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Cinema in North Shields

Any child who had freckles could get in free.

 

When I was little there was no television but we had cinemas showing silent movies. The words would appear on the screen and someone at the side would be playing a piano to suit the mood of the film. If it was a cowboy film the music would be loud and furious, if it was a love scene the music would be soft and romantic. We children liked the comic films best; Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin were favourites, also Old Mother Riley.

Once, the Howard Hall picture house showed a picture called “Freckle Face” and any child who had freckles could get in free. Of course I was there in the queue; I had lots of freckles. We just showed our faces at the box office and we were let in. At another picture house they would accept two jam jars instead of a penny, of course this was for children only.

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