CinemaScope Comes to St Andrews
While the two cinemas in St Andrews were often in competition with one another, the 1950s brought a wholly different adversary that threatened to seriously decrease the size of their audiences: it was the beginning of the era of television. One of Hollywood’s answers to the disappearing cinema audience was the introduction of CinemaScope in 1953. This format differentiated from the small screen, by using a widescreen image that suited westerns, historical epics, musicals and other genres that relied on panoramic shots, action scenes and spectacle. In December 1954, The New Picture House...
Read MoreA Ghost in St Andrews – Victorian Illusion and the Shadows of Cinema
On 10 May 1875, the local paper reported a ghost in St Andrews.[1] In Hull, there were similar tales of a “spectral visitor”.[2] The Chester Observer told stories of a spirit as “distinct as flesh and blood…pierced in vain by swords”.[3] The man behind these eerie manifestations was John Pepper. Pepper travelled the UK showing off his “ghosts” – optical illusions – to people across the country. When he came to St Andrews he promised “Angels that float in space” and “Spectres that creep up walls”.[4] It’s hard to believe that a show this ambitious could have been...
Read MoreCinemas at War
In the build-up to War, there were two cinemas in St Andrews bringing news to locals and competing for business.
Read MoreThe Cinema House’s Golden Jubilee
In December 1963, The Cinema House celebrated its Golden Jubilee. In the extended build up to the celebrations – marked by gold posters and banner advertisements celebrating the cinema’s continued role in ‘entertaining town and gown’ – The Citizen explained that ‘a number of local people who attended the original opening performance’ had been invited to attend a Jubilee screening. These included Mrs J. Lindsay, who was a cashier at the box office in 1913, Arnott Fyfe, who was assisting in the operating box, and Strathkinnes schoolmaster W. Howie (who was then a boy). The...
Read MoreThe Jazz Singer in St Andrews
Al Jolson’s famous first talkie, The Jazz Singer, opened at the Cinema House in St Andrews on 13 April 1929, almost a year and half after its famous opening in New York City in October 1927.
Read MoreRivalry on North Street, 1930–1931
When the New Picture House opened in December 1930, St. Andrews became home to two competing sound cinemas situated on North Street.
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