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Quinton Danillo Essoldo etc etc etc!!

I have just checked. There are 94 companies currently registered now or recently disolved with names beginning "Odeon". There seems to be in many cases two separate companies for each cinema eg Odeon Leicester Square Limited and Odeon Leicester Square Holdings Limited.

For Oscar Deutch to have built up a chain of about 300 cinemas in 10 years, he must have had many different forms of finance for these from outright ownership to outside shareholders to mortages to leases or even just to management contracts for cinemas owned by others.


Hello David, this might help to clear things up a little regarding Oscar Deutsch, I am taking most of this text from "The Dream Palaces of Birmingham" which has quite a large page on him but this is probably the most interesting part.............................

"Oscar had a unique way of financing the construction of his cimemas. Local builders, desparate for work during this difficilu era wouls caccept part payment in shares and in some cases a seat on the board. After complating a section of work, Oscar would borrow money from Eagle Star which he wopuld give to the builder who would then carry on to complete the next section of work. By borrowing more money fron Eagle Star for each section of work, Oscar could have a cinema of his own built wothout actually laying out any of his own money, except a nominal sum. He had ghis own company, Decorative Crafts Ltd, to fit out the cinemas with furnishings and equipment, from which he made a profit."

I think I touched on his ingenious method of financing thse buildings in an earlier post, and as each cinema was a separate limited company they would have had various different investors and directors. In 1939 J Arthur Rank, a flour miller injected further capitol into the circuit. When Oscar dies in 1941 age 48 his wife, Lily, recieved his shares which subssequently passed to J Arthur Rank and there was no further involvement by the Deutsch family. J Arthur Rank also financially aided Gaumont British in 1948 which was going through a tough time.
 
There was also a theory that the name DANILO came from from a twist to the name of the famous musical hall comedian DAN LENO, who I think was admired by Mortimer Dent founder of the Danilo circuit
 
Hi Chris. :eek:) Dan leno Now.. that is corney..... No Mortimer Dent had to do what His wife wanted "Danilo". After the Charactor "Count Danilo" in "The Merry Widow" You know what wives are.... Also "Danilo" has a bit of class about it...
 
Hmmm Now All Odeon Cinemas where seperate companies. with different shareholders in each. and different percentages. some Odeon where controlled by the Clifton faction. When Deutsch died. one of the solutions was merging Odeon completly with Clifton. In the end J. Arthur made a deal with Clifton Warley, Kingstanding and one other passed over to JA.Rank. and The Clifton faction was paid in cash and shares. J. A. Rank owned Gaumont well before 1948. Maxwell of ABC fought hard against J.A. Rank to try and take control and only managed to get 25% of Gaumont. Later selling the 25% to J A Rank.

There is a problem taking text from books on Cinemas wrote by people outside of the indusrty.. as being always correct.. Errors keep on being made and myths perpetuated alas... I am currently working on correcting the myths that abound..
You are right about how he paid builders and suppliers etc in cash and shares.. That is how my family got envolved in these Cinemas.. and how I ended up Owning and Managing Cinemas (39 years) I must have been MAD.. :eek:)
 
Hi Chris. :eek:) Dan leno Now.. that is corney..... No Mortimer Dent had to do what His wife wanted "Danilo". After the Charactor "Count Danilo" in "The Merry Widow" You know what wives are.... Also "Danilo" has a bit of class about it...
Hi Mike, as you no I am currently writing a book on the Danilo and Dent 's story The name according to the Polish back ground was chosen by his wife , Danilo in Polish is " As God Is My Judge"
But you are correct mike the women always get what they want mate
 
I would be careful about quoting 'Danilo' as meaning 'As God is my Judge' in Polish as I don't believe that phrase could come out as a single word. I don't know any Polish but Google translates it as

Jak Bóg jest moim Sędzią which looks more likely to me.
 
And just drifting off thread very slightly, the best version of the Merry Widow to my mind is that done by the Opera de Lyon for French TV and currently only available on DVD. I recorded it when it was briefly on YouTube, but was later taken down, presumably for copyright reasons. I play it a couple of times a year and always remember the line "Danilo, Danilo!" :):):cool:
Somehow, it doesn't remind me of Quinton!

Maurice
 
Hi Mike, as you no I am currently writing a book on the Danilo and Dent 's story The name according to the Polish back ground was chosen by his wife , Danilo in Polish is " As God Is My Judge"
But you are correct mike the women always get what they want mate
Hello. Mortimer Dent was my Great Grandfather. I'd be very interested to chat and to read your book!
 
And Count Danilo Danilovitsch was also the lover of Franz Lehar's Merry Widow, Hanna, the operetta being based on the 1861 comic play L'attaché d'ambassade by French dramatist Henri Meilhac. Although set in an imaginary principality, it could quite conceivably have been Polish.

Maurice :cool:
 
The Danilo had its own Home Guard platoon based there between 1940 and 1944. They even funded and built their own HQ adjacent to the car park.

I was given a lot of information on this by the late Ken Cradock who was a member of this unit and lived in Sunnybank Road, Quinton. It can all be seen online. This is the link: http://www.staffshomeguard.co.uk/DotherReminiscences97Quinton.htm

It would be interesting to hear of any surviving post-war memory which referred to the previous existence there of the Danilo Platoon.

Chris
 
The Home Guard could have been there because it was the highest point in the city boundary and could have been a target drop zone for paratroups
 
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