"Building up My Collection"

‘Building up My Collection’: I began to become more and more interested in films and the cinema, and also the buildings which offered these glorious performances. So why not I thought, put these on film before they are lost forever. To help me in my task, I enlisted the help of Eric Simpson, who was the local Film Transport Services (FTS) driver. Eric knew all the places in and around Nottingham, and over a couple of days, I had all the photographs I wanted in the Nottinghamshire area; the Derbyshire ones I would do myself. I didn’t however stop there, because for years afterwards, I took my camera everywhere I went, and slowly I began to build myself my own archive. With sites closing down so rapidly, there were other items like posters, stills, special presentation brochures, and film synopsis information. All kinds of things looking for a home, which no on wanted. When the people who were associated with the running of the sites knew what I was planning to do, I found even more help, and they would ring me up, and ask me if certain things were of use to me. I had often criticized certain people in the past, for storing memorabilia away in boxes, never to be seen again, and now I was doing the same thing!I amassed over 1, 000 reels of 35m/m film, and my collection was getting larger as the years went by. Storage also became a problem. When I think back, whatever would have happened if I had had a fire at home, the insurance would never have paid up! I did eventually get a projector to show all my films, a Super Simplex , which in later years Dion Hanson obtained for me from a closed cinema. Our Sound Engineer at that time was Steve Whitlock, who was working for Westrex Sound Systems, and one Saturday morning he came over and installed all the equipment in a spare back bedroom. In my world I now had my own little cinema, which I named ‘The Bijou’, after watching the film ‘The Smallest Show on Earth’ which starred Bill Travers, Virginia McKenna, and Peter Sellers. Toward the end of my cinema days, I did do something useful with my collection. All the films, books, and brochures went to The Ronald Grant Archive, and the cinema photographs I took, I sold to The Sam Winfield Collection. 27 ‘The Old Piano Roll Blues’: It’s amazing just how easy it is to become the kind of person who hoards things; I should know, because at one time in my life, I became such a person. Possibly the best and most interesting venture I ever became involved with, was my 1914 vintage player piano, or as they were called at that time a ‘Pianola’. One day my father came home from work, and said that he had seen a card in a shop window, advertising a piano for sale, so we got ourselves ready that evening, and went to look at it. It was in the back of a broken down old shop, which was scheduled for demolition. On inspection, we found it wasn’t a normal piano, but one which played music rolls, by the use of peddles which pumped air into the built in bellows. We asked the old lady her price, to which we she replied £10, a price which was far too cheap, but she wanted rid of it, so we offered her double that amount, if only to ease our conscience that we were not robbing her. It was a huge heavy contraption, larger than a normal piano, but we had transport problems, when one end went through the bottom of the trailer we used, but we managed to get it home. Once we had struggled with getting it into the living room, we then found that it was too wide to go through the two doors, and into the front room, where it was to remain for the next 25 years. It was necessary to remove both of the doors, and part of the frame around the door, but we eventually managed it. ‘The Professionals’: The restoration was a long and tedious job, but when it was finished, it looked immaculate, and so we fitted it with a vacuum pump; there was no more peddling to make it play! To work the pump, we took a pipe through the wall and skirting board, and sited the motor in the old pantry, next door, where we hoped it would run quietly. We had a collection of about fifty music rolls, so we searched old second hand furniture shops, and antique shops, until we had a collection of just over 300 rolls, all of which were in good condition. Paper rolls tended to shrink if they were kept in damp conditions, so it was important to store them in a dry place. 28 Just after we had finished the restoration work, Dennis McCarthy, of BBC Radio Nottingham, called me at the cinema, to inquire about our next monthly film programme. He loved to hear about anything old and interesting, (me for instance!); so I mentioned to him about my recent activities with the piano. He asked if I would make a cassette tape of it playing, and send it to him at the studios, which I did. One evening at the cinema, the phone rang and I answered it, it was Dennis, he was impressed by the tape, and he wanted me, and the player piano, on his daily programme called ‘Afternoon Special which went out every weekday from 2pm, until 4.30pm. Transporting the piano was out of the question, so engineers would come out to me at home, and make a 7 ½ inches per second stereophonic recording, which he would use on the show. It was to be my tape, but they would own the copyright. I agreed, and one morning, a BBC van arrived with two men, and a large reel–to–reel tape deck. They set up the equipment, and asked me to play a sample roll, so they could get sound levels, and microphone positions correct. After that it was