Glenwood Lodge, Glasgow (1 of 2)

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in 1995 and concerns memories of 1930s life; as such there may be opinions expressed or words used that do not meet today's norms and expectations.

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* Transcript ID: GL-95-013AT001

* CCINTB Transcript ID: 95-13-12a-aaf

* Tapes: GL-95-013OT001

* CCINTB Tapes ID: T95-4

* Length: 0:59:52

* Castlemilk, Glasgow, 24 January 1995: Valentina Bold interviews Patrick McCambridge, Tommy Dunn, Tommy Adams, Sarah Louise Gale and Nancy Keyte

*Transcribed by Valentina Bold/Standardised by Julia McDowell

* PM=Patrick McCambridge/ TD=Tommy Dunn/ TA=Tommy Adams/ SG=Sarah Louise Gale/ NK=Nancy Keyte/ VB=Valentina Bold

* Notes: First interview of two with Patrick McCambridge, Tommy Dunn, Tommy Adams, Sarah Louise Gale and Nancy Keyte of Glenwood Lodge; Sound Quality: Good; this interview was originally transcribed in a phonetic manner; the original phonetic version can be accessed through our physical collection - please contact Lancaster University Library for details.

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[Start of Tape]

[Start of Side A]

VB: That seems to be working OK.

TD: Anything you say will be held in evidence against you!

VB: That's right!

NK: Aye, [inaudible]. And out the door if you're wrong!

VB: Right, so I'll put this down here and that should-- Maybe if I can get it--

[inaudible; general discussion about microphone]

PM: [indicates Zimmer frame as suitable for clipping] Give it a wee clip on there!

VB: Maybe if I clip it on that actually. That would be quite handy. [pause 2 seconds]

PM: Give it a wee clip on there!

VB: That's great! The very thing!

SG: [laughs; inaudible]

PM: That's no bother.

VB: As I say, if you'll bear with me-- [pause 2 seconds] That's grand. The very thing. Right, erm, can I just, before we start talking about the cinema, can I make sure I've got everyone's, everyone's name right? Erm, your full name?

PM: Patrick McCambridge.

VB: That's Patrick. How do you spell your second name?

PM: It's near Oxford! The near Oxford name. With an M, C.

VB: Right. And can I ask what your full name is, can I ask what your full name is? Your surname?

TD: My surname. Dunn. [coughs]

VB: Dunn.

SG: Jimmy Dunn, I think.

TD: Dunn dirry dun dun, dun DUN!

VB: And yourself?

TA: Thomas Adams.

VB: Right.

SG: Be nice! [laughs] I'll go, nobody ever comes here for me! Miss Sarah Louise Gale.

VB: Sarah Louise. [writing down]

SG: Yes, that's my name!

VB: How do you spell your last name, Sarah?

SG: What last name?

VB: Gale.

SG: G, A, L, E.

VB: G, A, L, E. Right.

NK: Eh, Nancy Keyte. Nancy Keyte.

SG: Nancy Keyte! [laughs]

VB: And can I ask the same question?

NK: K, E, Y, T, E.

SG: [laughs]

VB: And the other thing that I'd like to ask, just to make sure I've got all these things straight is, erm, to get everyone's date of birth so I know how old you are! [laughs]

SG: Well, I must be a wee bit older, the year.

PM: I'm seventy-one.

VB: Seventy-one, right.

PM: Aye.

VB: So you were born in--

PM: [date redacted] 1923.

VB: 1923. [pause 1 second] And yourself? Can I ask, can I ask what your date of birth is, when you were born?

SG: Oh, I forget.

TD: 1902.

VB: 1902! Really? Cause I find that hard to believe! That's amazing!

TD: Aye.

VB: 1902.

TD: [inaudible]

VB: And what about yourself?

TA: 1920.

VB: 1920. And, what year were you born, Sarah?

SG: Oh, I'm forgetting dear.

NK: [laughs]

PM: Do you fancy [inaudible]?

NK: [laughs]

VB: How old are you now?

NK: [laughs]

SG: Same age as the Queen.

NK: Oh my God!

VB: Oh, I'll work that out afterwards.

[general laughter]

TA: You're no talking about Victoria!

[general laughter]

VB: Nancy, what age are you?

NK: 1917.

VB: Aye.

NK: That's about seventy-seven.

VB: Right.

NK: I don't know!

VB: Right. And was everyone born in Glasgow!

[general agreement]

PM: Yes, well I was born in Glasgow. I think Tommy was born in Glasgow.

SG: I was born in Glasgow.

TD: I was born in Clydebank.

NK: [laughs]

VB: Right. Clydebank. Right. Clydebank.

TD: Aye.

TA: Oh I was.

SG: The old bankie!

NK: That's where they used to go down to, the ships. The big liners down there.

SG: The old bankie.

VB: Right. And how, how, where were you born, Nancy?

NK: Oh, I forget. Where was I born? [In a wee shell?]

PM: [inaudible]. [And she was worried?].

NK: [laughs] Where was I born? Ooh, Hamilton.

VB: Hamilton, right, was it Hamilton that you lived in for most of your life, or?

NK: Naw, I was adopted, and I stayed [lived] in Nelson Avenue.

SG: Somebody adopted her, it's true, it's right.

VB: What about yourself, Tommy, where were you born?

TA: Where was I born?

VB: Aye, where are you from?

TA: Govan.

VB: Right.

SG: Govan?

NK: Govan?

TA: Yes. Govan.

VB: Yeh. [writing down] That's interesting, 'cause it gives me an idea of, you know.

PM: Aye, aye.

VB: A wee bit. I mean what, What sort of work did you do, yourself?

PM: I was a lorry driver.

VB: A lorry driver.

PM: Aye, heavy goods.

VB: Right. And can I ask the same question of everyone?

SG: [laughs; inaudible]

VB: What, what work did you do?

[inaudible; overtalking]

TA: Everything, a jack o' all trades.

VB: Right.

SG: [That's what they told me?], jack o' all trades.

[general laughter; inaudible]

VB: What was the main thing that you did?

TA: Mhm?

VB: What was the main thing you did?

TD: Aw, driving horses, driving lorries, anything,

SG: Driving you up the wall! [laughs]

TD: [inaudible]. Oh, that came up.

VB: Right.

TD: Anything there was, I tried it.

VB: Right.

SG: Aw dear me.

VB: Right, so you've done a, quite a wide variety of jobs then?

TD: Mhm.

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] And what about you, Tommy. What, what sort of work did 00:05:00you do?

TA: Well, I was born in Govan.

VB: Right.

TA: I worked in the shipyards in Govan, there were three in the one road. [pause 2 seconds]

VB: Right. It's, it's hard to imagine that now, isn't it?

TA: Well, wait a minute till I tell ye. When I was young, I worked in Harland's, I worked in Fairfield, I worked in Stephen's. there were two in Govan Road, and one was in Govan Road [inaudible], there was the three of them in the one road. Harland's [inaudible] shut up and then I got a surprise, Stephen's shut up, and there's only one shipyard left there now, and it used to be old Fairfield. Now it's some Swedish firm that's taken it over, they bought it. That's still going 00:06:00yet. And there's another shipyard down at the Cross, by Govan, and I knew a lot of pals of mine that worked at that, it had, the only yard that's there yet. And, all, all they build, no battleship, 'cause that's too big, cruisers, and destroyers, all Admiralty ships. Yarrows, I never worked in Yarrows but I knew a lot of guys that did, that [inaudible]. That's right, Yarrows [inaudible; overtalking]. [On the Clyde?].

NK: I knew a lot of chaps down there too.

VB: Right.

