Wurlitzer

I was planning a lazy morning as PY was volunteering with Open House. He was in Tooting at the Buzz Bingo building. His message at 9:21am read, 

“You have to see this - it’s in incredible!”

So, we agreed that I would head to Tooting towards the end of his shift. I took the 57 which slow-crawled through Wimbledon and onwards to Tooting Broadway where the service terminated (but not where I thought it was going to). 

And then to the the only Grade 1 listed cinema in the country. Greeted at the door by Morris, in full commissionaire’s uniform, we took a tour of the place: through entrance somewhat spoiled by in the introduction of modern slot machines and up the stairs, past the list of bands who have played this venue:  Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Sinatra, The Walker Brothers, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Up the stairs to the wonderful Hall of Mirrors which operated as a waiting space before cinema-goers entered the main auditorium.  The balcony area, mainly unused, seems to be as it was when the cinema closed. The lower areas have been refitted for bingo with harsher lighting and tables for players.

Designed by Cecil Massey for the Granada Theatre empire in an Art Deco style, with interiors deigned by Theodore Komisarjevsky in, what the information sheet described as Shakespearian Gothic. Originally a cinema-theatre, it opened as the group’s flagship venue in September 1931 (and, according to stories told by the guides, 2000 people had to be turned away on opening night) it operated as a cinema until 1973 when it closed due to falling cinema attendance. Almost three years later, in October 1976, it re-opened as the Granada Bingo Club and has been bingo ever since (although ownership transferred to Mecca Bingo some years later).

I’d have been fascinated to see some of the behind-the-scenes theatre space which is very much hidden in the modern space. Who wouldn’t want to see the dressing room where Frank Sinatra and The Beatles got ready to perform. Sadly, not on the tour, but I did get to see the old style ticket machines in the little foyer booths (which are, also, no longer used to take entrance fees).

Cinemas of the time it featured an organ to accompany the films, although the Tooting cinema also has orchestra pits: the original intention being that the organist filled in when the orchestra took a break. This Wurlitzer was installed in Sacramento but came to the UK for the cinema's opening in 1931. It was refurbished in the mid 2000s and was played again but, sadly, within a year heavy storms meant the organ chambers were flooded and it’s not been played since.

It still rises from beneath the floor, but only once a year for the Open House festival. The bingo players of Tooting never see it otherwise.

Later, to Worcester Park for a late Sunday lunch with J, M and K who is about to head off to university. The lunch selection was not as great as I might have hoped as, being a Sunday, it was mainly Sunday roasts. But I had a lovely Chargrilled Cajun Chicken Breast Burger and a very nice catch-up before K's new chapter starts.