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The initial thought behind the scala was...

to provide London with a repertory cinema more on the lines of an American

repertory cinema, which changes the program every day and has a very diverse

program. At the time, London had the National Film Theatre, which was a very

staid and very kind of aloof cinema showing films from around the

world, but in a very kind of academic way.

But that notion of it being a fun experience and something outside of the

straight jacket of normal cinema viewing was kind of like very important to us.

There wasn't really a kind of eclectic cinema at the time.

Hello Gala.

Yeah, from the 22nd we're showing Fritz the Cat and Popeye cartoons.

The 27th we're showing Mondo Trasho and Hairspray. That's Mondo Trasho.

Definitely the...

The eclecticism of the programme is very much what defines this gala.

I believe that this comes out in all different ways, as well as the fact that

the building accommodates features that are like 1920s style, like the roof and

the floor and the chandeliers. And then we've got this 1980s, late 80s style

graffiti, and that's quite physically representative of the eclecticism of the

programme, which, as I said, includes everything from Orson Welles to...

John Waters, Fire, Russ Mayer, and Akira Kurosawa.

And it's very much the confidence in being able to show a classic one day, an

absolute sleazebag film the next day, that defines our attitude.

Action. Ian Johnston.

So, give me a stage.

Ready, sporting.

The Scala cinema could almost be classed as an outlaw cinema as such, because

some of the films that have been shown here, there's been white -hot

surrounding them. So, for instance, The Evil Dead, when the Brightville

controversy was raging around that film, the Scala would actually show this

film, and this was the only cinema in Britain where you could see that film at

this time, uncut.

Well, The Scala really was the first cinema in London that actually, and for

I know in England, actually took exploitation films seriously in terms of

like David Lynch, Roger Corman.

And I would say that a lot of these people owe their careers in this country

The Scala. I've been producing for Palace.

I've been making...

Two or three films a year. Usually one is my production, which I really work on

100%. And then one or two others that are co -productions, where I either co

-produce or we accept produce.

And it was the same thing running a cinema, the same thing of producing, of

wanting to know. As soon as I started making films, I had to know what

did. So I knew that I could appreciate the problems they had.

It's kind of like the smaller groups who had these obsessions, a chance

to see the movies they wanted to see, so that they would really take over for

the day, and they would be very heavily involved in the programming. They would

bring their own Lauren Hardy reference, or they would program their old TV

shows, and they would bring their collection of TV stuff that they've

they would tell all their mates, and it would become more like a club

atmosphere.

Ricky Baker.

The Scala for us has really served as a good vehicle.

It's built up here as a situation of the crowds. Now, look at the Scala and say,

Scala Kung Fu, Kung Fu Scala.

Most of the crowd in there are from Scotland, Ireland, Manchester,

The atmosphere in there is so, so loud and so noisy that some people say it's a

good job the film's a subtitle because they would never, ever hear it.

If it was in English, it's English language.

People with specialist knowledge will approach us and say, will you hire us

a cinema? I want to do a certain show.

Now, for example, that includes the Jackie Chan fan club who present a

arts film. And they present the whole thing with maybe a guest speaker,

doing a bit of martial arts on stage.

Then there's Val Crows and his psychotronic crew who come and do very

movies.

Val.

Can your heart stand the shocking fact of Grey Rubber from Outer Space?

I wanted to put on some shows that were...

It was a bit more than just going to the cinema and watching a film.

And they had absolutely no hesitation in agreeing to it. They said, let's go for

it. And so we did.

So we put a 3D film, which had never been shown before, which is called

of the Moon, which was pretty amusing. Huge tarantulas falling down in 3D and

rockets and things coming straight at you.

There's lots of pointing at the camera all the way through.

That was quite amusing.

Then we launched into our next one, which was an all -nighter.

We thought, what if we have all night Elvis?

So we planned a thing. We had Elvis lookalikes and Elvis DJs, Elvis

Ooh, lots of that.

We had just people getting up on stage and miming to Elvis records, obviously

showing Elvis films all night. And we had a really good turnout for that. We

people coming out from the stand. There was quite a lot of interest.

