This was certainly a building that changed lives. I know it changed mine. Looking back, I realise that it marked out my growing up in 3 defining scenes that I can recall so vividly.
Scene 1:
I am 8 years old; I am standing in a noisy queue outside the Gaumont, waiting to be admitted; I am chatting to my friends, probably discussing the latest edition of Jackie with its glossy centrefold of Marc Bolan. In a minute, the doors will open for Saturday Morning Pictures- first stop, the kiosk in the foyer to buy our ‘genuine’ American hot dogs! And then in to the films- usually one feature film, probably a western, and lots of shorts, like the Bugs Bunny cartoons I loved. We are looking forward to 2 hours of chaos, of rowdy misrule, freed from adult restraint- except for a short interlude of hush and order heralded by the arrival of the usherette, mystic in hertrim, neat uniform as she processes down the centre aisle to her pitch in front of the screen, as we fumble for our sixpences to buy our ice-creams from the tray around her neck. I cannot wait to enter this different world of darkness and magical lighting and the whole exotic splendour of this place. Even back then, I appreciated the whole ritual of cinema, like the way those great red, plush curtains swept aside to reveal the screen and start the show. I have loved film from that day to this- even becoming a teacher of film studies for a while. Those Saturday morning experiences of my childhood taught me so much because I learnt to be an observer of human beings, noticing how different we all are, and, yet, how we can come together as a community to share our pleasure and our pain.
Scene 2:
I am now 12 years old and best friends with Debbie who lives down my road, 5 years older than me. It is June 15th, 1973 and David Bowie is playing the Odeon tonight. I have to be there!
Debbie and her mates have all got tickets, but I am considered to be too young. But I am nearly a teenager and I don’t think that’s fair! So we hatch a plot: Debbie comes down to my house and invites me to stay over for the night, a frequent thing- so mum agrees. So, here I am, strutting down towards the Odeon with a great crowd around, everyone in their Ziggy gear. There is a real buzz- but sadly no tickets left for me! So at my second defining moment, I am the outsider with the left out gang by the stage door, listening to the sounds from within- learning to be a teenager! I did get to touch him, briefly, as he was whisked away, huddled, to the limousine. We followed the entourage to the County Hotel.
One of our gang, a beautiful wild child called Abigail, did manage to get in and join in whatever it was that was happening in there. And then, my God, the scandal! The next thing we heard was that she had run off with one of Bowie’s roadies and was living with him in Marrakesh!
I went to many great gigs there during my teenage years: Hawkwind, the Stranglers, Black Sabbath I remember particularly. I really loved that buzz around the building for these events- electric with anticipation, an atmosphere always teeming, never threatening. I loved the dressing up that was so essential for these gigs- to see and be seen- hippies, punks, goths, each band calling out its special tribe!
Scene 3:
I am now 16, and flirting with transgression and adulthood! I am upstairs in the Grand Circle, watching the first late-night film show in Taunton: Led Zeppelin’s concert film, ‘The Song Remains the Same’.
As usual, I have come with a crowd of older people; we have come from a pub in the High Street where we have spent the evening. We have smuggled in our big Party 7 cans of beer, the music is swelling all round and the atmosphere is pungent with marijuana- Jimmy Page’s guitar merging with the psychedelic fantasy of the decor to create a moment of total immersion, and for me a moment also tinged with fear; I imagined us all arrested and imprisoned because everyone else, except me, was smoking dope! Unforgettable!!
Thank you, Gaumont, for the excitement you brought to our lives and for all you did to bring a community together and make Taunton a great place to grow up!
