Hamiltonhill Day Centre (2 of 2)

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted in 1995 and concerns memories of 1930s life; as such there may be opinions expressed or words used that do not meet today's norms and expectations.

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* Transcript ID: HC-94-012AT002

* CCINTB Transcript ID: 94-12-20a-aap

* Tapes: HC-94-012OT002

* CCINTB Tapes ID: T95-15

* Length: 00:56:02

* Possil, Glasgow, 3 March 1995: Valentina Bold interviews clients of the Hamiltonhill Day Centre

* Transcribed by Valentina Bold/Standardised by Jamie Terrill

* HD = Nellie (Helen) Donaghy, DP = Davy (David) Paterson, SI = Sarah Irvine, KY = Kathy (carer), VB = Valentina Bold

* Notes: Second of two interviews with clients of the Hamiltonhill Day Centre; Sound Quality: Fair; this interview was originally transcribed in a phonetic manner; the original phonetic version can be accessed through our physical collection - please contact Lancaster University Library for details.

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[Start of Tape One]

[Start of Side A]

[VB tape introduction; general conversation and VB setting up tape]

VB: What, what I was hoping we could do just now is, again, talk I bit about going to the cinema, erm, and talk about the cinema of the thirties, especially. I wrote down a couple of things that came up last time that I was wanting to ask you a bit more about so, erm, I also, I found these books that I thought you might be interested in seeing that, I didn't have before [indicates books], eh! [laughter] These are, eh, I don't know if you--

KY: That's what I came in for, [I wanted to be?] alone! [laughter]

VB: All right!

[general laughter]

VB: But, eh, there's some quite nice stuff in there, and I was really pleased to find them.

HD: Mhm.

VB: It's got, erm, you, you know all the stars and, I think they go from about, you know, the late thirties, maybe about 1936, 1937, something like that.

SI: What've we got here, dear? [looking at second book]

VB: That's the same, it's just, well it's not the same as that one but it's the same sort of thing.

SI: Uhuh. [looks at book as VB passes it over]

VB: But erm--

DP: It's similar

VB: Anyway I thought you might like to--

HD: Aye.

VB: Take a wee look at these while, while we're talking. Mhm, I mean one, one of the things I was wanting to ask was, eh, you mentioned quite a number of cinemas, both round about here and--

HD: Uhuh.

VB: You know, in different places, and I was wanting to ask a bit more. Erm, one of the ones that was erm mentioned was the Vogue, down in Saracen [Balmore Road].

DP: In Saracen. That's right.

VB: What was that like?

DP: Well, it was a little cinema.

HD: No, it was a big pub now, a big public house now.

VB: Right.

KY: The Vogue was a public house, it's the bingo.

DP: It's a bingo hall.

VB: Oh right.

HD: But it's a pub as well. [The brothers run it?; overtalking].

SI: Not the brothers. The Vogue.

KY: Oh the Vogue.

SI: The Vogue.

KY: I thought you were talking about the one at Saracen Street--

HD: It was Saracen [Cross?]

KY: No.

VB: Right. [inaudible] .

HD: I'll keep quiet. [laughter]

VB: Eh, so what was the Vogue like, inside, was it--

DP: It was a nice, big, picture hall. It used to be the Astoria.

VB: Oh, I see. Right.

DP: Where the, there was one at the Round Toll [referring to the Astoria].

VB: Right.

DP: Aye.

VB: So it was.

DP: It used to be the Astoria.

[sound of tapping on the table]

VB: So, was that one of the big fancy ones, then? Or...

HD: Eh, it was two stairways, you went up a stairway outside.

DP: It was a big cinema, a lovely cinema.

HD: Aye.

KY: And it was a bingo hall, it's closed down now.

SI: It's a big bingo hall now.

VB: Right.

DP: That's down.

VB: So was that sort of split up when it became a bingo hall inside or is it still much the same inside?

DP: Well I don't know what like it is now. [inaudible; overtalking] I don't go 00:03:00to the bingo! [laughs] [inaudible]

VB: Well, I mean, we didn't really get a chance to talk in a lot of detail about cinemas.

HD: Aye.

VB: And that was partly why I wanted to come back, 'cause there were a lot of things mentioned.

HD: Mhm.

VB: But 'cause we didn't have much time. Erm-- I mean I expect the sort of cinemas that, well like you remember, Davy, must be the ones around about Maryhill sort of way?

DP: Oh aye, aye, there was quite a few about Maryhill.

VB: Which, which were the ones that you went to?

DP: Eh, there was the Roxy.

HD: The Roxy, the [New] Star.

SI: The New Star.

HD: The Seamore.

SI: The Seamore, and there was a band in it! Woah! [making musical noise and makes a face - all laugh uproariously]

VB: Bit of a fleapit, was it?

SI: Aye [laughing] oh, oh!

[inaudible; multiple voices speaking at once]

HD: I think I've still got a ticket for the Magnet.

KY: Do you know where it is?

HD: We only went in it the once because [inaudible; overtalking].

KY: We went to the Magnet, the Magnet.

VB: Right.

HD: I've still got the ticket.

VB: Sorry [smiling] I mean, I missed, I missed actually both of these, 'cause, erm, maybe, Kathy could you tell me what you just said?

KY: The Astoria.

VB: 'Cause I, I was listening to both of you. [laughs]

KY: The Astoria was at the foot of Baird Brae.

VB: Right.

KY: And just fifty yards down from that was the Magnet, the wee Magnet, they called it.

SI: Aye, aye.

KY: That was two picture houses there but the wee Magnet wasn't up to much [laughs], you know?

SI: No, you had to hold your nose! [general laughter]

VB: Aye, I see.

KY: We still went, right enough!

DP: [inaudible; laughter] [screen?]

HD: My brother-in-law used to skip in the side door when he was young.

SI: Ah. [laughs]

VB: You were saying you still had a ticket for the Magnet.

HD: Aye, a souvenir! [laughs]

VB: I'd be interested in seeing that sometime, actually 'cause it--

SI: All the kids used to bend down, she was in a box, you know? And, eh, the kids used to bend away down, not pay! [gestures] Slip in! [general laughter]

HD: Aye. There's a fella in here told me about that one, you know, growing up, he says, "When I was a boy," he said, "I used to skip in the side door."

VB: Right! So there were ways of getting-- even if it was quite cheap you could still get in!

HD: Still skip, oh it was money then to them, even if it was only a penny.

SI: Aye, that's true.

DP: A penny matinee.

SI: [inaudible; overtalking] a wee bit better you went up the stairs.

HD: [laughs]

SI: God bless us, there were [queues of them?], scurrying up the stair! Oh!

[laughter]

VB: Was it more expensive to go up the stair then?

SI: Oh, you'd to get out quick! [laughs]

DP: It was a wee bit dearer, wasn't it, the balcony.

HD: Awe, the balcony.

KY: Awe, it was always expensive. [laughs]

DP: Tuppence or--

SI: Some good pictures in the Astoria though, weren't they?

DP: You'd to wear spats to get in [to the pictures?]! Plus fours! [laughs]

VB: What sort of films did they show in the Astoria then?

[sound of spoon being dropped]

VB: I was wondering about the films that they were showing in the Astoria, because...

SI: [fiddling with hearing aid] I can't hear you, darling.

VB: You were saying that there were, that the Astoria was good for films?

SI: Oh aye.

VB: Were there any that you, any favourite films you-- I mean, that you were seeing there?

SI: Oh aye, there were quite a lot, quite a lot.

HD: Aye, 'cause you couldn't have a favourite 'cause they changed the picture twice a week.

SI: Aye.

