Children's Matinee

The children's matinee at the Vaudeville Cinema in Colchester.

A young audience outside the Vaudeville Cinema in Colchester before the children's matinee on October 3rd, 1914. There are many shots, including overhead, of the waiting for admission to the cinema. The commissionaires struggle to keep them in line. Some children are lined up for the camera. The camera pans the queue as a whole. The shots show the children some well behaved, other 'showing off'. There is a shot of the queue reaching down the road. There are film and war posters on the wall behind the queue. One of these advertises film of the Germans occupying Louvain. The front of the cinema is shown and the commissionaires and cinema staff line up for the camera. As the film is shot life in Colchester continues. People pass in front of the camera and a Co-operative Society handcart is pushed past. The children are given a cue to cheer and wave to the camera. At the end the children leave the cinema, still trying to get themselves on film.

Featured Buildings

The Vaudeville Cinema, Colchester

Keywords

Audiences; Cinema-going; Cinemas; Children

Intertitles

Waiting for admission. Three cheers for the Vaudeville. Homeward bound or good-bye until next Saturday.

Background Information

Filmed to show at the Vaudeville Cinema, owner David Ager. The Vaudeville Cinema was in Mersea Road, Colchester. It was built by David Ager in 1911. it was Colchester's first purpose built cinema. Later known as the Empire, it was closed in 1959 and demolished in 1971. Short films such as these were shot by the cinema management as a marketing device. The idea was that the children would all come back the next Saturday to see themselves on film. There is another example of this in the Archive's film; 'Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, 1926, Electrics: Local Pictures Including The Mart'.