Astoria Cinema Organ, circa 1960

Comment by John Leeming on January 20, 2017 at 9:51

Interesting to see this photograph. Charles Smitton was Manchester-based, much associated with the Odeon there in Oxford Road. He made a number of fine broadcasts on the Odeon's splendid Wurlitzer organ in the 1940s-60s. Sadly, his playing career was ended by a severe stroke in the early 1970s. By contrast, the Finsbury Park organ was a disappointment - the installation was such that the sound did not get out into the auditorium. The organ was removed from the Astoria in 1970 and was used as the basis of a much larger instrument installed in the new Aylesbury Civic Hall. That hall itself has now gone, and the organ was split up, various pipes and parts appearing in different instruments all over the country.

Comment by Simon on May 3, 2024 at 7:20

Very interesting.  I was always curious about the organ installed at the Astoria.  For those curious x as bout the Compton sound a much better installation can be found in the Odeon Leicester Square.

There are now only three Compton organs remaining in working cinemas and they are:  The Stockport Plaza .The Odeon Leicester Square and the Odeon Weston-super-Mare.

Comment by John Leeming on May 3, 2024 at 9:31

The Odeon Weston-super-Mare is now called the Plaza. All three of these instruments are used from time to time, but there is a fourth original Compton installation now used occasionally, and that is in the Regent Street cinema in London, just down the road from Broadcasting House. The organ is used as a prelude to the matinée film show on the first Monday of every month. In the attached photo, which I took a few years ago, the organist is Peter Hammond, whose company was responsible for restoration of the instrument.

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