At the Flicks

'What happened at the Saturday Matinee?' 'The Saturday matinee was my big treat and I would never miss it unless I'd been naughty or I was ill. It was the best way my mom or dad could find to punish me, by not letting me go to the pictures on Saturday morning.'

'We used to gather together and walk to the flicks on the morning and wait in the long queue, and there was always a queue, until the doors opened and we could pay our 6d for the matinee.'

'All of us would follow the weekly serial and we'd never miss an episode unless we couldn't get in one Saturday.'

'My kids always went on a Saturday morning and would come home and start acting out the latest episode of the serial You'd hear them rampaging around the streets and shouting out the words they could remember from the pictures.'

'Every Saturday they'd go off with their sixpence or a shilling and come back and tell me all about Flash Gordon, Hopalong Cassidy or Roy Rogers or one of them others.'

'There was always a serial on a Saturday morning and it became almost a way of life to go and see the next episode. It used to provide us with our play ideas during the week.'

'Most of the serials I remember were cowboys. We'd come out and start shooting each other in the street, running down the street hitting our legs pretending we were riding our horses and being the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy or Tom Mix.'

'If the film broke down on a Saturday morning the kids used to go mad and start throwing rubbish about and chanting. I was banned once for throwing stuff about.'

'Many's the time the film's broke down on a Saturday morning and the kids have started chanting 'Why are we waiting'. I used to feel quite sorry for the poor projectionist because it probably wasn't even his fault.'

'The serial always finished with a cliff-hanger to try and make you come back the next week. I'm sure some of the endings from the one week were not the same as the beginning of the episode the next week.'

'It cost us 6d to go to the matinee on the Saturday morning and that was 50 years ago, about 1952ish.'

'My mom would give me the money for the film and my bus fare. I would usually walk to the cinema and spend the bus money, about 4d, on sweets.'

'We used to sing a song before the matinee started, I think it was something like 'Roll Out The Barrell or something else, but all the kids would sing along with the words which would be on the screen with a ball going along the words in time with the music.'

'We might get a sing song on a Saturday if the film broke down and I reckon that must've happened pretty regularly.'

'Saturday films were pretty old, even then, I think. I remember going home and telling my mom what had been on and she said I remember seeing that when I was your age, but it didn't matter because to me the film was special and Saturday mornings were very special'

'Saturday mornings always meant the flicks to me and we'd go off, my brother and me and catch the bus and stand in the queue with loads of kids from school. On the Monday we'd often be playing a war game or cowboys because of the film we'd seen on the Saturday morning.'

'Saturday matinee was just like a club, it wasn't just a film. It meant you met your friends, had a good time and you were safe because we never felt anything was going to happen to us when we were in the pictures.'

'When the lights went off for the film, all the kids would start whistling and shouting but once the film started they would all shut up, except for booing the villain and cheering the hero.'

'I remember a fight starting at the matinee one Saturday between a friend of mine named Tommy and another kid, I think his name was Clive. The reason for the fight was because Tommy was supporting the Indians in the serial and Clive got worked up so much that he hit Tommy. The both of them were slung out by the manager. After the flicks we went outside and they'd carried on fighting because when I got home Tommy had got one of the biggest black eyes I think I'd ever seen. He never stuck up for the Indians again at the flicks.'

'The whistling and booing at the serial was something I'll always remember about the matinee. If you didn't boo, hiss, whistle, stamp your feet or do something to show your feelings your mates thought you were a cissy. Even the girls used to join in the noise.'

'I loved the serials with Buster Crabb in them. He used to play Flash Gordon and I don't think there was ever a hero to match Flash Gordon. The other feeler in those serials was Emperor Ming and I remember we always used to call him the 'Cardboard Collar' because that part of his costume looked as though it was made of cardboard.'

'Most Saturdays I'd catch the bus home and we'd all go upstairs and start playing the morning's episode of the serial out on the top deck. In those days of course the buses had a conductor or conductress and they'd always come up and read the riot act out to us. Many's the time one or other of us would be turfed off the bus and the rest of us would be cheering and throwing things out of the window to them. I think I was thrown off about half a dozen times.'

'My dad always worked on a Saturday but he was so keen on the flicks that he would ask me all about the matinee when we had our dinner. I think he knew more about Tom Mix and Flash Gordon than any of my mates.'

'I remember one Christmas my mom and dad bought me a cowboy suit and the first Saturday after Christmas I went in my new cowboy suit to the Saturday matinee. The manager of the cinema called me up on the stage and all the kids gave me a big cheer. These days I couldn't imagine one of my grand children wearing a cowboy suit and certainly not appearing in public in one. That manager christened me the Lone Ranger that morning because the suit had a mask like the Lone Ranger.'

'I went to the Saturday films only about five times when I was a kid because we moved away from the area to the country and there was no cinema near enough for me to go. I didn't half miss it. When I came back to see my aunt and uncle I would ask my cousins what the latest serial was about.'

'One Saturday my mom came to the matinee with me and I remember I was ever so scared to get up and start shouting but the funniest thing happened because my mom got up at one point and she began to boo. I think I regarded my mom differently from that day on.'

'In the later days of the matinee the whole thing changed because they started having shows on the stage rather than the films and as a result we stopped going to the flicks on the morning. It was as though they were trying to get older kids and even some adults into the cinema but it didn't work.'

'Once the Saturday matinee ended I think the end for some of the cinemas came. Remember most of the kids were beginning to get TV at home so they didn't need to go to the cinema on Saturday for their thrills. The half hour cowboys came on to the telly and so you stayed at home and watched children's hour.'

'I used to go to school on a Saturday morning so the only time I could go to the matinee was in the holidays but it was near the end of the time of the real matinee and I remember we used to have to watch some of the old pop stars who had seen much better days rather than watch serials. I don't think the matinee therefore ever meant as much to me as to some of my older friends who had seen the good old serials.'

'I went to one of the last matinees and I think I cried when it ended because it was like losing one of your best friends.'


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