Cinema (3)

The High Street, Melton Mowbray, 1901. Courtesy of the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland.

Interviewer: How long did you stay at the Palace for?

Mr Brownlow: Well, right until it closed down, that’d be about, oh, 1921 I should think – yes, that’s right, it’d be about 1921 when it closed down and they built the new place, I went up there.

Interviewer: They closed it down because they built the new place?

Mr Brownlow: That’s right, yes.

Interviewer: What was the new place?

Mr Brownlow: That was called the Picture House, and that was built by, well it was the same people that owned the Palace actually. They built this new place and then closed the old one down, you see. Very modern the new one was.

Interviewer: Where was the Picture House?

Mr Brownlow: That was in King Street, Melton…

Mrs Brownlow: It’s still there.

Mr Brownlow: No it isn’t, it’s not there, that’s been pulled down, there’s another one been built. Yes, it was very modern that was, absolutely, very good.

Interviewer: The Picture House was a purpose built cinema?

Mr Brownlow: Oh yes, yes. Well in the first place we had the most modern machines you could buy in those days in the operating theatre, so there wasn’t much business about fires and things in those days, everything was so modern, you know. The whole thing was modern, really quite different; the seating, the seating was terrific, all good seating, good lighting, and fitted carpets all over, oh yes.. well it was like coming out of a dungeon into Buckingham Palace, you know, it really was. Lovely, oh yes.

Interviewer: And was it just you and a piano again, was it?

Mr Brownlow: No, we had a little orchestra then, instead of a piano and violin we went up to five.

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