• Ep 4: The Ritz, Belfast - 1960s Pop Invasion, The Beatles and the Biblical Flood

  • Sep 15 2024
  • Length: 31 mins
  • Podcast

Ep 4: The Ritz, Belfast - 1960s Pop Invasion, The Beatles and the Biblical Flood

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    In the fourth episode of the Wonder Cinema podcast, we look at how the Ritz responded to the explosion of youth culture in the 1960s and hosted some of the world's biggest musical acts.

    As audiences continued to fall in the 1960s, cinema became more youth-oriented with The Young Ones, featuring Cliff Richard, breaking box-office records in 1962. In the following year, the Ritz changed to the ABC, a more functional name linking it to the chain which had operated the cinema since 1938. This decade also saw the cafe rebranded as The Rotunda, after a rotating refrigerated counter. Many of the stars who arrived in the 1960s came from the world of music rather than film, with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones among those who performed at the ABC. But the decade ended with the outbreak of the Troubles and a biblical flood that destroyed the once-almighty cinema organ.

    Links:
    NI Digital Film Archive - Rolling Stones Mania
    ITN - The Beatles at Belfast Ritz for press gathering
    NMNI - A view of the Ritz (ABC) on Great Victoria Street

    Written and presented by Dr Sam Manning and Brian Henry Martin
    Music by Score Draw Music
    https://thewondercinema.buzzsprout.com
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