Odeon cinema organ to be heard for first time in three years

Nostalgia will be brought to a seaside resort as a 1930s cinema organ is due to be heard for the first time in three years.

Music from across the decades will be played on the Compton pipe organ at the Odeon Cinema in Weston-super-Mare.

The cinema houses one of only three original organs still found in working cinemas in the UK.

The instrument has not been played as a result of previous Covid restrictions and general maintenance.

It was originally designed for "entertainment" and to accompany silent films and contains a full selection of tuned percussions and effects.

"Theatre organists were the pop stars of their day, they appeared on cigarette cards, in popular music magazines and were very big stars," general secretary of the Theatre Organ Club, Grant Pilcher, said.

Weston-super-Mare, Stockport and Leicester Square's Odeon cinemas are the only picture houses that still use an organ for premieres and performances.

The 87-year-old instrument was installed in 1935 when the Somerset cinema was built and has 1,500 pipes ranging from two inches to 16ft high.

The three-tonne organ has its illuminated surround which changes colour as the instrument rises from the orchestra pit.

Mr Pilcher said: "In the UK in the 1930s there were nearly 600 cinema organs.

"People used to come and hear their favourite organists play the tunes of the day and have a sing-along. But after 1960 that died out completely."

He continued: "That makes this performance a bit exciting.

"While you can go and listen to these organs in people's homes or museums, the actual thrill of going to a proper cinema and walking through the doors and hearing the organ play and come up on the lift and change colour, with the illuminated console is a very limited and special opportunity."

Organists John Mann and Keith Beckingham have been entertaining audiences all over the world for more than 60 years and will be putting the organ through its paces on Sunday.

"They are the last of the generation that played professional for the cinema circuit," Mr Pilcher said.

"They are both retired, but we asked them to come back as they have that final link with the old days, when organs were still a part of the general programme."

The majority of cinema organs were sold off by cinema chains who viewed them as commercially unviable, and in the 1960s keen enthusiasts snapped them up.

"Fortunately due to holiday makers and seasonality and where the cinema is in town, it has remained a viable cinema, so we are enormously grateful to Odeon for keeping the place going, having the organ in there and allowing us to come and play," Mr Pilcher said.

The cinema's "Screen 4" still retains the original art deco proscenium arch and orchestra pit.

The organist can use the instrument to control two rooms full of pipes, glockenspiel, xylophone, vibraphone, drums and cymbals that are housed above the stage.

Mr Pilcher said: "Effectively you could have one person playing, giving you all the sound effects you want to accompany silent films."

"We hope this will be the start of future presentations of this lovely instrument in its fine and original home," he added.

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