Odeon

“On Saturday mornings Mum would be glad to see the back of us and we would head off to the cinema, where they held the Saturday Club. In the main auditorium there would usually be a man playing the organ, which would lead to us all singing our Saturday morning song. We would settle down to watch something exciting like Flash Gordon, or a western. We lived from one Saturday to another, and the memories of the Odeon for me as a child in the 50s and 60s are filled with happy times.”
Edwina Lyons (From the Going to the Pictures Project)

We now have instant access to hundreds of media platforms and apps. But for a long time, before television and the internet, the main form of popular entertainment was the cinema. A movie theatre provided an affordable place where you could socialise and spend time with the whole family.

Someone who understood this was Oscar Deutsch, founder of the Odeon cinema chain. Born to Jewish parents from Hungary and Poland, Oscar grew up in Birmingham. In 1930 he opened the first Odeon cinema in his home city. By the time of his death in 1941, he had 258 cinemas throughout Britain.

Odeon cinemas were famous for their distinctive design. Oscar Deutsch hired architects to produce cutting-edge art deco palaces that provided a luxurious viewing experience. His wife, Lillian, designed most of the interiors of the original cinemas.

Nearly a century after its founding, Odeon is still one of the most recognisable names in British cinema, and many of its buildings are now listed architectural treasures.