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STUDIO 5,6,7 Cinema Sheffield


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Guest jay_wickerman

Dont know if this is any good, just come across it in an old album, taken in 1982

cheers mate that is exacly what ive been looking for

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Guest carlie167

cheers mate that is exacly what ive been looking for

No problem, glad to help.I hope you manage to find more pictures. lollollol lol

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Dont know if this is any good, just come across it in an old album, taken in 1982

Heres another picture taken by me in 1974. It clearly shows the same STUDIO 5-6-7 sign on the side of the building and also gives away its location on the Wicker close to the famous arches.

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Guest plain talker

Heres another picture taken by me in 1974. It clearly shows the same STUDIO 5-6-7 sign on the side of the building and also gives away its location on the Wicker close to the famous arches.

is it my imagination, or can I see three "mini"'s in the photograph?

Ooh what wouldn't I give to have my friend around, who I play "mini-punch" with! lol

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is it my imagination, or can I see three "mini"'s in the photograph?

Ooh what wouldn't I give to have my friend around, who I play "mini-punch" with! lol

Looks like 3 minis to me, unless transit or busman know better.

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Guest transit

Looks like 3 minis to me, unless transit or busman know better.

....3 mini's - quite right PT - but all different models ! starting with the nearest . minivan ,then mini clubman , then mini saloon ! Note also the "all-new" mk1 TRANSIT van on the right !!!!!! (what a great name !!!!! lol )

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....3 mini's - quite right PT - but all different models ! starting with the nearest . minivan ,then mini clubman , then mini saloon ! Note also the "all-new" mk1 TRANSIT van on the right !!!!!! (what a great name !!!!! lol )

Well after these comments my photo now reminds me of a painting by the artist Malcolm Root which he did in 1997 called "3 minis" and it appears on page 55 of his book Malcolm Root's transport paintings. I would scan it and post it but its copyright and I am sure Malcolms paintings are quite valuable. He specialises in historic transport pictures.

In the picture there is a cinema advertising The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night (cert. U) which firmly places the picture in 1964. Parked on the road outside the pictures are 2 minis, the front one carrying the again timely registration of CHX 440 A and stood at the side of this car, presumably waiting for her boyfriend to take her into the cinema is a young lady and she is wearing, you guessed it, a mini skirt, which is the third "mini" in the title of the picture.

Trust you lot to notice my "cinema" picture also contained 3 minis!

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Well after these comments my photo now reminds me of a painting by the artist Malcolm Root which he did in 1997 called "3 minis" and it appears on page 55 of his book Malcolm Root's transport paintings. I would scan it and post it but its copyright and I am sure Malcolms paintings are quite valuable. He specialises in historic transport pictures.

In the picture there is a cinema advertising The Beatles in A Hard Day's Night (cert. U) which firmly places the picture in 1964. Parked on the road outside the pictures are 2 minis, the front one carrying the again timely registration of CHX 440 A and stood at the side of this car, presumably waiting for her boyfriend to take her into the cinema is a young lady and she is wearing, you guessed it, a mini skirt, which is the third "mini" in the title of the picture.

Trust you lot to notice my "cinema" picture also contained 3 minis!

Is that a HA Viva at the bottom of Spital Hill!! :)

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Is that a HA Viva at the bottom of Spital Hill!! :)

Yes OK, so there are 3 minis and a few other vehicles driving about in the Wicker / Spital Hill / Attercliffe Road area.

If you look really closely, says he while refering to the original title of this thread, you can see what appears to be a cinema on the right hand side and it says "STUDIO 5-6-7" on it!

Perhaps I should repost this picture to the Sheffield Transport section!

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Guest plain talker

....3 mini's - quite right PT - but all different models ! starting with the nearest . minivan ,then mini clubman , then mini saloon ! Note also the "all-new" mk1 TRANSIT van on the right !!!!!! (what a great name !!!!! lol )

the Bedford lorry which is heading toward the viewer beside the Transit van is pretty much identical to the model which my father used to drive when he worked for a builder. (At first glance I thought the Transit was another Bedford)

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Guest transit

the Bedford lorry which is heading toward the viewer beside the Transit van is pretty much identical to the model which my father used to drive when he worked for a builder. (At first glance I thought the Transit was another Bedford)

.....c'mon PT , pay attention !!!! The lorry is a Ford 'D' Series Tipper as mentioned in my last post - not a Bedford !!! tut,tut !!! lol

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There is some information in another thread on this site called "studio 5-6-7" which I have posted in recently including a 1970's picture of it.

