Wallaw Blyth

[Maggie/915]

Weatherspoons is now in charge.

After the Tuesday steak night , I am left wondering which side door was the box office door.

Friend says it was on the left but I keep thinking right.

Anyone solve the problem .

In the sixties their play list before the show started included 'Ring if Fire' and 'Band of Gold'.

Again maybe the memory is not to good after all it was nearly 50 years ago.

Two cinemas and the Roxy, we had lots to do and places to go in the dark ages

Anyone get the train to Whitley Bay?

The Hotspur and the Fat Ox then the last train back to Bedlington.

[Canny lass]

Whitley Bay, Maggie! You didn't half get about. I only got there on gala day.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

All I can do Maggie is add to the troubled memory. Was the ticket office not in the middle as you walked up the first few steps of the entrance. There was the stairs either side of the entrance for those who could afford the 'Upper Circle'.

You had too much money young lady, Blyth, Whitley Bay. You must have had two paper rounds!

Didn't go to Blyth pictures allot, Tuesday matinee for 6d at the Bedlington Station Wallaw or Dan Dare and Three Stoogies on a Saturday (can't remember the admission charge).

 

The Tuesday matinee, was that originally for pensioners and shift workers?

Something I never new, until today when I Googled The Wallaw, was why they were called The Wallaw -  "The Wallaw Theatre opened in mid-1937. It was part of a small independent Wallaw Circuit owned and operated by Walter Lawson (WALterLAWson) who had been operating cinemas since April 1914".

 

Think the last film I saw there was when I tried to go incognito in with youngest child aged 4, about 1984, to see Jungle Book. Came out dancing and singing 'The Bear Necessities' (will come to you.........).

Edited March 19, 2014 by Eggy1948

[keith lockey]

I seem to remember the stairs being on the right - with the box office in the centre. But I thought the left-hand door just led to the 'downstairs' part. On the far left was the sweet's kiosk - I think.

 

My personal movie memories recall Tarzan and the Great River. (1971) A stirring tale of the famous Ape-man's adventures up the Amazon River. Rememberable for the scene where two lions started fighting...Lions in the Amazon!!! But on the same bill was Blue Water, White Death (1971) An amazing documentary about the Great White Shark - four years before Jaws. It was supposed to be the 'B' movie leading up to the main feature - but everyone was talking about that and not the Tarzan film.

 

Good and bad memories of that place.

[Maggie/915]

Maybe at different times they moved the box office!

There was another cinema so that could be where the memory becomes vague.

Canny Lass can you remember writing off for information on industry in geography!

I got a little carried away applying for tickets for Tyne Tees TV.

These provided a cheap trip out to see characters like Helen Shapiro , Bobby Vee.

[Maggie/915]

The Jungle Book is a firm favourite in our family.

We all resort to quotes on almost a permanent basis.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

I seem to remember the stairs being on the right - with the box office in the centre. But I thought the left-hand door just led to the 'downstairs' part. On the far left was the sweet's kiosk - I think.

 

My personal movie memories recall Tarzan and the Great River. (1971) A stirring tale of the famous Ape-man's adventures up the Amazon River. Rememberable for the scene where two lions started fighting...Lions in the Amazon!!! But on the same bill was Blue Water, White Death (1971) An amazing documentary about the Great White Shark - four years before Jaws. It was supposed to be the 'B' movie leading up to the main feature - but everyone was talking about that and not the Tarzan film.

 

Good and bad memories of that place.

Definitely stairs either side but could not be positive about the ticket office/box.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Maybe at different times they moved the box office!

There was another cinema so that could be where the memory becomes vague.

Canny Lass can you remember writing off for information on industry in geography!

I got a little carried away applying for tickets for Tyne Tees TV.

These provided a cheap trip out to see characters like Helen Shapiro , Bobby Vee.

Googling says there were 4 cinemas in Blyth. I remember the one just off the market square, as you face west, called the Central. The Essoldo I can't recall at all. The Roxy I never new as a cinema, just as a ballroom (competior of The Clayton, in many ways ) but I never went there, too scared.

[Maggie/915]

Yep the Roxy was a ballroom!

[tonyg]

then a cinema then a bingo hall

[Vic Patterson]

Essoldo, Wallaw, Roxy, Theatre Royal and The Central were all cinema's in Blyth, there was another cinema at Newsham, I think it was the Kinno!

