June 7th 1935
Colin Drewitt's design for the new cinema to be built in Queen Street.
His design was not implemented.
Union Cinemas' Ritz was opened July 1936; Harold Ramsey played the giant electric organ.
Ritz Penzance had a Wurlitzer 3 manuals/9 ranks, which was originally in the Granada Kingston [Found info on the web database for cinema organs]. I remember it drums, bells and everything ...
Sadly this attraction has been lost from the town. I see from Picture Penzance that the space under Humphry Davy’s statute has been turned into some sort of water feature that most people regard as an eyesore.
Maybe in a parallel universe the other good people of Penzance have had better council and their Ritz Giant Electric Organ has been housed in this space. Arising on bad news days to entertain and cheer up the shoppers on their Terrace.
Good One ... I thought that I had a picture of that organ, or something very like it. Remarkable instrument. most were impressive enough, but that one was enclosed in a bronze and glass frame, with lights that flashed and moved. The world has been lost in mist, quick answers, no real consideration, masses of paperwork and no thought, costs spiral and eventually the remaining budget is spent on the object itself, so, if it looks as if it has been thrown together for two quid - that is the reason. I can just imagine some post- apocalyptic scene when Sir H rises into the sky and the sound of a giant pipe organ belts out across the street.
I like it ... ::6:
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