Oscar Deutsch was born at Balsall Heath, Birmingham, in 1893, the son of a Jewish scrap merchant. The original odeions were the popular amphitheatres of ancient Greece. The name Odeon had been appropriated by cinemas in France and Italy in the 1920s, but Deutsch was to make it his own. Odeon, said his publicity team, stood for Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation. Gaumont and Carlton are our tribute to a great son of Birmingham.
