Old Cinemas in the City
Dublin Core
Title
Old Cinemas in the City
Subject
Fergal Crowley's recollections of all the cinemas in Cork city
Description
A description of all the cinemas in Cork city and the varying and distinctly different experiences they offered, from what was considered the best to the worst.
Transcript
"I've great memories too of the old cinemas. I can name all the cinemas. In Patrick Street, we had The Savoy, the building is still there. The Pavilion, that building is still there as well, and the Lee, that is three. You had one then on Grand Parade, The Capitol, that is four. You had The Ritz on Washington Street, five. You had the famous Assembs on the South Mall, six. You had The Imperial, Myahs it was known as in Oliver Plunkett Street, that's 8. And then, out at Blackpool you had a place called The Lido. Well-known as well. They were all within the city centre. Oh sorry within the city like. Well, The Savoy was the best of them because in The Savoy, before the main film there was an organ and it came up from the pit, and all the songs were up on the screen, and we'd have 'the banks of my own lovely Lee', or whatever and all the cinema audience would be joining in the songs. Then there was a girl used to go around selling ice cream and she had a light. She used, there used to be wolf whistling and the poor girl got an awful time. And then at the side of The Savoy, down the side street there was stone steps all the way up to The Gods, they called it. The Gods was the cheap place. There was over a hundred steps imagine, t'was christened Everest at the time. The, Oh Yes, I forgot, I didn't mention McCurtain Street. There's two more, Palace and The Coliseum. The Everyman palace, and that was a cinema. I remember they had a Gods upstairs and they were all timber seats. And you'd get in for something like four old pence. They had a Gods as well in The Opera House. The old opera house was a lovely building. It was a kind of rounded, the one that's there now is more like an office. In the opera house then they had, at the side of the opera house facing the quay they had iron steps going up to the gods as they called it. You could see right over here, lovely view. And when you got up to the gods again, they had these timber seats like. I remember getting into the opera house one time, to one of the matinees for sixpence which was miserable like in today's terms. The Savoy and The Pavilion were the best and Palace was fairly good too, and The Coliseum. The Assembly Rooms then was kind of a rough place. There was a place then, as I say, on Oliver Plunkett Street called The Imperial. It was christened Lourdes. Someone said if you went in crippled, you'd come out walking. Walking with fleas. I mean the hygiene in those days wasn't the best."
Transcript
"I've great memories too of the old cinemas. I can name all the cinemas. In Patrick Street, we had The Savoy, the building is still there. The Pavilion, that building is still there as well, and the Lee, that is three. You had one then on Grand Parade, The Capitol, that is four. You had The Ritz on Washington Street, five. You had the famous Assembs on the South Mall, six. You had The Imperial, Myahs it was known as in Oliver Plunkett Street, that's 8. And then, out at Blackpool you had a place called The Lido. Well-known as well. They were all within the city centre. Oh sorry within the city like. Well, The Savoy was the best of them because in The Savoy, before the main film there was an organ and it came up from the pit, and all the songs were up on the screen, and we'd have 'the banks of my own lovely Lee', or whatever and all the cinema audience would be joining in the songs. Then there was a girl used to go around selling ice cream and she had a light. She used, there used to be wolf whistling and the poor girl got an awful time. And then at the side of The Savoy, down the side street there was stone steps all the way up to The Gods, they called it. The Gods was the cheap place. There was over a hundred steps imagine, t'was christened Everest at the time. The, Oh Yes, I forgot, I didn't mention McCurtain Street. There's two more, Palace and The Coliseum. The Everyman palace, and that was a cinema. I remember they had a Gods upstairs and they were all timber seats. And you'd get in for something like four old pence. They had a Gods as well in The Opera House. The old opera house was a lovely building. It was a kind of rounded, the one that's there now is more like an office. In the opera house then they had, at the side of the opera house facing the quay they had iron steps going up to the gods as they called it. You could see right over here, lovely view. And when you got up to the gods again, they had these timber seats like. I remember getting into the opera house one time, to one of the matinees for sixpence which was miserable like in today's terms. The Savoy and The Pavilion were the best and Palace was fairly good too, and The Coliseum. The Assembly Rooms then was kind of a rough place. There was a place then, as I say, on Oliver Plunkett Street called The Imperial. It was christened Lourdes. Someone said if you went in crippled, you'd come out walking. Walking with fleas. I mean the hygiene in those days wasn't the best."
Creator
Cork Folklore Project
Source
CFP_SR00441_crowley_2011
Publisher
Cork Folklore Project
Date
27 April 2016
Contributor
Fergal Crowley
Rights
Cork Folklore Project
Format
Mp3
Language
English
Type
Audio
Identifier
CFP_SR00441_crowley_2011
Citation
Cork Folklore Project, “Old Cinemas in the City,” Cork Memory Map, accessed May 3, 2024, https://corkfolklore.org/cmm/items/show/54.