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| Inside
An Old Cinema |
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Are You Sitting Comfortably...
Look at the picture of this old cinema (on the right) and
what's the first thing you notice? OK, not including that
it's a scene from "Gone With The Wind". That's right, wooden
chairs!
Now when you consider that this film was a whopping 222
minutes long, those chairs are looking less and less comfortable aren't
they?
Include the fact that you probably went to the Cinema,
either on foot or by bus, and you start to appreciate the
effort involved in going to the pictures when we were kids!
And yet, we all did. Whether it was to see amazing new
movies showing us the big wide world (well, Hollywood at
least), getting our dose of news from the front (during
WWII), or going to the Saturday Morning Matinees, almost
everyone in the UK over 30 will have some memories of the
magic that was the cinema, when we were kids.
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| Poster
for Flash Gordon |
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More than just a place to watch movies, the cinema used
to be viewed as more of a communal experience. This was
nowhere more true than with the Saturday morning cinema
clubs for children.
All the big cinemas had their club with the Odeon Club
and the ABC Minors being the two most popular. There was
often a compere, cards for kids whose birthday it was,
and kids were encouraged to scream and shout, boo and hiss,
all the way through the shows.
There were regular series like "Flash Gordon" (see poster
left), "Lassie", "Zorro" or "The Lone Ranger"; there were
cartoons like "Felix The Cat", "Steamboat Willie"
and, or course, "Mickey Mouse". Then there was
a featured film, usually on a historical theme.
There were even club songs that you could sing along with
when not flicking lollypop sticks at each other and swapping
button badges for the ones missing from your set.
Don't forget too, to share your stories about going to
the cinema when you were kids, and to read the accounts
of others at the WWWK
Forums.
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