Cinema ads of the 1960/70's

[Kauwhaka]

THUNDERBIRDS... ARE... GO!!!!!!

[MysteryManfrom79]

I work at an ex Odeon-cum-Classic cinema now kept by the council that still has tabs and masking, etc. The showmanship is going, and being replaced by a bland money making service. A projectionist is no longer a skilled showman, but a glorified IT worker. Out of curiosity, was it normal back then to place the cinema's personal policy trailers (i.e. Xmas greetings) within the Pearl and Dean reel? Thought nothing but their commercials could go there...

[StrikerDyker]

Start collecting famous car cards now....

No. 21 - Donald Campbell's Bluebird

No.23 - Hillman Imp

[redrover2]

3' 21'' Lyons Maid - The voiceover artist sounds suspiciously like Johnnie Walker - still going strong on BBC Radio Two!

[holydiver73]

That James Bond film looks good, can't wait until it's released.

[RPULTZ69]

I'm impressed with the brits and thier intermission ads we try to do it here in the states and some one want sue to stop because they want to see the movie only.

[carrick63]

Cheers. It's made for a very amusing wedding video and great fun! Thanks for posting and writing.

Tony

[FeNsTa]

4.20 is weirdly sexual....... massive dildo flying through the air...... "its fab, unfasten your seatbelts lyon lickers"........ oooooooooo k

[midsaint776]

really great stuff there , loads of memories . i remember the ice lollies , the cornish tubs and kia ora juice in the interval .mmmmm . the best thing was though there would still be enough change for the bus , and fish ' n chips on the way home . you could'nt do it now , it costs an absolute arm and a leg for a night out these days.

[Ampex196]

@midsaint776 You're absolutely right. Nowadays it's all about getting the 'punters' (a term that I hate) to spend large amounts of money on junk food for the kids, along with a second rate film presentation.

I'm pleased that I belong to a generation who appreciated that a vist to the cinema or theatre was a special event to be savoured. Watching 'The Sound Of Music' or '2001 A Space Odyssey' in 70mm on an 80 feet wide curved screen is something you never forget.

[midsaint776]

you're going back some there fella . although very young at the time , i can remember being taken to stuff like sound of music , dr zhivago, jungle book . the best film i ever saw at the cinemas as a child , was diamonds are forever . james 007 bond . super stuff wonderful times . having welsh parents we used to go and stop with my nain and taid ( welsh for grandmother and grand father) up near pwllheli in north wales. i remember there being a brilliant cinema in porthmadoc . great times !

[sixsixxsixxxx]

@Ampex196 i'm glad u r too...wouldnt want u in my generation

[BackToTheBlues]

What a wonderful trip down memory lane - where's my ABC Minors badge...

[megaCK1000]

on that ivanhoe ad, the street the thing is on is,(bubububububububu,)

ASTLEY ROAD

THIS IS THE FIRST RECORDED RICK ROLL THAT WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN OF

[yogafan6500]

Interesting collection of classic British movie ads.

[TimelordR]

@yogafan6500 Almost as good as American Drive-In ads!

[daveallalone]

how can people dislike this? they're crazy.

[daveallalone]

HA HA HA I didn't know FAB lolly was especially for girls ! sweet !

[gogsy]

Great post ,brings back a load of memories when I worked as a projectionist at the Gaumont and the Savoy in South Shields druring the 80's,Nothing beats the auditorium sound!

[Ampex196]

@mistofoles Thanks for your comment.  The idea was to capture (at least in part) the experience of being in a traditional 450 seat auditorium. The footlit screen at the start was included to show that this indeed a real cinema.

[martybhoy72]

Great job saving these old ads, and the quality is good. Now the younger generation can see how cinema used to be.

[mickypoo4622]

Quite amazing! What a piece of luck to find these films. How on earth did you manage to transfer them to video? Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember the ice lolly ads. Jenny Hanley! I always remember her from Magpie. She would have been about 20 when the Lyons ice cream ad was made. One of my friends played the Pearl & Dean music on her phone tonight so that's how I ended up searching for it. II know that the tune was called Asteroid and covered by a pop group in the 90s. Timeless!

[carrick63]

What a wonderful piece of film history. Many thanks. Stealing this for my wedding video!

[Ampex196]

@carrick63 Thank you, and congatulations. I'm pleased that you like it. Hope it went down well at your Wedding!

[electrogeek77]

It isn't a barbecue without a parrot!

[bootsamou]

Great stuff. Thanx for posting.

[ThePaperboy1973]

I have a ten minute reel of 35mm sales filmlets collected during my time as a cinema projectionist decades ago. They go from 1959 to 1969 and include the Jenny Hanley and Thunderbirds filmlets. It's odd that here, those Lyons Maid filmlets have been out in the middle of the Pearl & Dean reel, when they had nothing to do with Pearl & Dean and were usually placed on the beginning of the adverts reel before Pearl and Dean. I also have the old "pillars" Pearl & Dean titles, seen from 1953 to 1968.

