The Cinema Museum’s Director and Co-Founder Martin Humphries
by CHAD KENNERK
All images courtesy of the Cinema Museum
Devoted to keeping the spirit of cinema alive, London’s The Cinema Museum is the city’s only museum entirely dedicated to the experience of going to the cinema and tells the story behind the rich cultural heritage of moviegoing in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1984, The Cinema Museum is the result of a life-long fascination with cinemagoing by collectors Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries. Set in the historic surroundings of Kennington, The Cinema Museum is a veritable treasure trove of movie memorabilia. It’s a glimpse of another time and an important period of moviegoing history. On display in the museum is a unique collection of artefacts, memorabilia and equipment from decades of exhibition history. With a mission to preserve the history and grandeur of cinema from the 1890s all the way to the present day, the collection highlights that golden period of filmgoing between the 1920s-1960s. The Cinema Museum’s Co-Founder and Director Martin Humphries recently sat down with Film Review to discuss the origins of the museum and the building’s special link to cinema history.
In conversation with Martin Humphries
Director and Co-Founder, The Cinema Museum
Film Review (FR): How did the Cinema Museum begin? The collection began privately and then eventually became a museum.
Martin Humphries (MH): Yes, that’s correct. Ronald Grant, who is my partner, worked in the cinema industry from the age of 15 training as a professional projectionist. When I met him in 1979, he already had a very sizable collection of cinema memorabilia of all kinds, including projection equipment. This was at a time in Britain when cinema was in serious decline, with many High Street cinemas being demolished. We discovered that if we offered the demolition men beer money, they would let us in and we could take anything we wanted. Over a five-year period, we seriously rescued many, many, many items that are currently on display in the museum. The question became, what do we do with all this stuff that we have now amassed. After having some discussions with friends and so on, we decided to create the museum. We became a not-for-profit in 1984 and then we became a charity in 1986. We’re a small, independent museum with a board of trustees and very, very little public funding.
(FR): When did you open your doors?
(MH): 1989. We moved from Brixton, because we were in a very unsuitable building, to the old fire station in Renfrew Road, which is just two minutes from here. That was much better. We were able to do screenings and we were able to be open for guided tours as well. We moved into our current building in 1998. This is the administrative block of what was originally the Lambeth Workhouse, where poor people ended up. This was very Victorian. It was an enormous workhouse; there were 1,400 people here and the most famous was Charlie Chaplin. He came in here twice as a child. He was mostly brought up by his mother Hannah, along with his half brother Sydney. Hannah fell into hard times and she had no choice but to come into the workhouse. Because of the Chaplin connection, we have quite a lot of Chaplin memorabilia on display in one section of the museum. The Chaplin family have been very, very good to us over the years. It’s a very nice connection to have.
(FR): So much of what is in the museum would otherwise not exist, these were items that were going to be thrown away essentially.
(MH): Yes, absolutely. It’s lots of Art Deco. Lots of signage. Portraits of film stars. Stills from films and lobby cards. Free-standing signage. Cinema uniforms. It just conjures up the experience of going to the cinema as it was.
(FR): Exactly, it’s all about the moviegoing experience in the Golden Age. You also have a very robust events program and screening partnerships.
(MH): Some of them, like the Kennington Bioscope, are partnerships. A bunch of silent musicians just wanted to be able to practise more. Well, it’s been going on for years now. Every three weeks we show a silent film with live piano. And twice a year, we have Kennington Bioscope weekends, one of which is a comedy weekend and one of which is a more drama orientated weekend. We do a film noir season. We do a Women & Cocaine season – which is a Tallulah Bankhead quote, so it’s Pre-Code films with strong female characters. We’re doing a road movie season that's being put on by The Nickel Cinema, which is another partnership.
(FR): What were some of the unique aspects about moviegoing at this time in the UK?
(MH): Firstly, cinema was very popular. The initial cinemas, which were built from 1910, were relatively small at 200 or 300 seats. Then along came Mr. Odeon and in 1930 the first Odeon was built and that was a much bigger cinema, a kind of super cinema. A picture palace really. It was the picture palaces that people remember with great affection. They were huge, they were luxurious, and they were often full. Most cinemas operated a system known as continuous performance. The program ran continuously from the time the cinema opened in the afternoon, until it closed in the evening.
Now, the starting times of the individual programs were advertised, but many people paid no attention to this. They just turned up when they were free, bought a ticket and sat down, so it could be anywhere in the program. If you’ve missed the first 20 minutes of either of the feature films, that’s a great chunk of plot explained. So you’re sitting watching a film and not completely understanding what’s going on or quite what the relationships are between the various characters. This didn’t bother anybody. People sat until it came around to the bit where they came in, at which point most people stayed on to see the program through to the end, because now you understood what you were looking at. Or if you weren’t very interested, you just left. [Laughs.] It’s a very different system from the one today. You only get one feature film today – in the old days you got two; an A film and a B film. Plenty for your money.
(FR): The collection is exhibition focused, including Art Deco decor, technical equipment, and everything from ushers uniforms to their torches. In your view, what are among some of the more unique elements in the collection?
