conversion was either bad timing or very short-sighted, the opening of Independent Television just one year later in September 1955 with its populist approach to news and entertainment would sound the death knell for such specialised cinemas which were once a feature of every major city in Britain.

Accepting the inevitable, The Newscine rather unimaginatively changed its name to The Newcine showing second run feature films and then a repertory programme until it was sold in 1964 to Classic cinemas.

The Vitagraph's final twenty years were spent as a Curzon Classic, Tatler Cinema Club and a Curzon showing "uncensored" adult films into the 80's by which time the adult film market was firmly established on home video and The Vitagraph, with nowhere else to go, closed in February 1984 and now trades as a club.

Named after its projection equipment, The Vitagraph just along Sauchiehall Street from Glasgow's first purpose-built cinema, the Charing Cross Electric Theatre opened in 1912 and was constructed of Portland stone with statues on either side and crowned with a statue of an angel. The rear facade facing onto Renfrew Street featured tall windows and a carved bust of Beethoven.

The long entrance from Sauchiehall Street led to the paybox and into the narrow, sloping auditorium, unusually for the time, because of the lack of space, a back projection system utilising mirrors was employed and The Vitagraph's projection quality was always poor, one of the reasons for its eventual demise.

In 1914, The Vitagraph was renamed The Kings and in 1917 was sold to John Maxwell's Scottish Cinemas and Variety Theatres, the circuit that would eventually become ABC.

Although it was never one of Glasgow's top cinemas, it traded successfully until 1954 when ABC sold it to Capitol and Provincial Theatres. It reopened as The Newscine, Glasgow's first cinema specialising in newsreels and cartoons although this

520 Sauchiehall Street, City Centre

Opened: 1912
Closed: February 22nd 1984

Designed by: John Fairweather

Number of screens: 1

Number of seats:
(1912): 625
(1955): 450