Cottage Road Cinema 1912 – 2012 centenary

 

Leeds has two vintage cinemas plus several in nearby towns. The oldest surviving and active venue in Leeds is The Cottage Road Cinema which opened on 29th July 1912. It is situated in the Leeds suburb of Headingley and when it opened there were about twenty-two film theatres in the city. By the height of the sound era the city had sixty-eight cinemas. Now the Cottage remains one of only two traditional cinemas in Leeds. The Cottage has a digital projector but still retains one 35mm projector with a tower. The auditorium is long and relatively narrow, rather like a tube. It seats over 400. There is a fairly large screen. And now the cinema has surround sound.

Its 100th birthday was celebrated on the last Sunday in July 2012 with the erection of a ‘Blue Plaque’ and a special ‘classic’ screening. The event was assisted and supported by the Far Headingley Village Society who also produced an illustrated history of the cinema by Eveleigh Bradford. The event was opened by the current proprietor Charles Morris, who owns and runs a chain of six independent cinemas in Yorkshire and Cumbria, Northern Morris Associated Cinemas. It is a sort of antique cinema ‘Roadshow’: The Plaza, Skipton and The Rex, Elland both also opened in 1912, [though only the Cottage and The Plaza have been exhibiting continuously]. And then the Picture House in Keighley had its own anniversary during 1913. The celebration at The Cottage also included short speeches from the staff and the Society, ending with a celebratory poem for the Centenary. The actual screening commenced with a selection of Cinema advertisements from the 1950s and 1960s – including familiar names like Omo and Persil, but with a variety of other firms, including local businesses and holiday resorts. There were also Ministry of Information shorts from the 1940s, featuring the Crazy Gang and Charlie Chester. And some more recent adverts parodying film s like High Noon and Zulu. The patina of time gave these shorts clips an attraction and humour that contemporary clips lack.

The main feature was the 1967 black and white comedy The Smallest Show on Earth. This is a comic paean to the days when going to the cinema was the main [even only] way to enjoy film. It also celebrates the traditional style cinema, both in terms of technology and also in positioning of the audience. So while not as old as the cinema it was an appropriate feature for the occasion. In fact is includes a brief sequence where we watch the screening of an old silent movie, one that I assume was actually screened at some point at The Cottage.The screening had an intermission halfway through the film, a traditional device in cinemas to bump up sales of soft drinks and ice creams. However, given the plot line of the feature this seemed quite appropriate. The screening of a worn but fairly good 35mm print was fine.

A great evening. The whole event was enjoyed by an almost capacity house (it seats 468), who applauded the introduction, applauded the advertisements, and finally applauded the feature. Hopefully the Cottage Road Cinema will survive to add to its long career. It is still going in 2016. The most recent archival screening was Casablanca on 35mm. This film was preceded by classic adverts from the owners collection along with some Ministry of Information shorts from the 1940s and 1950s. Taking advantage of digital technology the staff screened the projectionist setting up the 35mm machine and starting the film screening.

There is more on the Cottage Road Cinema WebPages.