TA: I knew a lot of, a lot of people, they were tradesmen, and they went from one trade to another trade.

NK: There was a lot of that.

TA: And they finished, and they retired, [inaudible], 'cause it closed down.

NK: Aye.

VB: Aye.

TD: Aye.

VB: That's interesting, though, I mean, you know, I see even already that people come from quite different backgrounds--

TA: OH aye, aye.

VB: Which is quite interesting for me.

TA: Oh aye, as he knows, and Tommy knows, at our time you could leave a job. [pause 1 second] And get another job, without going anywhere' [chuckles] 'cause, the, the same there, you go to three, they were the same.

VB: Aye.

TA: There's nothing like that now.

VB: No. I mean, what about you Sarah, did you, did you work yourself?

SG: Me?

VB: Aye.

SG: Yes, I was a Land Army girl, during the war.

VB: Really?

SG: Yeh.

VB: Right.

SG: Horse and cart, doing the milk. I loved my work.

VB: That's interesting.

SG: Aye, I'd do it again if I got the chance.

VB: Aye.

SG: Not only that, I had the animals too! [pause 1 second] Do you want to ask her the same?

VB: Aye, Nancy? I mean, what, have you worked yourself or?

NK: Aw aye, I worked in Collins's.

VB: Right.

NK: And, eh, I worked in the bakery.

VB: Right.

NK: And that's all.

VB: Aye. And did you have a family then or?

NK: I wasn't married, I never got married.

SG: Neither did I.

VB: Right.

NK: We're treasures. But saying that, we--

SG: We're waiting on somebody to take us! [laughs]

TD: They're still waiting!

SG: I'm waiting on him to pick me up! [laughs]

TD: Aw!

[inaudible; overtalking]

VB: Can I ask the same question of the men? I mean, were you married yourself?

PM: Oh yes, aye.

VB: Aye.

PM: I was married and had eight of a family! Five boys and three girls!

[general laughter]

PM: At least my wife had! [laughs]

VB: [laughs] Aye! What about you? Did you have a family yourself, or, were you 00:08:00married? Or--

TD: I had two daughters, I have quite a family. Quite a lot of grandsons, you know, grandchildren.

VB: Right.

TD: Grand, great-grandchildren. And others there. [pause 2 seconds] Mhm.

VB: Sounds like you have got a lot of great-grandchildren. It's--

TD: Mhm?

VB: It sounds like you have got a lot of grandchildren, great-grandchildren or?

TD: I'm still living anyway.

VB: Aye. Aye. And you Tommy, I mean, have you got?

TD: Six.

VB: Six of a family.

TD: Mhm.

VB: Aye.

TD: I lost my wife. [pause 2 seconds] Thirteen years.

VB: Mhm. [pause 3 seconds] Well, thanks for answering these, mhm--

NK: That's alright.

VB: Sort of questions. It's just really so I can get a better idea of, you know, your own backgrounds in everything. But as I say, I brought along a couple of pictures that I thought, you know, you might like to see. Erm, the first one I brought was, erm, of one of the Vogue cinemas in fact, it was one of the ones in Govan.

TD: [looking at photo] Aye, Govan Cross.

VB: I don't know if you remember that one.

TD: Aye, I should know that one.

TA: Now that cinema, the Vogue, wasn't at Govan Cross. The one nearest Govan Cross was the Lyceum.

TD: Oh aye, that's right, aye.

TA: Well that was away at Elder Park--

NK: Aye.

TA: Away at Elder Park, that was. That one was the Vogue cinema.

VB: Right.

TA: Well that was the last one that was built in Govan, I think.

VB: Was it, was it?

TA: Aye, they built, because there was the Lyceum, ah, the Plaza, [pause 2 seconds] and the Vogue.

VB: Right.

TA: Well that--

VB: What was that one like inside?

TA: In, inside? Well, it was just like all the other cinemas, ye know? Ye walked in, ye had the stalls, the gallery, and the balcony, you know? And there were three thingummies, you know?

NK: Aye.

TA: Well that, that was the last one that was built in Govan.

VB: Right. Was that quite a fancy one, then? Or.

TA: Aye, well, they were all good.

VB: Aye.

TA: They were good to look at outside it, and they were comfortable inside. There were no doubt about that, the usherettes and that, they were [inaudible; bell ringing]--

NK: [inaudible].

VB: We'll just ignore that. 'Cause I was int, I was interested in, you know, what, what, what your memories were like of what cinemas were like. Erm, was there a difference? Were there some that were--

NK: That were nice.

TA: Some were good and some weren't so good.

VB: Aye.

PM: Aye, that's right.

VB: I mean, round about where you were, in, in Clydebank, what were the cinemas like there?

PM: Ah, well I left Clydebank when I was quite young, about five or six, you know? And went to Partick with my parents, you know?

VB: Right.

TA: In there were quite a few cinemas in Partick.

VB: Right?

TA: I think there were about seven or eight altogether.

VB: Really?

TD: Aye.

VB: It's h, hard to think of now, I mean.

TA: Well, I tell you what became o' them. A lot of the, as the guy knows, a lot of cinemas, they changed from cinemas to bingo halls.

VB: Yeh.

TA: All the ones got broke down.

VB: Yeh. I mean it sounds as if, from what you're saying, I mean it was very different when you were growing up. I mean, erm, did, did, did you go to the cinema in Partick then?

TA: Oh, eh, quite a lot actually. Aye, everybody went to the cinema.

VB: Aye.

TA: You know. Everybody in the area. [inaudible; overtalking].

NK: They were nice pictures so they [inaudible]. They're not now.

TA: The one at Partickhill, they called, they nicknamed it 'the Ranch'.

VB: 'The Ranch'?

TA: Aye, 'cause they showed a lot of cowboys. [laughs]

VB: [laughs] What was the real name of that one, do you know?

TA: The Western.

VB: The Western.

TA: There's not much difference, right enough.

VB: [laughs] Aye, right enough. And was that quite a wee cinema or?

TA: Aye, it was pretty small. Well the other ones were big, they made that one look smaller than it was, you know? Och aye, there were seven cinemas in Partick at that time.

VB: Can you remember what the other ones were?

TA: Aye. The Grosvenor, the Standard, the Western, the Partick, the Rosevale, and the Partick Cinema, and, eh, the Tivoli in Crow Road.

VB: Crow Road. Aye.

TA: Oh, we were well catered for in cinemas, in that area.

VB: Was there a difference between these? I mean, were there, you were saying that the--

TA: Oh aye, pricewise there was. Aye.

VB: Right.

TA: Aye. pricewise, the Western was quite cheap. 'Cause they didn't show modern up-to-date films, they were always kind of old ones. And the other ones, eh, the Rosevale, and the 'Tiv' [referring to the Tivoli] as we called it, they catered for the better class films. 'Cause the prices were dearer there, you know? You'd go into one for a sixpence and the other ones would charge you a shilling.

VB: Right.

TA: [chuckles] So, it was the Western!

VB: Right. That's, I mean it's really interesting to hear about that sort of price difference. Erm. I mean, Jimmy, Jimmy [referring to TD] you mentioned--

TD: I'm [inaudible] the heat.

VB: It is quite cold, yeh.

TD: Cold.

VB: I don't know if we can make it any, any warmer or?

NK: It's always cool in here, pet.

TA: [Not with?] that heater.

NK: I can't stand the heat, dear.

VB: Aye.

NK: [inaudible]

VB: I mean, I was going to ask you, Jimmy [TD] about, just when we first came in, you were talking about getting into the cinema with, with a jeely [jam] jar.

TD: A what?

VB: You were talking about the jeely jars.

