Does anyone have any pices or details about the rex?

what details would you like to know?

Just what it was like when it was open. Don't really know much about it except for that picture of it in the Noahs ark.

Originally posted by Fowler
Just what it was like when it was open. Don't really know much about it except for that picture of it in the Noahs ark.



when i used to go in the mid-late 70's it was quite a dump but apparently it was quite posh in its hey day....it was 25p to get in and it was massive inside compared to todays smaller places..todays places have 6-7 different screens, the rex only had 1,in 1975 it was in the brink of closing down and then came jaws,it was sold out for 7 weeks solid which kept it going..then came saturday night fever and grease which also brought in much needed cash.....but it was inevatable the end was near.....how do i know all this......well the place was owned by two old ladies that lived on hurlfield road,next door to the dentists..i was their paper lad and often chatted with them..i always got a good tip at chrimbo:) :) :)

I used to go to the Rex as little kid in the early 80's.I remember seeing For your eyes only, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the lost ark, Superman 2 & ET there.

I think it closed about 1983/1984 & and I remember seeing it been knocked down.

Memories of the Rex:-
It was our local cinema as we lived on Audrey Road . Saw ,"The Wizard of Oz there",round about 1947. The Witch was a bit scary for young kids.
The next nearest cinema was the Manor.Usually I think we used to go every week to one or the other.
We left that area in 1949 and from then on it was the Star on Ecclesall Road and the "Gods" in the Hippodrome.Anyone remember that old geezer, the attendant in the Hippodrome Gods ? And kids slinging stuff over the balcony ? Had my first smoke in there I think---aged 10

I lived at Hackenthorpe at the time, but I used to take my little brother to The Rex on Saturdays in the early sixties.

I can also remember going to see 'Summer Holiday' in (I think), 1962).

We once won the 'matinee raffle' and acquired some tickets to see 'Doctor Who and the Daleks' at The Rex.

if you want to know the open / close dates and capacity of any old sheffield cinema just visit the lost cinemas of sheffield website :- http://www.rocknroll.f9.co.uk/cinemas/cinemas.html


The Rex Mansfield Road, Intake 1939 1982 1983 1350 Always Super market car park Last open suburban city in Sheffield

I watched my first film at the REX when i was about 7. It was Snow white and what makes it REALLY sad is that it was my older brother that took me to see it (i really hope he is'nt a member of this forum)

I grew up in Intake and I spent a great deal of my time in the Rex Cinema.My Mum and Dad used to go in the Intake Sports Club which was opposite.I used to see all the fims even sometmes the AA rated even when i was under 14 years of age i think they needed the revenue.The balcony was brill you could go up to the seats in the balcony if you had the money.
Saturday Afternoon was the kids show Cartoon (mighty Mouse)
Childrens film foundatin film and ice cream from the usherette in the middle.The raffle was always the number on your ticket.
Brill

I used to live in Intake on Mansfield Rd just up from the Rex Cinema from 1963 to 1977 and remember the place fondly. Went to many of the Saturday matinees where the kids threw sweet papers etc at the screen and the unfortunate heads of those in front.....saw my first X rated film there aged 14....remembe the tiny sweet shop that could be accessed from the door at the front of the cinema or a little serving hatch to the lobby and a little old lady that worked there for years, thuink her name was Sally??? .....In our teenage years my friend and I used to stand chatting to (up) the lads who had the unfortunate job of directing the cars to parking spaces on the sloping front (great fun in the snow!)

I still cant hear the Pearl and Dean intro today without knowing every bit of the Bop bop ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba bop bop ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba......jingle and embaraassing my teenage kids at the characterless UCG by joining in merrily EVERY time. Great fun!

I once made the mistake of sitting under the edge of the balcony to watch an x rated film, and some fool dropped Ice cream over the edge of the balcony....Well I think it was Ice Cream. :gag:

was it cold? or warm? the truth is in the temperature of the substance.

ps - no apologies for dragging up old threads - I loved The Rex :clap:

I used to go to the Rex in the early 50's it was my local cinema as I lived at Intake.
It was 10d to go in the cheapest seats, think I'm talking 49/50
and 1/6d for top price, about 4p and 7p. We used to go twice a wk. Never went in the balcony until I was older.
At school we used to discuss the films and one girl in my class went every night to the pictures and declared she was going to be a filmstar. We laughed but yrs later I sat in the Odeom in town and saw her on screen. Judy Parfitt. She made it.
Hazel

i remember going to see "The sound of music" and in the middle of the song "How dyou solve the problem of maria" where the nuns sing....a fire broke out behind the curtain and ten burly fireman were running around at the back of the curtain with the hose!!! we werent asked to leave they carried on playing the film!!! LOLOL

my mother used to go in the early seventies with her girlie mates and meet up with some lads one of which was Sean Bean
they used to watch "That'll be the day"...

