Cinema going in Newham in the early 20th Century

A look at the history of cinema going in Newham in the early 20th Century 

From the inception of cinema as an art form in the first decade of the 20th Century, going to the movies has been a popular pastime in Newham. As part of our project for Newham Heritage Month 2023, FeastFest has been looking into the history of cinema going in Newham in the first few decades of the 20th century.

Newham residents fell in love with cinema almost as soon as it was invented and high streets in most areas of the borough had at least one picture house – in many cases several – often known colloquially as ‘Fleapits’. The Forest Gate area alone had seven cinemas operating in the period between 1912 and 1940; Stratford boasted several grand venues including the Rex and the Broadway; Canning Town had the Imperial (known locally as The Imp) and Silvertown had Sweetinghams (later The Albert) to name just a few.  Newly-formed national chains such as the Odeon and Gaumont opened  (often housed in very grand buildings), coexisting alongside independent and locally owned businesses.

Spending a day at the pictures

In the early days of film, a trip to the local cinema wasn’t just a matter of watching one feature film. The programme of entertainment would include a number of short films including newsreels updating audiences on current events, animated features and often also included live performers. 

During the 1930s, local paper the East Ham, West Ham and Stratford Express ran a weekly column of what was on at Stratford’s three main cinemas comprising both films and live acts. Often the whole family would go along to enjoy an afternoon’s entertainment that might include Irish dancing displays, French juggling troupes, vagabond violinists plus comedians and variety performers of all kinds – and of course, films.  

The opening of the Forest Gate Odeon in March 1937 was attended by the Mayor of West Ham and featured live music by ‘The Band and Pipers of His Majesty’s Scots Guards’ alongside a film programme including news and a Mickey Mouse short alongside the main feature – the popular English comedian Max Miller in Educated Evans.

Cinemas printed paper programmes, often quite ornate, detailing what to expect from your visit alongside adverts for local businesses and details of forthcoming features. Saturday morning was a popular time for children and young people to go to the cinema and the tradition of Saturday morning pictures continued right through until the 1960s.

Cinemas and local business

Cinemas were a core part of the local business community in Newham and cinemas often relied on businesses nearby to deliver everything from food to flowers as well as supplying interior decor, printing and bill posting services. The Newham Archive has a substantial collection of receipts relating to the Greengate Electric Theatre dating from around 1913-15 detailing a number of local suppliers the company worked with. 

The image below shows the Dowling family greengrocers in Hermit Rd, Plaistow in 1938 displaying a board advertising the Grand Picture House in Canning Town (known locally as The Old Grand) The family who owned the shop received free tickets in return for putting up posters featuring weekly updates on forthcoming attractions at the cinema.

Popular films and movie stars

In the early days of the cinema, the technology didn’t yet exist for sound to accompany the pictures. Films were silent and cinemas often employed live musicians to accompany the action in place of recorded sound.  Popular silent film stars included Charlie Chaplin, who has a link with Newham thanks to his historic meeting with Mahatma Gandhi in Canning Town. Laurel and Hardy were fashionable, as was jazz age screen siren Clara Bow. The Greengate Electric Theatre collection in the Newham Archive shows receipts from film projection companies for hire of films. There are receipts for European and American short films including On The Frontier (1913) and The Usurer’s Son (1913), plus a film of the Royal Wedding of Prince Arthur, son of Queen Victoria. 

From the 1920s, films with sound and dialogue, or ‘talkies’ took off, new stars came to the fore and the popularity of silent movies stars like Chaplin began to wane. By the 1930s, many adverts in the local paper were for romantic comedies or crime capers featuring stars such as Claudette Colbert and Dick Powell. From the late 1930s and into the 1940s, Westerns became popular and remained so up into the 1960s. Names that came up in our research with local residents included Roy Rogers and another told us hers was Rita Hayworth.

Food and Snacks

Our research into the Greengate Electric in the 1910s found receipts for tea, cake and plenty of chocolate! Some goodies were ordered from local suppliers and some came from well-known brands such as Nestle. Treats on offer at the Greengate included Royal Cream chocolate bars, nuts, and chocolate medallions. The British film star Fenella Fielding (whose father owned a cinema in Silvertown) remembered trips to the cinema where she ate “Coconut squares dipped in chocolate, wrapped in gold paper, Lovely.” 

The 1930s was a period of innovation in food production and many of the iconic confectionery products we know and eat today came onto the market including the Mars Bar, Smarties, the Crunchie, the Aero, Maltesers, Rolos and Kit Kats and these also began to be sold in cinemas.

Moving through the 30s and into the 40s, crisps, popcorn and ice cream grew in popularity and became the core snacks we still enjoy at a cinema or theatre to this day, though the outbreak of war in 1939 affected this to some degree as rationing came in and non essential foods became less available. 

Sometimes, food on a cinema trip was about more than just the snacks -you might even go for pie and mash afterwards! In this audio file, local resident June Patterson shares her memories of going to the cinema in Newham in the 1940s.

Performance Infinity would like to thank Lynda Dowling, Roy Cable and June Patterson.