HD: Maybe three times. You got a big picture.

SI: Aye.

DP: As you say, they used to put the songs on the screen, mind, you sung it and the bouncing ball used to keep the line on it.

HD: Aye, it was so-- [laughs]

SI: [laughs]

VB: 'Cause--

DP: [laughing] It wasn't yesterday!

VB: So did you, I mean, did people really join in then? With that sort of thing?

DP: Oh aye.

VB: Aye.

DP: Aye, once the audiences--

KY: Well there was no television and no wireless then.

VB: Right, right.

KY: So, that was entertainment.

DP: Aye.

VB: Were there ever any turns in the cinemas that you were at?

HD: Aye.

DP: Aye, there used to be turns on the stage in the cinema. Well the Roxy, remember the Roxy there?

HD: Aye.

DP: They had turns on the stage, I've heard.

VB: So what sort of things was that? Was it mainly singing? Or--?

DP: Aye, well there used to be singers and sometimes acrobatic turns and that, you know?

VB: Really?

HD: Tap dancing and such like.

DP: Tap dancing, aye.

VB: That sounds great, I mean, was that just like normal people or--?

[general assent]

VB: Tap dancing?

DP: Oh aye, they used to, used to pick them out the audience and bring them on the stage.

HD: Aye, like Morecambe and Wise and things, you know, we knew them as doubles like that.

VB: Aye.

HD: Then there was, mind [remember] the man that always acted, who was supposed to be a woman. A lassie, it was a young fellow-- You not mind of [remember] that one?

DP: You talking about Davina?

HD: I forget their name.

DP: Davina?

[general laughter]

VB: I think I'm missing something! [laughs]

HD: No, eh, it was Arlene. I don't know if we told you before, it was Arlene, and I came on the bus, and was introduced to this new person--

VB: Right.

HD: And I says, "Seeing as you're a new person, I'll sit down beside you." So anyway, she says "This is Davina." So we were all introduced, and I sat down beside her, and said to him, "Where is it you come from?" He says, "Hamiltonhill." I says, "No, that's where you're going." "Where do you stay?" "In a house." [laughter] I says, "I'm not talking to you any more." [general laughter] I turned to the man behind me, I says, "Where's your pal today?" That 00:08:00was him! And he says, "He's not coming in today." I says, "Davy not coming in?" And he went like that, and he pointed. And I thought he meant there was something up with her. You know, that she was away with the bees. [general laughter] And it went on for as long-- you'd want to see the way he was doing stuff. Honest to God, you would have took him for a woman. [inaudible; overtalking]. But when we were introduced to him, we were going in the hall--

DP: [inaudible; overtalking; laughter]

HD: We were going in the hall--

VB: Wish I'd been there! [laughs]

HD: Wee Jenny says to this woman, "What do you think of the new woman?" She said, "She's all right, but she doesn't need to dress like a bloody actress!" He had these long earrings and his hat and [general laughter] these lovely wee shawls--

KY: [inaudible] Halloween party. And got dressed up for that. [inaudible].

HD: See that was, he dressed up for the time, otherwise I would have [jaloused?], you know. But I never thought about it… [general laughter] And I’m taking him for a woman.

SI: [laughing]

KY: [inaudible]. What happened behind the vans.

DP: Kids, kids [inaudible; overtalking].

HD: The whole lot of them were introduced to Davina, you know. [See, lovely and easy, honest, his face was?] [inaudible] The whole lot of them.

VB: Actually, I mean, that--that reminds me.

DP: I took a photo of him, I can't mind [remember] what they done with it. [laughs] I think Rita took it.

KY: Did she?

DP: Aye, Rita took a photo.

[general laughter]

VB: Oh dear! I mean that reminds me, I'm not quite sure why, but I was going to ask you a bit about some of the stars as well, erm, I mean you mentioned folk like, eh, Deanna Durbin was someone that came up.

DP: Lovely singer.

VB: Was she someone that, that you liked?

HD: Aye but she [inaudible; awful?; Shelby homes?]

DP: Aye, she was a good singer.

VB: Was she a good actress as well, do you think, or--?

DP: She wasn't much of an actress.

VB: Aye.

DP: More of a singer she was, you know?

HD: She done her bit of acting in the pictures.

DP: Aye.

HD: But-- she didn't stay very long.

DP: As I say, I thought Judy Garland was a great singer.

VB: Judy Garland, yeah.

DP: Aye, a good singer. She, she wasn't in silent pictures, Judy! [laughs]

VB: 'Cause, 'cause I was going to ask a bit about, erm, I mean I know that you, Davy, enjoyed singing yourself and I was wondering if the musicals were something that you, that you liked-- at the pictures. I mean folk like, say, eh, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, that sort of things was--

DP: Aye, aye, quite good.

HD: Fred Astaire was a great dancer with Ginger Rogers.

SI: As a cowboy I liked John Wayne.

HD: Aw!

[general laughter]

SI: "The hell I will!" [referring to John Wayne quote from McLintock]

[general laughter]

VB: I was surprised to, to find out how early John Wayne started making the pictures.

DP: Aye.

VB: I mean things like Stagecoach.

DP: Stagecoach. Aye, that was one of his first.

VB: Aye.

HD: Oh aye.

VB: He must've been pretty young in that?

DP: Oh he was, aye.

HD: Who was the man that used to sing, eh, 'I am Calling You'? That was a good picture.

DP: Oh that was Jeanette MacDonald.

HD: Aye.

DP: She was good.

HD: Who was it as well?

VB: It's not Nelson Eddy?

DP: Nelson Eddy.

HD: Nelson Eddy and Jeanette, they were lovely singers, weren't they?

DP: Jeanette MacDonald. They were good singers, aye, they were good.

HD: And actors as well.

KY: Mhm.

DP: Aye.

VB: Was that in Rose Marie or--?

DP: Rose Marie.

VB: Yeah.

HD: That's right.

DP: That's right, they've been in quite a few, Canadian, 'Canadian Mounties' [referring to a song from Rose Marie].

VB: Aye. Was she, were they, did you really like Nelson Eddy, was he one of your favourites!

HD: [laughing] Aye!

VB: What was it about him?

HD: I learned his song! [laughs] I don't know, he was such a good singer and he wasn't bad looking.

DP: He was a mounted police and he always got his man! You know! [laughs]

HD: Aye! [laughing] The Canadian [referring to Nelson Eddy's character in Rose Marie].

VB: It's a great picture that! Isn't it?

HD: Aye, I liked it.

VB: 'Cause it's--

HD: With my mother, I used to go with my mother a lot. And she used to like a picture that she could cry at. She wasn't happy unless she could get a cry!

[general laughter]

HD: There was an awful lot of sad pictures--

DP: Aye.

SI: Oh aye.

HD: When we were younger.

VB: Yeh.

SI: Aye. [laughs]

HD: In fact when I was a child, see when, my mother used to have company in, my father and mother they used to have company and it was all the weepy songs of the day that they'd sing. You never got them to sing a cheery song, "Don't go 00:12:00down the mine daddy" and always crying!

SI: [laughs heartily]

HD: Weren't they!

SI: Aye.

KY: "Don't, don't sell daddy any more whisky!"

HD: Aye!

KY: "'Cause it's causing mother [sorrow?]" [inaudible; overtalking; laughter]

DP: They know quite a lot of them!

SI: [laughs; inaudible]

[multiple voices at once; laughter; inaudible]

KY: "Don't, don't sell daddy any more whisky!"

VB: I mean was that--

DP: Aye, "Don't go down the mine, daddy. 'Cause we've got coal in the bunker!"

