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They Were Caught In Our Old Street Pics...

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Surely the no 6 tram is heading towards newtown row and eventually into steelehouse lane, while tram 5 is heading away from lozells road and towards Victoria road. Where was the orient cinema,I used to pass this way every day and I don't recall seeing the Orient
 
Just looked again at the photo, I think I've got it wrong.Was there a bank opposite the one shown?That would be the one that confused me,so that would be Victoria road straight ahead..?...……………...
 
mallyb2 said:
Just looked again at the photo, I think I've got it wrong.Was there a bank opposite the one shown?That would be the one that confused me,so that would be Victoria road straight ahead..?...……………...
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Yes, that is Victoria Rd straight ahead...and as I pointed out in post#2539, you can see the roof of the Orient Cinema on the upper right, it was located between six ways and Whitehead St / Park Lane....
Dave A
 
mallyb2 said:
Just looked again at the photo, I think I've got it wrong.Was there a bank opposite the one shown?That would be the one that confused me,so that would be Victoria road straight ahead..?...……………...
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If the lady, busy in the doorway of the National Provincial Bank, had looked across the road she would have seen the doorway of another bank on the corner of Lozells Road and Birchfield Road. I crossed Six Ways several times a week in my younger days (often looking at the clock) and can't remember the name of the other bank !
SixWaysClock.jpg
pic from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/clocks.45336/#post-552083
 
Six Ways in 1966, and the National Provincial Bank was still there and looks open for business. All the buildings opposite have gone and some folks in the pic are using the smart pedestrian walk-way.
SixWays1966.jpg
 
A computer generated aerial view of today's Six Ways. The bank and adjacent buildings have been demolished and replaced by greenery.
Now_SixWays.JPG
 
Bob Davis said:
OKay, so where do I catch my 5a now? Can any one overlay the now and yesterday maps, because I am lost, presumably that is going down to Newtown, not Summer Lane. It actually looks more LA than Brum
Bob
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A view with Alma St marked with a yellow overlay because most of it seems to have been built over. I have not been that way for years so could be wrong. Summer Lane goes off top right towards the compass icon. Witton Road leads in from bottom left and presumably you would have caught a 5A bus there.
I think the lady in the bank doorway in #2537 might have been polishing the brass plate seen behind her ...:)
alma_st_iOS.jpg
 
oldMohawk said:
A view with Alma St marked with a yellow overlay because most of it seems to have been built over. I have not been that way for years so could be wrong. Summer Lane goes off top right towards the compass icon. Witton Road leads in from bottom left and presumably you would have caught a 5A bus there.
I think the lady in the bank doorway in #2537 might have been polishing the brass plate seen behind her ...:)
View attachment 126431
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Thank you
Bob
 
I had put this pic in the Birmingham Buses thread but did not comment there about what looks like a bird sitting on the driver's dashboard with three women outside and someone inside the bus looking at it.
index.php

from https://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/index.php?threads/birmingham-buses.10742/page-69#post-619472

The original pic is below but when I looked at 'Midland Reds' they were always red so that's why I added colour, sharpened it, removed some front window reflection, and switched on the illuminated advert ...;)
GSMidlandRed.jpg
 
Lots of folks in this pic of Steelhouse Lane which was possibly taken on a Saturday or Sunday between May and early July in 1953. My favourite cinema the Gaumont is on the right where our crowd used to queue every Sunday for the evening performance. In this pic they queue to see Alan Ladd in Desert Legion which I did see but found slightly boring. A man carrying his young daughter stares at the camera while another man helps his wife down the high steps of the tram.

As we chatted in the queue none of us really noticed that the trams had been replaced by buses but we were startled one Sunday in January 1955 when newspaper sellers came running up the street with special editions reporting that an express train had crashed in Sutton Coldfield station.
Gaumont 1953.jpg
 
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oldMohawk said:
Lots of folks in this pic of Steelhouse Lane which was possibly taken on a Saturday or Sunday between May and early July in 1953. My favourite cinema the Gaumont is on the right where our crowd used to queue every Sunday for the evening performance. In this pic they queue to see Alan Ladd in Desert Legion which I did see but found slightly boring. A man carrying his young daughter stares at the camera while another man helps his wife down the high steps of the tram.

As we chatted in the queue no one really noticed that the trams had been replaced by buses but we were startled one Sunday in January 1955 when newspaper sellers came running up the street with special editions reporting that an express train had crashed in Sutton Coldfield station.
View attachment 127680
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Do you ever see a queue for the cinema nowadays, when we saw the Meena Sayal film Anita and me we were the only people in the cinema, so a member of staff had to come and sit with us in case we wanted to be troublesome or anything else...nudge, nudge a pleasing thought for two pensioners in their seventies. No neither of us dropped of to sleep.
Bob
sayal
 
Bob Davis said:
Do you ever see a queue for the cinema nowadays, when we saw the Meena Sayal film Anita and me we were the only people in the cinema, so a member of staff had to come and sit with us in case we wanted to be troublesome or anything else...nudge, nudge a pleasing thought for two pensioners in their seventies. No neither of us dropped of to sleep.
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Bob
sayal

Looking at the group standing near the foyer suggests there was some kind of event on.

