by Sheila Buchanan
As the blog lengthens some of these gems are consigned to "Older posts"; I'm going to start cycling the content back to the beginning for another read. The pieces are well worth it - like this transportive account of cinema experience of old by Sheila...
As the blog lengthens some of these gems are consigned to "Older posts"; I'm going to start cycling the content back to the beginning for another read. The pieces are well worth it - like this transportive account of cinema experience of old by Sheila...
Back in the day Glasgow
was known as cinema city and indeed cinema going was a mass phenomenon. By 1939 there were 114 cinemas in the
city. The Enchineer being the font of
all knowledge and experience remembered that within a mile of where he stayed
there were at least 10 cinemas. He
corroborated the tale that you took jam jars to the ticket booth and in
exchange got entrance to a world apart and the silver screen. His father would give him 2 shillings and
that was enough to get him and his sister a bag of sweets and entrance to the
cinema with still enough left over to buy his siblings back home a share
of penny caramels which would be divided
up so no one missed out.
Listening to the Enchineer’s
stories led me to think about some rare
archive footage of the Highlands and Islands Mobile cinema I had seen recently. The footage which had only recently been
catalogued showed the cinema van which would do its rounds to all the rural
villages and islands. The size of the
community was no barrier to a visit. The
whole village would go out and walk in their “good clothes” to the local hall
enfamille. Young and old and older were there washed and dressed and ready for
their evening. The footage shows the farmer often finishing his work in the
field with the ancient agricultural machinery which required vast amounts of
manual work unlie the sophisticated machinery of today. He would then join the family and villagers
at the hall to see the latest offering at the “cinema”
The man in the van would
arrive early at the venue and carry in all the crates of films in their large
tin cans and the hefty large projector.
He rarely had a helper so he was
The man wi’ the van
Bringing in the tin can
The power to run the
projector was often taken from a link up to the alternator and battery of the
van. To get the height required to show
the films the projector height was fashioned from a number of boxes arranged
with the wooden step ladder on top. This
makeshift edifice would have the projector sitting on the wooden platform of
the step ladder and be of sufficient height to show the film on a wall or
screen so that all could view.
The size of the communites varied from 100 in Kilchrenan to the mighty
tally of 300 or more in the bigger villages.
The program consisted of small shorts, kids programs and the main
feature. Sometimes the older children
would be allowed to see the main film which was a treat for them. The adults would get wooden gym benches to
sit on and the children the floor. On
Skye there was a bus that collected the audience to take them to Portree to the
bigger cinema. As there were no pubs in
the rural areas it was a wheeze to get the bus to Portree where there were pubs
and so the bus back was rowdy and fun…..memories made no mention of the
film. It was also a match making dating
agency.
Film makers of all shades made films.
They would capture life with no CGI effects available to them but these
will last longer in the archive memories and provide deep insight and vision
for ourselves getting a glimpse into the past and celluloid tales.
I myself experienced this mobile cinema in Arran in the late 50’s in
Brodick community hall. The hall would
be filled with folding chairs that appeared to feel soft at the start but ended
up being fidgety and hard but this still did not spoil the excitement. I saw
King Kong which was an early film version compared with the recent release and
had none of the sophisticated effects of today but was none the less full of
terror and suspense despite the crackly effects. I can still remember the sounds of the film
reel flapping as it came to the end of the first reel and needing changed to
allow the film to continue. The lights
would come on and an enforced interval would take place while the next reel was
fitted. The sounds of the running machine
and the light casting a beam of dancing dust particles in the darkness are
strong memories for the senses. There
was no separate projection room then.
The images of these times have filtered into my brain and cast interest
and inspired my own memories. We live in
an era of rapid change so rapid that we do not notice the changes. It is a privilege to be allowed to look back
at these films which have now been digitised and preserved for us. For further enlightened reflection of these
times there is open access to the National library of Scotland which has opened
a brand new venue in the Kelvin hall. It has a vast and catalogued collection
of images which are freely available to anyone to view in comfortable and
stimulating surroundings….
Further resources about
the cinemas in Glasgow can be found at
This shows pictures of where the
cinemas were. You will be surprised at the size of the cinema buildings and
reflect on what is there now. As an
example a cinema which existed close to my current home is now a car park and
an Aldi store.!!
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