My edition of "The ABC Story", the cinema trade's encyclopaedia of ABC cinemas does confirm 24 Nov.1956 as the final screening day.
Blundered into this series of posts from Stratford Road via Google, no don't ask or tell me to get a life, fascinated by this map, I have had a love of maps since staying in Malvern during the war with a pre-war Bartholomews and being able to relate the view from our bedroom window with the map, we were looking eastwards and quite high up and the smoke from the railways helped me understand about maps, I was 8 or 9 at the time, but back to the theme and the point, there are no swimming baths shown in Mason Road. When were they built? What date is this map? Came out of National Service October 1956 and cannot remember going to the Picture House once I was out, the Palace certainly, Pavilion, Stockland, Odeons Sutton & Great Barr and some of the Picture House clones, showing films that were either very old, or that had had their UK premiere, followed by a run in the City Centre cinemas until they came out on the circuit, disappeared and then turned up at the Picture House or the Star in Slade Road or one of the picture houses on Soho Road. These were usually blockbusters three months or so after they had disappeared from Cinemas and often two big ones on the same bill (2 'A' pictures and not an 'A' and a 'B') and there would have been films that I had missed while away in Germany in the Army that I needed to catch up on and the Picture House would have been a cert for some of them, but did not go there and I am sure that early in 1957 on my way to the Palace to 'creep and bop' the night away (gosh the voice of Mr Phillips came back to me then....'no jive at this time please'...(oh how we waited and yearned for The Creep) However back to the Cinema mind you after seeing.... .and God created Women in German - fully uncensored in the cinema in Minden (German not Army Kinema Corps) (It looked different when I told the lads about it and took them to see it at the Cinephone - by the way did anyone whoever used the Cinephone ever see a film called Buckets of Blood there?)and Die Halbstarken (fully uncensored), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers was a little tame.....Happy Days. Sorry for any deviation from the true theme.
Aye Bob, god created women, & many randy teenagers! Seems tame by today's standards.[/QUOTE]
Thanks Lady P, actually once I was sixteen, my parents were to busy (at least my mother) to care whether I was visiting flea pits or not, as long as I gave her £2 a week out of my £2.19.6d take home pay she did not care, yes 19/6d could fund my 16year old smoking, coffee and picture going, I cycled to Dunlop every day. When Dad and I went to football or cricket matches he always paid and I usually smoked his cigarettes.
There were a few double seats, but the management ensured that nothing untoward happened, because the usherettes kept coming and shining their torches. I don't know why me and my mates always behaved ourselves as we watched old films on a Sunday.
