It's music to the ear as cinema organ lives again

By Eddie McIlwaine – 09 October 2007

Film fans will step back in time when a mighty cinema organ surges into a new lease of musical life at the Movieland Cinema in Newtownards tonight.

"It will be just like the old days in the 50s when the late Stanley Wyllie was king of the console at the Ritz in Belfast," promises mine host at Movieland Ernie Watson (69).

It was Ernie, nephew of his celebrated namesake at the old Grove Theatre in Belfast's York Street, who rescued the unwanted Compton organ after it had been dumped from the Ambassador Cinema in London's Hounslow 24 years ago.

"I found it lying in a barn in the summer of 1997, snapped it up for £3,000 and brought it home," explains Ernie, whose dream was to put organ music back into cinema at his place in the Ards Shopping Centre.

And now the dream has come true and to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the day the marathon restoration scheme just completed by Ernie and organ builder Jackie Smith, now retired, the 1936 Compton is ready for playtime.

At the console for tonight's recital (6-8pm) will be famed cinema organist Kevin Grunill from Blackpool where he is resident in the North Pier and often plays the Wurlitzer in the Tower.

Back in the 50s when Stanley Wyllie was as important as the main feature at the former Ritz Cinema there was an organist at the lamented Classic Picture House in Belfast too.

"But Stanley was the one everyone went to hear," says Ernie. " He used to appear up out of a hatch on the stage to play requests for the fans. He was a star and everybody loved him until he left in 1959 to go to UTV as a transmission controller. He died in 2003."

Now Ernie Watson's Compton is one of only two cinema organs surviving in Northern Ireland. The other is at Bangor Academy School where it was rebuilt after being removed from the old Tonic Cinema when the picture house was being demolished in the seaside resort.

The Compton at Movieland is on the first floor of the foyer with its glittering pipes secured behind glass and with its console, vibraphone, melotone vibes and swell shutters in plain view, and the glockenspiel and xylophone behind a glamour shot of the late Marilyn Monroe.

"My Compton doesn't get played often enough," says Ernie. " That's why I'm having this special night when Ken Grunill will entertain us.

"I'm definitely turning the clock back ? and I know Stanley Wyllie would like what is happening at Movieland."