Clive Holden

Recent advertisements for film shows at the Civic Hall in Carnforth made me think about the ‘good old days’ of the ‘Roxy’ cinema, which was Carnforth’s chief centre for indoor entertainment for many years. Not that the ‘Roxy’ was the first cinema in Carnforth; that honour belonged to the ‘Victoria Picture Palace’. I do not know when the Victoria Picture Palace showed its first film, but I have in my possession (kindly given to me many years ago by Bert Simister) an advertisement on a hardboard backing for the films on show in the week ending November 1st 1913.

On Monday October 27th and the two following nights the films were ‘Her Just Reward’, ‘A Soul’s Awakening’ and ‘Whiffle’s Fascinating Eye’. ‘Her Just Reward’ was the ‘big picture’ as we used to call them, and a summary of the plot was attached, whereas the two supporting films were described merely as ‘An Indian Drama’ and ‘Comic’ respectively. From Thursday to Saturday the films were ‘A Fair Saint’ (a Coloured Drama in which a miracle intervenes to ensure mercy), ‘King Lear’ (Drama) and ‘Two Tiny Pickles’ (Comic). Doors opened at 7.30 p.m. and the show commenced at 7.45 p.m. Admission costs were 3d and 6d, and a reserved seat cost 1/-. Every Saturday there was a matinee at 2.30pm for children (admission 1d); adults paid the normal admission fee. Saturday evenings were special as there were two performances commencing at 7p.m. and 9p.m., so we know that each programme must have lasted about two hours.

‘So, where was the Victoria Picture Palace?’ you may ask. The advertisement tells us that the cinema was in New Street, and the proprietor was W. Hoyle. We know that Alfred Hoyle was the manager of the Station Hotel from 1900 until at least 1913 (possibly much longer), so it seems likely that the Victoria Picture Palace was on the first floor in the ball room, and that the entrance was from the New Street side of the building and then up a staircase. On the reverse side of the hardboard is attached the printing order from William J. Weeks (‘Late Morecambe Visitor’), dated October 24th 1913 for 30 posters for the picture show; total cost 5s 6d. W. J. Weeks (newsagent, printer and tobacconist) was based at 38 MarketStreet. It had previously belonged to the Morecambe Visitor Co. Ltd. Little more is known about the Victoria Picture Palace, and nobody is left alive to remember it. Did it survive throughout the war until the early 1920s?

If it did, it had a new rival just across the way. The ‘Lancaster Guardian’ for 31st December 2004 included an article about the Pearson architects of Lancaster, and showed a drawing of The Picture House, Carnforth, designed in 1921 by Charles B. Pearson (1875 – 1944). The drawing shows the words ‘The Picture House’ on the façade of the building, but whether it ever carried that name is open to conjecture. What we do know from the ‘Lancaster Guardian’ is that the aforementioned W. J. Weeks, managed ‘The Kinema’, as it was known, for a number of years, and retired at the end of 1928 to be succeeded by Mr. H. W. Pearson of Oldham. In the ‘Lancaster, Morecambe and Suburban Directory for 1934’ it was listed as: ‘The Kinema Theatre (Carnforth) Ltd.’

By then it was managed by James J. Brennan, and it became part of his cinema circuit. What we do know from photographic evidence is that it became ‘The Kinema’ or, as in the ‘Lancaster, Morecambe and Suburban Directory for 1934’: ‘The Kinema Theatre (Carnforth) Ltd.’ Brennan had cinemas in several towns in the area, including Kendal. The Westmorland Gazette for 27th February 1937 advertised films at ‘The Kinema’ on Sandes Avenue, Kendal but in the edition for March 6th the advertisement was for the ‘Roxy’ (late Kinema), along with two other cinemas in Kendal, the recently acquired Palladium (also on Sandes Avenue) and St. George’s. Simultaneously reduced admission prices were advertised: at the ‘Roxy’ these were to be 6d and 9d in the Stalls and 1/- in the Circle. (but 1/3d on Saturdays and at holidays); and 3d, 4d and 5d for children (applicable from 8th March). It would seem reasonable to suppose that the Carnforth ‘Kinema’ changed its name to the ‘Roxy’ at the same time, and it may bethat the pricing policy was similar.

At the Kendal ‘Roxy’ the programme was changed only once in the week: Monday to Wednesday and Thursday to Saturday, though there was an instance of Monday and Tuesday, followed by Wednesday to Saturday. At Carnforth Kinema, at least until 1929, the same programming system prevailed, but by the 1940s films were shown for two nights only before the programme was changed, though there were exceptions when films of such length and quality as ‘Gone With The Wind’ might be shown for three or four evenings. According to one source of information the Carnforth ‘Roxy’ had seats for 780 people (hard to believe!) later reduced to 465 (a more credible figure); the proscenium was twenty one feet wide. At least one ‘Roxy’ is known to have survived: that at Ulverston.

My first visits to the Carnforth ‘Roxy’ would be early in the Second World War and would probably have been to the Saturday ‘matinee’ performances (in the afternoon, not the morning), which featured such luminaries as Old Mother Riley, Laurel and Hardy, Roy Rogers and Hopalong Cassidy, to mention a few. Some years later I made a list of the films I remembered seeing (but lacking specific dates), such as ‘Mrs.Miniver’, ‘The Black Swan’, the Sherlock Holmes films with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, and those featuring my favourite actress at the time, the sultry Maria Montez, who starred in glorious technicolour ‘Arabian Nights’ type films, described by film critics as ‘hokum’.

