Category: Cinema and Society | Going To The Pictures

Employment in the Picture Houses

The cinema became a place of respectable employment and offered roles to both men and women

Queues to get into the cinemas

There were often queues to get into the cinemas because they were so popular.

Reels would sometimes break down or get mixed up

Films came to the cinema on large reels which would be projected onto the screen, the reels would sometimes break and get mixed up

J. Arthur Rank and Children’s Entertainment Films

In the early days of cinema films for children would often be of American origin and sometimes just be adult films which had been edited until British films especially made for the child audience came along following concerns about the effects of film on the young audience.

Morality at the Cinema

After the Second World War, the church and educationalists raised concerns regarding what was being shown within the children’s cinema matinees, and in the cinemas in general, highlighting Hollywood’s glamorization of immoral behavior and crime.

Confessions of bunking in at the Pictures

Common themes remembered by cinema goers of the 30’s to the 60’s is that of ‘bunking in’ or not paying to get into the cinema. Also young cinema goers from the period of the 30′s to the 60′s would often ask strangers if they could go into the cinema with them so they could watch films that maybe they shouldn’t due to censorship and film classifications.