(MH): Well, we have an armband that would have been worn by staff during Saturday morning pictures, which were film clubs for children, ages five to 15. We have a sound on disc on display, so we can talk about the transition from silent to sound when people come on a tour. I think many of the cinema uniforms are unique, because each chain had a slightly different version of the cinema uniform. They are rather military in style, which seemed to be the favoured design for cinema uniforms. We have some cinema seats, some cinema sofas – they’re rather unusual today I would say. It’s very, very atmospheric. People seem to fall in love relatively quickly with the museum. There are things we feel we can improve and over time we will. Parts of the museum are too busy; there’s too many objects in the space. The one advantage of that is that when people come back for a second time, they see things they missed the first time around. [Laughs.] But in an ideal world, it would probably be better if some areas were less cluttered.
(FR): You have a hallway that has examples of the old category board, denoting film certificates, one of which has the certificate H for horror.
(MH): Yes it does, that came in with Dracula and Frankenstein in 1932 and lasted until 1951 when it was replaced by the X certificate [incidentally the X was introduced by former Film Review contributor Arthur Watkins] and the age was increased from 16 to 18. Of course, that’s now the 18 certificate in Britain.
(FR): In addition to the experience of going to the museum, you also offer rich research possibilities. If someone wanted to research a specific topic regarding cinemas or film history, what is that process like?
(MH): They would just need to contact me by phone or by email, explaining what their area of research is. If we can help, then we would arrange for them to come in. We do of course charge a fee for this. We get all kinds of people coming to do research. We have sometimes had people from cinema companies wanting to research their own history, because we probably have material they no longer have. We get film historians coming, people who may be doing something about their local cinemas and want to try and find more information about them. And of course, people like coming to us because it’s not microfiche, it’s handling the actual materials. That’s always better for researchers. If they’re going through, let’s say a trade magazine, looking for specific information that they think is there, they may spot other things that are of interest to them or are of interest to other researchers that they know.
(FR): You also have a connection to Film Review, because the 70th edition of Film Review annual had its launch at the Cinema Museum back in 2015. What was that evening like?
(MH): Oh, it was very enjoyable! With lots of people celebrating a great annual. Ronald went to the funeral of F. Maurice Speed and he met James there.
(FR): Why is legacy and the history of filmgoing so vital to preserve?
(MH): Well it’s our past. You must preserve the past. It’s social history, design history, architectural history, it’s the history of cinema, the history of cinemagoing. It’s the history of film, travelling from the silent period, through early sound, through to the 1950s spectacular. The changes from black and white to colour and Technicolor – which I always think is fabulous. It’s got so many different aspects to it, really. People completely get it today. The importance of having saved and retained this material. The importance of history. I have to say, when we were digging around in cinemas that were being demolished, people thought we were completely ‘out there,’ you know? “Why are you collecting this old, old stuff?” Well, there’s been a complete 180 degree turn around. People completely understand the importance of celebrating the past and social history. It informs you now and tomorrow.
(FR): The further we get away from that past, it only becomes richer. We’ve seen that with film memorabilia too, in terms of the growth of that market.
(MH): We would not be able to put the museum together today. It would be impossible, because you’d have to be a multi-millionaire, in terms of acquiring the material and so forth. Yeah, you’re absolutely right.
(FR): That’s what makes it so special. To have amassed this large of a collection, it would be very difficult to get that all under one roof today. Which is why it’s fortunate that visitors have the opportunity to do just that. Martin, how can guests visit you?
(MH): There are three ways. They can come to an event. We’re always open an hour before, so you can have an hour to look around. You can come on a guided tour. These are advertised on the website. They last two hours. They cost £10 or £7 concessions [for adults and children respectively.] We offer complimentary tea or coffee and at the end there’s half an hour of short films from the museum collection. Or you can arrange to visit. People will say, “Oh can I come next Tuesday?” I’ll have a look in the diary, see who’s going to be here and what’s happening. If it looks like it’s possible for someone to come, I’ll say, “Yeah, you can come next Tuesday at four o’clock.” But the guided tour’s the thing really.
(FR): The tours are where you’re providing lots of anecdotes, because you’ve been with this collection for a long time.
(MH): Well it’s our 40th Anniversary from the creation of the museum in 1984, yes.
(FR): Are you doing anything special for your 40th?
(MH): We’re going to have a party. Possibly two parties, one in the afternoon and one in the evening on different days. We will be putting on various celebratory events throughout the year.
(FR): To close us out, let’s talk about the save the Cinema Museum campaign.
(MH): We’re hoping to acquire the building after all this time. We have an opportunity, a golden opportunity. Although our previous landlords were the NHS, they sold the building off and the adjoining land and we’re now owned by a property developer. Anyway, we’ve managed to agree a deal with them, which is signed and sealed and legally drawn up and everything. If we give them a premium of £1 million, they will give us a 999-year lease at peppercorn rent. It’s a fabulous deal – of course, the problem is raising the money [laughs.] We’ve got another four years to raise the money, so fingers crossed. We’re halfway there already in pledges, so we’re pretty hopeful we can raise the rest of the money in the time period we’ve got. But obviously, we’ll be seeking as much support from, all over the place, as we possibly can. It’s the best building we’ve been in, in our life, so let’s hope we can stay.
THE CINEMA MUSEUM is a museum in Kennington, London. The museum was initially founded in 1984 by Ronald Grant and Martin Humphries from their own private collection of cinema history and memorabilia. After 15 years of campaigning, The Cinema Museum has the chance to secure a permanent home for the museum, while also saving a unique heritage building. You can help make a difference and join the Cinema Museum’s campaign by reaching out to Martin at info@cinemamuseum.org.uk or by visiting the Cinema Museum online.
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