My question, which does not appear to be answered here, is when did the cinema change from being just STUDIO 7 to 3 smaller theatres which were collectively STUDIO 5-6-7?

In fact, why was it called STUDIO 7 in the first place when there were no cinemas carrying the names of STUDIO 1 to 6?

I suspect the change from just 7 to 5-6-7 happened sometime in the late 60's or early 70's when cinema audiences had fallen and it avoided showing large format film to an almost empty theatre. Make 3 smaller theatres which would still hold the smaller expected audience, use a smaller screen and show the film in a smaller format version.

In fact I am sure when this happened some cinemas took to showing 16mm versions of the film on trusty, reliable but well worn Bell & Howell projectors. Certainly the picture quality in some of the cinemas gave that impression.

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Yes OK, so there are 3 minis and a few other vehicles driving about in the Wicker / Spital Hill / Attercliffe Road area.

If you look really closely, says he while refering to the original title of this thread, you can see what appears to be a cinema on the right hand side and it says "STUDIO 5-6-7" on it!

Perhaps I should repost this picture to the Sheffield Transport section!

Actually I've just found another Studio 5-6-7 thread in the same section and posted into that. What a cinema, it must have been so popular it deserves 2 threads, - one for those who genuinely like old cinemas and this one which seems to be for people who like to recognise old cars driving past old cinemas!

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Hi electronictwincl, do you remember the disappearing anamorphic lenses around '59 or '60, or was that before your time?

Welcome to Sheffield History. Look forward to your posts.

Anamorphic lenses

These were a type of lens which squeezed the image in while filming so that a widescreen picture would fit in a standard format film frame. If shown back without such a lens the image looked tall and elongated, making people look like walking lamp posts. To show the film back a similar lens was fitted to the projector which worked in the opposite direction, stretching the image out to a widescreen and removing the distortion.

This was one of several widescreen methods tried out in the 1950's with names like Cinerama, CinemaScope, VistaVision, Todd AO and Panavision

Tsavo and other ex projectionists will correct me if I am wrong but

Cinerama used 3 synchronised projectors showing left, centre and right images, recognisable by the darker vertical bands where the images met.

CinemaScope was the first system to use anamorphic lenses to conventional 35mm film (in 1952 I believe, I think the first film was "The Robe"??)

VistaVision turned the film on its side using the width of the film as the picture height, allowing for elongated frames along the films length giving widescreen with 1 special projector and no anamorphic lenses

Todd AO (the AO stands for Anamorphical Optics) used these lenses on 65mm film giving even better quality to the results on screen (a bit like HDTV will do for television soon)

Panavision was a later development of Todd AO which used 70mm film (twice the standard width). this could give widescreen without anamorphic lenses due to its width, or it could use them to give an even wider version.

So tell use projectionist, - how did you cope with all those different formats? Could a single cinema show ALL of them? and, as I have implied previously in the Carlton thread, how did a small cinema cope with the coming of widescreen. If standard film were being shown across a complete wall of the theatre then surely widescreen would have limited the width and caused the height of the picture be reduced giving less picture rather than more.

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STUDIO 5,6,7

LOCATION

The Wicker, City Centre

INFORMATION

The cinema opened in 1968 and was formerly known as 'The Wicker Cinema'

Owned and managed by an Australian, (named Rick ?) described as 'The Australian Anarchist' who once famously during a showing of Bambi played 'Who Killed Bambi' by the Sex Pistols, causing children in the auditorium to burst into tears.

It is reported that the owner was a drug addict, living upstairs with his wife in a really small office.

Some of the movies shown (might trigger your memories)

Top Gun

Crocodile Dundee

The Spy Who Loved Me

HI Dave l used to go to the

Wicker before the war twice a week, if spends lasted, it was 2pence in the wek abd 3pence on Sat;ive posted before some where,re; gropers did not like cigs stubbed on their dirty hands . my favourite film China Seas with a very young Clark Gable was firs

t filmed there l believe Cheers Skeets

The movies that the cinema showed varied wildly from big movies like Croco

dile Dundee, right through to the movies that left it with it's reputation - the soft porn films.