TD: Jeely jars, aye.

VB: For going to the cinema [inaudible; overtalking], for going to the pictures, was that--

TD: That was before my time!

VB: What, what, what are your earliest memories of going to the pictures?

TD: More silent pictures, [inaudible].

SG: [inaudible] sit at the back were the winchers [courting couples].

NK: [laughs]

SG: Tommy was there.

NK: [laughs]

SG: [laughs]

VB: 'Cause you must have, as you're saying, your earliest memories must be of the silents.

TD: Aye, the pictures were all silent. There were no talkies.

VB: Do you remember the first, the first sound pictures coming in, then?

TD: The first what?

VB: [louder] The first ones with sound?

PM: The talkies.

NK: 'Sonny Boy', yes. 'Sonny Boy' [referring to The Singing Fool].

SG: Yes.

[general assent]

TD: I mind of [remember] that but I've no idea of the date.

TA: I read a bit of the paper the other day, and I asked one of the staff, "What was the first talkie picture in Glasgow?", and I got the answer in the paper.

SG: Aye.

PM: What was it, 'Sonny Boy'?

TA: 1927.

[pause 2 seconds]

TA: Well the answer in the paper was The Jazz Singer.

PM: Al Jolson.

NK: I was just going to tell, I was just going to say that.

VB: Was it not The Singing Fool, was that not the first one?

TA: No, that was a different-- well that was the answer I got in the paper. That Jack [Paynton?]. When was the first talkie in Glasgow and I turned another page and the answer, it says, The Jazz Singer, 1927.

VB: Mhm.

SM: Al Jolson.

VB: Mhm.

SM: Aye, Al Jolson.

TD: He sung 'Sonny Boy' in it, he sung 'Sonny Boy' in The Jazz Singer.

[inaudible; multiple voices at once]

TA: Anyway, it had 1927 in--

NK: [Those days will never come back?].

TA: And I turned it, that was only a few month ago, and when I turned over the second page it told me 1927, the name of the film was The Jazz Singer.

TD: The first pictures of any kind that were ever shown were shown in the Coliseum. [pause 1 second] They had many a picture house, it was a theatre. [pause 1 second]

VB: Right.

TD: Aye. But, eh, that's eh, where eh, [I was young?] to see it and all. [pause 1 second]

VB: Right.

TD: Aye, there was a very old theatre and the first picture that was ever shown there, and they all rolled up in Bedfords and God knows what else. You, we used to go to the Bedford cinema.

TA: What?

TD: The Bedford. [pause 1 second]

TA: Well.

NK: The Bedford.

TA: The Bedford.

NK: Aye.

TA: The two of them were on Eglinton street. The Coliseum was there and the Bedford was, just along the road, the same side [gesturing placing] of the road. In Bedford Street. The Coliseum and the Bedford were two of the main picture halls in, and they both had pictures at the same time.

VB: Right.

TA: The Coliseum would get one and the Bedford would get the other and then they were distributed to the other cinemas in every area. They were at the Bedford for a week and they would go somewhere else for maybe three days, and three days here, you know?

VB: Ah, I see. I see. So they were the main cinemas in town?TA: They were the main cinemas at that time. As Tommy Dunn says, the Coliseum and the Bedford were next to each other in Eglinton Street.

VB: Right, right, I see. And were the other cinemas in town that you remember--

TA: Cinemas?

VB: In the thirties or?

NK: Aye, there was one up Buchanan Street we went to, they called it the Odeon.

VB: The Odeon.

SG: Aye.

VB: What was that like?

NK: It was a big hall inside, there was, there was an organ there they used to play on, it come up from [indicates], the organ.

SG: It was a lovely place.

NK: Aye, she played the organ in the, in the other place, you see? [laughs] No it was lovely, [in the world like that?]. And there was one, the Regal, across the road too, up Sauchiehall Street.

VB: Right.

NK: Aye, I know them all.

VB: What, what was the Regal like?

NK: Lovely.

TA: Well.

NK: I've been in London too and seen the, the--

TA: Every area, Every, Every area in Glasgow then. See if you went to Hillhead, there were so many picture halls there, Partick, there were so many picture halls there, Govan, there were so many picture halls there.

SG: [coughs]

TA: So, they'd be going by in every area you could go to the pictures.

VB: Aye.

TD: And the money you'd use was a penny.

TA: That's right. You'd go [in the arm?].

PM: Penny Crush.

TD: Ah well when there was children, the matinees, Saturday at a penny. A penny was a lot of money then but.

VB: Aye.

TA: Well, Tommy Dunn's right. A matinee was a penny.

VB: Aye.

TD: But--

SG: Both mine were in Sauchiehall Street--

TD: [overtalking] [laughs] You could get in at everything--

SG: [inaudible; for a tanner?]. And the other one.

TD: Unless you had less than a tanner [sixpence].

SG: The dancing.

TD: You could get in the first house, fourpence, old money, fourpence in old money!

SG: I'm a dancer!

VB: Aye.

TA: Aw it's all changed now. There's no cinemas.

SG: No, nothing at all.

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] Were there big queues for the--

PM: Yes.

VB: For the pictures.

NK: Yes, there were.

TA: Because, if you were going to the cinema at night, anywhere, it didn't matter where you went to, for the first house there was a big queue to get in. That was followed by the first house, you went out then, queued up for the second house.

VB: Yeh.

NK: The Metropole.

VB: The Metropole?

NK: Mind [remember] the Metropole, Tommy?

VB: Where, where was the Metropole?

TA: It's away.

VB: Where was that?

NK: At the same place as, eh, I forget the street name.

TA: Stockwell Street.

NK: Ach, I know them all dear! [inaudible].

TA: I tell you, the best show, the best [pause 1 second] hall, I'm talking about no picture hall, I'm talking about a music hall, Tommy Dunn might remember that, was the Empire. Do you want to know why it was the best picture, the best music hall, it wasn't a picture hall, the Empire. They got stars from Hollywood in the Empire for a week and see them? They'd got beautiful cars, but they drove down, do you know where they stayed for the full week? The Central Hotel.

VB: Really?

TA: Yes. That was Moss, Moss Empire, Moss owned the bloody lot of them. Moss Empire, there was an Empire in every big city. Moss. They brought all the dance [thing?] from America and maybe whoever was bringing, bringing them maybe London, the Empire in London, go to Liverpool, go to that, and come to Glasgow. Every 00:20:00place would have them for a week. They stayed in the best hotel for a week, all expenses paid! [chuckles]

VB: That's amazing! I mean, do, do you remember some of the stars that did come to Glasgow?

TA: Who?

VB: Do you remember seeing the stars?

NK: Stars.

PM: Danny Kaye, do you remember him?

TA: Danny Kaye came to the Empire.

NK: Aye, red hair. He was there. Frank Sinatra and all.

TA: Frank Sinatra.

NK: Aye, they're all good.

TA: They were the big ones in the paper then, you know, we're going away back the years. All the thingummy, but.

NK: Tommy Morgan was good.

TA: And came to the Empire, you know but they came from Hollywood.

VB: Aye.

TA: Well they done a tour of all the Moss Empires, you know?

VB: Aye. I mean, did you, do you think that the stars in the thirties were good? Were there, did you have particular favourites?

SG: I liked them all, dear.

VB: Was there any kinds of films that you liked better than others, or--

NK: Films?

VB: Aye.

NK: Well I like murders.

VB: Murders.

SG: I like, eh, the dancing.

VB: Right.

SG: Like Fred Astaire and that.

VB: Aw! Ginger Rogers and--

SG: Aye.

VB: Aye. Did you like the romances?

