I was brought up in Montague Street, in the heart of the Southside of Edinburgh. The New Vic was our local picture house. Mid week after school, I’d go with some of my pals. For an old sixpence (2˝ p) we would see a full programme – Main feature, ‘B’ movie, cartoons, newsreel, plus Pearl and Dean advertising film. We would often sit through the whole show twice and then be in big trouble when we got home. They (the cinema) also had a system for projecting messages on to the screen. If your name appeared saying your Mammy was at the pay desk waiting for you it was greeted with a chorus of catcalls.
There was also the Saturday morning club. Again for 6D there was a full programme. The queue would stretch round St Patrick Square. All the boys wanted to be Hop-a-Long Cassidy, or Buster Crabb (Flash Gordon) and the girls as glamorous as Doris Day or Marilyn Monroe. There were, from time to time, talent contests – Yo-yo competitions or Hula hoop demonstrations. The Victor Sylvester Dance Studio was in the dance hall. Saturday morning was open dancing – I once went by mistake to the afternoon class which was a ballroom dancing lesson class, and got thrown out for having two 'left feet'.
My Aunt Betty lived opposite the New Vic, and from her window we watched the premiers of South Pacific, Sound of Music and other films. We also done a bit of star spotting from the ‘best seat in town’. It would be good if the cinema could be saved and the people today could enjoy similar pleasures that my generation had – Happy days!
Bernie