And we were just trying to think of more and more ridiculous things that we

could put on, things that were more than just cinema.

The next thing we did after that was a festival by filmmaker Ed Wood.

I'd got a video company and we put out a film, Plan 9 from Outer Space, which

reputation probably precedes it as the worst movie ever made, and we really

wanted to set the record straight.

So we spent a long time. We got the director of one of his last movies to

from L .A., a guy called Steve Apostoloff, who was quite a character.

white silk suit, golden rings, smoking Havana cigars.

He was about five foot high.

and spoke in a very thick Bulgarian accent.

After we'd shown a lot of the movies, things like Glen or Glenda, which was a

sort of semi -autobiographical film about transvestism, because Edward was a

transvestite. And there's some great stories about him in the Marines,

bra and panties underneath his Marine combat uniform in the war.

And the first time Steve Apostoloff met him at the Brown's Elby in Hollywood, he

said that he was sitting there, and the waiter came up and goes, your dates here

in a very disgruntled voice and ed walked in with a beret cashmere jumper

stilettos and a pencil skirt and a full beard what is it that would happen were

this individual to appear this way on the street you're doing it now laughing

yet it's not a situation to be laughed at thus the strange case of

glenn who was glenda one in the same person Not half man, half woman, but

nevertheless, man and woman in the same body, even though by all outward

appearances, Glenn is fully and completely a man.

Pretty outrageous.

Anyway, Steve came out and he was going to give a lecture after the Herschel

thing. we didn't think we'd have any problems but we didn't bank on his

which was very thick and he just stood there for about half an hour just oh yes

nobody understood him

and then he had a load of trailers for his films which he confided in me they

spent a lot of time putting it together himself especially the first one came up

no problems in the second one spliced in upside down and back to front, which

got a good cheer and made him walk out of the theatre in disgust.

I had to go after him and bring him back, but that was all right.

It was a good night.

Latterly, I visit the cinema because I wish to express my discernment, and one

tribute I will pay to the Scars is the variety one can

always get in its monthly program.

This is one of my reasons for visiting the cinema as often as I do, to avail

myself of the pleasure.

of seeing some really good films.

I was surprised the other day when I saw a Chinese film. I admit there was a

tremendous amount of mayhem in it.

And the mayhem took place inside a Roman Catholic church.

And I am above all a son of Rome.

But, by and large, the Chinese film called The Killers was a very

enlightening one indeed.

My name is Dr. Cecil Bartholomew Paul Maximilian Bonner. Je m 'appelle Madame,

Monsieur, Monsieur le Dr. Cecil Bartholomew Paul Maximilian Bonner.

Right in King's Cross, the well -known fame, stands an edifice with an

illustrious name.

It is a haven for many kinds of folk, and believe you me, this is no sick

The scholar caters.

for all types of humanity, from the brilliant to those who will tolerate

even inanity.

Here come the saints and the sinners, the losers and the winners, to

to circulate, or just keep a date.

The scholar, everything works out fine.

make room for all kinds and that is very much reflected in our audience and

quite interesting as well that we can have people like mark moore in lucky

training people like that and we can have very um ordinary in the first

people like melvin rude we love this girl we call her her her because we love

her she's just we look to her like a person

We always look first to see, oh, look at the blood and thunder first and book

all those up here. I mean, you know, so keep the days free.

And we prefer those.

I don't like these, well, love -making

things, you know.

It's not so much bedroom scenes either.

These sort of films, I mean, you sit in your seat and you're sort of transfixed,

aren't you? Especially as you're running about with a wretched chainsaw.

Or that's one of them.

We like all that because, well, I find it entertaining.

I know we like chasing up the streets after one another, you know.

I love to see these cars go...

over hills, up in the air, you know, flying sort of thing.

We like all that. I don't see there's any harmony at all.

I mean, I don't go out of here wanting to chainsaw somebody or...

Oh, I forget about it. I think it's a good evening's entertainment, especially

if you get, like here, where you get at least two films like that running

together.

It makes a jolly good outing.

We don't fall asleep in here like some of them do. I mean,

I'm amazed at my son. I say to my son, well, I don't know why they pay to come

in here to have a good sleep.

