What childhood memories do you have of your local cinema?

Question: What childhood memories do you have of your local cinema!?

I found interior photos on Flikr of the cinema I went to as a child!.

It has been lying dormant for well over 20 years now and is a well known 'grot spot'!. I had assumed it was merely a shell but the photos have proved otherwise!.

Projectionist notebooks, the old projectors, spools of films and the majority of seats!.Even the big red letters they used to rearrange to spell out the name of that weeks film!.

All in appalling condition , I can't stress just how overly emotional I was looking at all the photos!.!.!.despite the decay I could still taste my fruit polos ( smuggled in obviously) and feel the wood panelling and itchy velour of the seats!.!.!.

(yapoo won't allow flickr links sorry !.!.!.if anyone is truly intersted type in Tuebrook cinema on Flikr!.!.they are great photos!)

What do you remember!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Was that cinema called the Carlton and was it in Liverpool!? I think that's the cinema whose organ has ended up in a theatre in Stevenage, Hertfordshire!.

I have fond memories of my local cinema!. I particularly remember the huge screen stage and curtains and the way in which the curtains had lights behind them!. My sister and I attended Saturday morning pictures there and loved them!. My delight was the Wurlitzer organ!. I didn't care about anything else as long as they played the organ!. I always knew I'd become an organist once I'd seen that organ!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

- The 9penny rush on Saturday afternoon - a feature film, a B movie, cartoons and either popcorn or ice-cream (we couldn't afford both)!

- when I got older, flicking paper missiles with elastic bands at unsuspecting patrons, kissing on the balcony and putting tons of makeup on my face to get in to see the exorcist, when I ws only 14!

Our cinema is still there, a listed building, and still shows films twice a day, most daysWww@QuestionHome@Com

I remember when smoking was first banned from cinemas - my friend's mother lit up and we were shouted at!
I have to say we mostly went to drive ins! And thought we were very upmarket going to the cinema!.
I'm afraid to see that when I hit teenhood I went to the cinema and spent far too much time in the back row, snogging!. I am ashamed!. Well, not really!.
I was also groped in the cinema by an older man, much to my consternation and horror!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Yeah, my town's fairly small, and our local cinema was knocked down a few years ago!. It's just an ugly gap now!.

All I remember is going to see Pinocchio there (with real actors, I've never seen it since)!. But when my mum went to see Titanic, they couldn't open the curtains! So they projected the first half hour on to the curtains, then got the curtains open and started again!

I'm only 15 though, so maybe this is not the kind of thing you're looking for :PWww@QuestionHome@Com

Great question!

I remember my Big Brother taking me to The Parade every week!. I was about 11 years old but was allowed in to the 18 certs!. Mostly Bruce Lee movies!. Even 30 years ago the place was run down and I remember the old gas light fittings still on the wall!.
The best memory though was our late arrival to a new film called Star Wars!. I think we were both mesmerised and sat through the film 3 times!. In those days you could stay and watch the film as many times as you wanted!.
How sad looking at the pictures of your local, the projectionist notes were fascinating to read though!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

At Saturday morning pictures we took in the old silver milk bottle tops for the blind charity (I think)!. Some kids had sackfuls and I couldn't make out how they collected so many!. I never had much, we drank sterilised milk and that had metal tops, no fridge for us!. Spoilt for cinemas though, three in the town and another a bus away or one railway station, it's where I saw my first X film, never did work out how it deserved an X!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

we ( my sisters and a brother )were in the local ABC minors club!. every saturday morning we visited the cinema!. they showed cartoons of the day, series such as the lone ranger, batman and a film!. it was great!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

My local one closed years ago and since then the closest one is about 15 miles away!.
I remember I used to go almost every weekend!. And I remember getting in to see Natural Born Killers when I was 14, even though it was an 18!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It was a tiny place that held about 10 people and I went for my birthday to watch the Never-ending story!.!.!.my brother cried at the scary wolf bit and we had fish and chips afterwards!.
Were the seats blue or red!?
Titanic is the only film I have gone back to watch again
Memphis Belle was the first film where my dad sat at different part of the cinema as he was not cool enough for me and my friendsWww@QuestionHome@Com

Hi Haz

Memories not that good!. First time I went to the pictures on my own (well with some friends, not parents) was to see Towering Inferno

I sat too near the front and was totally mesmorised until my neck started aching!Www@QuestionHome@Com

I remember our class went on a field trip to the local cinema, to watch a special presentation of the Ten COmmandments!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

etWww@QuestionHome@Com

i remember slipping in between those sliding seats!.!.!.and struggling to keep my balance!.!.!.lol!.!.was very very tiny!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

geez how old are you granny!?!?!?

shall I speak louder!?

