THE COMPTON ORGAN IN THE
ODEON CINEMA, LEICESTER SQUARE.

THE ALHAMBRA was the building that immediately preceded the Odeon, Leicester Square, but entertainment has been provided on the site for over 150 years.

The Royal Panoptican of Science and Art opened there in 1854, although it was not a particular success. William Hill of Tottenham Court Road provided the venue with a large concert organ which had an array of orchestral voices and effects. It was the first instrument Hill built using the the new 'C compass' and its specifications were considered groundbreaking. In addition to its lavish Byzantine-style case, it had three consoles!

By 1857, the Panoptican had been closed for conversion into the Alhambra Circus (the Hill organ was removed and installed, minus its case, in the North Transept of St Paul's Cathedral, in 1860). In 1864, the circus closed and the venue was transformed into the Alhambra Music Hall. The building was almost completely destroyed, in 1882, by fire. In the fight to put-out the flames, the then Prince of Wales, a voluntary fireman, was almost killed by a collapsing wall. The rebuilt Alhambra Theatre opened in 1884.

On 25 March, 1896, a significant event happened at the Alhambra which, by this time, had become London's premiere house for ballet. Robert William Paul, a pioneering British cinematographer, presented his first public performance of the Theatrograph (British moving pictures). Paul's initial engagement was for two weeks but, in the event, it lasted two years. In June of 1896, Paul filmed the finish of The Derby at Epsom, which was won by Persimmon (the Prince of Wales's horse). He processed the film overnight and screened it the next day to wildly enthusiastic audiences at the packed Alhambra. Paul was, in some ways, the inventor of the Newsreel.

In 1910, Diaghilev brought his Ballet Russe to the Alhambra for a very successful first London season. The theatre continued to flourish but, by 1933, business was waning - largely because the new-fangled "talking pictures" were all the rage at the Empire (on the north side of Leicester Square) and because London's cultural centre was gradually moving to nearby Covent Garden. In September, 1936, Sir Oswald Stoll sold the site to Oscar Deutsch and the Alhambra closed its doors. Demolition work commenced almost immediately, as the Alhambra made way for the Odeon.