The Electric Palace The Triangle Cinedrome ( The Bug House) Cinema Totnes Road Paignton
On the Totnes Road side of the triangle at number 9, is the site of one of the first cinemas in Paignton. The Electric Palace was opened to the public in April of 1911 by the proprietor Major A.O. Ellis, a businessman with a vision of the great opportunities opened up by this new technology. A large flag flown from the roof of the building proclaimed the location of the Electric Palace, drawing in the crowds to view the blockbusters of the day. As probably the first cinema to show moving pictures in Paignton there was no shortage of patrons for the compact 280 seat auditorium.
Curious crowds soon filled the small, dark film theatre and were soon overwhelmed with tears and laughter as they watched the really great stars of the early films. The excitement and laughter that they experienced is hard to imagine as they saw this amazing new media and some of the first Charlie Chaplin shorts were soon favourites along with Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton. But times were hard and severe and it was a sheer delight to share the wondrous excitement with others , to be able to forget the world outside and lose oneself in in the antics of those wonderful old classics, which even today , can still make us laugh when occasionally , we see them on T.V. Many comedians who followed admit they were inspired by the pioneers of the moving pictures. Morecombe and Wise, Benny Hill and Arthur Askey to name a few.
The oval archway which marks the spot where the foyer was situated in Totnes Road is still apparent over what is now the Tax Office. One can imagine the queues of excited people waiting to go in. Unfortunately the narrow pathways were to lead to the demise of the old cinema in 1948, following several accidents, one fatal, to outgoing patrons being slow to adjust to daylight after the darkness inside and with increasing traffic, it was obliged to close.