"Men with Stars in thier Eyes"

‘Sam Lavington – Stars in His Eyes’: Some years ago, a Southern businessman, with cinema in his blood, came up to Derbyshire, hunting for old picture houses, with a view to taking one or more over. His name was Sam Lavington. Sam Lavington Takes Over the Ripley ‘Hippodrome: Sam was biding his time, running a Derby video store. One day, Harry Gretorex walked in. The two got talking. Harry was known in Ripley as 'Mr Entertainment', even though, in his early entrepreneurial days, he turned down a pop group called The Beatles, because they were too pricey at £150. At the time he met Sam Lavington, Harry was intent in ending his lease on the Ripley Hippodrome. A profitable chat resulted in Sam taking the Hippodrome off Harry for £1,000. Why takeover cinema in 1983? Had this man not felt the wind of change with the onset of the video boom? After all, he was part of it. 'I felt that unless I owned a cinema, my life would be somehow incomplete, so I took the plunge'. Sam was not content to sit back and soak up the profits, because there simply wasn't going to be any in this climate. Not unless he made a bigger effort. I talked with the audience, and listened to what they had to say, told them what I wanted to do with the place, and we made a go of it'. Sam received a vital early fillip: 'I will always remember driving into Ripley market place, and seeing a long queue of people, stretching all the way to the old clock where the Town Hall was. I wondered what was going on, and it was only when I went further round the corner, that I realised it was a queue for my old cinema!' The film was 'Ghost Busters'. That spurred me on for the next seven years'. But Sam Lavington remembers he was trying to recreate a lost age. In the course of our meeting he quoted that beautiful phrase to describe the cinema, 'An acre of seats in a garden of dreams'. But that referred to a London Picture Palace, and it was long gone. Sam's starry eyes clouded his vision, 'I did the best I could. I put in a new screen, decorated the foyer, and put in new projection equipment and Dolby stereo. I reduced the seating from 500 to 350, so that no one would ever complain of neck cramps again'. Sam was keeping his head above water, enough not to splutter, and just enough to feel buoyant, because in 1986 he took over the recently revamped Screen cinema in Long Eaton. 101 'It was a clean bright, modern place, and popular with the townsfolk because of that. In some ways it was a forerunner of the multiplex ideal, giving audiences conferred contents'. Sam now saw his own metaphoric omens. 'I thought I was a roller-coaster, but without realising that what goes up, has to come down. At the time, I lived in Heage, and was reminded by someone locally, that the Belper Ritz might be worth taking over. I'm afraid that was the start of the demise. I put too much money into a small cinema, and it was simply not going to give me the Return'. Sam reckons that, at the time, the Ripley and Long Eaton cinemas where running like racehorses', but with the Belper Cinema , he had bought a 'lame-duck.' Put more prosaically, 'Ripley and Long Eaton were ongoing businesses, but with Belper, I had to make a standing start. I poured most of my revenue into Belper, draining the Revenue of the two other cinemas. I made ground but it wasn't enough'. 'To salvage his operation, Sam tried to sell the Belper cinema, with an entrepreneurial dash, 'A flat came with the cinema, so I advertised the flat at a cost of £4,500 pounds, adding that your own personal cinema came free with the purchase. I got a lot of regional press publicity, and coverage on regional TV and news magazines'. He got a buyer, but having left this 'lame-duck' behind, his own future was crippled by two or unforeseen factors, a new poll tax, The favourable rates I had at Ripley had quadrupled,--and the abstruse or politics of lease holding. In spite of the community charge, Sam Lavington still saw a future for the Ripley Hippodrome. When he sought to purchase the Ripley Hippodrome following the death of leaseholder Harry Greatorex, a fundamental problem arose, 'We couldn't find out who actually owned the place. We never heard from anyone. Time went on. I began to struggle to keep up the rental payments. Eventually the executor's s stepped in, and took over the building. We couldn't negotiate with them, because they wouldn't let themselves be known'. Having already lost the Screen at Long Eaton, Sam drifted out of the business. All he has left is a large album of photos and cuttings, along with remembrances of the 'small town cinema's friendship and warmth'. 102 Sam Lavington prides himself on 'making myself known to the customers as often as I could, taking their tickets, and selling them sweets. When Mrs. Brown bought Johnny to our cinema, the girl selling confectionery already knew what he preferred, white chocolate to dark. That's what's missing today, the personal touch'. Quote: "I had stars in my eyes visions of the old-style cinemas, with organs and art deco, what and didn't see, until later, was an ordinary small-town cinema that could never return to those days". Sam Lavington, Manager of Ripley Hippodrome, 1983-91 I always admired people who gave so much of there time to keeping these wonderful old places going over the years, because time is the greatest thing an individual can give, and this story impressed me too, and I met the couple just before his death: ‘Mr. Entertainment’ John and Dorothy Williams: John Williamson had a major ambition and that was to run his own picture house. Together with his wife Dorothy, they made the dream become reality, by investing all their life savings into 'The Palace Theatre', at Longridge, near Preston, in Lancashire. At a time of big chains, and Multiplex cinemas, 'The Palace' became a throwback to a time when the silver screen, was an era of small independently owned movie houses. John, 71, died just two weeks after his brother Harry, at Royal Preston Hospital, and on the day of his funeral, the cortege, drove past the palace, as a final tribute to "Mr. Entertainment". The couple had spent seven years together, and all their savings, refurbishing the building, which they opened finally in 2001. The public were rejoicing that the building, which housed the cinema, was believed to be the North West's only surviving independent picture house. John and Dorothy had previously managed the cinema at Clitheroe Civic Hall, and were owners of Preston Film Services, in Meadow Street, Preston, when they took over 'The Palace', which had closed down for refurbishment. 103 ’Dorothy tells of the Struggle' "We didn't get a penny from anyone. We applied to the Lottery, arts, heritage, and even the Council for funds, but they all turned us down. Every penny spent on that building was out of our own pockets”, she claimed. The couple, well known in Preston, had been married 45 years, and a packed crematorium was told about "Mr. Entertainment". He was described as a man with a great sense of humour, and that everything he did was for the pleasure of others. Originating from Stockport, John later moved to Bolton, where he met his wife Dorothy, at a dance hall, where Victor Silvester was appearing, and awhile later they adopted two daughters, Lois and Susan. After the Crematorium Service, John Williamson's ashes were interred at Mrs. Williamson's family plot in Wales, and since, tributes have poured in from people throughout the film and theatre world. It is ironic, that after such a successful venture, John failed to see his dreams come true, but then like the movies he was to present, not all of them had a happy ending! I am pleased to tell you that there was a time in my life when I met this lovely couple, as I have met most of the people who are mentioned in this autobiography. These were the kind of people who inspired me to stay in the cinema and theatre business; it was certainly not for the money! They were dedicated people who gave a large part of their lives for the enjoyment of others, and they should be remembered if only for that reason. A Hero of the Cinema Page 104 Please go to the next web page.....