SG: I liked everything. [Meet my pal?]. [laughs]

VB: Did, did you go quite often to the pictures then, or?

SG: Aye well, I used to go with a couple of my pals [and others?]. I had meningitis there, went to the san, in [inaudible].

TA: Let me tell you about the cinema. I seen a bit on the--

SG: [We had a bit of a panic then?], but you could walk home. They were all right.

VB: Right.

SG: So--

TA: I seen a thing on the television a few months ago and they were going back when stars were young, when Hollywood were a young... Judy Garland was one. [pause 1 second] Jane Withers was another.

SG: [inaudible].

TA: They were young in the Hollywood, eh, oh they gave you-- about five of them. Shirley Temple was--

SG: Shirley Temple was one, Shirley Temple.

TA: And they were all in Hollywood from when they were very young.

SG: Aye.

SG: She's Mrs Black now.

TA: They were all child stars at the time.

TD: Aye.

TA: Judy Garland.

NK: Yes. She was good.

TA: Eh. Deanna Durbin. She was brought up that whole operetta thingummy.

SG: Aye.

TA: She sang along with Judy Garland when they were very young.

VB: Really? Mhm.

NK: They were only doing their records with these shows.

TA: They went a way back and they showed you half an hour of this on the telly.

VB: I brought some.

TA: And that's.

VB: I brought some pictures of stars with me actually.

TA: Oh have you?

VB: And one of them was Deanna Durbin. [shows photo]

TA: Aw.

SG: Deanna. Nance, do you see that?

TA: She was an operatic singer, wasn't she?

SG: Aye.

TD: And they put her on the platforms singing with all the stars. With all the--

SG: Aye.

TD: Bringing back, thing, things that you didn't know anything about.

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] I've got George Formby on the other side.

NK: Oh George Formby, oh my. What a laugh!

VB: Did you like him?

[general laughter; inaudible]

TA: And Judy Garland.

NK: [inaudible] some time.

TA: She came young and she left young.

VB: Deanna Durbin?

TA: Aye!

PM: I think she went to France.

TA: Aye, Deanna. She was, she was like an operatic [doll?]. You know, you should remember, [you were pals with her?].

TD: Aye, I mind of [remember] her singing, her voice.

VB: Did you like her?

PM: Aye, I liked her singing. She had a good voice.

VB: Did you like her?

PM: Oh aye, very good, she had a good voice. Very entertaining.

VB: 'Cause she made a whole string of films, didn't she? There was Three Smart Girls, and--

PM: Oh aye, aye, she made dozens of films.

VB: Aye.

PM: Nelson. Remember Nelson Eddy?NK: Aye, I remember Nelson.

PM: Aye, the singing Mountie.

SG: Oh he was good.

NK: Who?

SG: Nelson Eddy.

VB: Did he?

TA: Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald were two--

SG: Aye.

TA: Mates at that time.

PM: That's right.

TA: They were singers. Partners.

VB: Was, was Jeanette MacDonald good, do you think?

SG: Yes, oh aye. Lovely.

PM: Aye, aye, she was a great singer. Lovely.

SG: Yes.

TD: Well that's when pictures was pictures.

SG: Aye. They was.

NK: Oh yes.

TD: Everybody. Anybody old will remember the Hollywood stars.

VB: Aye.

TD: Ye know?VB: 'Cause--

TD: Humphrey Bogart. [pause 2 seconds] James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy. They all act together. Didn't they?SG: Oh aye.

TD: Didn't they?TA: In more than one, either.

NK: Oh, I liked Spencer Tracy.

VB: I was going to say, 'cause when you were saying you liked murders I wondered if you liked the gangster films with--

NK: Aye, I liked them.

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] Who was your favourite star, yourself?

NK: Oh all the, erm, they were always all good. [pause 2 seconds] I liked Marie Dressler. Mind of [remember] her?

TA: Aye, aye, aye.

NK: [laughs]

VB: I'm not, that's not a name that's familiar to me. Can you--

NK: Aye, Marie Dressler. She was good. They found out too late, didn't they?

TA: Ah well.

NK: She's a good actor.

VB: Aye. What, what sort of films was she in?

NK: Oh God, I forget now. [pause 2 seconds]

SG: Was it musical films?

NK: Naw. [pause 2 seconds]

PM: More drama.

VB: Drama. [pause 2 seconds] What other stars did you like, erm--

PM: Aw! [laughs]

NK: Joe E. Brown. Yeeeeeeeeah!

TA: I never, I never--

VB: [laughs]

NK: Joe E. Brown. Yeeeeeeah!

SM: Oh aye! Bigmouth. Aye, he had a big mouth.

NK: Oh, Jeezo!

TA: Oh aye big mouth or no big mouth. He had plenty of cash from it.

SM: Oh aye!

NK: Aye, he did Tommy.

VB: Did you follow the stars? I mean, I don't know if anybody got the film magazines, things like 'Picturegoer' or--

SG: I used to get the 'Picturegoer'.

VB: Did you?SG: Aye.

VB: Yeh. Was that, did you learn a lot about the stars from that, do you think?

SG: Ach, well I used to read it. Aye, no bad.

NK: Well, I liked the 'Picturegoer'.

VB: 'Cause I've heard people say that sometimes they would cut, cut pictures out the 'Picturegoer'.

TA: Well in these days a guy got it with his mouth.

VB: Right.

TA: Well, who was the guy that had the nose?

PM: Durante.

NK: Durante.

PM: Jimmy Durante.

TA: Durante. Durante.

PM: Jimmy Durante.

TA: Durante. Aye.

PM: Durant-ee, some people call him.

TA: Well he, he got plenty of, he got plenty of money out of that.

PM: Schnozzle.

TA: Schnozzle.

SG: Schnozzle, aye.

TA: Schnozzle.

NK: Aye, that's right.

TA: They all got it for dif, for different things, you know?NK: Oh God aye.

VB: I mean, as I say I brought a few pictures along. [looks through photos] I don't know who else I brought. [shows photo] Robert Montgomery, I don't if he's someone that.

PM: Aye, aye.

NK: Aye.

TA: Ye know what he was.

NK: Yes, yes.

TA: He was a straight actor.

NK: Aye, he was good.

TD: Have you got one of Ronald Colman?

VB: Oh, I haven't, but I've heard of Ronald Colman.

TA: He did a lot of business.

VB: Was he one of your favourites?

TD: What's that?

VB: [louder] Did you like Ronald, Ronald Colman?

TD: I don't know if I did but, again there was--

TA: [inaudible; overtalking]

PM: Prisoner of Zenda.

TA: He was a star. John Wayne.

VB: Aye.

TA: John Wayne.

NK: Oh [looking at photos] these are nice.

VB: Aye.

TA: Aye, John Wayne was. To me, John Wayne, they made him in the best [stables?] that blood can tell. They made no better cowboy pictures. [pause 1 second] When you think about it, John Wayne.

VB: I mean you mentioned, you mentioned the. [photos passed back to VB] Thanks. Tommy, would you like to see that one?

TD: I can't see very far.

VB: Right. I, I'll leave it there. I don't know if you'd like.

TD: Leave it there anyway.

VB: [inaudible]. Janet Gaynor, is it?

TD: [inaudible].

VB: I was going to ask though, 'cause you mentioned the, you know, the big stars coming over from Hollywood. Do you think there was a difference between the films that were being made in Britain and the films that were being made in Hollywood?

TD: Oh aye, America was [inaudible; overtalking].

[multiple voices at once; inaudible]

TA: America, America controlled the lot.

VB: Aye. But, you were saying--

PM: Aye. A different class of films entirely, in that time anyway.