[laughter]

KY: I was [inaudible] to my eldest son, he says "I don't believe you," he says "They couldn't be like that". I said "They were, they were all sad songs in the day."

VB: 'Cause I was interested when you said that about your mother liking the sort of, the weepies in the pictures.

HD: Aye.

VB: I mean, was that something that was more the case for women than for men, do you think? Or, I mean did--

HD: The men sobbing and all! The men sobbing and all! [laughs] Aye, my father used to sing all the sad songs as well.

[inaudible; overtalking]

HD: 'I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen'

DP: That's right.

SI: In the war years, [you know?] cigarettes and all that was all scarce and all 00:13:00the young ones would come in with their-- oh cheap!

KY: Oh, my son drew a picture of it the other day.

DP: The Pasha [cigarette brand]

[KY explains her son drew a picture for her in coloured pencils of a man and a woman sitting on each side of the fire, and woman saying "Is it that old Pasha again" and she sent it to her husband in the war; SI says preferable to get shot than have Old Pasha; all laugh]

VB: 'Cause you could smoke in the pictures then.

HD: Oh aye, we thought nothing of that.

VB: Yeh.

HD: That was the done thing.

DP: Oh aye.

[pause 2 seconds]

VB: 'Cause, erm, another thing I was wanting to ask was, say when you were a 00:14:00teenager, if you went mainly to the pictures in town or did you go, sort of locally?

HD: No, I wasn't allowed down the town.

VB: Right.

HD: We just went to the local picture houses, 'cause we knew where they were.

SI: Aye. Just went to the local ones, you know?

VB: 'Cause we talked about some of the--

SI: The [New] Grand was a great picture hall.

VB: Aye.

SI: I went to the [New] Grand.

DP: It was one of the largest ones.

SI: Aye, I used to like the [New] Grand.

HD: I never got down the town till I got married. And then my husband took me down.

VB: Right.

HD: But I wasn't allowed out, in fact I wasn't allowed out at night [laughing], nine o'clock that was my--

DP: Aye.

VB: Aye.

HD: Even as a teenager.

SI: Aye, I was ten o' clock, till I broke the rules!

[general laughter]

VB: They thought it was ten o' clock!

[general laughter]

SI: Ten, you'd be rushing away up the road, to try and get in for ten o'clock! Then, ugh! You just suits yourself, get a jar out, get me a row [let's have an argument]!

[general laughter]

HD: You'd never get away with it!

[general laughter]

SI: You'd get your head knocked off. Oh!

[general laughter]

VB: 'Cause you mentioned the [New] Grand there, was that the one that was at Cowcaddens?

SI: The Grand picture hall.

[general assent]

VB: What was that inside, 'cause I've heard about it but--

SI: Oh aye.

HD: Oh they're all away now.

DP: Big school and the normal school.

SI: The Grand, aye.

HD: Aye, they're all away, you know?

SI: The gallery, you know?

HD: It's all houses down there now.

VB: That's right, yeh, yeh.

SI: So we went to the pictures.

HD: See to go to the wee Magnet, with jeely [jam] jars!

SI: That's right.

KY: The Phoenix picture house.

HD: Aye, it was the benches that was in the Phoenix as well.

KY: Aye.

VB: Whereabouts was that?

HD: Just wooden.

VB: The Phoenix?

HD: Wooden benches.

KY: The Magnet that was, just before you come to Crawfoot.

HD: No, it was in Garscube Road.

SI: That was where I used to go in the afternoon. Dancing.

HD: I think that--

SI: And, eh, you would go up round about. Up to your auntie's or somebody else, you got a ha'penny on a jam jar. And, eh, I think it was about thruppence or something like that to get it.

VB: Right.

SI: But then, as long as you got these wee jars--

HD: Aye, you had a ha'penny for, for a, a pound jar and a penny for a two-pound jar.

SI: So that got you in, if you wandered up, you'd get into the afternoon dancing 00:16:00for thruppence.

HD: Oh [laughs], oh oh!

SI: Oh, there were some great dancers in they days.

HD: Oh! [laughs] I used to get out of dancing!

SI: [laughs]

DP: [I heard something about a terror scene?].

KY: [inaudible] A man got killed there, thrown over a banister.

VB: Oh right.

KY: Down by the [hotel?]. You know the--

VB: I know where you are, yeah.

KY: Up by the shop there. That was terrible. Thrown over a bannister.

SI: I was dancing with quite a young boy, years ago, you know, and he had on patent shoes, patent shoes was the style, so, in the middle of the dance he stops, and runs away up and puts his foot on the chair and starts polishing his shoes and says he'll get battered! [general laughter] He had patent shoes on, [inaudible] he was that frightened [laughing] he'd get them damaged, 'cause he would have got belted when he got into the house. [laughs]

VB: 'Cause I was quite interested to look at these books [indicating film 00:17:00annuals] to look at the fashions, 'cause they're really very--

HD: Aye.

VB: Erm.

HD: They're coming back.

VB: Yeah, and they're very stylish, I mean, was, was that something that you enjoyed at the pictures, the way...?

HD: The way people dressed, aye.

VB: I mean like here it's Jack Hulbert and Fay Wray and-- [passes over book]

DP: This is another one.

HD: And he always acted with his wife.

VB: Right.

HD: Cicely Courtneidge.

DP: Cicely Courtneidge.

VB: Right.

SI: Ah, she was lovely.

VB: Anna Neagle?

SI: Anna, Oh aye. She was lovely, aye.

HD: See the height she could kick, Cicely Courtneidge.

DP: Aye.

HD: That Jack Hulbert's wife. Away back, above her head.

KY: Oof.

VB: Oh.

DP: He'd an awful big chin, eh! [laughs] Jack Hulbert.

HD: Aye, him. Him, eh. [inaudible] But he was a good actor, he was funny.

[inaudible; multiple voices at once]

SI: [inaudible] dresses. I liked Fred Astaire. Did you?

DP: Aye. Ginger Rogers. Aye, I liked her.

HD: Aw was a great dancer, so he was.

DP: So was Gene, so was Gene Kelly.

VB: Aye, we've got Ginger and Fred here.

DP: Aw aye.

SI: Aye, Ginger Rogers, is that her, I liked her a lot.

DP: [inaudible]

VB: So, was it, was it just, mainly dance pictures that Jack Hulbert made, 'cause I, I've not really seen much of his.

KY: Aye, aye.

HD: Aye, musicals.

VB: Musicals. Yeh.

HD: Aye, he was always in comedy shows, him.

VB: Yeah.

HD: Musicals.

KY: Aye, they were long skirts in those days, long skirts.

DP: Maureen O' Sullivan.

VB: Maureen O' Sullivan, was she good, do you think, or?

DP: Aye, she was good in Tarzan films, you know? [laughs]

VB: Aye! That's, you're right, I was just thinking of her, round with her sort of furs on. With Johnny eh, Johnny.

DP: Johnny Weissmuller, Weissmuller.

VB: Yeah, did you like these sort of action films like that then, or--?

HD: Aye

DP: Aye, some of them were quite good.

HD: Aye.

VB: Aye.

DP: All these films from the past are better than the ones you see the now.

HD: They're different from the ones you see now. Some of them you couldn't look at.

SI: Na.

HD: They're not many pictures houses now either, are there not?

VB: No.

HD: I mean, even on the telly.

SI: Lot of rubbish, isn't it?

[general agreement]

HD: The vulgarity.

SI: Aye.

VB: There's a, there's a feature in this one on Wallace Beery, I don't know if he was someone...

DP: Aye, he was good, Wallace Beery's good.

VB: Yeh, erm.

DP: He was in a film, eh, George Raft, I know that. Way back.

