{"id":281,"date":"2019-11-11T19:04:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T19:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/archives-alive\/?p=281"},"modified":"2020-03-27T17:11:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T17:11:50","slug":"8-the-savoy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/8-the-savoy\/","title":{"rendered":"8. The Savoy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"audio-style\">\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-281-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Backrow-Backstage-8-V2.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Backrow-Backstage-8-V2.mp3\">https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Backrow-Backstage-8-V2.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Savoy<\/strong> screened all the big hits of the time, such as <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wizard of Oz<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grease<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, but it was in 1948 that The Savoy Cinema had her finest moment: <\/span><i>Brighton Rock<\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the film based on Graham Greene\u2019s novel set in Brighton, had its world premi\u00e8re in the cinema on 8 January at midnight. In May 1964, the cinema\u2019s windows were smashed by the Mods and the Rockers during the legendary Whitsuntide riots; the two-day fight was later immortalised in The Who\u2019s film <\/span><i>Quadrophenia<\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \u2013 with the cinema playing a cameo role.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI worked at the ABC as it was known then in the early 1990s. It was a lovely old building, it had gone to rot though, the main ballroom upstairs was still there, but the ceiling had partially collapsed and it was inhabited by pigeons. The huge number one screen had been closed for years, but the beautiful old silk curtains, enormous amounts of fabric, slightly tattered, were still hanging there. I remember thinking what a terrible waste it was. I also remember the characters who worked there. Mr Ruby was the manager, John the projectionist and especially a lady called Sylvia. She had worked there for donkey\u2019s years. When they were filming the riot scene in Quadrophenia in East Street, she panicked because she didn\u2019t realise it wasn\u2019t a real riot.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_550\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-550\" style=\"width: 466px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-Savoy-Grand-Junction-c.1970-Royal-Pavilion-Museums-Brighton-Hove-1.jpg?resize=466%2C360&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Monochrome photographic print showing Grand Junction Road in particular the front of the ABC Cinema showing 'Oh What a lovely War' and 'Monte Carlo or Bust'. A bus can be seen coming from the bus-station at the side of the Albion Rooms. 'Louis Tussaud's' wax works can be see next to the Albion Hotel.\" width=\"466\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-Savoy-Grand-Junction-c.1970-Royal-Pavilion-Museums-Brighton-Hove-1.jpg?w=1000&amp;ssl=1 1000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-Savoy-Grand-Junction-c.1970-Royal-Pavilion-Museums-Brighton-Hove-1.jpg?resize=300%2C231&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/The-Savoy-Grand-Junction-c.1970-Royal-Pavilion-Museums-Brighton-Hove-1.jpg?resize=768%2C592&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-550\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The ABC Cinema showing &#8216;Oh What a lovely War&#8217; and &#8216;Monte Carlo or Bust&#8217; c.1970. Royal Pavilion &amp; Museums.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On your way to <strong>The Marlborough<\/strong>, as you cross the Old Steine,\u00a0 you will see Brighton Palace Pier to your right. Brighton Palace Pier and The West Pier were performance venues, hosting an array of live entertainment and variety acts, and both housing vibrant theatres.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The Savoy screened all the big hits of the time, such as Wizard of Oz and Grease, but it was in 1948 that The Savoy Cinema had her finest moment: Brighton Rock, the film based on Graham Greene\u2019s novel set in Brighton, had its world premi\u00e8re in the cinema on 8 January at midnight. &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":2197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-row-and-backstage-brighton"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Savoy-Cinema-Brighton.jpg?fit=1544%2C2000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2199,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281\/revisions\/2199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queensparkbooks.org.uk\/discover-brighton\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}