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Memories are made of this… Project overview
The aim of the Going to the Pictures Project has been to help preserve a part of our local cinema heritage by collecting and recording memories from people who used and worked in the local picture houses from the 1930′s to the 1960′s.
Cinema Heritage Interactive Map
Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.
Employment in the Picture Houses
The cinema became a place of respectable employment and offered roles to both men and women
The Regal Cinema Church Road Litherland
The Regal was built as a purpose built cinema and opened 1939. With a white frontage, the sail shape building was a very popular venue especially with courting couples who remember the double ‘Love Seats’
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
Souvenir Film Brochures (2)
A further selection of souvenir film brochures that were available to buy in cinemas
The Metropole Stanley Road Bootle
The fantastic five storey building was built in 1911 as a theatre and described as “artistic throughout”
Flyer for the film ‘Cape Fear,’ Bootle Gaumont
Flyer for the Boolte Gaumont Cinema which has been kept for over 50 years and scanned especially for the Going to the Pictures Project. The flyer from 1961 is advertising a future presentation of the film ‘Cape Fear’
‘Rock around the Clock’
When the film ‘Rock Around the Clock’ was released in cinemas the music had people dancing in the aisles and many people were asked to leave the cinema.
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.
