Opening of the Grove Cinema

The Grove Super Cinema is no more.  Last week, the bulldozers were busy pulling down the remains of Athy’s last cinema which had stood on the site on the Dublin road for less than fifty years.  In terms of a buildings life, it’s existence was a short one and as if to prove the point, on Offaly Street, there still stands the building which housed the first cinema opened in the town in the 1920’s.

The Grove Super Cinema opened with a great fanfare of publicity and local goodwill in the Summer of 1957.  It was the brain child of a number of local businessmen who were Directors of the Athy Theatre and Cinema Company, amongst whom were local Solicitor, Bob Osborne and Building Contractor, George Nash.  For the opening night of the Cinema, a Souvenir programme was produced which as you might expect carried a substantial number of local advertisements.  The changes in Athy in the intervening forty seven years are reflected in the those advertisements which carry names no longer to be found in business in the town. 

Jacksons of Athy had a full page advertisement for farm machinery and General Hardware and invited the visit to their “new showrooms and workshops” at Leinster Street.  Duthie Larges, Agricultural and Motor Engineers and Massey-Harris- Ferguson main dealers used the advertisement to extend congratulations to the Cinema Company describing the Grove Cinema as “an acquisition to the town of Athy, the centre of the most progressive farming district in the Country”.

John O’Gorman & Sons of Mount Offaly and also of Crookstown were open for petrol, tyres, genuine “Ford” parts and accessories as well as the sale of new cars, trucks and tractors from 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m.  every day except Sunday.  Just below O’Gorman’s half page advertisement was an advertisement by J. O’Brien of the Railway Bar described as “Lounge Bar adjacent to the Grove Cinema”.  O’Brien was a Wholesale and Family Grocer as well as a tea, wine and spirit merchant who also had coal, corn and general feeding stuffs on sale.

The Leinster Arms Hotel was another advertiser as it had been in almost every local publication during the previous one hundred and fifty years but this time, forty seven years ago, it was under the management of Miss B. M. Bullock.  Morning coffee, luncheons and teas were available in the “spacious dining room with seating accommodation for eighty”.

The only local advertisers in the Grove Cinema’s souvenir programme which are still in business were Asbestos Cement Limited and Shaws.  The local factory proudly announced “this fine cinema is roofed entirely with asbestos cement, ‘new six inch’ corrugated sheets.  Produced locally in Athy, Asbestos Cement Products are well established with the modern Irish Builder and are renowned for their good quality and excellent finish”.  Shaws of Athy, Suppliers of carpets to the new Cinema reminded the reader that “it pays to shop at Shaws” describing itself as “the house for value”.

The remaining local advertiser was the building contractor, George Nash from Athy who was the main contractor for the new Cinema.  The nature of change in the business make up of the town over the last couple of decades is reflected in the loss of such substantial businesses as Jacksons, Duthie Larges, O’Gormans and Nashs and the change in ownership of the Railway Bar (now McEvoy’s) and the Leinster Arms Hotel (now Gerry Griffin).

The Grove Cinema when it opened in 1957 was the second Cinema in Athy.  The Cinema in Offaly Street, known to my generation as “Bobs” was then still in operation although it closed within a short time of the Grove opening.  It could not hope to compete in terms of comfort or even quality of sound and vision with the new arrival.  This is how the Grove Cinema was described in the souvenir programme of 1957. 

 “The new Cinema is built on the ground known as the Grove from which it gets its name.  It incorporates all the very latest in structural and technical advancements in Cinema design.

All local labour and material were used as far as possible in the construction.  The Cinema is approached through a very spacious entrance foyer off which is the Manager’s Office, Sweet Shop and Ticket Office serving both the balcony, back stalls and front stalls patrons.  The Entrance Hall itself is carried in the most up to date contemporary colour scheme with a centre chandelier, which won first prize in design in London.  The Balcony is approached by a wide spacious staircase.  The beautiful wrought iron balustrade was made locally.

The Auditorium to the house is of the new wide shape suitable for modern cinemascope screen, so that patrons from all parts of the house obtain a clear uninterrupted view of the picture.  The Cinema accommodates approximately 1,000 patrons, one hundred in the front stalls, six hundred in the back stalls and three hundred in the Balcony.  The seats in both the Balcony and Stalls are the very latest in design and luxury.  The carpets are a special weave made exclusively for Cinemas.  The large stage is fully equipped for stage shows and has all the necessary Dressing Rooms and other essential appurtenances.

