Legs on the former Moulin Rouge Cinema (c.1980)
Photograph: © Graham Paul Smith
Headington Cinema (renamed the Moulin Rouge in c.1960) used to stand at the top of New High Street, but was demolished and replaced by flats in 1991.
In 1980 Bill Heine took over the management of the cinema and commissioned John Buckley (who also created the Headington Shark) to sculpt a pair of can-can legs for the roof:
The city council planners decreed this sculpture was an advertising symbol, but Bill renamed the cinema Not the Moulin Rouge, making it hard for this to be proved.
The sculpture of the legs was moved to the Duke of York’s Cinema in Brighton, where they can still be seen at a different angle.
