The Odeon on Gateshead High Street was one of the countless UK cinemas that came and went during the long heyday of the 'silver screen'.
Blacks Regal, as it was initially called, was opened 85 years ago, on February 15, 1937, by one of Britain's best-known entertainers Gracie Fields.
Fields, at the time, was Britain's highest-paid music and film star, and interrupted a holiday in glamorous St Moritz to fly in to wintry Tyneside for the occasion.
