What is the longest Q anyone can remember to see a film in Sheffield? The longest for me was November/December 1982 at the Gaumont (Kingdom nightclub), Barkers Pool, when the Q to see ET on the first night stretched way round the corner, past the Yorkshireman Arms pub (Lions Lair) and further round back up round Cole Brothers and up Cambridge Street to the point the Q nearly rejoined itself For THREE successive nights we could not get in, and had to keep going back......

2nd longest Q was to see ALIEN in 1979 at the same cinema, Q for 1/4 of a mile every night for the first week...

3rd longest Q was to see opening night of STAR WARS Empire STrikes Back in 1980 at the ABC (site now a travel Inn), wow that was pretty long as well.

4th longest would have been to see STAR TREK I in 1979, also long and slow Q.....

Originally posted by goldenfleece
What is the longest Q anyone can remember to see a film in Sheffield? The longest for me was November/December 1982 at the Gaumont (Kingdom nightclub), Barkers Pool, when the Q to see ET on the first night stretched way round the corner, past the Yorkshireman Arms pub (Lions Lair) and further round back up round Cole Brothers and up Cambridge Street to the point the Q nearly rejoined itself For THREE successive nights we could not get in, and had to keep going back......

2nd longest Q was to see ALIEN in 1979 at the same cinema, Q for 1/4 of a mile every night for the first week...

3rd longest Q was to see opening night of STAR WARS Empire STrikes Back in 1980 at the ABC (site now a travel Inn), wow that was pretty long as well.

4th longest would have been to see STAR TREK I in 1979, also long and slow Q.....

Why bother? No film's worth queueing to that extent for.

You must have been in the wrong queue!
ET was shown by the ABC circuit and Empire Strikes back was shown by the Gaumont/Odeon chain. (I think it was only in Sheffield and Doncaster that the name Gaumont was used in those days, most of the other cinemas on the chain were called Odeon.
The queues at the ABC would have started inside the building along the stalls area corridor, through the foyer, out the door up the arcade and down the other side and then possibly down the passageway towards the local building society - It was rumoured that for some films, the queue could stretch down as far as Halifax... the Building Society .

I remember the queues for ET at the ABC. I was Assistant Manager at the time. I had to go down the queue counting the number of folk waiting and advising those at the end not to bother as they would not get in. Luckily most punters were under cover in the arcade so they didn't get wet when it poured down.

It was nightmare getting everyone seated. Whilst the capacity was 1327 (or was it 1324 - can't remeber now), we could never totally fill the place as we always had a few odd single seats. The amount of Pepsi, Sunkist and ice cream that we sold was amazing. So was the mess left behind when the place emptied.

Jaws - Boxing Day 1975 at the ABC, no contest.

Showing my age now

:blush:

I used to love going to the pictures and seeing a queue, then a swift look at the missis and a nod towards the nearest pub usually saved a lot of time waiting for a film that we could watch for free on video a few years later :P

The queue's are still huge now. If you ever visit UGC on an opening night of a film the queue goes round and round in circles for ages. . . by the time you get to the till your all dizzy.:)

SuperCol, You must have been at the ABC when Superman 1 came out. That was my first ever film at a cinema. I went with my brothers and when the bloke counting came past - we thought he was looking for anyone who didn't look old enough and my brothers had to shuffle in front of me and tell me to keep hidden until he'd gone past!! LOL!

Wow, the cinema was an amazing experience, in the days before DVD's and computers and downloading stuff.

Could have sworn ET was at the Gaumont........oh well, time plays funny tricks with your mind. What on earth was I q'ing to see then I wonder if it was at the ABC.........

Hi Supercol,
Are you thinking of Butterkist? If so, that never seemed to sell when there was a big film on. Big film seemed to attract Playtime popcorn sales. 30p a cardboard carton packed with nutition.
There were some good films in those days... as well as some absolute dross.
Does anyone remember Outland with Sean Connery?

Goldenfleece

Can I respectfully suggest that you may be getting confused with 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' ?


That was at the Gaumont - I remember taking my younger sisters to the first showing and queing for hours - now my memory may be playing tricks but I am sure the premiere at the Gaumont was a Sunday afternoon - we did not see the first showing but waited for the next one .

What I do remember are all the people coming out in complete awe looking like they had really seen an alien ship and all saying to the people in the queue how great the movie was.

Originally posted by docmel
Goldenfleece

Can I respectfully suggest that you may be getting confused with 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' ?


Hmmmm, that was 1978 though some 4 years before ET......still I saw a hell of lot of films, went nearly every week to either ABC or Gaumont so I guess its easy to confuse what was on at which cinema in those days.

