“I remember there were two screenings in the evenings. The first house started at around 6 o’clock, with the second at around 8:15pm. It was a real rush for workers to get to the first house. Sometimes there were two separate showings, but often everything went on continuously.

What was particularly frustrating was that after queuing for half-hour or more for the second house, in often cold and wet conditions, you could not be sure of getting in until after the main film had started. This was because the first house viewers would stay on.

Another memory is of the Odeon Club on Saturday mornings. I remember the club song which went like this: “To the Ode – Odeon we have come. Now we’re all together we can have some fun. Is everybody happy – YES…. Etc. etc.” I can’t remember the rest.”

Eileen Clarke

Below is a video clip of another version of the Odeon Cinema Club Song. The ABC Minors also had a Cinema Club song. Clubs, songs and badges gave the children a feeling of belonging and brought loyalty to the cinemas as child regulars returned each week.

”
I am one of seven children and live in Waterloo. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, when we were all younger, we used to go to the Odeon cinema (now the Plaza) on Crosby Road North, Waterloo.

On Saturday mornings Mum would be glad to see the back of us and we would head off to the cinema where they held the Saturday Club. We would pay our 6(d) pence to go in to the cinema, we would then buy our sweets and popcorn from the counter and when we walked into the main auditorium there would usually be a man playing the organ. This would then lead to us all singing our Saturday morning song, when we had finished we would settle down to watch something exciting like Flash Gordon, or a western. I always remember the adverts; it’s a bit like the telly nowadays, but without the fast forward. During the interval we would look out for the lady with the ice-creams and would have either a tub or an Orange Maid. If you were lucky you got a Jubbly – hmm, lovely. After the interval there would be something else to do, such as a competition or a draw. Sometimes the competition was a Yoyo race to see who could ‘walk the dog’, ‘swing the baby’ and other tricks that I have long forgotten. This did not happen all the time, but when it did it was great!!!

We lived from one Saturday to another and the happy memories of the Odeon for me as a child in the 50s and 60s are filled with happy times.”

Edwina Lyons

“I was interviewed for the position of Assistance Cinema Manager, with the Rank Organisation, at the Odeon, London Road, Liverpool. The interview was on Bonfire Night, 5th November 1957. Guess who the interviewer was? – Regional Controller, Mr A. J. Rockett.

 

Odeon Cinema, Waterloo, 1957 and the playing of the National Anthem. Just before the end of the last performance of the evening there was usually a rush to exit the cinema as those still in the audience , when the lights went up, were duty bound to stand and wait until ‘God save the Queen’ had been played. All movement stopped when the ‘National Anthem came on and even those people caught half-way out in the aisles would remain still until the ‘Anthem’ was finished.

While working as Assistant Manager at the Royal Hippodrome in West Derby Road, the Fulham football team came in one Friday evening. At that time (1958) they had a few famous players like Jimmy Hill, Graham Leggett and England captain Johnny Haynes; which the older generation will recall. At the interval I put a ‘slide’ on the screen saying, “Welcome to the Fulham Football Club. We hope you enjoy tonight’s show. We hope you don’t enjoy tomorrow’s match against Liverpool quite so much!” They took it in good part and the following day at Anfield the game ended in a 0-0 draw.

Derek also met his wife of over 50 years Eva. She worked as an usherette at the Odeon in Crosby and on his first day on duty was introduced to his wife in an amusing manor.
She came into the cinema scooting her bike through to park it, and wondering what she was doing called out to her ” Excuse me, I didn’t catch your name?” and she replied “That’s because I didn’t throw it”, and continued to go through the cinema to park her bike, unaware that he was the new manager.

Later that day the usherette had to line up in front of the cinema manager who at the time was a man named Sammy Moore, in what was called ‘The Managers Parade’ – whereby the usherette would line up to be inspected upon appearance and smartness of their uniform. The usherettes were then introduced to the new assistant manager, and Derek and Eva were formly introduced. Fell in love and have been married ever since.”

Derek Anderton

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.

Concerns about the effects that the popularity of film was having on children had been raised by educationalists, the church and the press. Several reports and research surveys had looked into this area, one of the most notable being the Wheare Report in 1950.