But we wake some of them up when it's time to go home. Oh, it's over, you

The her and the cats are like people to us.

I usually send them a Christmas card.

A Christmas prezzie of some sort, you know, the cats.

It's a home for me, for horror movies. I just associate The Scholar with

my whole fantasy horror genre that I love so much.

And virtually every horror film of the 80s that will be recognised as a classic

in the future, I've seen here for the first time, virtually in this seat.

I occasionally have the odd break, but I like to try and see a movie virtually

every day.

To some people that might be quite amazing, really.

But for one, I don't have a video.

And for two, I just haven't got a telly. I haven't had a telly for years.

When I did have it, I used to sometimes watch the older films on it, but it was

of no use to me, really.

And the best way to see a film is on cinema, on the screen, on the big

So I like to pay a visit virtually most days. In fact, I...

I tend to diarise most things. I have a nice colour code for the previews and

what's on at the Scala, what's on at the NFT.

And then I've got another nice special little diary on which I record the films

I've seen.

And if I see sometimes maybe one, even two

films a day...

Sometimes I take a day off and catch up, you know, and see three or four that

are coming off.

And I'm probably heading for my all -time record this year, approximately

films seen.

But my ex -wife, she had it to a certain extent. She liked Hollywood, Disney and

the mainstream movies, but when it came to horror and the schlock and the

fantasy and the foreign films, she just couldn't handle it at all.

And it was perhaps a certain aspect of the marriage that it just didn't work

that, you know.

She'd come and see quite a few films with me, but she couldn't share that

delight of the old gripping of the seat with the horrors, you know.

And over the past couple of years, I decided to try putting a little personal

in Time Out and met such a variety of women.

I'm sure some of them thought I was absolutely mad, you know, having this...

extreme passion and love for film but the adverts got a bit bigger and

the people got a bit more film conscious and I think I've eventually found

someone that can share that passion equally and within a bond of one hope's

and sharing the movies in fact we went to Wild at Heart last night and to have

someone hold your hand at all the gripping parts more or less continually

throughout the film

And to put a head on your shoulder, well, that was really, really quite

something.

And if I found the two greatest joys together now, all one needs is me.

Big, big influence.

I like to think of much of the music as soundtracks to films that haven't been

made yet.

There's one track in particular called Sprinkle, Step Into My Mind, which is

about someone totally in love with the movies.

In fact, they're not even in love, they're obsessed.

Totally obsessed.

Many a time I used to get thrown out of the Scala.

one of us would pay to get in and he'd go downstairs and open the back door and

about 25 of us would just run in upstairs into the little coffee bar

jukebox was and uh you'd often see me getting like a hold out by two guys this

character who i didn't know by name had his ear bitten off it was actually at

the ica a clash gig his ear bitten off went to hospital got his phone back on

and came back and was poloing in the front like with his ear sewn on which i

thought was pretty disgusting anyway this guy whose name was shane came to

scala and see a movie that i really really really have been trying for years

get hold of which was called attack of the foot woman which i loved and i

thought was a great i think it's a great film just not a great trash film but

just the fun great film and the cinema was packed and there was this love of

kind of like anticipation and uh suddenly i heard this sound kind of

sound.

And these people two rows from me were like standing up, alarmed.

And Shane had climbed onto his seat and was pissing into the audience.

It was the same character who had his ear bitten off.

And I've never resorted to violence in my life, very hardly ever, except with

very, very, very, very small children.

And I jumped up and grabbed him and pulled him out and threw him onto the

street, like with these people helping me.

I just said, you know, you don't ever come back to the cinema again.

The only performance that makes it, that really makes it, that makes it all the

way, is the one that achieves madness.

Am I right?

Am I right?

I

think

the thing that's special about the Scala is the fact that it's so diverse.

No two days are the same in this place.

We have quite a loyal gay audience, sometimes on Mondays.

We have a larger crowd on Saturday nights.

We have the art crowd.

We have a lot of fun. Students come in and get everybody.