I lived on Mansfield Road, just up from the Rex in the late 70's to mid 80s. The year Grease came out we must have gone every day in the 6 weeks holidays. We knew all the words to the film off by heart by the time we went back to school! We'd all be sat there doing the Greased Lightening!
The old lady who worked in the ticket office was called Jessie, she lived bang across the road, next to the video shop.
I remember the sweet shop at one side, and a clothes/wool shop at the other? Always handy when you're at the pictures!

I remember the Rex well as we lioved just up the road (Hopefield Avenue) and went a lot from the late 70s until it was knocked down. Must go into the Noah's ark when I go back to look at the picture, the Rex was great. I remember the queue going right round the cinema for Grease. The ashtrays were still in use up to a point and you could buy separately priced tickets for the stalls or balcony. Goold ol' days - remember Marshalls 'supermarket' next door?

when i used to go in the mid-late 70's it was quite a dump but apparently it was quite posh in its hey day....it was 25p to get in and it was massive inside compared to todays smaller places..todays places have 6-7 different screens, the rex only had 1,in 1975 it was in the brink of closing down and then came jaws,it was sold out for 7 weeks solid which kept it going..then came saturday night fever and grease which also brought in much needed cash.....but it was inevatable the end was near.....how do i know all this......well the place was owned by two old ladies that lived on hurlfield road,next door to the dentists..i was their paper lad and often chatted with them..i always got a good tip at chrimbo:) :) :)
An old thread i know but the interesting bit for me is the old ladies bit on Hurlfield Road. I used to pass there house when i was a paper lad at Amies Manor Top, Just above there house lived a priest and as i used to walk past his drive end he used to offer me a woodbine i think they called him father Richards he used to frighten me to death still don,t smoke.

Used to go regularly in the 60s/70s, was known affectionately as the 'flea pit'.

Just stumbled across this. Used to go with my sister in the fifties. If the picture had an age restriction we used to go along the queue and ask if someone would take us in. Often they'd pay for us too!

I saw the original version of A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim at the Rex.

I lived on the Woodthorpe as a kid and bought toffees for the picture at a little shop on Hunters Lane, then down to the Rex. War of the worlds scared the bejezes out of me . Dad pointing up and saying, thats one. Sat afters, Flash Gordon, Woody woodpecker, fantastic.

I saw the original version of A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim at the Rex.

I Saw The Robe starring Jean Simmons and Victor Mature it made me very religious for about a week.
A Visit to The Rex a few years later meant a bag of chips from the chip hole on Stanhope Rd then an underage pint in The Holly Bush on the way home magic.

Dear Sir/Madame,
My name is Alex Birks, a final year Masters student, studying Graphic Design at Sheffield Hallam University. I am currently undertaking a large research based study, on the rise and fall of cinema, starting from the early 1900s to the present day. I have been focusing on the many changes to film making throughout time, such as black & white silent films, atmospheric theatre, the triumph in talking pictures, Technicolor, etc. I have also been paying close attention to cinema technology and the roles of the cinema staff, required to run a functioning theatre.

I have recently visited 'The Cinema Museum' in London, where I met Ronald Grant, a cinema enthusiast who has devoted his life to preserving the cinema experience, since it began in the late 1800s. After sharing stories and speaking to him over the course of the visit, I gained a strong interest in the projectionist and how they have adapted to the changes in both technology and the requirements of cinema-goers.

This e-mail is addressed to anybody who has been involved in cinema over the years, particularly before the introduction of the multi-plex cinema, as I would like to find out more. As part of my final product I would like to document an encounter I have had with someone involved in the cinema, as a biography/information piece.

If you, or anybody you know could qualify for this position please could you get in contact with me. This will be a tremendously exiting opportunity, and a great way to share your enthusiasm with many people, both educated and non-educated in the subject.

I live in Sheffield and would be prepared to travel to meet you.

Thank you for listening to my proposal.

Yours Faithfully,

Alexander Birks


Contact details:

e-mail – alexbirks88@yahoo.com
Mobile - 07706336517

The Rex was the last truly suburban cinema in the entire UK and as such was often visited by amateur projectionists from London and all over .I had an aunt who worked at Buxtons chip shop.She used to have coaches go and pick up the blokes from London,and sort out lodgings etc.Many used to come back for the night out in 'cliffe -saunas etc.These projectionists used to bring their own amateur films and all.There a couple has relocated to Sheffield now and love it up here.