Situated next to the Bell Inn at Frampton was large green wooden shed this was our local Cinema.
Memories of the Green Cinema
Missing in the Netflix era is the Frampton “Green” Cinema aptly named as it was on the Green and was painted Green.
From my memory it was a composite building with a world war one wooden travelling cinema building unit attached to what must have been the brick coach house for the Bell .
The brick portion housed the projection loft which was the domain of the projectionist Reg Walden with two massive projectors and the controls for the lighting and sound in the main cinema.
The lower part of the building was bike store for the many patrons who turned up on their pedals. It was not uncommon to find twenty or more cycles stacked in the entrance out of the rain.
The other half of the building was wooden and had many clues to its previous life as being transportable. My memory suggests it had about fifteen rows of about ten seats wide, one hundred and fifty total seats. These were age graded with children at the front teenagers further back then the adults with the back row traditionally reserved for courting couples. Entry was through a single file porch at the far end where one was confronted with a curtain and the formidable Mrs Mason in her darkened pay booth with rolls of tickets hung up on string.
The Mason Family were local cinema dynasty operating the cinema at Frampton as well as the one at Berkeley and at Drybrook. The same film would appear in rotation at all three cinemas. In 1959 the cinema opened Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturday with prices at 3/- (15p) 2/6d (12.5p) and 1/6 (7.5p) “Reduced prices for children with parents at 5.15pm. Children under five not admitted”
Taking one’s seats was a prolonged event as nearly everyone knew most of the rest of the audience and discussions went all the way to your chosen seat…”Hello is our Margaret here tonight?” “ No …she’s got a cold”.
Once seated the climax to the evening began and the lights dimmed and the projector whirled. Reg had not opened the curtains yet and the Notification from British Board of Film Censors telling you the film was a”U” Classification appeared on the curtains before eventually getting the curtains back and coming onto the screen.
The first film is what is called a “B” movie which means no one would ever watch it unless they had to to get to the main movie. Forty minutes later and you now know what the Adriatic looks like and we get the interval. Lights Up and sixpence for an ice Cream tub or choc ice. No need to go for a smoke because you have been doing that all evening so far.
Then for the flea spray! Mrs Mason would stand at the front with a large brass flea sprayer pumping like mad…..”No it was not it was an air freshener”
“Well I never got fleas there, so it must have been flea spray.”
When everyone had settled the show began again and the famous Cockerel of Pathé News would crow loudly.. News.. no its not that happened last January. But it was worth watching. My memory is a bit hazy but I think there were trailers for forthcoming films and a couple of local adverts
During the whole evening performance very many patrons were smoking and all of the evening the film had been shown through a clearly defined smoke filled beam of light. I was practicing smoking at the time and had bought a packet of ten Bristol Cigarettes… Well keep it local…. I lit my cigarette and passed it to my friend next to me for a puff but he passed it on and I am certain to this day it never came back!
Heavy rain was a problem as the sound of it often drowned out the sound of the film. It made things worse when the hero was crawling across the dessert sand in blistering heat looking for a water hole and the heavens were beating down on the cinema roof above.
LED lighting had yet to be invented and I am sure the exit signs were lit byC battery red cycle rear lights bought off the card in Silveys Garage window!
As time progressed and wide screen and Cinerama films came in the curtains were made to open a little bit further and the whole new experience had arrived at Frampton except you could see the joins in the additional screen panels!
Once the Main Film started some patrons would still be discussing things and Mrs Mason would SHUSH them and shine her torch at them NOW KEEP QUIET.
Not all films were continuous. Twenty minutes in and there is a black dot to advise the projectionist is to change reels… Reg…REG! The screen would go white a cheer would go up and then the next reel would start…not quite where we left off.
Towards the end of the evening when the last Indian had been shot, or the real murderer revealed and the estranged lovers kissed for the very first time….BANG the emergency doors would open and everyone exited. Don’t worry about fire drill, twelve point five seconds and most of us were on our bikes. I am reliably informed as a mark of respect they played the whole of the first verse of the National Anthem at the end of every performance but we were on the homeward side of Fretherne Bridge by then.
A programme from April 1959
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