Going to the pictures, as we used to say

Reading a thread about the ABC cinema got me reminiscing. The coffee shop there was a regular place for us to meet up back in the day. Almost like Cole's corner - remember that?

Does anyone remember the Coliseum Cinema on Spital Hill? Living in Pitsmoor as a child, that was our cinema of choice. Later as teenagers we always went to town, where there were lots to choose from, so we could see movies several nights a week.

You got your money's worth in those days. It was a whole evening's entertainment , with two movies - the A and the B - a cartoon and the newsreel. These days you are in and out in an hour and a half usually, and it's hard to find something of interest to seniors.

I remember going to the Coliseum, but only the once with my Mum and Dad, and we had to queue to get in to see "Annie get your gun" it must have been special at the time because we lived at the other end of town.

Yes going to the Cinema was a treat back then and don't forget the serials, we had to sit through some right rubbish to follow Superman and Flash Gordon ......

Here's an excerpt from my new book. It brings the Norfolk "Picture Palace" back to life:

"... Its exterior facade consisted of yellow and black tiles, its entrance controlled by large concertina-like, folding metal gates. It resembled a public lavatory more than a cinema. Inside, its balcony section, nicknamed the Jury Box, was just a couple of feet higher than the remainder of the seating known as the stalls. A black curtain hanging on a rail separated the two sections. Like all picture houses in those days, the screen was hidden behind a fog of cigarette smoke. Every so often during the film, a shout would ring out from a scruffy group of teenagers:

“Fyffe’s bananas.”

“Kilroy’s ’ere.”

Nothing vulgar. Just disruptive enough to bring an usher to them armed with a flashlight.

“Who was shoutin’?”

Then, without waiting for the answer, he or she would hustle the yobs out through the main entrance on to the street. Five minutes later, they would creep back in, one-by-one through the side door. ..

The aroma at the Norfolk was not just confined to cigarette smoke and body sweat. It would be quite common during the film for patrons to start sniffing and muttering indignantly as the smell of rotten eggs wafted through the air. The give-away snickering that went along with this, coming as it did from a confined area of the cinema, meant that someone had dropped a stink bomb on the floor.

... An evening at the Norfolk provided an all-inclusive medley of entertainment." :hihi:

I'm looking forward to a rare trip to the pictures this Tuesday night at Meadowhall.

Two Laurel and Hardy films 'Sons Of The Desert' and 'County Hospital', do they still have a break where the ice cream sellers come around and do they still have Kia Ora in cartons ?

The Pictures now no longer feel like the theaters they seemed to be BBTT, (back before the telly), the last time I went it was more like sitting in a church hall...

Where's all that magic gone.....?

Rex Cinema.. every other Friday night, no matter what was on. Then a walk to Manor Top for chips. Good times.

Richard

Vogue Cinema (Sheffield Lane Top)

Never will forgive my Mum for taking us to see Lost Horizon there.

Once or twice went to the ABC on Saturday morning but I was far too adult to keep going... or so I thought aged about 12!

The Classic. Saw my first X rated film in there when I was about 14. No it wasn't a rude one. It was a Bruce Lee film. Came out of there thinking I was Bruce Lee and "well ard" Got cocky with some lads drinking outside the Marples and the rest is history... well I nearly was!

Probably the 'Coli' was the first picture house I ever went to. And that was back in the 30's. I can't remember the film though, I think I was about three years old. I wasn't much older when I was taken to the 'Sunbeam', still sitting on the tipped up seat and the film was in early color. I remember clearly the film was a kind of historic romance, all the actors wearing wigs and dressed in old fashioned clothes. In one scene there was this guy playing a violin and in an early attempt at special affects, multiple images of the violin player were on the screen, the main one in the centre and about six more going round and around the outside. At three years old, that was too much for me, I freaked out and they had to carry me out kicking and screaming.

My Uncle, took me to the pictures every week. The next early film I saw was 'The Big Broadcast', again at the 'Sunbeam' starring Bing Crosby. That was the earliest I can remember. It was made in 1932 and I saw it in 1936/7.

Rex Cinema.. every other Friday night, no matter what was on. Then a walk to Manor Top for chips. Good times.

 

Richard

Why all the way to Manor Top? There was that fish & chip shop near the end of Woodhouse Rd. Wouldn't have been as far for you to walk.

I remember the old Odeon at the corner of Flat St and Norfolk St {as it was then) being built in '56, I was 9 at the time and was amazed at the size, largest in England I think.

I saw The Time Machine there in' 60 and was blown away by it!

My grandma and aunts went often to the Heeley Green. I went with them alt least twice a week for years.

Then an uncle was an usher at the Carleton so we got comps twice a week.

It was a big part of my life and fueled the desire to get out of then dirty poor Sheffield (I finished up in Canada)

Now I have my 55 inch LED and a collection of old movies the Heeley Green could only dream of!

I can do a cartoon, maybe a Joe McDoakes, or a Bowery Boys to start, then the BIG picture, Gone with the wind, Casablanca, or Jamaica Inn.

Another night it could be a Pete Smith Special, or a Joe Palooka, then Double Indemnity.

And none of that streaky, jumpy, bad sound stuff. Most of these old movies have been cleaned up and digitally improved better than we ever saw as kids.

A fridge full of food and central heating. No long traipse home in winter!

Ya gotta love technology

Why all the way to Manor Top? There was that fish & chip shop near the end of Woodhouse Rd. Wouldn't have been as far for you to walk.

Stan's? There was a closer one still. Stanhope Road.