[Ampex196]

@ThePaperboy1973 Thanks - I'd be interested to know which others you have. It would be great to see them on you tube.

When I rescued these in 1994 (19 years after the cinema closed) they were all separate so I had to assemble them. They were tightly wound up just lying loose in the rewind room. It was a pleasant surprise to unroll them and discover what they were. Its a miracle they survived as well as they did.

[ThePaperboy1973]

Hi, Ampex196, I have sent you a private message about my film reel.

[OasisShmoasis]

@ThePaperboy1973 -Someone here will know this one - what was the 1970s / 80s alcoholic drink ad that was very dark, seem to remember flashes of blue lightning-y kind of light, instrumental music that sounded a little like "Champagne Supernova," towards the end had a naked woman swimming underwater across the screen (of course the ripples carefully masked anything too naughty) - very few, if any words. One of those "sophisticated evening drink" kind of ads - exotic... can't remember the drink!!

[Electron1944]

Brilliant, I started with ABC at the Playhouse in Dewsbury, Peebles motor generators for the Peerless carbon arcs, RCA sound heads driving Ross FC's. Good old days, we inherited the Ross GC3's from ABC Ritz Leeds when they aquired the 'new' Phillips dual standard machines for running Todd AO.

Does anyone have a clip of the earlier Pearl and Dean, with the marble pillars???

[Ampex196]

@Electron1944 Courtesy of ThePaperboy1973 you can now see the Pearl & Dean 'marble pillars' in my latest posts. Enjoy!

[gogsy]

I remember starting as a Projectionist at the Gaumont cinema in South Shields,Brent Walker had it in the early 80's and we had Carbon Arc then,it ran with twin projectors and every twenty mins we swapped at the cue dots.The tower system and xenon lamp made it much easier!Then I worked at the ABC also which had the platter system.Good post,brings back memories!

[Ampex196]

@gogsy

Many thanks, I did'nt know the Gaumont, South Shields at all but I do know that my old friend and colleague, the late Derek Brew began his career there (he could recall motor-generators provding DC for the arcs). Derek later worked at the Queen's for many years before moving to TC. Sadly - he died in 1995 at the age of 63.

[NeilRob45]

Since the conversion of the Tyneside Cinema the

festoon lifts up much slower than it used to and with the dreadful digital projection the Tyneside Cinema is not the place it once was, often when people post video of the Pearl and Dean tiltes the speed sounds to fast, on this video they how I remember showing them, pity the first few seconds of the music is missing.

[powerspade]

Memories oh the Memories love it

[Pauluk33]

yeah i liked that bond trailer anyone know wherei can get a metal cover i'm seeking the MP3 of this for the intro to my cinema show on radio

[Dimension150]

Beautiful cinema and fun old ads! Much classier than most theatres. And oh how we miss seeing those curtains opening!

[AnonInEng]

In the 70s in the local cinema i attended you could stay in the cinema all day and watch films over again. Usually there were two films at each showing. Many a time i sat through adverts like the ones the above...and actually looked forward to the Pearl and Dean tune. Oh those were the days!

[tripjet999]

Uh-oh. DEADLY tobacco drug advertising. Tobacco is an ILLEGAL DRUG, based on the fact that it's illegal to poison people, no matter how slowly you do it.

[aadder444]

Superb!!!! Thanks for posting!!!

[terrycha1234]

I have just watched that ad reel and I was initially a little puzzled, to say the least, about 1972 P & D titles with 1967 Local and National ads together with a 1973 trailer for 'Live and Let Die'!

That festoon looks remarkably like the one at the Tyneside Cinema and the 1.75:1 screen dimensions stated in the accompanying narrative are about right for there too!

I wonder where the DP75 came from?

[Ampex196]

Thanks for your comment Terry,

They're not mean't to be chronologically correct - just a collection of interesting footage I had lying around to make up a short reel.

Yes it was shot direct from the screen at the Tyneside (as it was before conversion 11/06) replete with DP75s and Peerless Magnarc carbon arcs. - a real cinema !

[agfagaevart]

Saw Fast & Furious at a Cineworld cinema a few weeks back. There were no tabs to open and close, the masking plates were wonky during the trailers, and the no-one sat up front because the seats were too close to the screens.

Going to the flicks was special in the '70s and '80s.

[LaughingPsycho]

@agfagaevart And no folk texting and yapping on their mobiles either back then.

[agfagaevart]

@LaughingPsycho

I try to go to the flicks in the morning or afternoon, so I can avoid the mobile pricks!

[tinaturntable]

I really want a Fab now.

