Reel memories of Saturday night at the movies

SHEENA Hastings’ brief article accompanying the Picture Post (Yorkshire Post, March 5) brought back memories of teenage years when a Saturday night visit to the pictures was almost “de rigueur”.

At that time there was no such thing as a multi-screen cinema in Bradford, but we had the choice of “locals” in every suburb with four or five facilities within easy access, as well as the main cinemas in the city centre.

Most of the cinemas showed a continuous programme, usually comprising a cartoon, a Pathé news and a main feature, often with a second “B-film” to extend the show.

There may have been a trailer for the next week’s film but there were certainly not the loud and lengthy advertising features which nowadays seem to take up the first part of any visit to the cinema.

At the New Vic (later named the Odeon) in the city, there was even an organist who rose majestically from his pit at intervals to regale the audience with popular tunes of the day.

It was quite common to enter halfway through the showing of one of the films and to remain until it came round again, seeing the first half second and then leaving when it got to “this is where we came in”. This phrase is still often used in my home when there are repetitive items on TV shows.