VB: Oh right.

KY: Years ago they were all good lookers, weren't they?

DP: Called The Bowery.

VB: The Bowery.

SI: Oh, The Bowery.

VB: What was that about?

DP: That was, it was down at the docks film, it was, eh, Wallace Beery he was the head of the Bowery, and he was the tough guy of the Bowery and George Raft was a-- underdog to him, but he'd to go up from Wallace Beery, oh it was great.

VB: Aw right.

DP: And they had a fight on this raft, they took it away out to sea and it was an actual fight, the two of them staged it themselves, there was no doubles for them.

HD: Aye.

DP: Wallace Beery and George Raft.

HD: Did they make a film?

KY: The Bowery.

SI: Aye.

HD: Aye.

HD: Oh, I always went to see George Raft! [laughs]

DP: Aye, George Raft was good.

HD: I think he was my favourite!

DP: Great dancer, aye.

SI: A dancer.

VB: That's funny, I would, I would never have thought of him as a dancer, actually, when you said that.

SI: Aye.

VB: 'Cause you think of him as the gangster.

HD: Aye, I know.

DP: Aye, he was always the gangster.

HD: Well when you saw, when you see him doing the bolero.

DP: Oh yeh.

HD: Oh!

DP: Aye, he was good at the bolero.

HD: In one of his films.

DP: Aye, he's good at that, the bolero [referring to the dance move, as 00:20:00performed in Bolero].

VB: Mhm.

HD: [laughing] Well, I could have went for that myself.

[general laughter]

DP: The truth of the matter was he was a gangster, and that, George Raft.

VB: Really?

DP: He was a gangster before he took up film. Aye.

HD: So's that, eh, Sinatra, Frank Sinatra, he's in the mafia.

DP: Aye, he was with the Mafia.

VB: It's quite scary when you say that actually.

HD: Aye, like I'm saying, it was the mafia that took Frank Sinatra when he was--

SI: Aye.

[HD asks VB where the person is who came with VB to make a video; VB shows video 00:21:00they made, still lacking a sound track. VB explains that she'll take extracts from the interviews but "making a movie takes a wee while"]

VB: No, but, I mean, you were saying about George Raft, I mean did you like the gangster movies as well? You know.

DP: Aw, I liked Jimmy Cagney.

VB: Did you like folk like Jimmy Cagney?

SI: Oh aye, aye.

VB: Yeah.

SI: Ah, I liked him.

[pause 2 seconds]

HD: That George O'Brien the [giver?].

[general laughter]

HD: George O'Brien was the goodie, he was the priest [probably referring to Pat O'Brien].

VB: That's right, yeah. What's that, is it Angels With Dirty Faces that they were in?

SI: Aye.

DP: They made that.

HD: The day they got him to, to be crying and all the rest of it, when he was getting taking away.

DP: When he turned yellow, aye.

HD: Aye, that was to help the young boys.

DP: To help the boys.

VB: Aye.

DP: The Dead End Kids.

VB: I, I always thought that was a shame 'cause it's only us that knows and they all think that he's-- [laughs]

HD: Aye! [laughing]

VB: You know!

[general laughter]

VB: Why couldn't they just have said! [laughing]

SI: I always thought of it when, he went away on horseback and eh in the hall we'd all shout, "Watch him! There he is!" [banging table] [laughs]

HD: Did you know they've spoilt an awful lot of that for people. [inaudible] If they show you what's happening, they show you the photographers and everything and, how they're doing, eh, how they do that, you know, 'How do they do that', 00:23:00that show that's on.

VB: Oh right.

HD: And they show you how they're faking up their board and all the rest of it, and when you're watching the film after that you just imagine them there, taking their photos and everything, you can't let your imagination run away with you.

VB: Aye.

SI: Yeah. [laughs]

VB: I mean, did you worry about these sort of things when you were seeing a, say an adventure.

HD: We didn't know anything about that and you could take the thing for granted.

VB: Aye.

SI: Aye.

HD: My mother used to say, "Oh that's a big villain that", you know? [laughs] And maybe they're a lovely person, you know!" [laughing]

VB: 'Cause I was thinking when you were talking about that, the fights and, erm, folk like Errol Flynn as well and, eh--

HD: Oh, Errol. [laughing]

VB: The swords.

HD: The sword fights.

SI: Aye, we used to...

HD: We could take all that in. But now they've told you--

SI: You'd get a lot of, "You'd better watch!" "You're going to get stabbed! You'd better watch!" "Did you not see him coming and--"

HD: Aye!

[general laughter]

VB: Aye.

SI: [laughing] [starts coughing] Oh, oh, oh! You used to, you were up in your seats like that! [gestures standing] "You'd better watch!" Oh! "There he is at your back! Oh, you'd better turn round." And, this was all the daft talk that we were all shouting at folk! [laughs]

DP: Aw, "Don't fall off the cliff!" Next week he'd be on top of the cliff.

[general laughter]

VB: Aye.

[general laughter]

VB: I mean, did, did you go to the--

SI: Aw there was, was the pictures in those days.

DP: Aye, they were good.

SI: Oh! [laughs]

HD: Aye, it used to be maybe in about six or seven parts, and it showed you one, but you'd to wait 'til the next week to see how it got on! [laughs]

DP: See how it ended beside.

[all laughing]

HD: And do you mind her tied on the rails!

[laughter continues]

DP: Aye!

HD: [laughing] And you'd to wait to next week to see if he'd get her off the rail!

[general laughter]

DP: "To be continued", that was it.

[general laughter]

VB: Did you, did you worry about it, I mean, like when--?

KY: Aye.

HD: Oh aye, aye.

DP: Thinking all week.

HD: Oh, you kept thinking all week about it, aye.

DP: Aye, to get back to it.

HD: To get back to it and see how she got on! [laughs]

DP: You had to go and see what'd happened! [laughs]

VB: Oh dear!

SI: Oh yes.

HD: You wouldn't do that now.

SI: To see the other bit. You know!

HD: Aye.

SI: Your eyes would be up to the ceiling! This way! [makes a gesture]

[general laughter]

HD: To know!

SI: [laughs]

VB: Oh dear! [laughs]

SI: There were no cushions in it, in the cinema!

VB: Did you take something to eat with you? You know, sweeties? Or--?

DP: We brought sweeties.

HD: Oh aye, you bought stuff outside, they come round selling stuff.

SI: Oh aye.

HD: At the interval.

SI: To excite you with!

[general laughter]

DP: At the interval.

HD: Aw aye, the girl came round with her tray.

SI: Aye--oh aye.

VB: Did they ever try and keep you in order? 'Cause when you were saying that there was a terrible noise--

SI: Oh aye, they told you to be quiet, didn't they?

HD: Aye, if it was horses riding or anything like that, there was a lot. [drums fingers on table]

DP: If it was a rotten film, there'd be silence. Used to be playing [drums fingers on table], the reason they'd be playing.

HD: The piano.

DP: The lassie's--

HD: The piano was the thing.

[all laughing]

HD: There was no music, you know it was silent films at this time. And if there was horses riding, well she'd to rap!

DP: That's right.

HD: And then if it was, aye, something sad, she'd to play a sad tune. And that's what we had to depend on, for your music.

VB: Right.

SI: Then, if it was, ones on horseback you, you were sitting up like that! [mimes] [general laughter] You know?

HD: You were on horseback! [laughs]

SI: [laughing] You'd imagine you were riding on horseback! [laughs] Then somebody would punch you in the back or something, then you'd turn round to see 00:26:00what they were playing at! [laughs]

DP: Somebody, somebody with a big head would sit in front of you! [general laughter] Oh aye!

