"New Beginnings":

On the right is Greta Bryan, Cashier at the old 'Studio !'. She returned in the same position with 'Cinemex' - but her stay was short!

‘New Beginnings’

I had been working part time as Relief Projectionist at the Heanor ‘Empire’, and also working a further three nights at the Ripley cinema, in the post of Bingo Caller for Manager Bill Marr, mainly so that Harold Brown could have a day off each week. Harold had worked at most of the local cinemas since his younger days, including the Jacksdale ‘Palace’, the old ‘Premier’ at Somercotes, and ‘The Regent’ at Riddings. Now he was redundant from the Heanor cinema.
The building remained unused for a period of about twelve weeks, and the local rag ‘The Ripley and Heanor News’ published a story that it was to open again, under new management, leased from ‘Star Cinemas’.

Harold and I had become good friends after working together for three years, and one evening, after seeing activity at the cinema, we called to see what was happening. We found Dion Hanson and his wife Susan busily painting the downstairs toilet, and we introduced ourselves; this paved the way for both of us to have an interview with the new partners, two weeks later at the home of Olive Phillis.

We were told that it was soon to open again under the leadership of Olive Phillis as Manageress. I was working full time at I&R Morley’s Factory just below the cinema at this time, knitting garment’s for retail at Marks and Spencer stores; it was a job I never liked because of the three shift working rata.

Within an hour, I had been invited to return full time to the ‘Empire’ as House Manager, with Harold Brown as Chief Projectionist; positions we both readily accepted. The opening was to be in three weeks time, on a Wednesday evening, but there was still much to be done, including the removal of the ‘Studio 1’ sign, and the fitting of a new ‘Read-o-graph’ Programme Board. The foyer was redecorated, and new fluorescent lighting installed. Also returning from the past was Cashier Greta Bryan, along with usherette Kitty Fowler, who was fast approaching retirement age. Over a period of about twelve months, things began to improve, and the partnership decided to re-open the Alfreton ‘Empire’, (then ‘Studio 1’), but to do this, there had to be cut-backs, and the Heanor cinema looked the best place to make them, as we had a full time staff of Manageress, Projectionist, and House Manager, so one job just had to go!

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A year after opening John Dainty visited us one Sunday evening, and asked me how I would feel about taking over the soon to be open Alfreton ‘Empire’, as Manager/ Operator, a post I immediately refused, as I didn’t like the area, or the cinema, as it was a twin. His alternative if I refused was to ask Olive Phillis if she would take the post, and also move Harold Brown to Alfreton a projectionist. Harold refused point blank, replying if he was made to go, he would hand in his notice that very evening. It was difficult to find projectionists at that time; people would not take that kind of position because of the un-sociable hours, and Sunday working. In the end Olive Phillis volunteered to go, and I was upgraded to Manager/House Manager, a post I did not particularly want.


‘A Real Rough Diamond’:

I first met Eric Grainger in the early 1960s, when I was employed in the cinema and theatre business. At that time, he was living alone, in a council hose on Hillcrest Drive, at Codnor, Derbyshire, and didn’t have many friends, apart from his regular drinking partners. He was looking a little ‘rough’, with a ‘cauliflower’ ear, and a few other facial scars from earlier years. He had worked in the local coal mines at Ripley, and Ormonde Colliery, at Loscoe. Eric was always a likeable person, very friendly, with a Derbyshire accent, and he was bald on top, a common thing which seemed to happen to miners who had worked underground for years.

He never regretted his past he told me, in fact he was quite proud of his ‘bare knuckle’ fist fighting days, which he had done in boxing booths which travelled around the country with local fairs. He related several fights he had at the Nottingham Goose Fair, when he would take on all comers, for winnings of between ten to fifteen pounds. Lot’s of the old time boxers had started in this way, he could reel off the names of famous boxers that he knew, and had shared the company of. In later years, his memory had began to fail him, and it was difficult for him to remember who he had fought or when.

We became good friends over a period of about five years, and he made a point of looking out for me, when Harold and I called in the pub on occasions after the show had finished at night. The three of us found several interesting topics to discuss, and we enjoyed the drink socially.


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He had two photographs which he treasured from his past, and he made a point of coming into The Empire Cinema, which stood in Red Lion Square, to ask of me a favour. I asked him into my office, as I had been working at the cinema for some two years then, and this time we shared a cup of tea, naturally, I was on duty!


Eric asked if I would take these two photographs, and keep them safe for him, as they were the only proof of the times he had shared with the top boxers of his day, and perhaps someday, someone might enquire about what had happened to him.

On a single sheet of note-paper, although a little mixed up, he wrote the names of the boxers on the photographs with him, and they included Mc.Avoy, Turpin, Feddie Mills, Doug Radford, Ken Page, The Connaught Brothers, George Butler, Luther Walker, Billy Strange, George Anthony, Fred Holmes, Dick Johnson, Reg Brown, and Boxing Manager Billy Shinfield. Although Eric Grainger has passed on, he will be remembered if only for the fact that this tough, yet mild mannered Derbyshire miner, once held the Midlands Lightweight and Welterweight titles in 1936, when he knocked out Gunner Thomson and Kid Haycox, a far cry from the boxing booth of a local fair!

‘The Old Ones from the Past’:

The old films from the past were best,
Stars that really shone,
Bergman, Garbo, Myrna Loy,
Now all of them have gone.
Who could forget Bette Davis,
That famous movie Queen,

Puffing at a cigarette,
A classic on the screen,
Musical, pure joy to watch,
In a world of make believe,
With Fred Astaire and Ginger,
Such magic steps they’d weave,

Gene Kelly dancing in the rain,
A must for all to see,
Captivating young and old,
With his faultless artistry,
Cowboy films were favourites,

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With the sound of horses’ hooves,
Chasing all the bad guys,
Who kept falling off the roofs,
They rounded up a posse,
To stake out Joe’s saloon,
With six guns at the ready,
For a shoot-out at high noon,

Oh, yes, they were the best of times,
Our evenings at the flicks,
Munching on our popcorn,
In the stalls at one and six.

End


Turning out three hundred free iced lollies each Saturday was quite a job for my usherettes; when they were bored with seeing the film over and over again, they would each go in turn to the Fridge Room. Armed with a bottle of diluted orange squash, and some cocktail sticks, and a lot of patience, they would make lollipops to give the kids at the matinee.

On a fixed expenditure (set by Frank Dainty) of just two pounds per week, we were expected to do miracles. My idea was to encourage them to come back again the following week for more, and would you believe it, it really worked, to the point when we were getting up to 300 attending each show.

Thanks to my friend who worked for a confectionary company, he also influenced them to supply us with free sample boxes of sweets, which we gave away as prizes in competitions. Looking back now, there are times when I just can’t believe how I managed to arrange the things that gave the kids ‘something for nothing’, which they never turned down, or said they didn’t like!

When they stopped having children’s matinees, the cinemagoers of the future were about to come to an end too.

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