J Arthur Rank who was a devout member of the methodist church and was also a Sunday School teacher, he found showing the students religious films would get messages across just as well as lecturing, this practice was extended to other Sunday schools and led to the formation of The Religious Film Society. His father was a millionaire flour mill owner and he had been brought up with strict moral codes.

His intrests led him into film production and he helped to form British National Film with the first commercial film in 1935 called ‘Tom’s Ride’. Rank wanted films to tell a moral story as well as be entertaining for the children and families. He found wide distribution of the film to be difficult due to ties with British distributors and Hollywood. As a solution bought and controlled some of the means of film production, distribution and exhibition.

He became head of the Gaumont and Odeon cinema chains and had interests in both Lime Grove and Pinewood Film Studios and wanted British made films and serials for the children’s cinema matinee programs.

He continued making films in this vein under Ranks’s Gaumont British Instructional Division, heralding the start of British made films especially for a children’s cinema matinee audience. They continued making films for Rank cinemas and became known as the Children’s Film Department and from 1947 became The CEF – Children’s Entertainment Films.

Film making is a costly business and when the Rank Organisation could not sustain funding the CEF and following publication of the Wheare report in 1950, which looked at the effect of juvinile cinem going and the influence of films, a collaboration within the British Film Industry was formed and supported by the Rank organisation – The Children’s Film Foundation -{CFF} was formed. The CFF had a remit to create films especially for children’s cinema matinees and suitable for showing within schools.

The funding for this was supported by the Eady Levy, a tax put onto cinema tickets. This continued for over 50 years until 1985 when the levy was abolished.

In the 1960’s the decline of the Children’s Film Foundation mirrored what was happening in cinemas all over the country. The 60’s brought about changes in society and the way in which people in society viewed things. Increased choice in places for entertainment and activities, changes in attitudes and the increase in ownership of televisions as well as increased choice oF television programmes, were factors which contributed to a decline in cinema admissions. Many cinemas had already closed by this point and the decrease in venues and sales continued. Children didn’t have to “Come Along” to the cinema on a Saturday morning for their entertainment, instead they had Saturday Morning Television.

Due to funding restraints and the decrease in Children’s cinema matinees in 1982 the CFF became the CFTF {Children’s Film & Television Foundation} and by 1987 the CFTF ended film making and went onto serve as an advisory body for children’s film and television. In 2012 the CFTF once again changed its name to The Children’s Media Foundation with its tag line being
“Ensuring that UK children have the widest choice of quality media”

In the 1950’s the average weekly attendance to children’s cinema matinees was over 1,016,000 with 1735 cinemas holding cinema matinees for children. {Source: media statistics website taken from report from Wheare Committee http://terramedia.co.uk}

Society at the time was more restrained in some ways than it is today, children were confined at home and school and the cinema on a Saturday was a place to be free and exercise their spirit. It was a place where gangs of kids could meet or come along together in a safe environment that provided a chance for parents to have some free time in the knowledge that their children were in a safe, warm and social
environment each week.

Cinema Clubs
The format of the Children’s Cinema Matinee varied slightly between Picture Houses. Some would be held on a Saturday morning others would be a Saturday afternoon. Some lucky children would attend two children’s film shows in a day at the local cinemas, providing them with a full mornings and afternoons entertainment.

Several cinemas especially ones who were part of the larger circuits such as the Odeon and The Gaumont Cinemas would have a club type atmosphere within their cinema matinees. The children would receive a badge and come up onto the stage when it was their birthday to receive a free ice cream or tickets to next week’s matinee. The notion of film clubs helped to develop the habit of going to the pictures from a young age which organisations like Rank and Odeon hoped would continue to turn young cinema goers into lifelong film fans.

Before the days of films made especially for children , what was shown within the children’s cinema matinees would often be an adult film which had either a ‘U’ rating or one which had been edited for the children’s matinee. Many of these films were said to “have a certain harmful morale and psychological influence on children ” { Frank Tyrer document Children and the Cinema 1948} There would often be adult themes shown, with very few child actors having a main or starring role until the development of Children’s Entertainment film in the 1940’s later The Children’s Film Foundation. This began as a trend in the market and resulted in a profitable business in producing films specifically for a young audience.