As theaters full of cushy recliner seats, food service, and the IMAX experience slowly become the norm for moviegoers, some fanatics still seek out a more classic, no-frills experience. Along Shrewsbury Road in Penistone, England, an unassuming single-screen theater keeps cinematic nostalgia alive.
While Penistone Paramount Cinema screens both major blockbuster movies and regular historic classics, it also has a program of live events, including recitals on a Compton organ. In 1913, the building was established as a “lecture and recreation” space for one of Britain’s many Carnegie Library buildings. The auditorium was equipped to double as a dance hall; complete with a sprung floor, and the ability to remove all the fitted seats before dances. It is now out of use, but the mechanism for the sprung floor can still be seen in the basement.
In 1917, a projection box was installed, establishing the space as a cinema. The theater’s Art Deco architecture has survived renovations, with the period plasterwork still complete.
Inside, the star of the show is the Compton organ. The instrument was originally built by the John Compton Organ Co. in 1937. It was first installed in Birmingham’s Paramount Theatre, where it entertained audiences for over 30 years. In 1988, it was bought by a private cinema owner and installed in the Regal Cinema at Oswestry in Shropshire.
After four years at Oswestry, it was brought to the Penistone Paramount Cinema by organist Kevin Grunill. The instrument was restored in 2000 and again in 2013. Most recently, the organ accompanied a brass band concert and provided a musical backdrop for the first-ever silent vampire movie from 1922, Nosferatu.
The cinema’s projection box also received an upgrade over the years, but the original Gaumont film projector is still on display inside.
