Blown away by Bond in local fleapit

I LIVED in Rotherham from the late 50s until 1970. It is hard to believe that it is now 50 years since the first James Bond film was released in 1962.

At that time, there were three remaining cinemas in Rotherham, The Odeon, the Essoldo and The Cinema House on Doncaster Gate. Dr No was actually a low-budget affair and did its rounds in the Rank organisation’s Odeon and Gaumont cinema circuit.

It was a supporting picture for the film Tom Jones. I went to the local Odeon to see the film and was blown away with Dr No. It very quickly became the talk of the town, but under contractual obligations Rank could only show it at the Odeon for two weeks before it had to be released to the second-run cinemas.

The Cinema House was known as the local fleapit — tiny screen, sound often out of synch, and a shadow of its former self. The Odeon, with its 1,545 seats, massive screen and superior sound had nothing to fear from the competition, except Dr No was then released in its own right and went straight to the Cinema House.

People were queuing all up Doncaster Gate and Wellgate for the next few weeks. It was good to see this little cinema having a second wind before it went to bingo a couple of years later.

On another note, I remember the cinema, instead of showing a film, had a chap playing a piano non-stop for a week to break a world record. If anyone can shed some light on this I would be most grateful.

Andrew Roberts, Alkington Road, Whitchurch, Shropshire