plain sailing, and they made a two hour tape recording in stereo of popular songs including ‘Black and White Rag’, ‘The Old Piano Roll Blues’, ‘Side Saddle’, and ‘China Tea’. Pete the Sound Engineer was very pleased with the results, saying the quality was as good as a professional recording. (Were they not professionals, I wondered?). ‘Ready When You are Mr. McCarthy’ I heard nothing for three weeks, and then one morning, Dennis McCarthy’s Programme Controller called me saying that Dennis would like to have me on his afternoon show that day, and would I be available? You bet I would! All was arranged for him to call me after the news update at 3pm. I was a little nervous for the rest of the day, but as the time approached I gained my confidence. They had asked me to listen to the news at 3pm; after which Dennis would introduce a Barry Manilow record of ‘I Write the Songs’. Thirty seconds from the end of the record, they would call me with the link, and I would continue to hear the programme being ‘piped’ down my phone line, and it happened just that way. I will admit that I was nervous at the moment of the link up, but with such a good presenter, my nerves calmed, and I felt relaxed. 29 ‘Will Success Spoil Bernie?’ At 3.07pm, the phone rang and I picked up the handset. A voice said “Hello Bernard, listen for Dennis calling your name any second now”…. “Hello again, I’m Dennis McCarthy, and you’re tuned to BBC Radio Nottingham, the local station for Nottingham and surrounding districts; welcome back to “Afternoon Special”. “I’d like to introduce you now to Bernard Goodwin, the Manager of the Empire Cinema in Heanor, and he’s joined us on the programme to play us a song on his newly restored ‘Melodies and Memories’ piano, which he will be doing for the next few weeks; Bernard are you there?” There followed a relaxed conversation between Dennis and myself, during which he asked me how we acquired the piano, what restoration work had we done, and other things. He continued with: “Well, we’ve heard a lot about this wonderful old instrument, and you’re here to play us a song; you tell me it’s going to be ‘The Old Piano Roll Blues’, and what could be more fitting, away you go….” Back in the Nottingham studio someone pressed the button, and the tape began to play; it was a wonderful feeling for me, I actually felt as if I really was playing the music”. Dennis ended the spot around 4.20pm by saying: “That’s all from Bernard for today, but he will be here again next week, on your favourite local radio station”……… As another record came on the air, Dennis came on the phone, congratulating me how it had gone; “but Dennis” I said, people will think it’s me playing the piano, and I can’t play a note” I complained. “That’s the idea” he replied, “we’ll keep ‘em guessing for four or five weeks before we let the secret out” he said. “Bye till next week”, and he was gone. These ‘live’ spots proved to be a success, and some people even rang in with a request. As Dennis told me I might have become the next Winifred Atwell, or ‘Crazy Otto’, but ‘You Can fool some of the people for some of the time’, well you know the rest don't you! Sometime afterwards Dennis revealed the truth behind the recordings, and everyone took it all in good fun. As a result, I then had invitations from BBC Radio Derby, to be a feature on John Stiles 'Country Round- Up' programme, and their Sunday morning show 'Morning Call' with Rodney Malcolm. I enjoyed these short spots in the limelight, but I do wish I had recorded them for my present collection, now that I'm older! 30 ‘A Radio Legend’: The year was 1966: If you ever doubted how important BBC Radio Nottingham is in the life of Nottinghamshire folk, you should have been in Nottingham on 17th January 1996. The funeral of much loved presenter Dennis McCarthy, MBE literally brought the city to a standstill. Twenty thousand listeners lined the streets up to five deep. Dennis presented on the station for 25 years and was truly loved by listeners. He interviewed six Prime Ministers, Red Rum, and hundreds of film and TV stars. You might wonder what happened to the 'Melodies and Memories' Player Piano. Well that was sold to a museum which specialises in things from the past. They hire these things to television and film companies, to use as 'props' in their productions. I last saw it a couple of years ago, when I made a return visit. It stands un-used, and gathering dust; but I never regretted I sold it, for my £20 bargain, brought me a return of £8,000 pounds! ‘More Good Fun’ Saturday afternoon matinees were always good fun; let’s forget about the odd kid who was determined to cause trouble. We had three nice lads who had left school and liked music; so I offered them the opportunity to come to the cinema, and be disc jockeys for 30 minutes every Saturday afternoon before the films began. There names were Steve, Joe and Pete; they bought their own records with them, although I must admit that I was not up to date with the pop music scene at the time. It was later expanded into a talent competition, and we ‘discovered’ our very own versions of Gary Glitter, Little Jimmy Osmond, and even a ‘Go – Go Dancer! The winner each week received five shillings (25p), which came out of petty cash, and we had different competitors each week. A special mention for Pete Martin who died of cancer at an early age, he was a small part of my ‘Empire’ story, and his time which he gave free, was much appreciated. 31 Please go to another web page......