Extract from Ida Jarron's letter to Stephen Peart
Ida Jarron wrote to Stephen Peart (author of "The Picture House in East Anglia") in the late Summer of 1995 in response to his call in the East Anglian press for volunteers to take part in Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain; and in December 1995 she took part in CCINTB’s postal questionnaire survey. Born in Gorleston, Norfolk, in 1921, Mrs Jarron grew up in Great Yarmouth: her father was a garage manager and accountant, her mother a housewife. She left school at the age of eighteen and her first job was in teaching. She moved to Edinburgh after marrying in 1943 and--women of her generation being obliged to leave the teaching profession on marriage--she became a housewife, took on charitable work, and joined the WRVS [Women’s Royal Voluntary Service].
Writing from her home in Edinburgh, she informs Stephen Peart that she had seen his letter in the local newspaper during a recent trip to Gorleston. Alongside recollections of the first films she saw, she remembers attending the opening ceremony of the Regal in Gorleston, at which Merle Oberon was present; and also recalls Saturday afternoon cinema visits in Yarmouth when she was older. Enclosed with her completed questionnaire was a letter noting that
Jean Gowing, her friend in Gorleston, kept a record of all the films she saw from the mid to the late 1930s and collected photos of film stars: “If you are interested, she would be pleased for you to have them.” This offer was enthusiastically accepted.