Do you remember going to the cinema in the 70s?

[Aparecium]

Dh and I have been trying to describe what going to the cinema was like when we were kids to our kids. Another universe, really!

Do you remember the screen showing a kaleidoscope of ice-creams at the end of the B-feature? I've been trying to find a video of it, but clearly not using the right search terms. Or maybe I imagine it?

And people would shut up and watch the film 🤦‍♀️

I remember the kaleidoscope. The few ads were about the local estate agent and similar. There was a hum of excitement and smell of popcorn until the lights went down - and then people sat and watched the movie in silence (except for occasional gasps or cheers or laughs in unison, as screen action dictated). No phones. Occasional rustle if a sweet wrapper. But you could hear the dialogue and get lost in the emotions.

and people smoking in the cinema
we used to have adverts for the local Indian restaurant which was very sophisticated in our town.

Yes! I remember Pearl and Dean advertising!

And films were usually shorter, about 90 mins, with another shorter film before.

The odeon super Saturday club... 10p admission. A place for your parents to dump you on a Saturday morning. 😁

The odeon super Saturday club... 10p admission. A place for your parents to dump you on a Saturday morning. 😁

Yes! The adverts for the local businesses and the smoking.

Not 70s, but I remember queueing around the block in the 80s and worrying we wouldn't get in for that showing and would have to stay in the queue another 2 or 3 hours until the next one.

Remember queuing round the block for hours to see Grease when it first came out.

Yes the adverts were superb, all about local
places with a posh voiceover person pronouncing everything wrong

The smoke. Could hardly see the screen sometimes.

I remember when there was an interval and you could go and buy an ice cream from a woman with a tray round her neck.

I was an adult and got married in 1974 but, yes, went to the pictures in that decade, plus before and later. There are less cinemas now but they still exist. A new one has been built not far from me, three in adjoining towns. There are plenty in central London.

Correction: I married in 1975, not 74. Hit wrong key.

I don’t remember popcorn. Opal Fruits, definitely.

Kia ora in a plastic ridged cup and butterkist popcorn 😄

We would take our own sweets, a packet of spangles or opal fruits. You could buy popcorn, or even a hotdog, but they were far beyond our 5p pocket money. Remember the ice-cream lady with a tray at the intermission and the Pearl & Dean local ads.

Also remember people not being afraid to shush you up if you were being noisy!

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“And after the film why not visit the ( insert name of local Indian restaurant with flock wallpaper) and enjoy a delicious meal ( cue cheesy music and blurry generic pictures of restaurant) to round off your evening”

Adverts for Kiora and choc ices. Newsreel. Pearl and Dean. Smoking. You certainly got your moneys worth in those days.

Always 2 films -
short one,
then interval
then the main film
smoking

Not the 70s but in the 80s I remember there would be a cartoon like the pink panther before the film

I remember a man playing a massive organ would rise up out of the stage during the interval. Early 70's.

Everyone smoked in the stalls. There were stills ads for local curry houses and moving ads for kia ora and foxes glacier mints.
Loads of double bills - late night music ones: The Song Remains the same and The Band or trendy art house ones. I have no memory of ice cream sales. If you sat in the back row with your boyfriend it was a scandal as you were making out.

Star turn ice cream?

Pearl and Dean bababababababab etc

For some reason I remember the bit before the adverts. The screen used to show what looked like bacteria under a microscope just floating around ramdomly.

Rock hard red velvet seats that would flip down and had cigarette burns in them. Usherettes showing you to your seat with a torch, then selling ice cream in the interval on a tray looped round thier neck. Trying to spot the projector guy setting up through the little hole in the wall where the projector poked out

Yes, you’d queue sometimes for well over an hour to get in, the line would snake down the high street as far as you could see.

one cinema in town had stalls and an upper circle like a theatre.

always an interval with choc ices sold.

we still have an independent cinema near me which has an interval and a bloke plays tunes on an organ during the interval.