VB: Yeah, well how was that? What was better about them?

PM: Well the talent was in there for a kick-off. I would think, anyway. And the, the Americans would bring it all out to make things really good, you know?

VB: Aye. Was it, was it the way the pictures looked then, I mean, do you think, or?

PM: Aye, it was the style all round, you know?

TD: And at one time they were, all the pictures were done with Pathe Gazette. Do you ever hear about it?

TA: Aye. Pathe Gazette News. The news.

SG: Aye.

NK: Aye.

TA: Pathe Gazette.

TD: Oh they were at all the pictures.

TA: And it was all made in Ireland. And it came to Hollywood and they'd done the lot in Ireland. Gone with the Wind.

NK: Gone with the Wind.

VB: Right.

TA: And it was all done in Ireland.

PM: Aye, for the scenery.

TD: Oh was that right?

TA: Gone with the Wind. Clark Gable.

NK: All nice pictures.

TA: John Wayne was in one, I know that.

NG: [inaudible].

TA: I know that one.

PM: Aw that's right, there's a wee mistake there.

TD: Aw, John Wayne. Is that The Quiet Man?

TA: The Quiet Man. The Quiet Man.

NK: The Quiet Man, aye.

TA: [overtalking; inaudible]. That was all done in Ireland. John Wayne was in that.

VB: Aye.

TD: Victor McLaglen.

TA: Victor McLaglen. He came from Ireland. He was a--

NK: Did he? I didn't know he was Irish.

TA: It was a fact. They were all done in Ireland. The Quiet Man was done.

VB: What were the films like that were being made in England in the thirties, were there?

PM: Well in that time--

TA: They stunk! [laughs]

SG: Really bad.

VB: Right. 'Cause I've heard people say that the sense of humour and things was, was difficult to, you know, for audiences from Glasgow to--

PM: Well in my opinion in they particular films, there were too many daft, they didn't call a spade a spade they called it something else. Too many talking this stuff, you know?

VB: Right. [pause 1 second] So, it just didn't really appeal?PM: Not at all, nuh. It didn't appeal to a lot of people. 'Cause that was, their style wasn't good. I don't think.

VB: Aye. Would you, I mean, [pause 1 second], did you, erm, choose the pictures or, I mean, did you just go to all pictures or did you?

PM: Oh, you could make a choice, couldn't you?

SG: Yes.

PM: We used to look up the papers and, and the [crowd opposite the cinema?] and see who was on. And if you fancied the star that was in it, then in you went.

VB: Aye.

PM: Paid your money! [laughs]

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] 'Cause there must've been a lot of choice, when you're talking about, you know. All these cinemas in Partick--

PM: Oh aye, there's cinemas.

VB: And the ones in Govan.

PM: Within walking distance, each one of them.

VB: Aye. [pause 1 second] Did you go into town a lot when you were growing up, to see the pictures.

PM: Oh aye.

VB: Or was it mainly locally you went or?

PM: I used to go out to sell sticks for firewood to get picture money!

VB: Really?

PM: Aye! Get boxes out of Malcolm Campbell's, the fruiterer's. Chop them into sticks and take them, tuppence a bag, you know?

VB: Aye. So it was a big, a big part of your life then when you were?

PM: Oh aye, it's right. [coughs] It was a great part of my life, when I think back on it now.

VB: What were the picture houses like then 'cause--

PM: Oh [sighs].

VB: Aye. What were the ones like, Sarah?

SG: You'd say there was the bughouse.

VB: [laughs]

SG: The bughouse. You went, you went--

PM: You used to call it the Penny Crush--

SG: [And you went in to live and came out alive!?]

VB: Right. [laughs]

NK: And there was a cinema near us and they used to say, "Don't go in there or you'll get a flea!"

VB: Really?

NK: Aye.

PM: Oh aye! [laughs]

VB: What, what, what were the cinemas round, like, round where you were?

SG: Lovely!

VB: What were the names of them?

SG: The one up at Burnside, [the Range?], they called the Rhul.

VB: What was that, what was that like?

SG: Lovely inside. And so was, I tell you another one. There was the Odeon in there. And there was another one. The Rio. [It was all tiled, lovely on the walls, when you went to get in?].

[inaudible; bell rings]

VB: Right.

SG: Ach, they're [inaudible] quiet.

VB: How about you, Nancy. What were the picture houses where you were? Did you stay [live] in Hamilton?

NK: No, I was in Nelson Avenue, Townhead.

VB: Right.

PM: Townhead?

SG: Townhead.

VB: What were the picture houses like there? I mean-- [tape cuts out]

[End of Side A]

[Start of Side B]

NK: Casina, the Casino.

VB: Aye. Did your mother like, like pictures or?

NK: Oh aye! She was picture daft!

VB: What were her, what sort of films did she like? Was it--

NK: Well, I would say she liked anything! [pause 1 second]

SG: I enjoy that Carmen Miranda.

NK: Oh aye!

SG: You know, the bombshell!

NK: What was her name again?

SG: Eh, Carmen Miranda. The bombshell!

[pause 2 seconds]

PM: The Mexican Spitfire!

SG: Eh?

PM: [louder] The Mexican Spitfire. That's what they called her.

NK: Aye! So [they are?], the Spitfire.

PM: Uh.

VB: I mean, I brought along a list of some of the erm, more popular films of the thirties and, I, I was interested to see if they were ones that, that, that you would remember. Erm, like I've got ones for, like 1930. [reading from list] Erm, Rookery Nook? That had Ralph Lynn and Ethel Coleridge in it? I don't know if that's one you remember?

PM: No, not for me anyway.

VB: Aye.

SG: Do you remember, Nancy?NK: Naw.

VB: [handing out sheets] I mean, I'll pass them round, I know you were saying you've not got your, your glasses with you.

NK: Your specs.

TA: Aye, Tommy Dunn hasn't.

TD: Is it an interesting story now?

VB: Aye! [laughs] It's just, just, a list, a list of pictures! But, I mean, things like erm, Sally in Our Alley with Gracie Fields.

NK: Aw I liked Gracie Fields.

SG: Aye.

NK: And Shirley Temple's wee britches. [overtalking; inaudible]

SG: Aw look, yes. [reading from sheet] Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs I liked.

VB: What was that like? 'Cause it must've, I mean it was one of the early colour films, wasn't it?

NK: What?

VB: [louder] Snow White.

SG: Aye. There was a wee coloured one. Aye, it was nice.

VB: What, what was it like when, when the coloured films came out? Did you-- [pause 1 second] it must've been quite--

PM: Aw it was great.

SG: It was just like a coloured one, just a picture up there. It was just a picture up there, quite nice.

NK: What?

SG: Coloured picture films.

NK: Oh aye.

SG: And then they started to show that they--

TA: Remember the big screen? Remember the big screen?SG: Oh aye.

TA: Panoramic screen, screen.

SG: Aye, I do.

NK: Oh, [reading] Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade.

SG: [laughing] Oh! Maurice Chevalier!

VB: Did you like Maurice Chevalier?

SG: [emphatically] Aye!

NK: Jeanette MacDonald.

SG: Nelson, Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald.

NK: Gracie Fields was good.

SG: Aye, Gracie.

PM: Sally in our Alley, yeh?SG: She comes from Ireland, Gracie, didn't she?

VB: Did she?

SG: Did she?[pause 1 second]

NK: See that [reading] Sunshine Susie.

TA: Gracie wasn't Irish.

SG: Gracie?NK: She was born in, where do you call it. England.

SG: Was she?

TA: Aye, where, where do you call it? Oh, Bradford.

VB: Was she?