VB: Did you, did you ever, erm, you know, like kids do today, did you every play at, at being folk out of the movies, or--

DP: Cowboys or--

VB: Cowboys or--

DP: Or the red Indians, oh aye. Play 'Cowboys and Indians'.

HD: Aye.

KY: Oh, we didn't play 'Cowboys and Indians', we did kick the can.

DP: Kick the can.

[general laughter]

KY: Oh, we made our own games then but--

VB: Aye.

HD: Ringing bells and run away.

[general assent]

SI: You always felt happy coming away from the pictures, didn't you?

HD: Aye.

KY: Aye.

SI: Oh, you always felt--

KY: Except when it was--

SI: Unless somebody came and punched you or something like that! [laughs]

HD: Do you mind the one, you know him that does the horror films?

DP: Lon Chaney?

HD: No, he had one where he sort of come out the coffin, you seen the hand coming up and aw I was in terror with that one.

SI: [laughs]

HD: But eh, coming down the stairs, you know I told you the folk had, there was 00:27:00two stairways, and I was coming down this way with my man and the other crowd was, [mimes; inaudible] seen all their faces, and at the finish of it I started laughing, you know they were all terrified of him after that film.

SI: [laughs]

HD: I forget his name, you must know him. He's, he's very well known.

VB: Not, not Bela Lugosi or someone?

HD: Aye, he was in a lot of films along with him.

DP: Bela Lugosi, Dracula.

HD: Aye, Dracula, that I'm talking about.

DP: Boris Karloff.

SI: Oh aye, Boris Karloff, didn't like that!

VB: [inaudible].

HD: Oh aye, that was eh Bela Lugosi was in that one, but he was in a lot of films with this one I'm talking about.

VB: Yeah.

HD: I can't remember his name.

VB: What did he look like?

HD: Well you still hear his voice on the telly giving adverts.

[pause 2 seconds]

SI: Ah-- Aye.

HD: I wouldn't [inaudible]

VB: It'll come back, probably.

HD: Aye.

VB: Later, when you're--

SI: Aw they were great times, God knows! [laughs] Aye, God they were great!

[End of Side A]

[Start of Side B]

SI: No, no--

DP: Doesn't know, it wasn't known, we had nothing like that in these days, I'm telling you.

VB: I mean, it sounds from what you're saying that you--

SI: When you got a wee bit older you put a wee tip of powder on your face, see when you were going up the stairs?

HD: Aw, I got a row for that.

SI: You'd get it all rubbed off. Oh my god!

HD: I told you about that the last time, I got a row for that.

SI: You'd get battered!

HD: Aye, my mother says.

DP: "What's that you've got on your face!"

HD: Somebody's hit me with a flour bag!

SI: [laughs]

HD: Just a wee tip across my nose was kind of my way to powder it, that was all you used.

SI: Aye.

HD: Tuppence a box.

SI: Oh, you'd to go into the, we had outside toilets, you know? And, eh, you'd to go in there and get that all rubbed off, the other--

HD: Got to take it off that night. [laughing]

SI: That's it, "What's that you've got on?" "I've not got anything on my face", "Oh!" But you'd to go in and--get it off!

[general laughter]

VB: So, so your mother didn't approve of that sort of thing!

SI: Oh no! [drawn out]

HD: Not in these days.

VB: No.

HD: Not in these days.

SI: And then, it wasn't scented soap you got in those days. [general laughter] It was carbolic! [laughs]

HD: Soon as you get in the street! Soon as I got to the street that was me!

VB: Really?

HD: Uh-huh [laughs] I never got. [laughs]

VB: It's funny when you say that now 'cause, I mean, looking back on things like this [indicating photographs], I mean there're some lovely fashions and--

HD: Oh there, were.

SI: Aye.

VB: You know, really beautiful. Mhm.

HD: Well they're all coming back, they're doing away with these shirts hanging out now.

SI: Aye [laughs] aye.

HD: The thing about fashion, fashion then, to what it is now, you just get plain, you know, and that was it.

VB: I'm just thinking, I mean here's some of the, I mean that looks about.

HD: Ah, I'll maybe see that fella I'm talking about.

SI: Oh, you were very hard restricted when you were young.

VB: Yeah.

SI: You know, because--

HD: Boris Karloff, he was another one.

SI: Oh aye.

HD: He done The Mummy.

SI: O-ho-ho!

HD: Aye! I was terrified, do you know, I wasn't long married, it was my first house, and I was sitting at the fireplace, and I was frightened to turn round, thinking he was standing at my back! [general laughter] It shows you how stupid we were when we were young! [general laughter]

SI: Aye, I know!

HD: Taking things for granted that they were.

VB: Not at all, I mean sometimes when you're on your own and things.

SI: [laughs]

HD: Well, it was the first time I was on my own.

VB: Yeah.

HD: Because we had a big family, and it was my first house, and it was in--

SI: [laughs]

HD: Oh! He couldn't have come in quick enough!

SI: [laughs]

VB: What, what about Marlene Dietrich, was she someone you liked? Because--

DP: Aye, she was-- She couldn't sing, she was singing out.

VB: Right, 'cause I was, I was thinking...

HD: Do you know how she put on that eh, foreign bit in her voice?

DP: She was a German.

HD: She wasn't really-- she could talk as good English as any of us.

DP: Aye, but she--

HD: Put it on for her films.

DP: For her singing.

VB: I was just wondering, 'cause I remembered hearing you [to DP] singing 'Lili Marlene', so!

DP: Aye!

VB: So I mean the one that you always think of her.

HD: Mhm.

DP: That's right.

VB: I wondered if she was one that you liked or-- but you didn't like her singing voice very much?

DP: I didn't think much of her, not as a singer anyway.

HD: [singing] "See what the boys in the backroom will have" [general laughter], that's one of her songs! She used to put her leg up on the chairs! [laughs] "Tell them I'm having the same!" [referring to song 'The Boys in the Back Room' from Destry Rides Again]

SI: That's right.

DP: There's one there, Bette Davis, she was a great actress.

VB: Was she your favourite, Bette Davis?

DP: Aye, she was a great actress, her.

VB: What was it you liked about her?

DP: Oh she was great in all her films, you know? The best film I ever saw her in 00:31:00was, her and Joan Crawford, did you see that one? Two sisters, she, she was always -- trying to get rid of her, you know, and she, she'd, had her dinner that day and she put a big rat on her plate and she--

[general laughter]

HD: Aw that's funny, that one.

[general laughter]

DP: She's great in that film.

[general laughter]

HD: Aye!

DP: She's a wee bit of a psycho!

VB: Did, did you, that was quite a, is that Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? That one.

DP: Aye, that's right.

VB: 'Cause that was quite a late film wasn't it?

DP: Her sister was in a wheelchair, Joan Crawford, in a wheelchair.

VB: Yeah.

DP: She tried to get rid of her all the time.

VB: Yeah.

HD: You see the one with Bette Davis and her family?

DP: No.

HD: Oh, she was down with her family. Did you see that one? Bette Davis. And she had all her family and she was agin [annoying] all her in-laws.

SI: Oh aye, aye, I liked that.

HD: Up at her sister-in-law and that! [laughs] She's a, so she is! [laughing] All her family she, she doesn't like all their--

VB: Ah.

HD: Family's getting married to them.

VB: 'Cause you mentioned, erm, who was it that was in that film as well? It was Bette Davis and--

DP: Joan Crawford.

VB: Joan Crawford.

DP: Aye.

VB: Was she someone that you liked as an actress, or?

DP: She was quite good.

VB: Yeah.

DP: She was quite a good actress.