One of my fondest memories of this gorgeous, gorgeous cinema The evening

couple of years back, I remember, when they first showed Torch Song Trilogy on

special preview, and the vibes that night were absolutely incredible.

It was an unforgettable evening, because virtually the whole audience was gay,

and there were gay couples of every kind and description, and to sit there in

that audience and share the laughter and tears with them was one of the

experiences I'll never forget, really.

The Saturday night all -nighter at the Scala cinema was the social highlight of

the week.

I used to meet my friend Barry down there at around 2am.

Barry's job was to keep everybody awake all night, but I can't discuss that with

you for legal reasons.

My highest score on the Space Invaders was...

10 ,280 points.

And my favourite record was Beyond Good and Evil by the Pop Group.

What film? I don't recall seeing any films there, no. You've got the wrong

place. Sorry.

Ralph Brow.

I think a lot of young actors, when they're starting out, start out tearing

tickets in theatres or working backstage or whatever.

It's perhaps significant that I did start out tearing tickets in a cinema

because that's really where I wanted to end up working as a film actor.

People always ask me, you know, do I prefer working in theatre or do I prefer

working in television or films?

I prefer working in films.

The most memorable time for me of that period was the all -nighters.

I used to turn up for work at about 10 o 'clock and put the coffee on and watch

the gathering of the tribes who would come in for the sort of ritual all

-nighter. Depending on what films were being shown, you would get, say, a gay

crowd, which at that time would be very unusual.

The Scarlet was one of the first feminists in Farthom away who actually

programmed gay films.

Or you'd get the rockers, the bikers down there, or you'd get the Blitz kids

coming in from the Blitz club.

There's a bunch of people who basically went to Scala every Saturday night, late

night show, irrelevant of what was on.

and there'd be this wild party atmosphere with people joining in and

comments at the screen.

If ever there was a disco scene or a music scene in any of the movies that

being shown, people would get up and dance, and it would be crazy.

You know, people say, all night film, why people don't want to get up all

watching movies?

And they do, because I knew I did, and I would if it was the right kind of

programming. I used to get bored when I discovered Scala and all -night film

shows.

They've always been a haven for runaways.

Tom Heslock.

Man -made chickens.

Strangest chickens I've ever seen.

We used to get quite a lot of very strange people for the all -nighters.

One we had was a guy called Norman Satan, who had been in previously and

couple of cashiers and the manager that he should be letting free because he

owned the place. He couldn't de -own the world, being Norman Satan.

I met Norman Satan one night when he came in with his dog, and I tried to

him and said, I am Norman Satan. Do you want to be damned?

I said, well, no, not really, but you have to buy a ticket.

He goes, well, you're damned anyway, and marched past.

The manager at the time, Andrew Whiteman, stopped me from going up and

we'll call the police.

So they called the police, and we all went to look for him, and he disappeared

with his dog.

We don't know where he was, up at Brimstone.

Another character we had was the Swedish streaker in white cowboy boots, who I

was downstairs.

They used to stand at the bottom of the stairs while people were going in to pay

their tickets and basically to try my best to intimidate so you wouldn't get

trouble. And this guy had gone up looking quite normal apart from his pair

white cowboy boots and he was wearing a red jacket.

one of the massive Swedish guy. We got someone coming down saying, there's some

guy running around naked in the cinema.

So we rushed up and we saw him. He was rushing around the cinema in his white

cowboy boots and nothing else, stark naked.

We chased him around for a bit and he went down back there and disappeared,

leaving his clothes in the toilet.

12, Kansas Stella.

Guys like you, one's too many and a hundred's not enough.

The lost weekend.

Nick Rizzo.

Over the years I've been here, I've been keeping a few diaries.

Here's a few extracts of them.

October, God knows when.

Sometime in the empty 80s.

Dress for sex night.

Movies like Let Me Die a Woman, May Tress and Thundercrack. The Sweaty

-strings and see -through plastic skirts are paraded around.

And that's just for guys.

All night, both toilets rattling away with fevered enthusiasm.

12 flavours of ice cream and 7 flavours of condom.

All night, horror. The wolf mum, early 20s but looking so much older.

Hairy face, hairy ears, hairy hands, hairy.

