It was a boring movie but it starred Brigitte Bardot and she bared her breasts. Rock Around The Clock, Blackboard Jungle,The Girl Can't Help It, Zulu, Spartacus, On the Waterfront, Rebel Without A Cause, Trapeze and my favourite, and the worst, was the sub-titled And God Created Woman.
I'm trying to think of some of the major movies I saw. I suspect most people were anxious to get to the pubs before closing time. At the conclusion of the feature movie, after the credits had rolled up, "God Save The Queen" would blare from the speakers and everyone would scurry to get out before it began. Sometimes there would be a cartoon, or the Pathe News, before the feature movie. After she left the lights would dim, the curtains would open and the show would go on. Being in the mezzanine had its drawbacks, she couldn't throw that high, so I'd have to leave my seat and go downstairs to the kiosk to get smokes and pop. Then she would slowly walk towards the back of the theatre, taking orders as she went. She would turn and face the audience and stand still. She held a flashlight in her hand, pointing down at her wares. A white uniformed cigarette/ice cream/chocolate-bar lady would then walk down the aisle, with a harnessed tray resting on her belly, to the front of the theatre. The curtains would close, the lights would come on, and there would be an intermission. I don't remember any of the B movies except they were usually black-and white.
The first movie would always be a B movie. The curtains covering the silver screen would part in the middle and slowly, and noisily, slide aside. The same two movies would play every day, back-to-back, for a week. I remember the smoke swirling upwards through the light from the projector. The smoke became a part of the movie, especially if it was a black-and-white cops-and-robbers movie. The seats were made from some kind of plush material, and on the back, where the seats joined, would be a small ashtray. A long, double-row mezzanine on the back wall and two smaller, four-seater ones on the side walls (these were the ones I would head for if there wasn't already someone in them). Upstairs in the theatre were three mezzanines. Before entering the auditorium (between dark velvet curtains) an usher would take your ticket and tear it in half. The ticket would make a whirring sound and would curl up as it came out of the slot. The ticket booth was typical of those days, an employee sat in a glass cubicle and took the money through an opening in the bottom of the glass. What was playing was displayed behind glass on either side of the entrance. The front was rectangular and without decoration. From what I remember the exterior was a white stucco or plaster. It stood all by itself, down a one-way side street called Bellingham Lane. In my teenage years we moved out of London to a little village called Rayleigh, which, lucky for me, had a cinema. I think life revolves around the things you loved as a child. Watch the opening scene to the movie Hope and Glory and you'll get a feel for what it was like. And cowboys were cowboys and Indians were Indians, if you know what I mean. One thing I do remember clearly is Superman flying through the skies and you could see the wires that he was suspended from. And the things we threw might have been what the bread pudding was wrapped up in, or the chewed-on butt-end of the liquorice stick. Bread pudding most likely, or wooden sticks of liquorice. I can't remember what we used to take to the movies for food. (which meant you HAD to go next week, please Mum). There would be cartoons and comedies but the exciting movies were serialized and would end with the line.
#Silver screen full
And I don't remember the cost but I would have thought it might have been either thrupence or a tanner (sixpence).Ĭan you imagine a movie house full of eight to twelve year olds? It was a riot! We'd be watching The Lone Ranger, and we'd all scream out "Kemo sabe, look out, behind you!" We'd boo the bad guys and cheer the good guys. Since I don't have much memory past the age of ten or eleven (I was born in 1940) it would have been around the year 1950-51. I imagine the age limit was for eight to twelve year olds (adults were not allowed in). As a child, growing up in London, I used to go on the bus to the Saturday morning picture show.
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