SI: Frank Sinatra?

DP: No, Joan Crawford.

SI: Aye.

DP: Joan Crawford.

VB: Mhm.

DP: Ah, she was quite good.

HD: Those were the days! Not like this!

[pause 2 seconds]

DP: This is cheap stuff! Cheap stuff!

SI: Aye! [laughs]

VB: One of the other things.

HD: Victor Mature, he's a fella from the thirties.

DP: Victor Mature?

VB: Victor Mature.

DP: Aye

HD: It was him that done that one with the coffin, I forget, oh it was The Pit And The Pendulum! Did you see it!

DP: Vincent Price?

HD: Eh?

DP: Vincent Price.

HD: Oh it was Vincent Price, That's right. Who did I say?

SI: [inaudible].

VB: Right.

HD: Eh, The Pit And The Pendulum, I remember it. That was a terrible film, wasn't it?

DP: Aye, I seen that one.

VB: 'Cause another thing I was wanting to ask you about was, I know quite I few of the really big stars came to Glasgow as well and--

DP: Oh aye.

VB: Erm-- I wondered if you, if you'd ever seen any of the stars.

DP: Well I seen, I seen Laurel and Hardy in the Empire [theatre].

[someone opens door, says "Sorry," leaves]

VB: Right!

DP: Aye, those two.

VB: What were they like?

DP: Well they weren't so good, but, weren't so good as you seen them in the films, you know? -- Aw, for all the time they were on, they were only on about ten minutes in the Empire.

HD: It's not long.

VB: Aye.

DP: And then, erm, did you ever hear about that fella, there was one of them that come on at the Empire and he got booed off the stage.

SI: Doris [Day?]

DP: Ah, Doris [Day?] [inaudible] That's another one. [overtalking]

VB: Right.

DP: That film star of Hollywood. Hollywood film stars got booed off at the Empire.

HD: Mhm.

DP: Aw, he's a singer, ah--

VB: Mhm.

HD: We don't know, you know, but we're getting old!

DP: Aye, that's what it is!

HD: Victor Mature was in that one with the, the cloak. [referring to The Robe]

DP: Aye. Aye, Victor Mature, Victor Mature.

VB: Aye.

DP: That's in the [inaudible].

VB: Mhm, do you think, I mean, you mentioned seeing Laurel and Hardy, I mean, and you said their films were better. I mean, did you like Laurel and Hardy in the pictures?

DP: Aw, I quite liked them.

HD: Aye.

DP: I quite liked them.

HD: They were a good laugh.

DP: I liked them, what erm, Laurel, in Bonnie Scotland, they were great in that, 00:34:00that was good that. But, some of them, a lot of people didn't like them, a lot of people would say they were daft! [laughs]

VB: Yeah. What about Charlie Chaplin?

DP: I liked Charlie Chaplin.

VB: Was he someone that you--

DP: I thought Charlie Chaplin was good.

HD: Aye, he was nice.

DP: Aye.

HD: She was some actress, wasn't she? [shows photograph to others] "Come up and see me some time".

SI: Aye!

HD: She was good.

DP: Aye. Aye, she was a good actress.

HD: You, you forget all about them when you're getting on a wee bit, don't you?

KY: Aye!

DP: Aye, Mae West, erm-- [indicating photograph] See that actor there? Eh, Val?

VB: Aye.

DP: You wouldn't believe it, he did films, he's got one leg, Herbert Marshall.

VB: Oh right!

DP: He's got one leg. Aye!

HD: Has he?

DP: Aye! That Herbert Marshall, he's got one leg!

HD: Oh gosh! I never knew that!

DP: He lost it in the First World War!

HD: Aye, aye.

DP: I read a film book about it, and eh, you would hardly, you, you see him in films.

HD: I never ever noticed it. Aw.

DP: 'Cause he's, it's only ways, he's got it well below the knee there, it's 00:35:00just about to there [indicates place on leg], you know?

VB: Right.

DP: That's how he walks kind of--

HD: Oh, he was a great actor too.

KY: Aye.

HD: He was.

KY: Well that book I got regarding, off of Rita, it's got all the, the actors and that, you know about the Carlton and, out that way, you know, it's good but--

DP: It's a good book.

KY: Aw it's a big thick book.

DP: Uhuh.

HD: Aye.

KY: [inaudible].

VB: I mean, 'cause I was wondering if you read any of the picture magazines at the time, I mean, things like 'Picturegoer'?

DP: I used to get quite a lot of them at that time.

VB: Did you?DP: Aye, that's right.

VB: Yeah.

DP: I knew about, I heard about Marshall there.

VB: Aye.

DP: Aye.

VB: Which, which ones did you read regularly? Or were there--?

DP: My sister used to bring all these film books in, you know, she was film daft.

VB: Right.

DP: She used to bring these film books and I used to-- read some of them.

VB: That's interesting.

DP: Aye.

VB: So it was your sister that brought them in the house when you were reading them?

DP: Aye, she would, that's right, och aye.

VB: Aye.

HD: Mhm.

VB: 'Cause there's some good, I mean.

DP: She knew all the gen about the stars and that. You know?

[knock on door; offer of drinks; orders taken]

HD: He's another one that done all his own stunts, Harold Lloyd.

DP: Harold Lloyd.

KY: Harold Lloyd.

SI: Oh aye.

HD: He hadn't anybody to do.

DP: Lost, lost his teeth doing all the stunts!

HD: Aw, he was a terrible man. Mind, I always mind [remember] one picture he did, and he was in and out all the doors! [laughs] It was a big room of doors, he was in and out of the doors. But, eh, he's the one that never smiled.

DP: That's right, he was an acrobat.

HD: Aye.

KY: He done all the daft things.

HD: Aye.

VB: I mean, I was going to ask as well erm, who you went to the pictures with? Did you go mainly on your own? Or did you go with friends?

HD: No, I went with a girlfriend.

DP: You'd go with your pal.

VB: Right.

DP: Aye.

HD: When I was young, I wasn't allowed to go with boys, I went with a girlfriend!

DP: [laughs]

HD: Do you mind [remember] the big woman that used to go to the pictures with her bare feet? [inaudible] [pause 2 seconds] I'm forgetting the name too.

KY: Aye, she used to go to that, erm, Canal Bank there [referring to Variety 00:37:00Street] Garngad, with bare feet. Went to [Green Mill?]

DP: Aye, I know where you are. I, I can't mind [remember] that woman at all.

HD: Her son was in the Garngad gang.

DP: Oh aye.

HD: Romeo, Romeo was the name.

VB: And she went around with bare feet?

HD: She was, she had such big feet, you know, she was a big hefty woman and she had bare feet, and in the summer you'd see her go down to St James's picture hall, that was in Stirling Road, in her bare feet!

VB: Mhm.

HD: And that was from the Garngad Road right down Castle Street!

KY: [inaudible].

DP: I liked to sit in front [inaudible; overtalking]

KY: [inaudible]

DP: Oh aye, I know where you are now.

HD: Back then.

DP: That's right. [inaudible]

SI: I got lost there!

DP: That's right, aye.

[background noise; inaudible]

SI: Well she said she'd be back with juice.

DP: That's your favourite film star there. Lassie, your favourite film star!

SI: Aw aye! [laughs]

HD: [addressing SI] Do you mind of [remember] Romeo from the Garngad?

SI: Who?

HD: The mother used to go to the pictures in her bare feet. Her son was, eh, called Terry Romey and he was in the gang from the Garngad. The Romey boys.

SI: I can't say I do.

HD: You should because you're older than me!

SI: Aye, Much! [laughs]

HD: Not that much! Not that much.

