Old cinemas of sheffield

Hi, just going to a different area of Sheffield, a bit out of town, down to Darnall. I remember in the late 50s/early 60s, in my very early years going to the Lyric picture house at the bottom of Darnall Main Rd on Saturday's for the matinee session. There was a super hero production of something like Superman (but not sure on that, it could have been some other super human) and a Laurel and Hardy. (all in black and white),brilliant! there was also a model shop just along the road where I remember buying Airfix models of Spitfires and other planes with my 5 bob spending money. this usually kept me occupied for the following week until the next flicks session. A bit different from todays interests I guess.

Yes, my aunt worked at the Forum (later an Essoldo) and she told me the same - maybe that's how he became so successful. I was surprised to find no mention of the Scheckman family in birth, marriage and death records, except a 1936 marriage record of of Dorothy M. Scheckman to Myer Refson, in Newcastle.

hiya , there is talk about the roxy cinema, can you tell me was the roxy dance hall in this building as I only went once around 1955,thanks.

Hi willybite - yes, the former Page Hall Cinema (renamed the Roxy in 1945) also had a dance hall..

The dance hall at the Roxy was owned by Harry Silvester in the late 50s.

Harry was the husband of Constance Grant. I can remember going with my mum, who was Connies niece, to help tidy the bar area out and do some general cleaning.

I've read on this or another thread that she moved some of her dance classes there

The dance hall at the Roxy was owned by Harry Silvester in the late 50s.

Harry was the husband of Constance Grant. I can remember going with my mum, who was Connies niece, to help tidy the bar area out and do some general cleaning.

I've read on this or another thread that she moved some of her dance classes there

I remember going to her dance school, I bet prisoners of war fared better than we did, it was absolute torture

The dance hall at the Roxy was owned by Harry Silvester in the late 50s.

Harry was the husband of Constance Grant. I can remember going with my mum, who was Connies niece, to help tidy the bar area out and do some general cleaning.

I've read on this or another thread that she moved some of her dance classes there

hiya talking about dance classes brought it back to me, whose were the ones one on west st corner of mappin st in the same block as the old labour club, and the at the back of st silas church on hanover square. was it collinsons. mr collinson he was i think the m.c. at glossop rd dances.

My job took me away from Sheffield in 1965 but I used to travel back to see out relatives for some years but it must now be at least 30 years since I last visited the area.

I do use Google earth to have a quick peep but now it looks like a strange town I get completely lost, how it has all changed.

But I still remember many of the cinemas and the ones that had dance halls, usually in the basement which we used a lot and all had a 'live' band of sorts

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But I noticed a few of names missing, what about the Heeley Green, Woodseats Palace, ( the Chantry was a little further up the road), the Manor at the top of Prince of Wales Road/City road junction, the Colosseum in Spittle Hill, and the Carlton on the Arbourthorne.

The two cinemas on Ecclesall road I have got mixed, I think the Star was opposite Wards Brewery Offices but I forget just where the Greystone was but we did go to the one which had the dance floor.

The Chantry at Woodseats had a dance floor in their basement where you had to negotiate pillars in the middle of the room that supported the building and in the middle of the floor there was slight slope upwards as well. The Abbeydale used their basement as a dance hall as well, I have forgotten if there were anymore.

But does anyone remember the Central Picture House half way down the Moor ? After the first raid by the Luftwaffe on Sheffield many of the large shops in the center of the city were destroyed and many on both sides of the Moor were also destroyed but the Central stood there almost untouched.

So it was requisitioned and converted so one of the big stores could use it, I think Cole Bros, it never returned to being a cinema as far as I remember.

And the drinks shops, just a little different to the 'milk bar ' of the day we often called them 'herbalists', I remember the one just below the Abbeydale and there was one on Ecclesall road on the opposite side of the road to the Star and also one opposite the Heeley Green

We were very well off for cinemas in those days.

In passing I think Walsh's store moved into a large country house called the Mount at Broomhill. westmoors

Know the feeling of deja vu expecially when looking back as an expat - just remember it as it was it had bags more identity, and the people had passion for their town and the two football still had local players that played with heart not for money. New Book out War Fiction set in the Sheffield of olde that you will remember it starts in 1915. It is on Amazon and each copy donates to The Royal British Legion anyone who had grandparents involved in WW1 will relate, great story.

http://apocketfullofhope.co.uk/

Cinemagoing sixty years ago

I’m going back to around 1946 - 1950 time, we still recovering from a devastating war it is impossible these days for people to realize how little there was for the youth. There was very little to entertain the youth in that era, no TV, no Discos or night clubs, no mobile phones, ipods, PC’s,CD’s or any portable music players, if you had a gramophone it only played ten inch and twelve inch 78 rpm records, the L.P record had not arrived although I think the smaller 45 rpm disk was just coming in. It was normally the older person who could own or run a car, although cheap ex WD transport made owning a motorbike possible, most things you now take for granted were in short supply and you queued in most shops for almost every commodity.

But queuing was still a way of life, no one complained, everyone did it and mostly in an orderly manner and accepted it, but woe betide a queue jumper if he or she tried to squeeze in with calls to them of “ tell him to get to the back of the queue “ or more blunt instructions. Cinemas were no different, there were almost always queues outside ( two of course ), one for the stalls and one for the balcony.