At some time in 1951 I decided to take a more methodical approach, and listed all the films I saw, along with the main actors and the dates when seen, and this continued until the closure of the Roxy at the end of April 1961. According to my diary the last film to be shown there was ‘The Magnificent Seven’, (friends of mine, Mick Webster and David Howorth both agree on that). David Howorth, now resident in Canada, adds that the poster advertising that film remained in situ for a long time afterwardsThe snag is that 30th April 1961 was a Sunday, and films were not shown at the Roxy on Sundays, unless an exception was made for that special occasion.

The usual routine at Carnforth’s ‘Roxy’ was for advertisements to be shown while the audience was settling down, accompanied by songs on (presumably) gramophone records. Two well- remembered records were ‘Red sails in the sunset’ and ‘Long ago and far away’. The adverts were followed by the ‘little’ picture (if there was one), then the Universal News (not the ‘Pathé’ as in many cinemas), and then the ‘big’ picture. The ‘first house’ started at 6p.m. and the ‘second house’ at 8p.m., though there must have been exceptions such as when ‘The Big Country’, a film lasting 163 minutes, was shown. If the film was a very popular one and all ‘first house’ seats were taken, you would have to queue into Hunter Street next to the advertising hoardings which were there at the time, and wait patiently until the ‘first house’ came out, not that everyone had to come out; those who had arrived late for the ‘first house’ or merely wanted to see the film through again were at liberty to do so. There were occasions when the waiting crowd had a little entertainment, such as when Tommy Fisher, a railway guard and a Cumbrian, celebrated his team’s victory at Wembley by placing his bait box in the middle of the road and demonstrating how so-and-so had kicked the winning goal; result: one bait box and his bait all over the road! I suppose that seats at the ‘Roxy’ could be reserved, though I never bothered to do so.

On rare occasions, especially during the war years, there might be problems in the projection room and the film would suddenly drone to a halt. If a repair was not made speedily there would be a cry from one of the more impatient youths in the audience of “Put a penny in the gas!”. The films shown at the Roxy were classified as ‘U’, ‘A’ and (much later) ‘X’ (horror). Children had to be accompanied by an adult in order to gain entrance for an ‘A’ film, so it was not unusual to wait outside until an obliging gent (usually) agreed to take one in to sit next to him, but once the ‘first house’ was finished you could move to a seat of your own choice. Sometimes my sister would accompany my brother and me, and would force us to cower behind the seats in front if she thought that we might be scared by the next sequence, allowing us to sit comfortably again once the sequence was over. Only once do I remember a ‘serial’ which went on for several episodes being shown at the Roxy; that would be in the early 1950s and was, if my memory is correct, about a jungle maiden who survived what seemed to be certain death in every episode. My not so infallible memory tells me that prices of entrance to the Roxy rose from about 9d to 1s 3d downstairs and from about a shilling to two shillings upstairs; no doubt I will be corrected. Throughout the last twenty years at least of the Roxy’s existence the manager was Mr. Moss, a small dapper gentleman. The ticket office was usually manned (or should it be ‘womanned’) by two ladies from whom Mars Bars, Crunchies etc. could be purchased. Of the staff, which must have seen several changes, I remember Danny Townson from Millhead in the projection room, Hilda Stevenson and Jenny Higgins in the ticket office, and Annie Wren (neé Goodman) and ?Ingleby as usherettes. How many can our readers remember?

As for the layout, in the downstairs part of the Roxy there was a central aisle only, with equal numbers of seats to each side, and exits as indicated. There would be one extra row at the left hand side as the exit passage was to the right. There were probably about sixteen rows of seats to the left and fifteen to the right with about ten seats per row (someone will doubtless correct me). As was normal at cinemas the last performance ended with the National Anthem, and there were always some who rushed to make their way out before it started. Once it started you were expected to stand still until it had finished.

Upstairs, which I visited not very often, the rows of seats were shorter on the left hand side due to the limitations imposed by the staircase at that side, though the aisle would still be in line with that in the downstairs section, and there were fewer rows of seats as the upstairs section, which was on a steeper rake, extended no further forward than the front of the projection room. There was an exit door at the front right hand side of the upstairs section leading to an external metal staircase; does anyone remember it being used? Normal egress was by the internal staircase. The seats upstairs may have been slightly more ‘posh’ than those downstairs, though I found them all quite comfortable, and only once do I remember some refurbishment of the seats downstairs.

It has been suggested that the Roxy, as a relatively small provincial cinema, may have been a ‘bug hut’. Nothing of the kind! After the Saturday afternoon ‘matinees’ it may have needed a spray of D.D.T. or whatever, but the worst I ever got from it was after an evening film show when I discovered that a previous occupant of my seat had kindly left some recently chewed bubble-gum on it, which adhered itself to the seat of my trousers. I was not amused. It may also have been supposed by some that the ‘Roxy’ would receive more than its share of ancient and inferior films. True, some old films were shown, but they were usually of reasonable quality, and while not first in the queue for the latest films as cinemas like the Odeons would be, the ‘Roxy’ was not too far behind. In 1959, for instance, most of the films until September had been released in 1958, but 1959 films then began to appear.

In common with most other cinemas, as more people began to buy television sets, so the audiences at the Roxy gradually dwindled, although the best films could still draw them in. By 1961 the writing was on the wall, And for many of us it was with much regret, that the end of ‘The Magnificent Seven’ was also the end of the ‘Roxy’. Any additional relevant information will be welcomed, whether it be the naming of staff, correction of errors in this article, orsimply your memories of the ‘Roxy’.