Old 1950s pics generally remind me of the decade of my youth. Quite a few belted gaberdine macs in the pic and many young men (including me) wanted to be seen wearing them!

The 1950s were a bit drab and unfashionable, but fun for me ...:)
 
oldMohawk said:
The 1950s were a bit drab and unfashionable, but fun for me ...:)
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I don`t think they were drab. An Italian 3 button jacket, drainpipe trousers, winklepicker shoes (& probably lime green socks) & don`t forget the Tony Curtis hairstyle. I went over the top in the 60`s with a cream coloured suit!!:blush:
 
The last film I went to see at the Gaumont was West Side Story. I went with my brother and we were really amused to find that they had given us seats in the back row! I don't remember other cinemas having allocated seats but perhaps it was because this was a 'blockbuster' at the time.
 
I remember one evening standing on the nearside pavement when an old banger drove straight into the back of a stationary tram. Of course, hitting the tram was like driving into a brick wall and bits were falling off the banger and landing what seemed like several seconds later! No one was seriously hurt.

Maurice
 
It's funny how a pic brings back memories, I now seem to remember seeing The Seven Year Itch with Marilyn Monroe's famous New York scene at the Gaumont. After the Sunday evening performances our crowd used to walk across to Snow Hill station for tea and buns from the mobile canteen outside the passenger entrance.
 
Phil,

We depend upon trivial stuff like that to be able to remember the "real" stuff! Once lodged in our long term memories, those old things seem to stay there for a long time. It's the more recent stuff that presents the biggest problems and I have to write appointments down otherwise they almost instantly evaporate from my memory! :-)

Now....... where was I?

Maurice :-) :-) :-)
 
Uninteresting gabardine Macs ! Mine was petrol blue with Royal Stewart lining. Set off my oxblood crepe soled shoes, yellow socks and gabardine drainpipe trousers a treat.
I sometimes wake up screaming !!
 
In transport books, concerning BCT, its trams and buses, there are quite a few photographs of Steelhouse Lane by the Gaumont and tram loading points. I suggest that most were taken an Saturday or Sunday, the photo in post 2561 most likely is a Saturday, given the number of people in it.
I also believe that most photographers worked during the weekdays, hence week-end photos. Many show few pedestrians and little traffic so hinting at Sundays.
 
I don't remember going to the Gaumont cinema many times, we usually went local, however I did see the first cinerama film they showed there (can't remember what it was called but it was more a showcase for the wide screen than a proper film with a story).

Other than that I can remember seeing Lionel Bart's Oliver with my friend.
Roy Wood from the Move was sitting a few rows behind us :-D
 
My first visit to the cinema was to see Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, I was about 5 years old and was fascinated when the organ rose from the floor in front of the screen. Over the years went many times to the Gaumont mainly on Sundays, in the week we tended to go to our local cinemas.
 
sylviasayers said:
My first visit to the cinema was to see Snow White & the Seven Dwarves, I was about 5 years old and was fascinated when the organ rose from the floor in front of the screen. Over the years went many times to the Gaumont mainly on Sundays, in the week we tended to go to our local cinemas.
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My first visit was to take my Mom to see The Sound of Music. The second time was also to take my Mom to see The Sound of Music! My last visit I took my future wife to see Where Eagles Dare.
 
Now you have started something else OM, belted Macs either gaberdine or a white military style or the gaberdine Mac with the hidden buttons and no belt. Ox blood slip ons with a fancy chain across the front, tailored suits, shirts with cut away collar. God we were all so suave, good looking and of course no young girl could resist us.
What happened to us over the years?
Bob

PS My tablet has a mind of its own, wrote the above in a hurry, now edited and corrected.
 
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Smudger said:
I don`t think they were drab. An Italian 3 button jacket, drainpipe trousers, winklepicker shoes (& probably lime green socks) & don`t forget the Tony Curtis hairstyle. I went over the top in the 60`s with a cream coloured suit!!:blush:
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I had a maroon 3 piece made by Jacksons in New St , 12" centre vent slanted jacket pockets ticket pocket
 
The Steelhouse Lane photo in post#2561 with added colour. It is early summer 1953 and last days of service for the trams before ending in early July. A large queue at the Gaumont and the family on the left might be on their way to visit someone in the General Hospital.
1953Gaumont.jpg
 
Click it to see 130 of the folks who brought the old street pics alive by just being in them ...
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Windows ... click any small pic to see the post containing the pic ... click your browser back arrow to return

iPads ... touch any small pic to see the post containing the pic ... touch the browser back arrow to return

Scroll up and down the pics to see them ....:)
 
oldMohawk said:
The Steelhouse Lane photo in post#2561 with added colour. It is early summer 1953 and last days of service for the trams before ending in early July. A large queue at the Gaumont and the family on the left might be on their way to visit someone in the General Hospital.
View attachment 127811
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Not sure where to put this but the Lord of the Rings Director must have been following this Forum...

"Silent film footage from World War One is painstakingly restored by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/enter...age-brought-to-life-by-lord-of-rings-director
 
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