History of The Electric › 1970's

Film programme

Peter Howden & guests, circa '75 › click to zoom

1970's filmgoers  › click to zoom

All images courtesy of the Local Studies dept archives at the Kensington & Chelsea Central Library.

By the late 1960s, the Electric’s reputation as the local flea-pit had firmly set in. A group of film enthusiasts, headed up by the venerable Peter Howden, took over the cinema on Friday and Saturday nights to host Electric Cinema Club nights. Their screenings were such a screaming success that the then owner asked the Electric Cinema Club to run the place full-time.

This kick-started a decade which set the Electric’s filmic past firmly in the history books - it was known worldwide for being west London’s answer to the NFT (National Film Theatre) screening films that no one else would dare to screen, rare films that wouldn’t necessarily be screened in the UK and all the classics and arthouse films that cinemas, contracted to play first run films, couldn’t or wouldn’t be daring enough to screen. It is this period that the Electric is most fondly remembered for: many people smile nostalgically when reminiscing (if that’s you, we’d love to hear from you!).

With the Electric Cinema Club days in mind, this month’s Electric Vintage screening is an All-Nighter. A common occurrence of Peter Howden’s programme, the All-Nighter screenings would see the doors shut at 11pm for back-to-back, unadulterated, all-night-long screenings.

Your Stories

"All I can remember is my feet sticking to the floor!"
Jennifer Peck

"In the last years of the Electric as an art house picture club before it was rescued, it got seriously seedy and run down. My husband Anthony and I went to see a film, wish I could remember what, but the screen was practically obscured by the huge silhouette of the Mohicans sported by  a group of punks in front of us. They not only spat and swore throughout the film, but they farted as well..."
Vivien Thompson

"My husband and I used to go to the cinema often in the early 70's.  It was a shabby run down place but we really really loved it.  I remember sometimes not being able to sit next to each other as the seat between us would be broken!! And indeed sometimes the seat we sat in would be a bit lopsided!! But we didn't care we just loved going to an old cinema, we went to a few all night sessions and remember squinting at the light when we had to come out..I live in Brighton now and I now go to the Duke of Yorks and again remember it too had the broken seat tradition when we moved here in 1979 which was great.  My husband is no longer alive but writing this has brought back fantastic memories of our times going to the cinema together I miss the broken chairs and him!!  "
Sandy Powell-Stevens

"I first discovered The Electric Cinema in late 1975 when I was living nearby, having recently moved to The Big City at the tender age of 19. Over a period of approximately 5 years, I spent an inordinate amount of time within the walls of 191 Portobello Road. My lasting memories of The Electric were the fantastic programming of the time - double bills every night, regular seasons, the rather strange clientele on a Saturday night, the unique smell of the place and - of course - the piano with its music holder permanently askew. Indeed, it was an unwritten rule at the time that the first one in the cinema had to check whether someone had straightened the music holder and - if so - had to re-skew it. A tradition is a tradition, after all.

The seats were remarkable in those days in that it was nigh on impossible to get comfortable except - as we soon found - by draping your legs over the seat in front. In this way, it was quite possible to get a good few hours' sleep during one of the many 4-hour+ nightly double bills. Many is the time I recall waking up around 2am with little clue as to where I was. A quick glance up at the screen and anything from War of the Worlds via Solaris to Ultravixens would remind me of my whereabouts.

A favourite at the time was to catch the evening double bill then run like the clappers along Portobello Road to The Gate in Notting Hill to catch the late double bill. In around 7pm - out around 3am. Kismet. Alas, the printed programmes from the time elude me, but it was thanks to The Electric that I discovered a range of films and artists as diverse as the aforementioned Solaris all the way to Kenneth Anger's Magick Lantern Cycle, and most in between. Averaging a film every couple of days, what more of a cinematic education could a raw 19-year old ask? I wonder if the music holder is still askew?"
Glyn Balmer