[Pauluk33]

for this, 22" monitor in hd, full screen , looks stunning

[Pauluk33]

is that me or has that got be a very rare bond ad?

[Ampex196]

It's the theatrical trailer for 'Live And Let Die', the 1973 Bond film. An original 35mm print in nice condition!

[Pauluk33]

i htink the pearl and dean intros should come back, its the most recgonisable of anything from ther cinema, i always remember it. This bring baclk memeories, blooody el

[justwonnasay]

got me wanting an orange flavoured "jubbly" ......

I wish i still had my 'fab 1' corgi car

but my mate phil hit it with a hammer! what a git ;-)

[Interests2009]

Thank you for sharing

[Chopper894]

I'm building a home cinema. This gives me lots of ideas. Thanks for posting.

[ashingtoon]

Wow!! absolute class!! Like everyone has said before me, you would never relive these unless people like you bothered to do this, well done on such a performance!! I'm off for me ice cream sandwich and me ki-ora and settle down for the next installment!!

[silverlady0]

Loved this it brought back so many great memories!

[lndac02]

wow this is what youtube was made for, stuff you would never see if someone wasnt kind enough to share it....thanks ever so much for posting, had a memory trip watching these

[Ampex196]

Thanks for your kind comments. I'm glad you like it !

[jeanniedee]

Curtains the same as Continental Cinema ,Bournemouth ,Still ran on Kalee 8's till into 70's. I ran small mobile cinema using Gaumont British 516's ,fantastic robust projectors ,with curved non scratch gates,they newer gave any trouble.Sorry novices you dont Know what im talking about !!!

[Ampex196]

Thanks jeanniedee. Kalee 8's were pre-war mechs (and they were built like the proverbial 'brick outhouse'). I do know of a pair that ran into the 1990s along with Vulcan carbon-arcs.

[phrobs]

Thanks for posting these. Do you know if anyone has posted adverts with Rank Screen Advertising idents?

[dontlookanthea]

I loved this! Took me right back to the old 70's "pictures", when you could get a bus into a town centre cinema, rather than the characterless US style retail park shacks you get today. Thanks so much, you've made an old bird go all happy and nostalgic! x

[Ampex196]

Many thanks, I'm glad you like it! I'm happy to think I may have captured just a bit of the atmosphere of a 'real' cinema.

You Tube is great, though it's still not the same as viewing them in the auditorium. Most of this material is now over 40 years old and has survived remarkably well.

In particular; the Lyons Maid adverts (in Technicolor dye transfer) still look absolutely stunning when projected on the big screen!!

[airscrew1]

Was this projected with a 35mm projector or 16mm? Good clip sir, I'm sitting here grinning my face off. There was a company in the UK selling Pearl & Dean openers and closers on 16mm for £20. but I never bought any at the time.

[Ampex196]

It was projected with a Philips DP75 (35/70mm), at approx. 17ft wide and exactly 9ft high (fixed height and masked sides).

I've put 16mm on the same screen with Fumeo equipment. A good quality, clean 16mm print can be almost acceptable. For presentation purposes though; I think we can now regard 16mm as a dead duck!

[airscrew1]

Well I wouldn't say 16mm was a dead duck. After all it was never intended for use in large theatres. It was mainly for television and smaller theatres. I've seen some excellent Super 16mm telecined and the results are as good as if not better than HD. Plus film has that particular look that you just cannot get with video.

[Ampex196]

You've made some good points. I agree that video can never (or ever will) match the 'look' of film. Film grain has a random structure that is different for every consecutive frame (be it 24/25 fps or whatever) whereas electronic media is based upon a fixed array of pixels.

While 16mm is more than adequate for television at 720x576 you're pushing the boundaries for any kind of HDTV.

Theatrical presentation in 16mm is another matter. A 12ft screen is a sensible limit.

[neil38]

Ampex, great post looks like the Tyneside Cinema if I am not mistaken, do you by any chance have the Rank Screen Advertising openning and closing the version with clouds

[bigloada1]

Great to see these. I alive in Seaton Delaval now but I moved here after the cinema had been demolished. Cinema had such style back then. I don't bother going to modern ones, it just aint the same. Thanks for posting these!

[Ampex196]

Many thanks for your comment. I've twice left copies at Seaton Valley co-op but they've so far not had the courtesy to reply or acknowledge in any way. Ivanhoe Forge are still in business too but I've not contacted them as yet.

[Ampex196]

Thanks for your comment.

You're absolutely right - this is 24fps straight off the screen. Sadly, I don't have access to TK. I decided on a 'theatrical' start (with tabs closed). My print is partly missing the sting so I opened up slightly late. Its a pity that the camera's autofocus started to hunt.

'geekraver' has some excellent posts - well worth a look!