EDIT: looks at HAZ!.!.!. OH MY!.!. is that gray hair!?!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Interesting question!.

When I was a lad my town which used to have about 4 cinemas only had one - The Hippodrome!.

It was an independent cinema which only closed down when the first multiplex cinema came to the town!.

The Hippodrome only had two screens and used to allow smoking till it closed in 1998 - something which certain people loved but which I hated!

It has rich 1930s decor inside, though badly aged by the time I was going to the place!

A real oddity was the fact that they had retained the "double" seats in the circle which couples would use!.

Used to sell nasty Westlers Hot Dogs!.

As an aside my Father spent much of his teenage years in the London in the 50s which was still when cinema was huge and also when cinema seats were slashed in iconic films such as Rock around the Clock!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I was born in 1955!. When I was a kid in the south (Texas, to be specific), the balcony was still reserved for "Negroes" - my mother was appalled when I wanted to go up there to watch the movies (I'm Caucasian), and I had no earthly idea why!.

Beyond that very sad memory, the theater is still in use on a limited basis!. I remember big, Greek-style classical murals on the walls, and massive velvet curtains over the screen!. It was a single-screen theater, of course, as most were in that day and time!. It was actually comfortable, especially as in the summer it was one of the few air-conditioned places in town, and ticket prices were a whopping 25 cents for adults :-), and only 15 cents for kids!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They are mixed and scattered!.!.!.

The FIRST movie I recall seeing was "101 Dalmatians" in re-release: January 1969 at the Grant Drive-in, Mountain View, California!. Sadly, drive-ins in the area disappeared shortly after that due to the high land values and the housing boom!.

There as also a old-theater I went to see "Fantasia"!.!.!. it was in Palo Alto, California!.!.!. that the same year in November!.

My "regular" movie places were The Old-Town Mall in Mountain View!.!.!. a 4 or 5 screen complex!. I saw "Star Wars" in 1976, and dozens of screenings of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in 1980-1982!. It was closed and torn down not long after!.

I also used to go to the Sunnyvale-10 in the Sunnyvale Mall!.!.!. just a cookie-cutter multiplex of the late 70's!.!.!. sadly, I was also torn down recently!.

Now-a-days!.!.!.!. I have my large flat screen and DVD player here and on our farm in the Philippines!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Going to The Pictures was an adventure, because we had to go over 20 miles into Athlone (in Dad's old Austin station wagon, called a Shooting Brake then), so it was a real treat!.

I didn't like the Saturday afternoon Westerns, but did like Lassie Come Home, and other animal films!. When I was older I liked the early Bond films, which were about as racy as it got in Ireland then!

Sometimes Dad would take Rob, my brother, if there was a war film like the Dam Busters or Reach for the Sky, and Mum and I would go shopping and leave them to it!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Every Saturday afternoon, all the kids on our street went to the pictures, about 10 or 15 all in a gang!. It was the Victory but we called it the Vick!!
I went because all the other kids went!. You could get a penny ice lolly that tasted quite awful, but we still ate them!. There were those little tubs of ice cream too, but they cost 3d, too expensive for the Bash St Kids!. LOL

The films shown were Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello, The Three Stooges amongst others!. To this day hate slapstick comedy, I would sit there unsmiling and stoney faced throughout!. LOL

also there would be a cowboy film, accompanied by much excitement and feet stamping by the kids in the audience!. Again I had absolutely no interest in westerns!. Why did I go!?!?!?!? Probably because, as I have said, everyone else went and I would have had no one to play with all afternoon!.

Then I got into a fight one day and won, it was a boy, Jimmy Quinn, and I made him cry, and the battle axe usherette banned me!. 'You are not coming in here again'!' she yelled at me!. Did I care!? Not in the least, I went home and read my library books!. :-- ))

EDIT!.

I also remember my very first visit to the cinema!. I was probably about 2 years old!. I was carried in anyway so I must have been quite small!.
I was taken there in the afternoon by my grandma!. When we got inside, it was pitch black everywhere!. I saw a giant picture of a man's head and shoulders accompanied by a booming voice!. Frightened me to death!!! I screamed my head off, had to be taken outside and got a sound slapping for making such a fuss and getting us chucked out!.!!! LOLOLWww@QuestionHome@Com