The reel deal: Mr Dominion dies aged 77

Published on Tuesday 9 August 2011 15:24

FOR more than half a century he was at the helm of one of Scotland's best-known cinemas, renowned for personally greeting audiences in his dinner jacket on the steps. But the end of an era has arrived at the Dominion in Edinburgh with the death of Derek Cameron at the age of 77.

Mr Cameron famously led his family-run cinema's staunch defence against the video and DVD revolutions, the trend for modern multiplexes and the demise of many other Edinburgh picture houses.

Among the stars he welcomed to the Morningside cinema were Cary Grant, Gene Kelly, Steve Martin, Dame Judi Dench and Sigourney Weaver.

The cinema, one of the oldest purpose-built picture houses still in use in Scotland, was founded by Derek's father William, who built it from scratch in 1938, but died when his son was only 13.

Derek, who started carrying out odd jobs in the cinema almost immediately, was to take over from the founder's widow, Jenny - who had kept the cinema running for several years - when he was 22.

Although he stepped back from the day-to-day running of the cinema in 1996, he remained chairman of the family business, which will be carried out by his two sons Al and Mike, and daughter Lesley.

Mr Cameron, who received an MBE for services to the entertainment industry in 1999, had battled a number of illnesses in recent years, including E coli and swine flu.

Al Cameron said: "There were a few things he always saw as very important. He always wore evening dress to welcome the customers, as we still do, and my grandfather did.

"He felt it was very important that the service at the Dominion was 'always the best'. He felt that if you offered people that at the Dominion, they would keep coming back.

"He always wanted to be ahead of the game, and if you look back, that is exactly what happened, with the creation of two screens in 1972 before many other cinemas started doing that kind of thing, allowing customers to take a drink into the cinema with them later in the 1970s and the creation of a proper restaurant in the cinema in 1984."

The Dominion survived a number of threats to its future, most notably with the huge growth of video players in the 1980s and the trend for multiplex cinemas in the 1990s, which saw an explosion of screens in Edinburgh and triggered the demise of the old ABC in Lothian Road and later, the Odeon in South Clerk Street.

The Dominion's revival was helped when it helped host many gala events at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, including A Simple Twist of Fate, with Steve Martin, and Mrs Brown, with Dame Judi Dench and Billy Connolly.

Former EIFF managing director Ginnie Atkinson said: "We used the Dominion an awful lot for the film festival when I was there.

"It was a great place to have a gala premiere, especially as it had around 500 seats for a screening, but it also had a great set of steps outside for a big opening event"

"He always did such a great job at catering for his market and looking after the customer."

Film critic Richard Mowe said: "It is a pretty unique cinema. because it is independently owned and family-run, and has been ever since it opened.

"It's a remarkable achievement that the Dominion has lasted as long as it has, but it is just so different going there than with the kind of experience than you get at a multiplex.

"The thing I always remember is Derek standing outside in his dinner suit as you went in."

Derek Cameron was close friends with Jim Poole, who ran the Cameo, in nearby Tollcross, from its opening in 1949 until he retired in 1982.

His daughter, Genni Poole, said: "Dad and Derek were staunch allies for independent cinemas in the face of growing competition.

"It is to the enormous credit of Derek and his family that the Dominion has thrived. He was the epitome of the charming front-of-house manager."

Background: Maximum comfort, courtesy and the best possible service for patrons

THE site occupied by the Dominion was bought for just 25,000 in 1937 by Captain William Cameron, who had run two other cinemas in the capital: the Carlton, at Piershill, and the Lyceum, in Dalry.

A former hotelier, he set out his stall for the new cinema on its opening night, telling the audience: "The policy of the cinema is maximum comfort, courtesy and to strive for and achieve the best possible service for our patrons."

It is a policy the Camerons say they uphold to this day.

Although the original founder was to live only another ten years after the Dominion opened in 1938, his wife Jenny decided to run the cinema herself. Derek joined the business when was 22, after finishing his National Service. At the time there were 34 other cinemas in Edinburgh.

Derek Cameron remained the driving force behind the Dominion as it fought to compete with the trends, from television and bingo to the video revolution and the advent of multiplex cinemas.

To keep ahead of the game, several refurbishments have been carried out over the years, with a second screen added in 1972, a third in 1980 and a fourth in 1997.

Derek handed over the day-to-day running of the cinema to his sons Mike and Al and daughter Lesley in 1996, although he has remained as chairman ever since.

In 2002, radical changes were made to the main screen - more than 120 seats were removed to make way for luxury seating.

In 2008, the cinema's 70th birthday was celebrated with a screening of the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Lady Vanishes, made in the same year the cinema opened.