Some of the movies shown (might trigger your memories)

Top Gun

Crocodile Dundee

The Spy Who Loved Me

Sexy Agent 69

Blood Lust

The Beast

"What The Swedish Butler Saw' in 3D (with red/green glasses!)

Emanuelle

Obscured By Clouds (soundtrack by Pink Floyd)

Enter The Dragon

PICTURES

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Guest jay_wickerman

started going to the 5 6 7 duering 1986 untill it closed in about 89?

i use to go almost evry day because i was working on a yts that i hated so i hung around sheff and watched a movie in the afternoon.

loved the old place.

films i saw there

top gun

highlander

karate kid 1 + 2

aleins

and loads more.

then one monday i turned up and it had a sign on the door 'closed for renovations'

still waiting for the grand reopening lol

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memories.......the last film i saw there was "little shop of horrors" there was a rip in the screen and no lights in the loo lol

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The only film I saw there was "The Slipper and the Rose" - 1976, I was 14 charged with taking a younger niece and a friend of hers; I noticed some other "unusual" films advertised but thankfully kept the innocents innocent.

Why was the 5-6-7 showing that film ? Am I right about the year ?

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I was the Cheif projectionist there and Studio 7 reopened in 1968 after being destroyed in a fire in December 1967.

It existed well before 1968 as a cinema.

I can remember showing Opera films (La Bohemme) etc in 1968 after it reopened and we had installed new Italian 70mm projectors. But they were never used for 70mm film and were removed in 1969 and taken to the Isle of Wight.

I remember showing the World Cup film there in 1966.

In those days it was owned by the Star Group from Leeds.

I left in mid 1969 and I understand that it was sold in the early 1970's but by then I had left Sheffield.

Does anybody remember when as Studio 7 with the orange drapes all around the walls a new screen was installed advertised as 'The Vistarama Floating Screen'.Coloured lights in egg shapes were projected onto the screen during the intervals and there was no proscenium arch.It did literally appear to float.Little black edges used to come down the screen for the showing of the adverts and any film not in cinemascope to give it a masking effect.

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Does anybody remember when as Studio 7 with the orange drapes all around the walls a new screen was installed advertised as 'The Vistarama Floating Screen'.Coloured lights in egg shapes were projected onto the screen during the intervals and there was no proscenium arch.It did literally appear to float.Little black edges used to come down the screen for the showing of the adverts and any film not in cinemascope to give it a masking effect.

Photo of Studio 7 re-opening in 1967 with 'The Mikado'

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Photo of Studio 7 re-opening in 1967 with 'The Mikado'

Another great picture abcman, Studio 7 as many of us still remember it.

I assume that "The Mikado" is a film version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

I can't see a certificate advertised for it but this would be good family or even quite "highbrow" (well educated) viewing.

Studio 7 tended to show a lot of X-rated stuff for dirty old blokes in old raincoats (or at least it had that reputation)

Now unless this is a an X-rated sex version of the Mikado?

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Another great picture abcman, Studio 7 as many of us still remember it.

I assume that "The Mikado" is a film version of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

I can't see a certificate advertised for it but this would be good family or even quite "highbrow" (well educated) viewing.

Studio 7 tended to show a lot of X-rated stuff for dirty old blokes in old raincoats (or at least it had that reputation)

Now unless this is a an X-rated sex version of the Mikado?

No this was a rare 'U' certificate film for Studio 7. It was the film made by the famous D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who first came to Sheffield in the 1880's appearing at the Theatre Royal but from 1897 their visits to Sheffield were always to the Lyceum, except for a one week appearance at the Empire in 1932.

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No this was a rare 'U' certificate film for Studio 7. It was the film made by the famous D'Oyly Carte Opera Company who first came to Sheffield in the 1880's appearing at the Theatre Royal but from 1897 their visits to Sheffield were always to the Lyceum, except for a one week appearance at the Empire in 1932.

Thanks again abcman.

I knew it was the D'Oyly Carte company that performed all the G&S stuff in theatres but I was not aware of a film version.

Makes me wonder how many G&S operettas are on film, - HMS Pinnafore perhaps? Any others?

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