Romaine Hart: an inspiring figure who reinvigorated cinema in the UK | Stepehn Woolley
Hart gave me my first break in the industry and stood out as a beacon of hope for those who followedRomaine Hart obituaryRomaine Hart gave me my start in the film business, hiring me as usher at the Screen on the Green cinema in Islington, London, when I was 18; alongside the programmer Roger Austin she taught me fundamental lessons about cinema management that inspired me through the Other Cinema, Scala and later Palace years.
As a teenager I had witnessed the transformation of my local, the Rex cinema on Upper Street, a downmarket fleapit that was part of a declining chain owned by the Bloom family (Romaine's maiden name), to the Screen on the Green, with its progressive and clever programming. It showed critically acclaimed, mainly US second-run classics by day (the first double bill I attended as a 15-year-old was The Graduate and The Thomas Crown Affair). From 11.15pm the late-night cinema club showed cult films such as Performance, audacious double bills featuring Chabrol, Kurosawa and other greats of world cinema and obscure but daring fare like Henry Miller's Quiet Days in Clichy. The Friday all-nighters of the Marx Brothers and Humphrey Bogart classics were usually packed to the rafters.
Andrew McCabe