It's hard to imagine these days how popular the cinema was in the 40's & 50's. The queues would stretch on the right hand side, for the cheaper seats, along the front, up the short alley, down past that brick wall and then along the pavement.
On the other side, for the more expensive seats it could be even longer. Prices that I can recall were the 1/9 thats just under 10p, and the 2/3 about 15p. I forget the circle prices. For us children it was Saturdays we looked forward to the most! For just sixpence we would have a sing song, a cartoon, a serial plus a western. The Manager ( Uncle Ray ) also ran the odd competition. One that I remember was we had to write an essay about Winston Churchill. I wrote mine but decided it was not good enough, so I rewrote it. Unknown to me, my sister Pauline, had found my discarded copy and sent it in under her name!. On the Saturday Uncle Ray announced the winner as my sister!!, as she wasn't in the cinema I went on stage to receive her prize, which was 7/6 in savings stamps! And she didn't share the prize with me! A treat that we all looked forward to was our birthday! On your birthday you received from the Gaumont a birthday card which included free admission to that weeks Saturday club, I think it may have included a friend. As you entered The Foyer (see above)
you had this nice smell of warmth and anticipation of things to come. Most people smoked in those days but I can honestly say it didn't seem to bother us as much as it does these days. If we had enough money, we loved to buy ice cream from the usherette who would stand at the front on either side of the stage with her small tray lit by a small shaded light fixed to it..
I think it sad that today's youngsters will never be able to appreciate what going to the pictures meant in those days before television took over. Going to the pictures was entering a dream world to escape from your ordinary existence, it was the main form of entertainment for the working classes.
We could see the Gaumont from our back bedroom window, this was handy when mum was going over there with her friend Mrs Porter usually on a Sunday afternoon as we had to keep watch to see how the queue was going. If it was getting long she would pack us over there to 'mind her place'. They sometimes used to have celebrities after the war turn up to publicise a film. When this occurred we all used to hang out of the bedroom window making a lot of noise, generally insults to which many turned round to see where all the noise was coming from! Our mother used to get very embarrassed. I recall Richard Attenborough coming and the star of Dick Barton, Derrick de Marney.
During the war the cinema was sometimes used as a shelter during air raids. Unfortunately films were not shown and we were packed in there until the all clear sounded. I remember seeing a man with a young child on his head, the child was laying between two pillows like a sandwich! Strange how you can remember little scenes from years ago like that.
Obviously there were films that we were too young to see., however this did not deter us, we used to hang about outside the cinema and look out for potential victims who would agree to take us in! We saw no danger in this and indeed there wasn't, but it couldn't happen today. We generally managed to get in. Sometimes it was agreed that the first one in would open a window in the toilets to let the others in!. I got kicked out once because I was slow to react. We had 'bunked' in ok through the ladies toilets and split up as it was safer. I found a seat near the back and sat next to a couple, we always did this as you became part of the family! The attendent came along and spoke to the couple saying that this block of seats were not being used and would they mind moving, I was slow to move and he tumbled! I was walked down the aisle by the ear and kicked out of the exit . (interior see below) This is a view inside the auditorium, looking opposite can be seen the location of my humilation, on the left the ladies toilet, and next to it the exit I was kicked out of .
The County. Sutton
Granada. Sutton Link
The Curzon. Sutton
Granada Tooting Link
The Century. Cheam
The Odeon Morden see photo below circa unknown but going by the bus I should say late thirties?
The Majestic Mitcham see photo below circa 1934
So it can be seen what a wide choice there was just within a short bus ride, and these were palatial cinemas where you were guaranteed two films and the news, possibly a cartoon for a good night out. Now we have these nine-in-one cinemas! No comparison, and I feel sorry for this generation who will never experience a night at 'The Flicks' unless they go to the west end.
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