The Theater Royal was used as a theater more than a cinema, Plays, pantomimes, even circuses, almost all of the famous actors and actresses played there, Else Tanner and Ena Sharples were two of the more modern era actresses.

"Danny Long Legs†was the opening movie at the Roxy Cinema, must have been late 50's

[Canny lass]

I can certainly remember Writing letters to get information on industry, Maggie, but I never got any trips out to see any pop stars. However, I did get enough Fairy Household Soap to keep my mother happy for over a year.

[Smudgeinthebudge]

I cannot remember much about the cinemas in Blyth but I do remember going for an interview for an apprentice projectionist job at the Wallaw when I left school. They told me that I would have had the job except for the travelling difficulties getting back to Netherton after the last show. I can't for the life of me think where the box office was. I do remember going to the matinees at the Prince of Wales on a Saturday. It seemed a pea-shooter was the weapon of choice for most of the lads during the "soppy" bits (romance scenes) during the film. The Wallaw at Bedlington Station was the picture house I frequented the most. When I was little my mam used to take me there to see films she thought were good for me like Ben Hur, Gone with the Wind, the Robe and the African Queen, but I prefered westerns and war films like Shane and In which we serve. AB

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Essoldo, Wallaw, Roxy, Theatre Royal and The Central were all cinema's in Blyth, there was another cinema at Newsham, I think it was the Kinno!

The Theater Royal was used as a theater more than a cinema, Plays, pantomimes, even circuses, almost all of the famous actors and actresses played there, Else Tanner and Ena Sharples were two of the more modern era actresses.

"Danny Long Legs†was the opening movie at the Roxy Cinema, must have been late 50's

I'm Learning again. Never heard of the cinema at Newsham, but probably never went to Newsham until the pub, The Seahorse, opened in the late 60's with the fish tanks in the floor and walls, and never left the pub in the light.

There is a site http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/BlythTheatres/BlythTheatres.htm and that has info on all the theaters that were in Blyth. It also has a link for Cinemas and it gives the original Newsham cinema as The Plaza :-

There have been four Cinemas operating in Blyth over the years, The Wallaw, The Central, The Roxy, and The Essoldo. Most closed in the 60s and 70s but the Wallaw Cinema didn't close until 2004 and is today a Wetherspoon's Pub and restaurant. I am told that Wetherspoon's have done a very sympathetic job and preserved the classic art deco interior. There was also a cinema called the Plaza in Newsham, a part of Blyth, which is apparently still standing and is now in use as the Temple of Yaweh. There are details of the Wallaw and Central Cinemas on the Cinema Treasures website here.

So that cinema is now a religious organisation :- Venue: The Congregation of Yahweh Address: 8 Cramlington Terrace • Off Newcastle Road • Newsham • Blyth • Northumberland • NE24 4AQ 

 

Film release in 1955 - Daddy Long Legs  Fred Astaire - Musical comedy :- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04M9M9yaNG8

What a memory Vic.

[Vic Patterson]

Hi Eggy, Maybe the Kino was a local name for the Plaza, I remember my mom and dad telling us about getting in for a jam jar,sitting on forms and the guy at the front playing the piano.....

Looking up the Theatre Royal I see Stan Laurel worked and played there also Gracie Fields and Charley Chaplin.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Hi Eggy, Maybe the Kino was a local name for the Plaza, I remember my mom and dad telling us about getting in for a jam jar,sitting on forms and the guy at the front playing the piano.....

Looking up the Theatre Royal I see Stan Laurel worked and played there also Gracie Fields and Charley Chaplin.

Did a bit more searching and Wikipedia suggests:-

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Kino may refer to:-

In film and theatre: (from both the German and the Russian spelling of cine for cinema)

Kino (movement), a worldwide group of amateur filmmakers

Kino Flo, a manufacturer of lighting equipment for use in motion pictures.

Kino International, a movie theater in Berlin

Kino International (company), a U.S.-based film distributor specialising in World cinema and arthouse films

Kino-Pravda ("Film Truth"), a newsreel series by Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman

The (usually colloquial) word for a movie or movie theatre in several languages

 

Can't see me finding anything else unless we find a Newsham local from 50s that knew if there was an association with the Plaza, German or Russian, in the area.