The Tottenham Palace Theatre of Varieties, High Road, Tottenham, N17 (original) (raw)
Later - The Canadian Cinema / Mecca Bingo / Jasmine Bingo
Above - The Tottenham Palace Theatre during the run of 'Winner Take All' in 1924 - From a Brochure for The Bulman Cinema Screen Company.
The Tottenham Palace was designed by Wylson & Long and opened as a Twice Nightly Variety Theatre on the 31st of August 1908. The auditorium was decorated in the Grecian style and was built on three levels, Stalls, Circle, and Balcony, with a capacity of 2,000, the present capacity however is 1,500. The opening Bill included Cyrus Dare, Frank Lynn, Kathleen Cogan, the Sisters McCalla, Kitty Colyer, Allan Holt and Co in 'A Society Woman', the Ongars, Lord Murray and Lord, and 'Ben Hur in Pompeii' on Ruffell's Imperial Bioscope.
Right - A Variety Programme for the Tottenham Palace in 1912 - Click to see Entire Programme.
The Tottenham Palace was built as a Music Hall and Variety Theatre but had a very short life as a live Theatre.
Left - A Detail of the Tottenham Palace in 2007 showing the 1908 inscription - Courtesy Jim Gibbons.
By 1922 the Theatre was already showing films and in November 1924 it became a full time cinema called the Canadian Cinema, using the back projection system. In January of 1926 the Theatre's name reverted back to the Palace Theatre and a Wurlitzer Organ was installed, only the second in the country.
A visitor to the site, Roger Edwards, who did management relief duty at the Tottenham Palace in 1967, when it was still operating as a cinema, tells me that the projection box was built as a separate entity on a piece of ground behind the Theatre where it sat in isolation surrounded by over grown waste ground, and was connected to the stage rear wall by a short tunnel, this provided sufficient distance for the throw to gain the necessary dimensions to hit the screen at the required dimension to properly fill the screen. As the screen was almost square to the stalls level the angle to the upper gallery seating prevented its use for public viewing so was closed off. The programme at this time was the north London release of Disney's Jungle Book and was very busy but with a rowdy crowd of kids.
Above - The Tottenham Palace - From a Programme in 1912, and the Theatre in 2007 - Courtesy Jim Gibbons
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_The Cinema was closed in June 1968 and the building was converted for Bingo use which ran successfully for many years until it was converted into a church in the late 1990s and called the Palace Cathedral.
Right - A Programme for 'Splinters of 1923' at the Tottenham Place Theatre in October 1923. Click to see Entire Programme.Splinters was a drag show which was formed by the forces in the first world war. In fact there was a film (British) made in 1929 which was called "Splinters." Reg Stone, who was an excellent female impersonator, starred in it and was also in the production this programme refers to. Information Courtesy Alan Rebbeck.
Despite all the changes of use and it's short life as a live Theatre the Tottenham Palace is still largely intact and readily convertible back to its intended use.
The Theatre is a Grade II Listed Building and the Theatres Trust says of the Tottenham Palace:-
'Now the only complete example in London of a theatre by the architects who rebuilt the Oxford Music Hall in 1893 (dem), built the Bath Palace of Varieties 1895, reconstructed the Blackpool Winter Gardens auditorium 1897, designed the first Brixton Empress of 1898 (dem) and reconstructed the interior of the London Pavilion 1900 (gutted).
One of the few surviving big suburban variety palaces (compare Hackney Empire) and, given a fair wind, a perfectly recoverable theatre.' - The Theatres Trust.
Above - A Google StreetView Image of the former Tottenham Palace Theatre in April 2021 - Click to Interact.
If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share please Contact me.