TA: Aye.

SG: Oh, I liked that Cavalcade. [reading]

TA: Shirley Temple. She was only young then. Child star, wasn't she?

SG: Oh I didn't like Charles Laughton.

VB: Did you not?

NK: Wee Shirley.

VB: What was it that put you off Charles Laughton.

SG: Och I don't know. I was, I wasn't fond of him.

PM: [laughs]

TD: What about all these people that are still living?

NK: Eh?

TD: But some of them are dead.

VB: Aye.

TA: Aye. There's no many of them about now, Tom. And you see Mauri, Maurice Chevalier, hard to pronounce, Maurice Chevalier or, [inaudible; overtalking].

TD: Chevalier.

TA: Maurice Chivilay oh, I can't-- [laughs]

PM: Chevalier.

TA: [laughs]

SG: [inaudible; overtalking].

TA: Lionel Barrymore, he'll be dead.

TD: Aw aye.

SG: We're getting too [inaudible; overtalking].

TA: Clark Gable, he's dead. Leslie Howard.

TD: He's dead, he's dead.

VB: Did you like Anna Neagle?

SG: Oh yes.

NK: Yes, I liked her.

SG: [inaudible]

NK: I liked her.

TD: Ronald Colman.

TA: Aye, Ronald Colman.

NK: [reading] It's In the Air. [laughs]

SG: George Formby.

TA: Aw, he was in the pictures then. 1932.

TD: Aye.

TA: 1932.

SG: Oh God! He was the start with all the [inaudible] and we stood and he came back again, remember, Nance?

VB: I mean, you mentioned as well, stars like--

TA: Greta Garbo.

VB: Did you like, did you like Clark Gable or?

PM: Oh aye, aye, big guy with the 'tache [moustache].

VB: Aye.

TD: Yeah.

PM: Gary Cooper.

TD: Aye, aye. Most of them are dead there now.

PM: Aye.

TA: "I don't give a damn!" That's what he used to say.

NK: Aw, that's right.

TA: That was that film, what was that?

[pause 1 second]

PM: Gone with the Wind, wasn't it?

VB: That's right.

PM: Aye, that's right, Gone with the Wind.

TA: 1939. Deanna Durbin.

TD: Deanna Durbin, aye.

NK: Deanna Durbin, Diana [sic] Durbin? Oh, a lovely singer, ohh, Diana Durbin.

TA: She was only in a [inaudible; overtalking]. Seventy-first.

VB: Seventy-first? [passing back of papers] Thanks! [laughs] Thanks.

TA: 1938.

SG: Was it really?

TA: '37, '36.

TD: Eh, aye.

NK: And there's not what you see nowadays.

VB: Thanks. 'Cause the coming of colour must've been quite something though.

TA: Oh it was quite an attraction, aye.

VB: Aye, were there big queues?

TA: Colour came about in the thirties. There was colour in some cinema about '30 to '35, colour was thirty.

VB: Aye.

TD: That's about sixty years ago. [pause 2 seconds]

TA: Sixty year ago, '34 to now. [pause 2 seconds]

NK: Aye.

VB: I mean, do you, do you go to--

TD: There's not many of us now in these--

VB: I know, I know, I mean Shirley Temple, I mean is--

TD: Eh?

VB: Shirley Temple, for instance, she's--

TD: Ah. Shirley Temple?

VB: Aye.

TD: Aye, she's a [pause 1 second] senator.

VB: Aye.

TD: Mrs Black.

TA: That's right. Mrs Black. Shirley Black.

SG: She used to, she used to do tap dancing.

TA: Yeah, as soon as she married him. As soon as she married him, she left Hollywood, she wasn't interested in films. [pause 2 seconds]

VB: Aye, it's interesting to think that.

TD: She was a great wee actress, I think, eh, Shirley Temple though. I remember Bill Robinson learning her to step dance.

NK: Al Jolson?

TD: Eh?

NK: Al Jolson.

TD: [louder] Bill Robinson. He was a step dancer.

NK: I didn't know his first name was Bill.

TD: Eh?

NK: You're pronouncing the name wrong.

TD: [sighs] You research in the proper place and you'll get that answer.

NK: Aye, you're--

TD: Bill Robinson was--

NK: Oh well you're right.

TD: Eh? [pause 1 second]

VB: But, but you're saying he was a dancer, Bill Robinson?

TD: Aye, he taught Shirley Temple to dance.

VB: Right.

NK: Oh, yeah, he's right there.

VB: Aye.

NK: Aye, I thought they were good films anyway.

VB: Did you, did you ever--

NK: There was nothing there at all.

SG: Aye.

VB: I was going to ask if you ever, you know, copied the stars in the way they dressed or?

SG: Aye. I did, dear.

VB: Did you [pause 1 second] try and look like anyone or, eh--

SG: Aye, just your shape! [laughs]

VB: Aye. 'Cause I mean magazines like, like the 'Picturegoer', as you were saying, I mean they had a lot about fashion and things in them as well, didn't they?

SG: More than they have now anyway.

VB: Aye.

TA: Where you're getting confused is Paul Robeson. He sung [pause 1 second] that song.

PM: 'Old Man River'.

NK: Aye.

TA: 'Old Man River'. Paul Robeson.

PM: That was a coloured singer, by the way, Paul Robeson.

SG: Aye.

TA: [sings] She was mixed up with the names. Bill Robinson was a dancer.

PM: [sings] "Old Man River".

SG: [sings] You'll have us singing up the stair now! [laughs]

VB: Aye! Did, did you like the songs from the pictures as well?

SG: I liked everything dear!

VB: [pause 1 second] 'Cause, 'cause you were saying that you were keen on the dancing as well, and-- [pause 1 second] I mean, it sounds like there were so many places that.

SG: I, I'm [inaudible] what night was it?

TA: Do you remember the Locarno [ballroom]?

NK: Eh?

TA: Do you remember the Locarno?

NK: Aye, I don't half!

TA: Well, the two greatest dancers that ever lived were in the same film.

NK: Aye. Fred and Ginger!

TA: Donald O'Connor and Gene Kelly. Gene Kelly and Donald O' Connor. Singin' in the Rain, Singin' in the Rain.

SG: Aw. It was lovely that.

TA: Two top dancers.

SG: Aye, it was lovely.

TD: They don't dance like that nowadays.

NK: Naw, they don't Tommy.

TD: They're showing each other.

NK: They don't. Terrible world now, isn't it?

TA: They could make their feet talk. [pause 1 second] They could. [pause 1 second] [emphatically] Gene Kelly and Donald O' Connor. They two were in the one film, the two of them were great, know what I mean?

NK: Aye.

TD: Oh, well all the lassies were dancing at that time too.

PM: Aye, Jimmy [James] Cagney started off as a singer, song and dance man.

TD: Who?

PM: Did you know that?

TD: Who?

PM: Jimmy Cagney. The wee tough guy.

TD: Oh.

PM: That's how he started out.

TD: Oh I liked him.

PM: That's how he started his career, as a song and dance man.

TD: Aye. He, he danced in that Yankee Doodle Dandy.

PM: Aye, that's right, aye. That's one of his best films.

SG: Aye. [sings] "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy".

TA: That's how he started up his career as a dancer. And singing.

TD: And I saw, I was on the bus as a matter of fact, coming up West Nile Street, and I saw this woman walking, and I saw this woman walking up and I says "That's Eleanor Powell!" Yes, she was, she was in the Empire [Theatre] for a week, and this was her going up to the Empire.

TA: I know.

TD: She was a fantastic dancer. She could, she could hold, hold erm, the boards for the entire time, you know? They were one away with another but she was on it all the time. [pause 1 second] The stage was all fitted with wooden boards for her dance.

