Save the Tiverton Tivoli
When I was a little girl, my mother and I lived in a small village close to Uppsala in Sweden. Our flat was above a cinema called the Red Mill. I went to every film that was shown (even if they were 18s, no one seemed to mind). It was there I saw unforgettables like The Omen (I am still terrified of black labradors) and Grease. My mother was less enthusiastic. Even now if someone asks her if she’s seen a film she often replies; “No, but I’ve heard it.”
So maybe I have a particlularly romantic attachment to cinemas. But I am heartbroken to hear that the Tiverton Tivoli is going to close. Last night we went there to see Shrek The Third. The Tivoli is what I call a proper cinema where you get proper popcorn (ie not in bags or doused with toffee) and the same person who sells you the tickets comes in with a tray of ice-creams after the ads as the words INTERMISSION flash up in old-fashioned writing on the big screen.
The children love it. “This is the best cimena,” they all agreed. For some reason cinema is a word they cannot pronounce.
They have been showing films at the Tiverton Tivoli since 1932. Now of course the land is so valuable the owners would make much more money selling it for housing. In nine days’ time the lease expires and I fear the cimena is doomed.
There is some hope that an independent cinema chain will step in, but not much. This is just the kind of thing I would step in and save if I were a multi-millionaire. Maybe you could even create a Tiverton Film Festival. Now there’s a thought. Forget Cannes and Venice, Tiverton is where it’s at.
Anyone interested in helping please visit www.savethetivoli.co.uk
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2007
16 Aug 2007 helena
How sad. I do miss the old single screen theatres – they seem to be closing steadily these days,…it’s so very sad. Here in Los Angeles we have just lost South Pasadena’s Rialto Theatre, built in 1924. It closed after more than 80 years just yesterday. (You may remember it from Robert Altman’s “The Player”) We have a few hanging in there for the time being, but I fear their days are numbered due to property values.
Good luck, I hope the theatre is spared.
Oh, and the dogs in the Omen were Rottweilers, which are fairly scary. Labs are just too goofy to hang with Satan’s spawn
Thank you Suze! I was desperately trying to remember what they were, I guess at the time even labs seemed big.
Best
Hx