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Old street pics..

Phil,

Same with the one shown on the outside of the Springfield Cinema at it's opening, All In Vain. We know it is 1914, because we have other documentary evidence. Someone suggested it might have been a live show, but I was in there many times during the 1940s (when it was stacked full of sugar by the Ministry of Food!) and I doubt if the stage is as much as five feet deep.

Maurice

springfield_1.jpg
 
778 Bristol Road Selly Oak next to the Westminster Bank saw some changes as can be seen in 3 pics.

Pic 1 shows it as a small hardware shop (behind the car) without a sign. Stan Guest's furniture shop next door was also going to be changed. The car number plate might help with a date.
1BristolRd778.jpg

Pic 2 shows it named 'The Bijoll' but it has closed and what did it sell? Stan Guest's shop has become very grand with large changes. The Westminster Bank has a pile of bricks outside, maybe internal changes.
2BristolRd778.jpg

Pic 3 and Matty's Radio have taken over 778 and are advertising rental TVs which can receive BBC 2 which launched in 1964.
3BristolRd778.jpg
shoothill
 
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Dave,

Many thanks for the info. It would seem that the picture in post #5284 was taken around 1923 and not in the opening week from 25 April 1914. The operating company was formed in 1913 (see below). James Gibbons Parrott originally started acting under the name of Paul Parrott, in which he appeared in 75 silent comedies between 1921 & 1923. He then changed his name to Jimmie Parrott and also appeared with Laurel & Hardy. He later switched to producing under the name of James Parrott, but died in 1939 at the age of 41. Also Hal Roach didn't start making films until 1915.

Likewise the Springfield started to be known as the Springfield Cinema in 1939 and closed at the end of May 1940, reopening again as a cinema for a short period in the 1950s. In recent years it's been used by a furniture supplier.

Maurice

Springfield_1.jpg
 
Phil,

Same with the one shown on the outside of the Springfield Cinema at it's opening, All In Vain. We know it is 1914, because we have other documentary evidence. Someone suggested it might have been a live show, but I was in there many times during the 1940s (when it was stacked full of sugar by the Ministry of Food!) and I doubt if the stage is as much as five feet deep.

Maurice

View attachment 130258
Maurice can I ask where was The Springfield , was it the building on the corner of Icknield St and Spring Hill ?
 
Post 5287.
Photo 1 suggests late 1940's, 48 or 49 maybe. The car registration was introduced in 1947 in Wolverhampton. No bus stop which could suggest trams still running there (ceased 1952) although the absence of traction poles (and wires?) put a doubt on it.
Photos 2 and 3.
Both have pre currency decimalization prices. D-Day was in February 1971. The electrical shop frontage looks newer than the Bijou. I note the Hoover Keymatic on the frontage. It was introduced in 1963.
 
In the first photo in #5287 the 1950 Kellys (which would correspond to 1949) did not have the Westminster bank there.. In the 1955, 1956, 1957 Kellys Guests, Stechford Fireplace, the Manchester Drapery warehouse and Westminster bank are all there . But in the 1958 edition (corresponding to 1957) the Drapery warehouse is missing. Therefore this photo was between 1949 and 1957.
Photo 3
From 1946 up till the 1963 Kellys no 778 is Mabel Humphries toy dealers. In the 1964 edition it is Matty & Rhodes television. In the 1965 edition (corresponding to 1964) it is Mattys TV, and in 1968 (corresponding to 1967) it is Rumbelows. Ignoring the difference between tv and radio in the name, this must be between 1964 and 1967.
The Bijoll place must have been there for only a very short time, but before 1967
 
Dave,

Many thanks for the info. It would seem that the picture in post #5284 was taken around 1923 and not in the opening week from 25 April 1914. The operating company was formed in 1913 (see below). James Gibbons Parrott originally started acting under the name of Paul Parrott, in which he appeared in 75 silent comedies between 1921 & 1923. He then changed his name to Jimmie Parrott and also appeared with Laurel & Hardy. He later switched to producing under the name of James Parrott, but died in 1939 at the age of 41. Also Hal Roach didn't start making films until 1915.

Likewise the Springfield started to be known as the Springfield Cinema in 1939 and closed at the end of May 1940, reopening again as a cinema for a short period in the 1950s. In recent years it's been used by a furniture supplier.

Maurice

View attachment 130266
James Parrott is credited as director on Laurel + Hardy film Murder case
 
Anyone walking along Anderton Road could not fail to see that massive tall chimney beyond the Marlborough Pub. It just about shows on the edge of an aerial pic dated 1920 and looks taller than any of the other factory chimney in the district. On a 1914 map it is on a building between Montgomery Street and the canal next to a 'Corporation Wharf' and has a canal basin on the site.
View attachment 128075
I remember a tall chimney near to my school, Montgomery Street primary. It was black with grime in my day (1961-67) and if my memory serves me right had a metal top. It always looked like it was falling over from the playground against the background of clouds loving by. Just to the right of the Marlborough Pub can be seen the original Waverley Grammer School, looking a bit like Big Ben.
 
Does anybody know anything about F.M Hands corner shop on Chatham Road Northfield when did it close down and what happened F M hands it is now the Clock Cafe, rather have F M hands grocery shop any day

Thank You
 
I was 17 in 1953 and living at 128 Bankes Road. I dont recognise anybody. Attached (I hope) is 128 in about 1910. The girl is my aunt Beatrice Goldsby.128B 003 - Copy.jpg
 
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