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.
Explore this map of 21 local cinemas within a 3 mile radius of the Plaza, from 1930 to 1960.
The Lathom was a Picture house, now over 100 years later it plays homage to its cinematic roots and is decorated with film and music memorabillia.
The cinema became a place of respectable employment and offered roles to both men and women
Cinema programs were freely available within cinemas and used to promote forth coming films and local buisinesses. Here we have an original copy of a program from the Bootle Odeon for June 1963
Film cards, magazines and photographs of the stars became valuable prized possessions which were collected and exchanged by the cinema goers and would be a talking point in society.
Films came to the cinema on large reels which would be projected onto the screen, the reels would sometimes break and get mixed up
From 1930 through to 1960’s the main influence in films came from America and showed many glamorous beautiful film stars gracing the screen, not only through the films but also through the news reels
Very few original pieces of cinema memorabilia have survived over the years, but through the project we have been able to unearth and scan some great pieces which may have other wise been discared. Here we have a Cinmea Flyer from 1962