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Electric Palace

Introduction
Harwich’s 1911 cinema still has its old silent screen, projection room and the ornamental front. Cheap seats had wooden benches and a separate side entry, “the tuppenny rush”! Closing in 1956, it re-opened in 1981. Now a community cinema and jazz venue, in 2006 actor Clive Owen became patron following the late Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman.

 From showman Charles Thurston and architect Harold Hooper, this listed Grade II* survivor of early cinema design has had many grants.

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Hazle Ceramics
Electric Palace
Exclusive Limited Mould of 30
on Northampton
Unique Altered Flags Mould
With added 22 carat gold

20th Anniversary 2010
Painted by Hazle & Michele

£75.50 Worldwide
With Free Postage

 On a 2004 tour of Harwich in Essex, The Queen saw this cinema’s splendid restoration.

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 The fully restored interior, 2003.

The Jazz Singer
The first feature-length “talkie” film with songs and synchronized dialogue had an early showing at this Electric Palace in Harwich. Based on his own life story, the Russian-born “blackface” singer Al Jolson plays the young Jakie Rabinowitz who runs away from his strict Jewish family to sing and play popular music. As the adult Jack Robin, he appears on Broadway and finally resolves the conflicts of home and heritage.

 October 1927 premiere at Warner Bros main New York theatre. The pivotal Yom Kippur was next day.
 Jakie is back with his mother on original poster.

 The “blackface” gave US immigrants a “new identity” in the minstrel world.