Gaumont Cinema, Chester. ~ Publicity

 

 

 

First Cinemascope film at the Gaumont from 29th November 1954.This was the second cinema in the city to screen the new ratio. Though many cinemas screened scope with four track magnetic sound, Chester cinemas never installed four track magnetic stereophonic. Dolby Stereo with all it’s various formats was a much later addition. In 1985, Santa Claus The Movie was the first film shown in Chester at the Odeon in screen one,  with four channel optical Dolby Stereo sound (stage centre, stage left & right, plus surround)..

Chester Odeon was also one of the first cinemas during the early 1970s to install and trial the Dolby noise reduction unit which was to lay the foundation for the Dolby Stereo optical track later on.   ~ David A Ellis (c)

Films shown at the Gaumont from opening on 2nd March 1931 to end of December 1931.

2/3/31: ‘On Approval’ starring Tom Walls. Leslie James at the Compton organ.

9/3/31: All week: ‘The Vagabond King’ starring Dennis King and Jeanette MacDonald. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ. Cinema advertised as Chester’s Wonder Cinema.

16/3/31: All week: ‘Common Clay’ starring Constance Bennett and Lew Ayes. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ. Ad says: There is always more room at the earlier performances.

23/3/31: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ‘Renegades’ starring Warner Baxter and Myna Loy. Thursday, Friday, Saturday: ‘Sarah and Son’ starring Ruth Chatterton. Rowland H’ Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

30/3/31: Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Good Friday: ‘The Dawn Patrol’ starring Richard Barthelmess. Thursday and Saturday: ‘The Sea Wolf’ starring Milton Sills. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

6/4/31: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ‘The Cuckoos’ starring Wheeler and Wooolsey. Thursday, Friday, Saturday: ‘Our Blushing Brides’ starring Joan Crawford and Robert Montgomery. Also ‘Gaumont Super Sound News’. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

13/4/31: All week: ‘Raffles’ starring Ronald Colman. Plus ‘Enter the Queen’ and ‘Gaumont Super Sound News’. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

20/4/31: All week: ‘The Big House’ starring Wallace Beery and Chester Morris. Also ‘Gaumont Super Sound News’. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

27/4/31: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ‘Young Woodley’ starring Madeleine Carroll and Frank Lawton. Thursday, Friday Saturday: ‘The Gentleman Chauffeur’. Rowland H. Cutler at the mighty Compton organ.

4/5/31: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ‘Paramount on Parade’ starring Maurice Chevalier. Thursday, Friday, Saturday: ‘Girl of the Golden West’ starring Ann Harding. Sydney Gustard, the famous solo organist and HMV recorder at the mighty Compton organ.

11/5/31: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ‘The Big Trail’ starring John Wayne. Thursday, Friday Saturday: ‘Romance’ starring Greta Garbo and Lewis Stone.

18/5/31: All week: ‘Whoopee’ starring Eddie Cantor.

25/5/31: All week: ‘A Warm Corner’ starring Leslie Henson. Return of Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

1/6/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘The Seas Beneath’ starring George O’Brien and Marion Lessing. Thursday – Saturday: ‘The Call of the Flesh’ starring Ramon Navarro. Sydney Gustard at the mighty Compton organ at all performances.

8/6/31: All week: ‘The Big Pond’ starring Maurice Chevalier. Sydney Gustard at the mighty Compton organ.

15/6/31: All week: ‘Canaries Sometimes Sing’ starring Tom Walls and Yvonne Arnaud. Sydney Gustard at the mighty Compton organ.

22/6/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘Lightnin’ starring Louise Dresser. Thursday – Saturday: ‘Her Man’ starring Helen Twelvetrees. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

29/6/31: All week: ‘The Lottery Bride’ starring Jeanette MacDonald. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

6/7/31: All week: ‘Sin Takes A Holiday’ starring Constance Bennett. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

13/7/31: All week: ‘Africa Speaks’. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

20/7/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘The Squealer’ starring Jack Holt and Dorothy Revier. Thursday – Saturday: ‘Within the Law’ starring Joan Crawford and Robert Armstrong. Wilfred Wynne at the mighty Compton organ.

27/7/31: All week: ‘City of Song’ starring Betty Stockfield and Hugh Wakefield. Wilfred Wynne at the Compton organ.

3/8/31: All week: ‘Charley’s Aunt’ starring Charles Ruggles and June Collyer. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

10/8/31: All week: ‘Cimarron’ starring Richard Dix. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

17/8/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘The Bachelor Father’ starring Ralph Forbes. Thursday – Saturday: ‘Du Barry’ starring Norma Talmadge and Conrad Nagel. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

24/8/31: All week: ‘Plunder’ starring Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

31/8/31: All week: ‘Hell’s Angels’ starring Jean Harlow.

7/9/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘Lonely Wives’ starring Laura La Plante. Thursday – Saturday: ‘Anybody’s Woman’ starring Clive Brook. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

14/9/31: All week: ‘Min and Bill’ starring Marie Dressler and Wallace Beery. Sydney Gustard at the Compton organ.

21/9/31: All week: ‘Monte Carlo’ starring Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

28/9/31: All week: ‘Dracula’ starring Bela Lugosi and Helen Chandler. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

5/10/31: All week: ‘Tons of Money’ starring Ralph Lynn and Yvonne Arnaud. Directed by Tom Walls. Sydney Gustard at the organ repeating ‘The Storm’.

12/10/31: Monday – Wednesday:  ‘The Speckled Band’ starring Raymond Massey. Thursday – Saturday Derelict starring William Boyd. Leslie Gustard at the organ.

19/10/31: All week: ‘Feet First’ starring Harold Lloyd. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

26/10/31: Monday – Wednesday: Our ‘Heavenly Night’ starring Evelyn Laye. Thursday – Saturday: Tom Sawyer starring Jackie Coogan and Mitzi Green. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

2/11/31: All week: ‘Trader Horn’. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

9/11/31: All week: ‘The Devil to Pay’ starring Ronald Colman. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

16/11/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘Born to Love’ starring Constance Bennett. Thursday – Saturday: ‘The Royal Family of Broadway’ starring Ina Claire and Frederic March. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

23/11/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘The Chance of a Night-time’ starring Ralph Lynn and Winifred Shotter. Thursday – Saturday: ‘The Right to Love’ starring Ruth Chatterton. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

30/11/31: All week: ‘Strangers May Kiss’ starring Norma Shearer and Robert Montgomery. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

7/12/31: All week: ‘The Ringer’ starring Gordon Harker. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

14/12/31: All week: ‘The Front Page’ starring Adolphe Menjou. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

21/12/31: Monday – Wednesday: ‘Stolen Heaven’ starring Nancy Carroll and Phillips Holmes. Xmas day showing from 6.30. Thursday – Saturday: ‘Black Coffee’ starring Austin Trevor and Adrienne Allen. On the stage ‘Christmas Fantasy’.

28/12/31: All week: ‘Dirigible’ starring Jack Holt and Fay Wray. Sydney Gustard at the organ.

David A Ellis(c)chestercinemas.co.uk

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