Originally posted by Hopman
Hi Supercol,
Are you thinking of Butterkist? If so, that never seemed to sell when there was a big film on. Big film seemed to attract Playtime popcorn sales. 30p a cardboard carton packed with nutition.
There were some good films in those days... as well as some absolute dross.
Does anyone remember Outland with Sean Connery?

Those were the days. Not thinking of Butterkist, Sunkist was the flat orange squash dispensed out of the clear plastic chiller with a couple of plastic oranges floating in it. It was awful.

Remember Outland? sure do. Somebody can correct me, but I think it was the last 70mm (Todd AO) film to shown at the ABC. When it was built, the ABC Sheffield had the second largest screen in the UK. Watching the projection of a Todd AO print fill the screen was breathtaking. Projectionists didn't like it too much. The reels only lasted 20 minutes before changeover instead of 40 minutes for a 35mm copy. Twice as much work for the same pay!

Originally posted by Lestat
SuperCol, You must have been at the ABC when Superman 1 came out. That was my first ever film at a cinema.

Sorry, Superman 1 was late seventies and I didn't start work there until 1980. Remember going to see it, though. I remember the first proper film that I went to see (other than the ABC minors) without parents, 2001 - a space odyssey. Must have been about 1968 or 9 when I was about 9. Mind blowing.

Anyone remember the queues for the all night shows? Hundreds poured in for the all night Chinese specials. Mainly Kung-Fu films. It was a riot. They went through tons of hot dogs. Weirdly though, no trouble!! How things change.

Hi Supercol,
I stand corrected on Sunkist. I'd forgotten the plastic oranges. One point you do make, which has been lost in cinemas these days, is that the projection team were showmen, putting on a presentation, making it an event. Considering that the basic idea hadn'y changed much since the days of Mitchell and Kenyon (i.e. shining a light on a screen or a white wall) the team at the ABC did it with a finesse lacking nowadays.
Certainly the transition from the wide screen P&D to 70mm was a magnificent moment as the image just got bigger and bigger.
Was Star Trek 2 a 70mm presentation?

ET, stood for ages, most overated film i've ever wasted my time and money on,

Originally posted by Hopman
Certainly the transition from the wide screen P&D to 70mm was a magnificent moment as the image just got bigger and bigger.
Was Star Trek 2 a 70mm presentation?

Hi Hopman

You seem to know a bit about the business. Did/do you work in a cinema?

Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan was most certainly presented in 70mm. As you say, the transition from the Pearl & Dean adverts (in standard wide screen) to a 70mm presentation was mind blowing, better than drugs and worth the admission money by itself. The only problem with Star Trek 2 (other than the wooden acting) was that it was actually shot for anormorphic presentation (Cinemascope) rather than true 70mm (Todd AO). It had to be converted and the stretch marks were visible in the corners.

Those were the days. Not thinking of Butterkist, Sunkist was the flat orange squash dispensed out of the clear plastic chiller with a couple of plastic oranges floating in it. It was awful.

Remember Outland? sure do. Somebody can correct me, but I think it was the last 70mm (Todd AO) film to shown at the ABC. When it was built, the ABC Sheffield had the second largest screen in the UK. Watching the projection of a Todd AO print fill the screen was breathtaking. Projectionists didn't like it too much. The reels only lasted 20 minutes before changeover instead of 40 minutes for a 35mm copy. Twice as much work for the same pay!


When I was a projectionist, 35mm reels lasted seventeen minutes, then change over. The average film was six reels long. Then came the long playing machine with the entire programme on, and somehow it became boring.

Used to work as a Doorman at the Odeon at barkers pool,longest queues we ever got were for Ghost,the bond films,who framed roger rabbit,ooooooh the power i used to feel at tellin peeps where to stand and the joy i felt at tellin someone we were full, lol.

: The longest waiting time ever was for Titanic,me and the wife waited 4 hours in snow,rain, sleet, and galeforce winds along with hundreds of people,
eventually we got to the front and do you know what they said?
sorry women and children first.:confused:

Jaws - Boxing Day 1975 at the ABC, no contest.

Showing my age now

:blush:

Remember it well, I was in it! Queue must have been way back past the back of the Cathedral. Seem to remember queueing for hours and hours and being bl00dy freezing :o

Remember it well, I was in it! Queue must have been way back past the back of the Cathedral. Seem to remember queueing for hours and hours and being bl00dy freezing :o

And it seemed such a good film at the time, the sound system in the ABC, made sure of that :)

Towering Inferno, Earthquake, nowhere better to see them than The ABC, even if you queued for a couple of hours

Hi Supercol,
I stand corrected on Sunkist. I'd forgotten the plastic oranges. One point you do make, which has been lost in cinemas these days, is that the projection team were showmen, putting on a presentation, making it an event. Considering that the basic idea hadn'y changed much since the days of Mitchell and Kenyon (i.e. shining a light on a screen or a white wall) the team at the ABC did it with a finesse lacking nowadays.
Certainly the transition from the wide screen P&D to 70mm was a magnificent moment as the image just got bigger and bigger.
Was Star Trek 2 a 70mm presentation?


