The Flicks

The Flicks celebrates memories of the old days at the cinema in Balsall Heath and the magic of the silver screen, from the early days of silent films to the glamour of the 1950s, through contemporary accounts and peoples’ memories. Did you know that Balsall Heath had a fine collection of six cinemas by the end of 1914 for a population of approximately 40,000?

48pp, sale price £1.50 including postage and packing.

Some memories of the Flicks reveal the glamorous architure and decoration of the early cinemas:

The Alhambra, Moseley Road, which opened in December 1928 with a showing of ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’ is remembered by one young visitor as ‘a very luxurious picture house’. Named after the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, it had ‘a beautiful ceiling design, it was like sitting in the desert. There was a six foot diameter glass bowl, representing the sun, set in a Mediterranean sky, a beautiful blue’. The Alhambra was demolished after its closure in 1968, with, rather appropriately, ‘The Fall of the Roman Empire’ being the last film shown.

Other memories show a more human, less glamorous side to the cinema experience!

‘Some of the kids got up to all sorts of mischief, such as throwing stink bombs around and using a pea shooter. You always had to watch out for someone creeping up behind you (with) itching powder..’