VB: [to SI] Did you get a cup of tea, or--?

SI: She's bringing a juice [inaudible; overtalking].

DP: Can't take you anywhere.

SI: I know! [laughs] [coughs]

VB: Some of these stars, [indicating book], I must say, I've not heard of someone like, Marla Shelton?

DP: Haven't heard of her.

VB: Naw.

DP: Marla Shelton?

SI: I'm looking at this and I'm looking at that! Oh no! I met Kathy and she 00:39:00looked at me as much as to say "Are you stupid?" [laughs]

HD: That Peter Lorre, he was another bad one.

DP: Aye, he was good.

HD: I saw him in his very first film.

DP: Did you?

HD: And he had killed a wee lassie, and somebody had got chalk and put "M" on his back [referring to M]. And they were all hunting for him, and he was supposed to be trying to hide but -- he was running about with the "M" on his back! [laughs]

SI: [laughs]

HD: They finally got him.

SI: [laughs]

HD: And Warner Oland.

DP: Aye, Warner Oland.

HD: Charlie Chan.

DP: Chinaman.

HD: Oh he, we used to see him every week.

DP: Aw!

HD: Mind he was in a film every week!

SI: I liked Charlie Chan.

HD: Aye.

SI: Films, I [laughing]

KY: Maybe you were one of his wives!

[general laughter]

KY: Maybe you were one of his wives!

SI: [laughs] Oh! I liked Charlie!

VB: Mhm.

DP: You liked all the Easy Street [referring to the Charlie Chaplin film].

SI: God, he used to lodge on St George's Road at one time.

DP: Did you see him in Easy Street?

SI: [laughs]

DP: Polish, he was a Pole.

VB: Mhm. It was a good one actually.

SI: He was always down at that big pub down the road at the town, you know, 00:40:00where all the broken-down stars go.

DP: That's right.

SI: And the ones that was coming up and-- [laughs] They all sent home there. Oh I loved Charlie Chaplin! I thought he was great!

KY: Did you mind his stick?

[general laughter]

VB: oh dear!

[laughter continues]

VB: There were some good, good comedians weren't there?

SI: Oh aye.

VB: Did you like, did you like the Marx brothers?

SI: Well, I think in those days people was easier pleased.

HD: [laughs]

SI: [laughing] Because, [laughs] we hadn't the money to go anywhere.

HD: Naw.

SI: Couldn't go very far, anyway, you know? I'm talking for myself. [laughs]

HD: They were good all the same.

SI: And eh...

HD: They had to depend on their actions and their facial movements, you know?

SI: Aye.

HD: Not like what you have now they can do anything with them.

SI: No there were some, some [inaudible]

VB: Aye.

DP: So they were, they were great.

SI: Uhuh.

[distribution of juice and tea to all; payments made, discussion of quality of drinks]

VB: You were saying there, just before they, she came in, you were saying that you didn't like the Marx brothers very much?

DP: Ah, I didn't care for them that much.

KY: They were kind of daft, daftness in them.

VB: 'Cause there was another one, was it the Ritz Brothers?

HD: The Ritz brothers? They were in evening dress?

VB: Yeah.

DP: Oh aye, they were good.

VB: I've heard, I've heard of them but I've not seen them.

HD: Aye, they were in evening dress.

DP: Aye.

HD: But the Marx Brothers were--

DP: I didn't like them.

HD: I know.

VB: Aye.

HD: They were too silly looking. [laughs]

[sound of rustling; cups being passed around]

VB: 'Cause you mentioned the Keystone Cops the last time as well. Were they--

SI: That's fine, eh, they were good.

[drink passed to VB]

VB: That's great, thanks. I mean some of the, the child stars as well that we mentioned but didn't really have a chance to talk about were, I mean Shirley Temple, I think, came up as well.

HD: Mhm.

VB: Was she someone that you enjoyed, her, or--?

DP: Aw, I liked her, she was quite good.

VB: Aye.

HD: 'The Good Ship Lollipop' [from Bright Eyes].

DP: Aye, 'The Good Ship Lollipop'.

HD: Her curls, what's her name?

DP: Margaret O'Brien.

VB: Margaret O'Brien.

DP: Margaret O'Brien. [laughs]

SI: Oh they used to get her big lips! [starts singing] "On the good ship"--

[all join in singing "Lollipop"; general laughter]

DP: 'Course she could dance a wee bit and aw, Shirley Temple.

HD: Aye.

[general laughter]

HD: I mean she went into politics.

SI: Aye!

DP: So she did. Aye.

KY: Oh they'll never bring they days back to us.

DP: Naw, no.

KY: [inaudible]

DP: Nowadays it's a slow [boat?]. [laughs]

VB: How did you feel when you were going to the pictures?

DP: Great.

HD: Top of the world. Great.

VB: Yeah.

KY: [inaudible; overtalking] I wished I could go every day of the week!

HD: No, we couldn't get very often.

DP: Couldn't get there very often.

VB: Yeah.

SI: You collected all the messages [shopping] for people. Maybe get a ha'penny. 00:44:00Or a penny.

HD: Aye.

[general laughter]

VB: Aye.

SI: "Needing any messages?"[general laughter]

KY: [inaudible; overtalking] a penny. One pence.

SI: [laughing]

[inaudible; overtalking]

VB: Yeah.

HD: Oh, it was a ha'penny to Alexander Park and a penny to Riddrie.

[someone comes in and asks if anyone needs anything, all decline]

VB: 'Cause I mean was wondering, as well, I mean did you feel that, when you were seeing these stars a lot, did you feel that you got to know them, or were they always?

HD: They were relatives! [laughs]

VB: Aye! [laughs]

HD: Friends of the family.

VB: Is that right? I mean, did you?

HD: Aye, we just thought we knew them, with seeing them so often. There wasn't so many, you know, with the time, well they came gradually.

VB: Aye.

[pause 2 seconds]

VB: I suppose when you were reading about them as well, as you say, maybe get to know a bit about them.

DP: Oh aye. Aye.

KY: Well these film books told you.

VB: Yeah.

HD: Aye, we talked about them as if we knew them. Mind when Rudolph Valentino died, all the young lassies were going about with their Valentino hats.

DP: Aye, aye.

[general laughter]

VB: Really.

DP: They took off [inaudible] America, they did.

VB: Aye.

DP: Some of them were committing suicide.

HD: Aye, stupid wasn't it?

DP: Aye.

VB: Aw.

KY: [inaudible] We had a wee bunch of cherries hanging over, a bunch of cherries.

DP: Aye.

KY: That was your hat.

DP: Aye.

SI: Oh aye! [laughs]

[general laughter]

VB: I've heard, I've heard folk talking about the Deanna Durbin hats, as well. I don't know if you remember them--?

SI: Oh, you'd to get your hat!

HD: Naw, I don't mind her.

SI: Once you grew up a wee bit! [laughs] You'd to wear a hat! Bit of flowers! [laughs]

DP: [inaudible]

VB: I thought you might have seen them. Maybe your sister or-- [laughs]

DP: [laughs]

[multiple voices speaking at once]

HD: [Well they were like straw, they were like straw?]

SI: [inaudible] [laughing]

KY: My sister [inaudible].

HD: You could paint them different colours entirely.

VB: Right.

SI: Mind they big black hats we used to have?

HD: That's the ones I'm talking about, Valentino hats.

SI: Aye, aye.

VB: Right.

HD: Valentino hats.

SI: Oh aye, oh I had one of them! [laughs]

HD: Oh I didn't.

VB: They sound lovely, actually, from what you're saying. I mean, very stylish.

HD: Oh they were just like, eh, the Spanish hats.

