and has been replaced by the neon ABC triangle.
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The Sixties Taken from the other side and showing the unique position alongside suburban semi's. This 1968 photo was taken by the council planning dept - maybe because of an application to go over to bingo that was made in that year. I'm sure I 'll be able to remove that lamp post sometime! |
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The Seventies A transitional stage during conversion to twin cinemas. in October 1971. Brand new ABC "lozenges", but the canopy hasn't yet been taken down. There is a skip in the car park no doubt full of artefacts that should have been saved (may be some were?). I'd love to know happened happened to the ABC neon sign -smashed up I guess.
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The Eighties A dusk shot from 1986 to show the ABC EMI sign on and the ugly but necessary light box lightbox that replaced the canopy.
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The Nineties Autumn 1996 and ten years after the ABC brand was removed by Cannon Cinemas', a management take-over brings it all back complete with the old triangle logo. A sadly short lived state of affairs. At the time that this picture was taken the cinema was already on the market and developers sniffing around.
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