no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
(3 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown) | |||
Line 5:
|short description=The '''Rothwell Empire Cinema''' was a cinema that opened on 8th May 1913. The cinema closed between 1933 and 1935.
|long description=By October 1935, the cinema had been converted into the Empire Ballroom and was given a new modern façade. It was replaced by Blackburn Hall in 1959, which is now a community theatre and centre with a flat floored auditorium and new stage constructed behind the former screen proscenium.
|image=Leodis-ID-2018425 176604.jpeg
|caption=
|alt=A grainy black and white image of a street lined with buildings. On the street is a tram. A few people can be seen on the pavements.
|aka=Empire Ballroom
|building type=Cinema
Line 23:
|map icon=20th Icon.svg}}
==History==
▲[[File:Leodis-ID-2018414 176580.jpeg|left|frame|'''On the left, opposite the tram, is the Rothwell Empire Cinema.'''<br/> By kind permission of Leeds Libraries, [https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/122720 Leodis.net].]]
The Rothwell Empire Cinema opened on the 8th May 1913 with a capacity of over 650. The opening was attended by local dignitaries, including councillors and clergy. The first manager was J. Maurice Woffenden.<ref>(The Bioscope, 1913)</ref> The price of a ticket in 1913 was 2d., 4d. or 6d. for adults and half price for children, expect for 2d. seats.<ref>(Skyrack Courier, 1913)</ref> In 2017, those prices would equate to approximately £0.65, £1.30 and £1.95.<ref>(Currency converter: 1270–2017, no date)</ref>
[[File:Leodis-ID-2018414 176580.jpeg|left|thumb|'''On the left, opposite the tram, is the Rothwell Empire Cinema.'''<br/> By kind permission of Leeds Libraries, [https://www.leodis.net/viewimage/122720 Leodis.net].]]
In July 1924, during a children's pageant, a piece of buring carbon fell from the limelight apparatus and set fire to a girl's dress. Her mother, Mrs. Hirst, said that she was unharmed.<ref>(Yorkshire Post, 1924)</ref>
Line 36 ⟶ 37:
The cinema closed sometime between 1933 and 1935 as it is listed in the ''Kinematograph Year Book'' for 1933<ref>(1933 Kinematograph Year Book, 1933, p.495)</ref> but is listed as closed in the 1935 year book.<ref>(1935 Kinematograph Year Book, 1935, p.546)</ref>
===Empire Ballroom===
The Rothwell Empire Cinema was known as the Empire Ballroom by 29th October 1935, when the Yorkshire Post reported that [
===Blackburn Hall===
''See main article: [[Blackburn Hall]]''
Line 55 ⟶ 56:
*''Yorkshire Post'' (1924) ‘The Fire Incident at the Rothwell Empire’, 18 July, p. 3.
*''Yorkshire Post'' (1935) ‘Viscount Halifax at Rothwell’, 29 October, p. 12.
==See Also==
{{Place nav}}
|