But in those day there was still a wartime camaraderie and people would save your place if you had to leave for any reason if you intended coming back.

I have no idea if cinemas practice the system now but many cinemas used to start screening as early as 10 am in what they call continuous performances and probably put on four or more complete performances up to around 10- 10.30 pm. Consequentially you could pop in part way through a performance and watch it to it’s end then watch the following performance up to the point where you had come in and then leave.

Early performances were not always well supported but by mid afternoon the cinema would have filled up and the queues would be forming outside with people being allowed in as those that had seen the film left keeping so the place was constantly full. The performances usually contained a shorter B film sometimes two, a current newsreel and a few adverts with a very short intermission between the finish of one complete performance and the start of the next.

The result of this was that towards the end of the last screening the place usually became half empty so I don’t know if the system did improve the takings but what was happening inside was at times quite hectic as you if you were seated in the stalls you endeavored to change seats.

In the stalls which of course held about twice as many seats as the balcony topping up the customers meant that you were always shown by the usherette to the very front seats . So during the performance you were constantly looking behind you to see who was leaving and if you could get to their seats before someone else spotted them and you hurriedly got up and made a beeline for them. In the short intermissions when the house lights came on there was just time to re seat yourself in less haste before they let new customers in. The reason for all this was that the front seats were always too close to the screen for comfort and everybody changed as soon as possible, this was an ongoing process through the performances and we all accepted this. But all this did not apply to the balcony seating for obvious reasons

Two good examples in the City centre were the old Cinema House in Barker’s Pool, here the stalls seats were so near the screen and the rows so wide that if you were seated at either end in the front three rows all you could see was a very distorted image and came out with a very sore neck, in some cinemas you could even find yourself behind a pillar ! and the other example was the Palace Union street which we always just called Union street I think they had pillars under the balcony but it could have been the Chantry at Woodseats because they had them in the basement and could have extended upwards into the stalls to support the balcony !.

Queuing outside also had it’s procedures, it was expected that after 6pm you may have to queue for at least an hour, often in rain or snow and rarely any cover. The Abbeydale had a glass cover over the pathway down the left hand side of the building which gave minimum shelter and the old Palace Cinema in Union street had a covered parking area at the right hand side of the building which on special or busy times they would open the wrought iron gates and allow you to queue there, I wonder if anyone remembers on the back wall there was an advert saying S U T ( Sheffield United Tours ) but I never saw a coach parked there.

Many cinemas had a doorman even in the suburburban cinemas and throughout the later performances he would be in constant touch between the auditorium and usherettes and the queues updating the waiting queue on the probability of when or if they would get a seat and also matching requests for three together or single vacant seats for single customers to great effect. When information came to the rear of the house via the usherettes that so many seats were now empty selected customers would be almost personally ushered by the doorman guiding them through the foyer and then passed from one usherette to another like royalty until the final one shone her torch on the empty seat.

As the next to last performance of the evening ended the stalwarts still hoping to get in would have counted how many people were standing in front them in the queue and would be watching and counting carefully the people coming out of the exit doors from the stalls or those coming down the stairs from the balcony, from this information they would know if they would be seeing the whole final showing, if not most would go home but even then some would hang on in the hope some more people left before the main film started.

Mad ? well a different world anyway as I said, but the cinema in those days was an integral part of everyday life much the same as TV is today and what a dull life we would have had without it.

---------- Post added 03-09-2014 at 09:36 ----------

One cinema which I am sure most will know of although long gone, the marble facade and cupola dome has managed to survive even today, The Lansdown on corner of Boston street and London road

Westmoors - enjoyed your post, yes cinema was a part of everyones life and we loved that escapism think the only thing you have missed out was the National Anthem always played after the last showing - what a patriotic lot we were.

Cinemagoing sixty years ago

In those days we referred to the seating simply as the "front", "back" and "upstairs". Some old cinemas had "boxes" a throwback to the days when they were live theatres.

A common tactic for kids who wanted to get in to an "A" picture was to scan the queue for a friendly looking lady (not a man for obvious reasons) and politely ask, "Missus, will you take one (or two) in please?"

If you sized up your target well enough, she might even share her toffees with you as well.

Linnet, yes I forgot about the national Anthem and in those days we actually stood up and waited until it finished, I think that sort of national respect has long gone mores the pity. I won't go on about that because it could open up a whole new can of worms

Trastrick your comments bring back the memory I had forgotten about of getting an older person to take you in if it was an A film. One of my old haunts was the Heeley Green which I think may have had live shows, at least it had double seats upstairs one at both ends of some rows if I remember which was unusual, all the couples used to bag these if they could

---------- Post added 03-09-2014 at 14:29 ----------

Linnet and trastrick, yes I forgot about the National Anthem and we actually stood up and waited until had finished ! That's the sort of respect we had in those days, long gone it seems today, but I won't open that can of worms !

And asking or being asked to take someone in to see an A film, another long forgotten memory. Some of the cinemas did retain imitation boxes to make them look like a theater but you could not sit in them, Heeley Colliseum had those as upstairs, you walked from the side of the screen along a walkway towards the balcony seating with a couple built into the side overlooking the stalls, and Heeley Green has some double seaters upstairs that the courting couples used to love, perhaps this had live shows years ago ?