What about the screen in Gaumont one? That could only have been a tich smaller than the ABC. I remember seeing Hello Dolly at Gaumont 1 when it first came out. I felt I was actually with Barbra Streisand. Wonderful times, wonderful memories - never to return.

In 1977 when i was 16 i remember going on a first date with a girl and arranging to see Saturday Night Fever at the ABC. The queues went on for miles and it was obvious we wernt going to get in. So where did i take my new girlfriend on our first date...to see Joan Collins in The Stud! Cant describe how embarassing that memory is now. Needless to say we lasted about a week!!!

the last time i saw a queue at the cinema, i ordered the tickets over the web on my phone, then walked past the queue and picked them up at the electric ticket machines and was in my seat within two minutes, ah the wonders of modern technology

:D :D :D

The longest cinema queue I was ever in was for 'KES' at the ABC. I used to go out Saturday nights, then see the late night show at the Studio 7.

I remember lining up outside the Forum, Southey Green, the first house was full, so we kept waiting for the second show, so must have lined up for about 3 hours to see
White Christmas, and this was in the freezing cold.

The longest queues I remember were to see "The Sound of Music" some people seemed to go mad about that film ..there were old ladies who claimed to have seen the film 50 times or more...
It went on and on week after week at the same cinema like the london musicals do...I saw it once and that was enough.

The longest queues I remember were to see "The Sound of Music" some people seemed to go mad about that film ..there were old ladies who claimed to have seen the film 50 times or more...
It went on and on week after week at the same cinema like the london musicals do...I saw it once and that was enough.

Tim, it was the old Odeon in flat street (now Mecca Bingo). It played there for two years non-stop - around 1965. Like you, I was not keen on it at all

Queue or not, Something is missing these days when you go to the pictures.
Invariably today someone gets raped, brutally killed or foul language comes over.
We may have queued, but the film was worth queuing to see.

Longest Queue I ever saw was for" Crocodile Dundee"
It was also the worst film I've ever seen.

ET for me, as well

Longest queue for me was to see Barberella in 1968 at the ABC. I was expecting my first child at the time and my husband said after waiting all this time it will be our luck for you to go into labour and to have to miss it but no we eventually got in and my first daughter was born 2 weeks later.

I don't know about the longest queue , the most regular was for the Sunday pictures. When they allowed Sunday pictures it was always a seperate film from those shown during the week. If my memory is correct there was only one show, mainly it seemed to be more of a do to meet the girls.

me and mates went to see alien at gaumont but bus was late when we got to cinema there was thirteen single seats left, so couples were walking away. We decided to go in. Sat in packed cinema watching scary film with no one to joke and whisper to made it ten times worse. Such an awsome film first time out.

Longest queue I was in was for "Rock around The Clock" at The Don on West Bar
anyone remember it ? Everyone bopping in the aisles ! And the big bouncer bloke
( I've forgot his name) trying to make everyone sit down, Happy Days !! lol.
must have been in the Fifties.

Jaws - Boxing Day 1975 at the ABC, no contest.

Showing my age now

:blush:

Remember that like it was yesterday, we had to que for hours, but boy it was worth it:hihi: Youngsters don't know they are born these days;)

I remember the queue for Live and Let Die and we never got to the beginning of it, that was at the cinema near to the Dove and Rainbow (was it the ABC?) we ended up seeing Day of the Jackal instead, cant remember where, probably the Odeon or Gaumont.

Also remember being in the queue for Bowie tickets circa 72 at the city hall and got to the beginning almost bar 10 people when they sold out. It was freezing and I was there in my school uniform hoping it was only a ten minute job to queue and buy the tickets and get to school in time for registration!

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Whatever happened to the 'Intermissions' half way through the film. I suppose that's what I always remember about going to the pictures in Shefffield.

I tried to explain it to my kids and they fell about laughing at me !!!!

StJohn

beat street in 84 at abc cinema, the queue went through the alleyway past the halifax building society and think it ended somewhere near where the ncp car park is now, though i got there early so was near the front. yay.

The longest queue I ever saw were back in the late 70's or early 80's for either Star Wars or ET at the cinema on Snig Hill. The queue went up the underpass to Campo Lane and then right along Campo Lane past the multi-storey car park.

The only other long queue I saw was at Crystal Peaks cinema for Independence Day! I worked the night shift and was able to go to the 1pm Friday showing (which was empty) but when I came out the queues were absolutely massive.

No one has mentioned Cinema queue "entertainers" and, people saving places in the queue. Saving places caused the queue to suddenly swell a few minutes before going
in time, most annoying if you were near the end of the queue.