Inside the BBC Paris Studio

For topics that don't quite fit anywhere else...
Post Reply
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4608
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 140 times
Been thanked: 3976 times

Inside the BBC Paris Studio

Post by Lord Reith »

The confusingly titled BBC 'Paris Studio' got its name from the building's brief tenure as a cinema in 1939...

Image

In 1940 it was acquired by the government and later sold to the BBC in 1946. With seating for about 400 it became a popular venue for comedy and variety programmes like The Goon Show. In 1963 The Beatles used it to record five editions of Pop Go The Beatles, plus an edition of From us To You, The Beat Show (with an audience) and The Ken Dodd Show (again with an audience, soon to be repeated for the first time on Radio 4 Extra).

Quite by accident I came across this old movie where they pan across Regent Street (I always used to snap that one up in Monopoly!) and to the queue waiting outside the Paris for an edition of 20 Questions. We then go in and down the stairs into the studio, the same way The Beatles once would have. The room was essentially unchanged in 1963 when the Beatles used it.

I thought it interesting - a little bit of time travel. Of course there's the famous cine film of them clowning around outside The Paris as they depart to do their gig at Stowe School. And I don't need to tell you that the cover of Live At The BBC also shows them walking down this very street (again, remarkably unchanged despite the passage of 13 years).

Don't bother looking for it now - it's a gym.

Women there don't treat you mean, in Abilene
C90
Posts: 146
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 12:34 pm
Has thanked: 33 times
Been thanked: 48 times

Re: Inside the BBC Paris Studio

Post by C90 »

In 1988 I visited London with some fellow students on a college trip, and among the various activities the college had arranged for us was to attend a recording of a BBC radio panel show at the Paris Theatre. I was well aware of its place in Beatles history and enjoyed the occasion, although can't recall much about the show apart from it being some sort of music quiz for one of the 'easy listening' channels like Radio 2 or Radio 4.
I do recall one of the panellists was Joe Brown, who was great fun and enjoyed himself - and made good use of the BBC's hospitality, since he was swigging from a glass of what looked like brandy or scotch throughout the recording!

The place didn't make much of an impression on me, it was very plain and anonymous - not as grand or theatrical as I was expecting, although there was a stage area where the panellists were placed. And it seemed very small and intimate, not as big as it looks here:

https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/bui ... is-studios
User avatar
Rave O Lucien
Posts: 304
Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:14 pm
Has thanked: 669 times
Been thanked: 54 times

Re: Inside the BBC Paris Studio

Post by Rave O Lucien »

Major Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force band broadcasted shows from the 'Paris Cinema' during WWII. That's impressive, too.
When you've got it, jump up! ~ John Lennon
Post Reply