VB: Yeah.

HD: With the big cord under it, hanging under the chin.

SI: If you were passing by, and with a crowd of young boys at the corner, they used to start singing, [laughs] "Valentino hat!" [general laughter] 'Cause they were making a fool of your hat! [laughs]

SI: Oh and your hat, you lacquered it all up! [laughs]

HD: And they used to sing! Aye, that's what I'm talking about, you lacquered them!

SI: [laughs] Oh! You got black lacquer on an old straw hat! [laughs]

HD: [laughing] That's right!

SI: And an artificial flower!

HD: And the smell of it! [laughs] Like the smell at that time, the smell of the lacquer was rotten. [general laughter] He used to do all the Sheik songs, didn't he?

[uproarious laughter]

HD: He used to do all the Sheik songs, 'The Sheik of Araby' and The Desert Song and all them.

VB: Ah.

HD: Aw, walking up the street.

SI: Aw, you felt great, too.

HD: You thought you were--

SI: Great, didn't you? [general laughter] Well I thought I was great, anyway! [laughs]

HD: You were a toff!

SI: Decked in a straw hat! [laughs]

HD: I paid, I paid one up, you know that shop?

SI: Aye.

HD: Three and eleven, and I'd to pay it up!

SI: Oh, when I got my own, I [inaudible] got one out [of] a shop.

HD: It was lovely, green covered with a kind of sort of bell and ribbons hanging at the side. [laughs] You've got a comedian there!

DP: An Easter bonnet with a tie.

SI: Pocket money you got, that would have lasted you until you got down the stair! [laughs]

HD: Aw it was money I got for going messages [shopping] for people, I wasn't allowed out to work.

SI: Well I used to go messages for hire, "Wanting any messages?" [shopping] [laughs] Or get somebody else to! [laughs]

HD: Get a shilling or sixpence.

[general laughter]

SI: Oh they were great days, weren't they, when you look back, you see all the waste you have now, it's ridiculous.

HD: So it is.

SI: Oh.

HD: The young ones'll not ever believe it.

SI: Oh no.

HD: They don't believe it.

SI: "Och, that was in the old days," that's what I get told.

HD: Aye.

SI: I says, "I'm not that bloody old, to still mind in the old days!" [laughs]

KY: They're only sixty.

SI: Pardon?

KY: [louder] Even when you get to the top there, they're only sixty.

SI: Sixty! [laughs]

[carer comes in with gingerbread, this is passed around; discussion of diabetes 00:49:00and who is allowed to have gingerbread in the group]

DP: [looking at book] Oh, Jimmy Cagney.

VB: Aw yeah.

SI: [inaudible; so much food?] I'll never know.

VB: Oh yeah.

DP: A rare dancer too.

VB: Aw, he's great. I like that Yankee Doodle Dandy. He was great in that.

DP: He was good in that.

SI: What time is it now?

KY: [inaudible] James Cagney.

HD: Twenty-five past.

VB: Oh right.

HD: Twenty past. [pause 2 seconds] Twenty past two. [inaudible] twenty past three. [inaudible]

DP: [laughs]

VB: These are good, I haven't--

SI: I can't get them. [inaudible]

DP: He was great in gangster films.

VB: Aye.

DP: Aye.

VB: Aw he's great, I like Cagney as well. He's brilliant. What about Edward G. Robinson, was he someone you liked as well?

SI: Aw a big star, good stuff.

DP: He was all right in one of his films, I maybe seen him, I think, in one film, that's Al Capone [possibly referring to Little Caesar], he was in.

HD: Aye, he was nearly always a gangster him.

VB: Right.

HD: Aye, he was always a gangster.

DP: That's right.

HD: Aw you could never imagine him as a good one.

DP: Naw.

[pause 3 seconds]

VB: Ray Milland as well. [someone coughing]

DP: Aye.

SI: I used to like Ginger Rogers, I thought she was great.

HD: Who?

SI: [louder] Ginger Rogers. What a dancer.

HD: Aye.

DP: Oh aye. Val. [indicating photograph] Fred Astaire's wife.

VB: Oh right.

HD: Is that his wife?

SI: Aye, Freddie.

VB: She must be tiny actually 'cause he's, he wasn't very big, was he?

DP: Naw. Actually he's English, you know.

VB: Was he, originally?

DP: Born in London, in the East End.

VB: Really?

SI: Oh dear, it's cold in here.

HD: Are you cold, Sarah?

SI: Yes.

VB: He was good at that, erm, Top Hat.

SI: I'm always cold!

VB: Aye.

SI: Am I set for "You know where!" [inaudible; bye, bye winching?]

[general laughter]

HD: I was just winching [courting] when that one came out, Top Hat.

VB: Top Hat? Right. Was that one that you went to?

HD: I went to some of them, aye!

DP: That was a great actress, that-- [indicating photograph]

VB: Barbara Stanwyck?

DP: She was a great act.

[pause 2 seconds]

KY: [inaudible]

VB: Patricia Ellis?

KY: See with some of the style of hats that's coming out at the--

VB: Yeah.

HD: Aye, they're bringing out hats now in, and dressing lassies, like, feminine.

VB: Yeh.

DP: Aye.

HD: I don't know who brought that style out for the lassies, aw it was terrible. You know, shapeless. And one thing hiding below the other, it was just awful.

VB: Mhm--

SI: That's the way they're going about the now the girls with their shirts hanging out.

HD: Aye, but they're, they're doing away with them now.

SI: Aye.

VB: Mhm.

HD: Some designers came in and says it was ridiculous, whoever, he had this.

SI: Aye.

HD: This studs, designer for herself.

VB: Mhm.

[HD explains she has problems with her throat because of her inhaler which makes her throat grate; SI shares similar issue. Meanwhile DP is still looking at book]

DP: There's Shirley Temple.

[conversation continuing between HD and SI about Ventolin inhaler]

VB: She's amazing, isn't she?

[multiple voices at once; inaudible]

VB: Did children like Shirley Temple more or, do you think, or--?

DP: Oh aye, oh aye.

VB: 'Cause I was wondering about that.

DP: Shirley Temple.

VB: Aye.

DP: Aye.

VB: [reading from book] Bluebeard's Eighth Wife, Gary Cooper.

DP: Aye, aye [laughs] He was good, He was a good star, though.

VB: Aye. See that Claudette Colbert was on in, erm, quite recently.

DP: She was good.

VB: Yeh--She was in that, erm, film with Ronald Colman where she was Cigarette [referring to Under Two Flags]

DP: Aye!

[general laughter]

HD: And Veronica Lake, she was the one that always had her hair over her eye, wasn't it! [laughs] You never saw her without her.

DP: Hair.

HD: [laughs]

VB: Did you like Claudette Colbert?

HD: Aw aye, she was good. Aye, she was black-haired like you are, awful dark.

VB: Yep.

SI: Have you got a lot of exams to do yet?

VB: Not too much, no. I'm finished more or less.

SI: [inaudible].

VB: Just keep going. [laughs]

SI: Ah, that's good-- Aw, you'll get there. You look as if you can handle it. [laughs]

VB: Oh, I don't know about that.

HD: How long are they going to keep you on this course?

VB: Well, it's not actually a course. It's erm, I'm working at the university, and eh, it's a two-year project, so we're talking to folk in Glasgow and we're also going to go down south and talk to folk in Manchester and in London, and the idea is to get some sort of idea about what it was like to go to the pictures from all these different places, so hopefully there'll be some things in common, and differences as well. Erm, so--

SI: [coughs]

VB: There'll probably be a book or something coming out that, eventually, but, ah well. [tape cuts out]

[End of Interview]