The Projection Room is equipped with the very latest Projection equipment, including the most up to date safety devices. The screen frame is the very latest in design, capable of being automatically changed in size by push button control, so that the size of the picture can be changed from the normal picture to wide screen in full Cinemascope. The Cinema is set back from the main road with a large Car Park.  The original grove of trees is being retained as a private garden for the use of the patrons.  The whole scheme will add considerably to the amenities of the town, and of which the people of Athy may be justly proud.

The Architect of the scheme was W.M. O’Dwyer, M.R.I.A.I., 21, Clare Street, Dublin, who incidentally was responsible for the design of the luxurious Ambassador Cinema in Dublin. The Main Contractor was Mr. George Nash who carried out the whole job from start to finish in the finest possible manner”. 

With the demolition of the Grove Cinema, the town of Athy which has a population of over six thousand inhabitants is now without a Cinema.  However, it has twenty four or so Public houses and seven places of worship.  If nothing else, the spirits are well catered for!

Cinema in Athy

An eight sided perforated aluminium disc with the words "Athy Picture Palace Limited" on one side and stamped "9d" and the number "244" on the reverse is the only memento I have of the early days of cinematography in Athy.

Nicholas O'Rourke-Glynn, the former Manager of a travelling show called "Peppers Ghost" is generally acknowledged to have held the first Magic Lantern shows in Athy on a regular basis. Travelling showmen had called to Athy on and off and gave displays of their wonder machine in the Town Hall but the first resident proprietor of the Lantern Shows was O'Rourke-Glynn who settled in Athy in 1916.

Early purpose built commercial cinemas were confined to the larger cities and it was not until about 1925 that the then Captain Hosie established Athy's Picture Palace. It was located in Offaly Street on the site of a former Malt House and the site of the present Mount Offaly Press. Billy Kelly, an electrician in Duthie Larges in Leinster Street was the projectionist. Captain Hosie, an English Army Officer, later to be promoted to the rank of Colonel is now best remembered for establishing the foundry business known as "the I.V.I." in the mid-1930's.

The Picture Palace was in time sold to a Mr. Holmes of Portlaoise and he in turn sold it on to the Roscrea Cinema Company. Difficulties with the local Urban Council which was the licensing authority led to the closing of the cinema for almost twelve months during the 1940's. When it re-opened it was to a renewed lease of life and an eager audience which each night made its way up Offaly Street to view the very latest cinematic offerings.

Growing up in that same street throughout the 1950's I can recall the activity coming up to opening time as the picture goers made their way to the darkened palace of fantasy. In those days one went to the "pictures" - movies were an invention of a later period and did not then form part of our vocabulary.

Kitty Webster's sweet shop on the corner of Butlers Row did a good business with the picture goers. Even in those leisurely days, ever alive to commercial opportunities there was a break in the programme to enable the audience to stock up with the latest offerings of Cleeves toffee, ice-cream and fruit. No popcorn or canned drinks in those days. The more energetic, unwilling to join the queue at the cinema shop made the short journey to Kitty Websters. In time however the picture house proprietors ensured a greater turnover at the cinema shop by the simple expedient of not allowing anybody out once the pictures had started. It is a wonder we never questioned this arbitrary restriction on our freedom. Maybe it was the knowledge that any objection to the practice might lead to ones exclusion from the picture house - a fate not to be envied in pre-television provincial Ireland.

I can still recall the pangs of withdrawal symptoms when with a few young friends we were barred from attending our normal Sunday afternoon offerings of the latest Hopalong Cassidy episode. Our crime, the stoning of the picture house Manager when he unluckily came into our line of fire during a pitch battle with a neighbouring gang on Church Road. Having suffered for four or five weeks we had no option but to proffer our abject apologies before we were again allowed to spend our modest pocket-money in "Bob's Picture House".

The opening of the Grove Cinema in 1957 saw Athy with two cinemas where before it had only one picture house. The terminology had changed, the comfort and standards expected were improved and in time the old favourite in Offaly Street was to close its doors for the last time. Even the Grove Cinema has now gone, the building standing in mute testimony to the changing times when every house is now a picture house where the very latest movies can be viewed in the comfort of ones home. A far cry from the heydays of the Picture Palace.