TA: To give the sound effect, aye.

TD: It was fantastic.

[knock on door]

TD: Nobody in!

[VB gets door; Marion [carer] enters; complaints about lack of heat in room; Marion puts the heat up; general chat and serving of coffee and tea until 0:42:45]

VB: I mean it's amazing, you know, when you're saying about all these stars coming to the Empire and everything, I mean.

TD: Aye, the Empire and the Alhambra.

PM: The Empire was the hall at that time.

NK: Aw yes.

PM: All the actors came up.

TD: Aw the matinee. Jack Buchanan was the matinee idol in the Alhambra.

TA: The Alhambra. They done away with that and all, Tommy.

NK: Aye.

TA: The Alhambra. Jack Radcliffe at the Alhambra. Do you know that? Aye, if they couldn't make the Empire, [overtalking] if they couldn't make the Empire, they made the Alhambra.

PM: Do you remember [Thirty Quid?] Tommy Morgan?

NK: Oh aye, he was good. Oh [laughs] Tommy!

SG: Oh aye, Tommy Morgan. [laughs]

NK: Aye.

PM: They called him [Thirty Quid?].

TA: Oh well.

[VB offers milk for coffee and tea around]

TD: Oh, they were on the stage, six, six nights a week!

NK: Mhm.

[general conversation; noise of tea and coffee cups]

VB: So, it's interesting to think of these stars coming to the-- [pause 1 second] I mean, what sort of other entertainments were there, at that time? I mean, you mentioned the dance halls and-- [pause 1 second]

PM: Glasgow at one time had the most dance halls in Britain. Every other hall was a dance hall, wasn't it!

SG: [inaudible].

TD: What?

PM: In Glasgow.

TA: Aye, Green's. Green's there was. Green's Playhouse.

NK: [loudly] Green's Playhouse in the [inaudible] down the bottom.

TA: I don't know if anybody heard, there were two thousand dancers.

PM: Aye.

NK: Aye.

TD: That's away, the building's--

TA: Now that's.

NK: All the good places is gone.

TD: Green's Playhouse, you know?

TA: That's right, it was away up--

NK: Me and my pal used to go to the dancing, the Locarno and away back home and [inaudible]. We enjoyed ourselves.

VB: Aye.

NK: You couldn't go [around here now, it's terrible?].

TA: The Green's family, owned Green's picture houses.

NK: Yes.

TA: And dance halls. [pause 1 second]

NK: And it was only one and six to get in.

VB: So, was, there was one in the Gorbals as well, wasn't there? Did they, did they not have some small cinemas, as well, the Green's, as well as the, the playhouse?

NK: I don't know hen.

TA: I don't know about dance halls but erm, erm, picture halls--

VB: Aye. Picture halls.

TA: In other parts of the city.

VB: Yeh.

TA: The Green's family.

VB: Aye.

TA: I don't know if they had dance halls.

[sound of chair squeaking]

VB: I was, I was meaning the, I was meaning the, the picture halls.

TA: Aye, they had a lot of picture halls.

VB: Do you take milk and sugar?

TA: Yes.

VB: Was it coffee you were having, or, tea or..?

TA: Tea, it would be.

[VB serving coffee, milk and sugar all round]

VB: 'Cause the Green's Playhouse cinema was--

PM: Aye, it was a good cinema.

SG: Aye, the dancing was down the stair, with the pictures.

TD: That was the [fastest showmen in the west?] there.

[discussion of sign outside room, 'Do not Disturb'; VB offers coffee to TA]

TD: I think there were two richest people going back all these year ago, was the show people and the cinema people. Codona.

TD: Aye!

TA: Codona owned all the bloody shows.

TD: [inaudible].

TA: Travelled the world.

SG: Come on Nancy.

[tea, milk and sugar passed around]

VB: I mean, another thing I was wanting to ask about was, erm, how they treated you in the cinemas. I mean, were, were the staff quite strict or?

PM: I tell you, you'd to sit down and shut up!

VB: [laughs]

SG: Yeah, that's right!

PM: [laughs] Aye, the kids were noisy in they days, though.

VB: Aye.

PM: Couldn't hear a thing!

NK: Oh, I know! These used to rip the seats up, some of them--

SG: Eh?

[tape cuts out and restarts]

NK: In the cinema.

VB: Is that right?

SG: Oh, they're a bad crowd now, so they are.

[pause 1 second]

VB: Aye.

[SG on situation around the shops where there are drunk men sitting drinking]

VB: Was that, was that different when you were growing up? I mean, did you, say when you were in, when you were in the picture houses, did you, were you expected to behave?

SG: Oh I did behave, dear. Oh! Well. [pause 2 seconds]

PM: If you didn't behave, you got flung out. [tape cuts out] [inaudible]

NK: Aye, out the--

[VB adjusts mike]

VB: It's just, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm getting, it's just that, [laughs] it seems to be erm. The mike doesn't seem to be picking things up. [adjusts mike] Don't know if that's going to work now. It was working before, but it erm, seems to have erm-- [laughs] Sorry about that. It's erm a bit annoying for me, but erm no, you were saying that the staff were, were quite strict in the--

SG: Oh they were strict!

PM: Up to the end with the torch.

SG: Yes, that's right.

PM: They'd point it in your face, "You! Shut up or get out!"

SG: That's right. A lot of them used to go to the balcony, ken, you know up the stairs?

PM: Aye, they'd throw things down on top of you!

VB: Is that right?

SG: Aye, it's true. Up the balcony, folk used to throw eh absolutely piles of stuff down. Oh, dear me.

VB: So they could play up a bit then?

PM: Aye, they could try anyway.

VB: Aye.

PM: They couldn't always get away with it! [laughs]

VB: 'Cause an interesting thing someone said to me was, you know, when you went to the matinees, that the kids really acted up.

PM: Aye.

VB: But sometimes if, if you went with your parents you were expected to--

PM: Aye, behave yourself.

VB: Behave yourself, is that right?

PM: Aw, the parents kept them in line, aye, anyway.

VB: Aye.

PM: But the matinees were all for kids anyway, so they just run riot.

[pause 3 seconds]

VB: And you were saying that you got the full programme, as well, I mean you must've been in the cinema quite a while, when you were in.

PM: Oh, you mean at the time, aye.

VB: Aye.

TA: Yeh, we stayed in there about an hour and a half, two hours. That would be the average acc, according to the film of course, you know.

VB: Aye.

PM: The length of the film.

VB: Did you ever stay in and watch the film again, or?

PM: Aye.

NK: [loudly] Yes. I used to do that with my pals.

PM: At least you could try right enough, whoever was in charge down the aisle, you know, the attendant, or the usher would come up and bash the torch and give him it, "You've seen this already, out you go!" [mimes]

VB: Really! [laughs] They would say that! Stop you!

NK: Oh yes, that's right.

VB: Aye. You were saying that-

PM: Ye see a lot of kids'd come in on a Saturday.

NK: Smoking inside and--

PM: And come out.

SG: That's right dear.

VB: You were saying you used to do that with your pal, though, you would go in and--

SG: Well that was different, there were no kids there much then.

VB: Aw right.

SG: We just sat there quietly with the rest of the people.

[pause 1 second]

VB: Did you go mainly with, with a friend or?

SG: No, me and my pal used to go to church, we'd go like to church together. Or, see, I'm [inaudible], and eh, I didn't know, I just came in here, we goes at night time, take a wee walk. [coughs]

VB: I was going to ask, I mean, if you, you know watched pictures much now, or?

