Saturday afternoon matinees....

[Delia]

Another magic memory of childhood in o'mund!  R2 could get u in for 15c a ticket, stock up on sweets & ice cream and still go home with change. I remember the two queues along the fenced off flower beds outside the movies - 1 for those who already had tickets and the other for those who didn't. i think i was mostly in the queue that already had tickets (thanks mom)!  To this day, i cannot hear the song "Daniel" by Elton John without being back in the movie house waiting for the movie to start - i think they had 1 tape which they played every saturday over & over again.  Remember the cowboy & indian "shorts" they played before the main movie - there'd be those of us cheering for the cowboys and those cheering for the indians (i was always cheering for the indians) - could get quite hectic in the audience never mind on the screen. 

[Warren Weidemann]

I remember the lucky draw for the packets of sweets at every matinee. Based on your seat number or something...
I still wonder where they got some of those movies from? 'The kung fu muscrats vs. Godzilla', 'King Kong and the aliens from Pluto' etc.

My favourite movie at the time was 'Flash Gordon'. Brilliant soundtrack and mindbending special effects... I think that it was showing the same day I won a packet of sweets  8)

[Maxine Hall]

I remember Flash Gordon......"he saved everyone of us"

[SandyB]

Saturday  Afternoon Matinees ...  cowboys  and  crooks ,, cops  and  robbers ..in  the  cinema , water  bombs , chewing gum  put in your hair ,   being  chased  out  by ushers ..  anything  went ..   In early  60's  Mr Magnus  ran  the  cinema ,  I  also remember  a  german  man  running  it  as  well sometime ..   ( surname escapes  me  at  moment )  then  Mr  Coffin  later  on ...  The  long  queues  to get  in .. my  favourite  sweets  were  Sugus   , intense  fruit flavours  .. all  the while  waiting in  the  queue   my  mouth would  water as  I  would  not  touch  them  untill  the  lights  went  down  and  the  movies  started ..  For  some time  I  remember  Margie Badenhorst  commandeered  the  front  of the  queue  and  would  then   let  people in   to the  front   but it  cost .. either  sweets  or  a  favour  of  sorts .. heaven  forbid  anyone  cross  her  when  she let  others  in  to  the queue .  she could  sort  out  even  the tough guys ! later  on  when  we started  to  sneak  smokes  in  the back  some  poor  guy  got  his  hair  burnt ...  before  movies   his Mom  had  obviously  plastered  his  hair  with  tons   of  Vitalis .. ( full of  alcohol  you  know )   it had  obviously  not  all  evaporated  so  when  somebody  lit  a  ciggie   and  the match spattered , the  resultant   glowing spatter landed  in  the  poor  boys  hair  and it  took  flame    with  a  venegance  due to the  residual  alcohol  ..  somebody managed to  put it  out  by hitting  him  on the  head  to  stamp out  flame .. we never  saw  the aftermath  as  we  all  ducked  out of  sight   and  movie house  so  as  not  to  be  associated  with  happening  or  caught out ..

[Delia]

Sandy, wasn't the german guy Fred Myer/Meyer or something like that?

[SandyB]

Spot  on .. Fred  Meyer .. Thanks .. His  two  Daughters  were at  Wellington    High  with  me ...

[Michael Alexander]

Where was the coolest place to sit in the bioscope?

???

[Ann Gander (nee Greenway)]

I remember Mr Coffin running the bioscope.  I actually have the honour of being thrown out!  When Mum was doing the boarders flight run, my Dad took me one evening to see "633 Squadron".  Mr Coffin came over and asked my Dad to take me home because the film was 4 - 12 and I was too young!  Can you imagine being banned from that film today!

[goofy]

Where was the coolest place to sit in the bioscope?

???

[goofy]

hey the coolest place was k row you nonly got to sit there for 2 years thefirst time was in std 5 ( except school holidays ) ,and then in matric. why was there so much seat swopping when the movie started??????????

[Nicky Hodge]

During the music by Elton John (Daniel) and some Greek music(when bazoukis play), there would be an announcement by Fred Meyer that went something like this ..... '' Now hear this, Now hear this ..... The winning ticket today is C15, repeat, C15..... I can remember this as if it was yesterday.

[bobbysmith]

i rember being told by my older sister kay,who wanted to sit at the back and didnt want me to tell dad what boy she was sitting next to ,go and sit in the best place,rite at the front as i would get to see the film first,cant believe i fell for that one,ha ha

[Skyler Fields]

Where was the coolest place to sit in the bioscope?

the coolest place to sit in the bioscope was on the far right hand side rows D<E and C!!!!  I don't know why, it just seemed to be the chosen spot, well for the kids in my year anyway, Gavin Van Vyk, Jacques De Jager, Julian Louw, Billy Linkekar, Hazel Masterton, gee the list is endless!!

[Susan Kintscher (Lineker)]

The back row of the movies was the best, you had to stand in the row for ages just to make sure that you got in first.  My worst time in the movies, was our family dog arrived with my naughty brother (Billy) and the dog just won't move, very embarrassing..........

[Sharon]

I remember the time when we used to crawl under the seats and nick the sweets that were on the ground! How terrible..... Sharon.