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Oxford Picture Palace


Guest Desy

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This was my local flea pit went to many a saturday afternoon and watch Flash Gordon. The two biggest disapointments were when I went to see a cowboy Oklahoma and found that they sang(what a load of rubbish). also that other well known cowboy Reach for the Sky

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ha ha !!

Imagine not knowing, and then going to see a western only for them to suddenly burst out into song

classic..

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Guest Wadsley

My parents had the sweet shop opposite the Oxford called Cinema Dainties.

I was only little but I ran the penny to 6d tray on the Saturday morning 'rush'.

In the mid 50's a cowboy and a horse came to the Oxford and I and some other

kids had our photos taken with them and it was in the Star my parents still have

the photo somewhere.

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Welcome to the site !

It would be fantastic if you could post a picture of Cinema Dainties..

(or email it to pics@sheffieldhistory.co.uk and I can upload it for you)

Hope you enjoy the site and thanks for posting !

p.s what road was the shop on ?

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Guest Wadsley

I do not have pictures of our sweet shop Cinema Dainties which was on Addy Street.

The picture of us kids and the cowboy with his horse was taken on the steps of

the Oxford Pictures.

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I remember the Oxford Picture palace and ‘Cinema Dainties’ – we lived on Addy Street in the late 50’s and 60’s..

Saturday afternoons would see all the kids in the area queuing outside for the kids show.

6d would get us in for a couple of hrs of cartoons, Flash Gordon type serials and the odd ‘information’ film – “Schooners of the Caribbean” was one I recall – those types of films always got boos and hisses – sometimes so loud the ‘big light’ would come on and the manager would yell at us to be quiet. During the interval we would get a rocket ice lolly from the usherette .

Occasionally there was an additional item – the one I remember was when Yo-Yo’ were all the craze and some guy came and showed us the fancy tricks he could do – there was a contest for those who had bought their yo-yos. Dozens of kids on the stage – first round usually wiped out most of them – you had to ‘operate’ the yo yo while standing on one leg and then the other – sounds easy but it wasn’t at the time. We were all dead jealous of the winner though – think they won a bike or something.

Afterwards you could always tell which kids had been to the ‘flicks’ – they were the ones with coats tied round their necks pretending to be some Space Hero or dashing down the street slapping their backsides making the sounds of galloping horses.

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Tell you what

If a cinema owner these days did a 'tribute' morning as a one off and advertised it - I bet that would be fun and would sell out

They should aim it at the older Sheffielders who used to go to these clubs, with a view to them bringing their kids

Have it on a Saturday morning, show the original films, info films and serials like Rocketman or Flash Gordon and only sell things like Rocket lollies

They should charge the original price for it too - like 6p

Great publicity for the cinema, good bit of fun and may even lead to the resurrection of Saturday's being about cinema

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Remember seeing a British Film Foundation Film about a kid that had a magic marble that gave him wishes and could not br destroyed :lol:

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Guest Wadsley

At the Oxford in the late 50's early 60's I used to stand inside the foyer when it was an 'A' rated film (for 'A' rated films juniors had to be accompanied by adults) and ask a 'grown up couple' up if they would take me in with them. I had my own money to pay for entry and usually they would take me as if I belonged to them. Once inside I would leave them and join my mates who had all got in the same way. Could children do this today?

I'm still searching at my parents house for the photo of us kids outside the Oxford with a cowboy and his horse!

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Can't wait for the pics !

These days you dont' even have to pay - there's that few staff at the cinema's it's easy to walk straight in at 11am and just walk from showing to showing all day without once being approached for a ticket !

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Did anyone ever visit I think it was called the Little theatre down the side of the Oxford on Shipton street? What was it like?

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Guest J R Wrigley

I remember the Oxford Picture palace and ‘Cinema Dainties’ – we lived on Addy Street in the late 50’s and 60’s..

Saturday afternoons would see all the kids in the area queuing outside for the kids show.

6d would get us in for a couple of hrs of cartoons, Flash Gordon type serials and the odd ‘information’ film – “Schooners of the Caribbean” was one I recall – those types of films always got boos and hisses – sometimes so loud the ‘big light’ would come on and the manager would yell at us to be quiet. During the interval we would get a rocket ice lolly from the usherette .

Occasionally there was an additional item – the one I remember was when Yo-Yo’ were all the craze and some guy came and showed us the fancy tricks he could do – there was a contest for those who had bought their yo-yos. Dozens of kids on the stage – first round usually wiped out most of them – you had to ‘operate’ the yo yo while standing on one leg and then the other – sounds easy but it wasn’t at the time. We were all dead jealous of the winner though – think they won a bike or something.

Afterwards you could always tell which kids had been to the ‘flicks’ – they were the ones with coats tied round their necks pretending to be some Space Hero or dashing down the street slapping their backsides making the sounds of galloping horses.

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Guest J R Wrigley

Occasionally there was an additional item – the one I remember was when Yo-Yo’ were all the craze and some guy came and showed us the fancy tricks he could do – there was a contest for those who had bought their yo-yos. Dozens of kids on the stage – first round usually wiped out most of them – you had to ‘operate’ the yo yo while standing on one leg and then the other – sounds easy but it wasn’t at the time. We were all dead jealous of the winner though – think they won a bike or something.

The Yo-yo craze date from 1932.

I wonder if anyone else remembers the risque song sung by Norman Long (A smile, a song and a piano)

The Yo Yo Song was the title and I can recall some of the words which were distinctly suggestive.

I know I had it in my hand when I went out

I had it in my hand all right

I showed it to a policeman at the corner then

It filled him with delight

The wife will want to have a play when I get home

But I can't find it Oh No!

It's my unlucky day. Whatever will she say

When she finds I've gone and lost my little yo-yo?

Tame enough by today's standards but I believe it was banned by the BBC. I've got it on CD but not on the original 78.

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Guest tsavo

The Oxford Picture Palace, Addy Street. -

Situated at the junction of Addy St and Shipton Lane, the Oxford Palace opened on 12th December, 1913. Originally built as a Unitarian Chapel, the Palace utilised much of the original building, though the altar remained behind the projection screen. Architects Hickton and Farmer also designed the

Electra Palace (later The News Theatre and the Classic) and the Cinema House Barkers Pool. Externally, the building boasted white stucco with an arched window above the entrance and leaded light windows. The entrance lounge boasted tapestry panels, a theme continued in the auditorium. The Palace had a capacity for 900 patrons and suffered damage during the blitz night of the 12th December 1940 but re-opened, after repairs, in time for Christmas of that year. The owners of the Palace, Heeley and Amalgamated, sold out to Star Cinemas in January 1955 who installed a much larger screen in preperation for the new films shot in the CinemaScope format.

The Palace survived longer than many suburban cinemas, but finally closed on the 15th August, 1964.

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I used to go the Oxford on Saturday mornings with My Sister Gill to watch the cartoons, we used to go to the sweet shop acrross the road and buy popcorn in a pink and white stripped paper packet. We lived on Springvale Road from   Mid 50's until 1970. There was a corner shop at the top of our Yard on Cross Addy Street called Wards, further down from us on the other side of Springvale Road was the paper shop called Don's and the chippy called Renshaws, My Dad used to get his Green 'un in there every Saturday.

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