PM: I watch them on the telly more, on the telly now.

VB: Aye.

PM: That's the number one priority, isn't it. [laughs]

VB: Aye. What's your preference now. Do you like, do you prefer the older films or the modern films or?

PM: Modern films I like, aye.

VB: Aye.

PM: Aye, well, you can sit in your [time?] now, you know?

VB: Aye.

PM: The older films when you were a kid anyway, you used to imagine you were, you were the star of it, the cowboy or whoever it was, John Wayne or somebody. Tom Mix, de you remember Tom Mix, Nancy?

NK: Aye, aye, aye! [said while laughing]

PM: Tom Mix and Tony, his horse!

NK: Aye! His horse!

PM: Gene Autry!

NK: Aye, Gene Autry!

TA: Roy Rogers.

NK: Roy Rogers.

VB: So it was, as you say, you were sort of pretending to--

PM: Aye, you came out, you ran down the road, [mimes], clap your legs as if you were on a horse! Ye know.

VB: [laughs]

PM: Stick them up! [laughs]

NK: [laughs]

PM: Make-believe, you know?

VB: Aye. 'Cause there are all these rhymes as well, aren't there, like, about stars in the films. When you were saying that I was thinking about, you know, "Charlie Chaplin went to France. Taught the ladies how to dance."

SG: Oh Charlie Chaplin, oh my goodness!

VB: Did you like Charlie Chaplin?

SG: With his wee top hat and his wee stick!

VB: Aye.

NK: I didn't like the Three Stooges.

SG: Oh, the Three Stooges. I liked them.

NK: Oh, did you? Aw naw! I thought they were stupid!

PM: [laughs]

NK: The Stooges! They were stooges right enough!

TA: [laughs] How about Laurel and Hardy, Nancy?

SG: Oh, I didn't like Laurel and Hardy.

NK: I liked them. I liked Laurel and Hardy.

PM: [whistles Laurel and Hardy theme]

SG: [inaudible] I'll need to sing it to Annie up there! [laughs]

NK: [sings Laurel and Hardy theme]

SG: We get that along the corridor!

PM: Limpy Dan!

SG: Aye.

VB: Aye. Did you like them, I mean, were there good comedians as well, then?

TA: Oh aye.

VB: I mean, we've talked mainly about the musicals and--

TA: Comedians?

VB: Aye.

TA: Well, there were Laurel and Hardy, the Three Stooges, the Ritz Brothers.

NK: Oh, the Ritz Brothers. They were good. The Marx Brothers. The Marx Brothers were good.

TA: I've only mentioned two or three.

NK: But the Marx Brothers were very good.

VB: Aye.

TA: Because there was a comedian on the stage, he had a man he was the feeder.

VB: Right, so I mean, as you say they worked in pairs and--

TA: Aye, they worked in pairs 'cause one was the feeder.

VB: Aye.

TA: And then the comedian made the jokes, fur the working part of it.

TD: Lex McLean I liked, Lex McLean.

TA: Lex McLean, he was good.

NK: Aye, he was good.

TD: Walter Carr was his--

TA: Walter Carr was his feeder.

TD: Aye.

NK: He was good.

[pause 1 second]

TD: Mind of the [spirit o' Jock?]. I liked McLean, and there was two of them, he had a wife, eh, and they stayed in the hotel overnight, and the wife, there were a band playing down the stair and the wife complained, to Lex. She says, "Away down and ask them if they can't play any lower." [pause 1 second] So, he went down and the next day they were going out, home, and she says, "You better not go in for your breakfast 'cause they'll recognise you" he says, "No, they'll not, I had my shirt over my head! " [laughs]

[general laughter]

TA: Well, you're talking about comedians, Tommy Dunn knows, there were more comedians that you worked with and there wasn't a blue joke in it. And you stood at the corner with your pals. They told them about, they were cracking jokes, there wasn't a blue joke in it. Talking about someone else or whatever. Well, you got a better laugh out of them than you would after anybody.

PM: That applies to workplaces, where a lot of men get together.

TA: Aye.

PM: They're all cracking jokes.

TA: 'Cause they're all pals.

PM: We didn't have time to, another time is.

TA: Aye, that's right.

PM: Sitting round the fire, cracking jokes.

TA: Aye.

PM: So Billy Connolly tells about that, his story.

TA: Billy, Billy Connolly, we're a way before Billy Connolly's time. He's getting away with what other people didn't get away with.

PM: Aye, his language.

TD: Aye.

TA: Well, I mind years ago, they had a raffle.

PM: Aye.

TA: And that was a laugh. It turned out the laugh was the bloody whole of it! [laughs] No, but the thing was once, with prizes, we were all [inaudible], it was just a joke. A bottle of whisky. A silver coat hanger. Well some were [inaudible], that was three of the prizes. [pause 3 seconds] Well, I'll tell you what happened. Ye know how there's a box that held one bottle of whisky? Well, the bottle of whisky, the guy was right, he held that out, a really big bottle in the box.

PM: Was it a miniature, aye?

VB: Mhm?

TA: Naw, it was in a box, and he held out a glass of whisky.

PM: Aye.

TA: So, he got this box [inaudible], stuffed it with paper and put a wee round bottle in it. That would be his bottle of whisky.

PM: Well he was telling a lie there, wasn't he?

VB: Aye.

TA: No he wasn't, it was still a bottle of whisky!

PM: [laughs] Right.

TA: So the next one, the next prize was a silver coat hanger! [pause 2 seconds] It was a six-inch nail!

VB: Uh! [laughs]

PM: Well, it was silver, wasn't it! That was the colour of it!

TA: That was a coat hanger, wasn't it!

PM: Oh aye, you could hang your coat on the [fire?]!

TA: And the cigarette lighter--

PM: A match?

TA: One match in a box!

PM: [laughs]

TA: It's true, well it was a trick! Go like that [rip up the paper?]. [mimes] [laughs] One match in a box!

VB: Oh dear!

TA: Well , we got ever so sick about that but the guy that was holding that, he had it in the [inaudible], he was just a patter merchant.

VB: Aye.

PM: A con man!

[general laughter]

TA: Well it was all pals. It was all going to charity, you know? A penny a ticket, you know, that's all it was!

VB: So I mean, you're saying you got a lot of good laughs just [pause 1 second] just with folk, I mean, without, your pals.

TA: Aye, just your pals, you want to buy a raffle ticket, he would give you the pre-pledge of a bottle of whisky, he was right, it was a bottle of whisky!

PM: He didn't say a big bottle of whisky! [laughs]

VB: Aye, I see.

TA: It was still a bottle of whisky!

PM: [laughs]

TA: And everybody, everybody kent [knew] it was going to be [inaudible].

TD: [coughs]

VB: Well, we've certainly talked about a lot today! [laughs] From the pictures, you know, to--

PM: Whisky!

VB: Whisky! [laughs] I suppose. So thanks very much for letting me come and you know.

SG: Oh that's aw right dear.

VB: Share your memories with me, 'cause that's been really useful.

SG: That's good.

VB: Erm, for me.

PM: There's just one thing before you go, remember that all the lies we were telling you weren't true!

VB: [laughs] Right.

NK: They all told lies.

VB: All told lies! [laughs] I'll remember that [sounds of packing up] but, as I say, it's very good of you to have let me--

TD: Uh?

VB: [speaks louder] I'm saying it's very good of you to have let me come and talk with you.

TD: Oh aye.

VB: Erm, I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

NK: Oh aye.

VB: It's been really good, really good, erm. So I'd better, eh, get off [laughs] and let you get on with your--

[general chat]

VB: Skedaddle.

[End of Interview]