There's even traces of it in the dirty change he pushes over the counter

me. He sniffles and bares his teeth, sharp yellowed incisors. He's happy

he's home for the night.

Warren used to like winding up the audience.

His favourite film was Blade Runner.

And during a pertinent point from that, he would suddenly launch himself into a

leap across the seats all the way down over people's heads and have people

going, what's that?

We used to regularly get people coming out and going, there's rats in there,

because what he'd do is weave through people's legs and rub against them.

The best thing I saw Warren do was at about five o 'clock on an all -nighter,

were showing a film by Herschel Gordon -Lewis called Colour Me Blood Red, which

is one of the early gore films.

And there was this guy just flat out in front of me asleep.

And it was during a very gory bit. Warren obviously got very excited,

something, and walked up to the guy very calmly and leapt on his head. And this

guy just went ten feet in the air.

I have a strange history of this building.

From the... It was one of the first buildings... I think, custom -built as a

cinema. When we took over, something called a primatarium was going on here,

which they'd ripped all the seats out and turned the auditorium into a grassy

down, and they had 17 slide projectors, which showed the history of man from

primate to now.

I think people feel at home here because the building is kind of slightly

shabby, and they feel at ease in that kind of environment rather than a place

that's absolutely spotless.

It's a bit run down, isn't it?

I mean, I've had my colleagues and people around the place calling it a

pit, but then that's, if you like it for the atmosphere of a flea pit

atmosphere, that's why you come.

I always enjoy a cinema as a character.

I like the fact that we've got a cinema cat and there's the occasional sound of

a train, and it adds to the memory of the experience of seeing film.

We had an American director called Penelope Spheeris on stage talking about

new film, which was The Decline of Civilisation Part II, The Metal Years.

kind of a heavy metal documentary. It was very funny. And she got on stage

afterwards to speak to an extremely hostile audience of heavy metalers who'd

hated the film.

She opened her mouth and a tube train went underneath and she screamed it's an

earthquake and just ran to the side of the stage.

I don't really like coming to Kingsclough. It has a reputation for the

vice. In fact, Mona Lisa was partly inspired by my working here, working the

nights here, going up to behind the station and being quite sickened. The

across the road, which was an amusement arcade, I'm not sure if it's still here

now, you could go there at three in the morning and play on

the machines and people would just be lining up.

drugged on the top of a pimple machine.

What'd you get?

Nothing.

Nothing? Yeah, nothing.

What do you mean, nothing?

I mean nothing, Denny. The opposite of something.

They drink tea.

She's lying.

Well, why would she lie?

I don't know. You'll find out.

How am I going to find out?

Well, take a picture. Climb a drainpipe, find out.

I've got a picture.

You're trying to be funny, George.

I told you, Dennis, she drinks tea.

You are funny, Georgie.

I suppose I am, yeah.

Get something better.

Well, that's your main fare. I mean, slimy, nasty, slimy, kinky.

I don't want to know anything about tea.

All right then, George.

According to British Rail, the King's Cross development won't affect the Scala

at all.

They say two things at one time. One is that the building won't be touched.

Two is that they want to knock a great big public walkway right through.

the back corridor so really that that's a question of yet to be seen the truth

is as a refugee cinema running programs where you change every day there isn't

the opportunity to make very big money if you have a real big hit then you have

it for that day that monday or that sunday or that wednesday the notion of

breaking even becomes even harder because the rent has gone up here i

tripled since i took it over since i ran it and um

As cinemas become more successful, people are looking for more screens.

So people have made offers for this building and made offers to buy the

which we've turned down.

And we've got to somehow compromise to make allowance for the future

so that we can still show the same kind of films we're showing now in a cinema.

And one of the compromises we're making is that we have plans to triple the

theatre, which is to have three screens, one of which will be a repertory

cinema, one of which will be...

a first -run theater and one of which will be a kind of art house it's going

be like the cannons you know you um you feel you've got to tread lightly when

you're going well we don't go there anymore but when we did used to go there

this is a homely little place the stream stained with beer the whole place

shaped when the tube runs dancing some crap but we love it mark moore at the

scarlet