Going to the Pictures in Whitehaven

BBC Cumbria bus on behalf of Mr Ian Robertson's memory of 1st January 1933 - 31st December 1933

Grandma Robertson often took me to the pictures. I can remember the first one she took me to. It was very exciting to see your first film. The film was on at the Gaiety Picture House on Tangier Street. We sat downstairs near the back. I think this was in case I didn’t like it and to make a quick exit.
Glad to say I enjoyed it.

The film that we went to see was Shirley Temple who was just a year older than I was at that time. It was a musical she sang and danced and one of the songs became very popular song at that time “The Good Ship Lollypop”.

This was the start of going to the pictures with my Grandma.

When I was a little older and it wasn’t the thing to go with Grandma’s. Uncle Joe used to take me.

I remember the day he took me to Workington on the bus to the brand new cinema on Murray Road. It was called the Ritz.

We sat upstairs on lovely plush seats to watch a film I think it was the first picture in colour that I’d ever seen.

When it was time for the interval all the adverts for the local shops came up on the screen.
Uncle Joe bought Eldorado ice creams for the two of us and then to my amazement the curtains opened all with various coloured lights shining on them and up out of the middle of the stage up rises a Wurlitzer organ with a man playing all the latest tunes of the day.

I was very keen to go to the cinema and jumped at the chance when Uncle Joe offered to take me.

Abe Tye was a friend Uncle Joe he worked in the Gaiety cinema. Abe was the projectionist, the man who shows the films.

Uncle Joe often took me up to the projectionist’s box to show me how it was done. It was very hot and noisy and the brightness reminded me of the sun ray treatment at the clinic with the carbon rods arcing together to give the light to show the films.
I had to stand on my tiptoes to look out of the little square window to get a look at the film that he was showing.

It was great fun when I was allowed to go to the pictures with my pals. We always went to the Queens matinee on a Saturday afternoon.

The picture house was behind the Market hall. They always seemed to get the best films for the young ones at the matinee.

All the films were in Black and white on a small screen. They had been shown that many times at different picture houses they were worn out with lots of vertical scratches showing up on the screen.
They would often break down or the film would snap and bring the whole theatre into total darkness.

The place would be in an uproar with hundreds of kids squealing and shouting. The manager and all his assistants would appear with their torches, which were more like searchlights trying to keep order.

The main culprits would be caught up in the spotlight of the torch and be thrown out and banned which caused more commotion. Order was only restored when the picture was back on the screen.

Laurel and Hardy,The Three Stooges and the Marxs Brothers were some of the funny films we used to enjoy.

Tom Mix and Gene Autrey in the westerns.

The Queens was the only picture house that showed a serial on its Saturday matinee this was the attraction to all the children in town to see The Clutching Hand which seemed to go on for weeks.

The episodes lasted for about half an hour and kept you on the edge of your seats until the climax then up it came up on the screen.
To be continued next week. You couldn’t wait until next Saturday.

The third picture house in town was the Empire on Roper Street. Its main entrance was next door to McConnels shop.

For the cheaper seats the entrance was on Chapel Street which was next door to the Golden Fleece public house.
The Empire picture house had no gallery it was all on one level.

The best seats were in the middle then came the side seats, which were divided by a low partition, and then the cheapest seats, which were made of wood, it was also divided by a partition The cheapest seats cost four pence.

When the lights went out you often saw someone sneaking into the better seats for more comfort.

It was very rare that my pals and I went into the cheapest seats only if the picture house was full and we were desperate to see a special film.

These seats were nicknamed the Firing Line. The seats were that near the screen you had to look up and end up with a stiff neck or if you were on the side their faces were that long and distorted they were unrecognisable.

And it was nothing to see the shadow of a paper aeroplane flying past the screen. Or maybe a pea from a pea shooter with a direct hit on the back of you neck.

The other hazard was that you always came home with a flea, which took big lumps out of me. I was strip searched by my Mam until the culprit was caught. Then before it could do no more jumping

It was put out of its misery by cracking it between two thumb nails.

This memory was submitted to the Memoryshare web service by the BBC Cumbria Bus Team on behalf of Mr Ian Robertson and has been added to the site with the author’s permission.

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This memory was added 23rd November 2007

Keywords: cinema Whitehaven Cumbria bbc cumbria Shirley Temple

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