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Royal Medical Corps Portrait II
2147 This is another World War I era portrait of a soldier. The badge on his cap and the two-bar chevron on his arm indicate that he was a corporal in The Royal Army Medical Corps. The swagger stick held in his left hand is a symbol of his authority as an officer. Aberdeen Theatres: Sweet Red Riding Hood
3357 By selecting Red Riding Hood for the opening pantomime, the director of His Majesty Theatre, Mr Robert Arthur, made a happy hit as the traditional children's story attracted many people, young and old.
As a pantomime, the story of Little Red Riding Hood got somewhat lost in the musical and operatic melange but the performance was well applauded by both the public and the press. The pantomime, written by Frank Dix and composed by Jullien H. Wilson, was divided into two acts - the first in four scenes and the second in five. This "Book of Words" programme contains the script, photographs of the actors and some local adverts.
For the first two nights of the pantomime, bookings were reserved for debenture and preference shareholders only, of which there were a considerable number, as nearly all the money for the new building had been raised locally.
The pantomime, which ran till the end of the year, was greeted with whole-hearted applause from start to finish. Aberdeen Cinemas: Coliseum / New Kinema / Belmont
3437 The cinema on Belmont Street had operated as the Belmont from 24th June 1935. On 4th January 1938 it was announced that James F. Donald (Aberdeen Cinemas) Ltd. had acquired a controlling share in Caledonian Theatres, who ran the Majestic on Union Street and the Belmont. Michael Thomson credits Caledonian Theatres' financial difficulties at this time to their inability to book the best films.
An organisation known as the Ship Contractors' and Ship Wrights' Association had a right to sell bond on the Belmont Street property that included both the cinema and the headquarters of the Aberdeen Trades Council. From 1946 onwards the aforementioned association tried to sell the property and this was contested by the Trades Council. This fight went all the way to the House of Lords but the Trades Council's appeal was dismissed in January 1949.
Caledonian Theatres had attempted to purchase the building outright from the Ship Contractors' and Ship Wrights' Association but this sale was interrupted by the Aberdeen Sheriff Court following an appeal from the Trades Council. In the end the building was sold to the NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) in February 1952 to be converted into their new Aberdeen headquarters.
Following this sale, the Belmont cinema closed on down 29th March 1952. Its final film was The Steel Helmet an American film, directed by Samuel Fuller, about the Korean War.
In mid-1956 NAAFI moved its accounts operations out of Aberdeen and put the block up for sale. On 22nd April 1958 the Clydesdale Supply Co. Ltd. moved from premises at 111/2 Rose Street to the former Trades Hall and cinema at 49 Belmont Street. The large premises were employed as the warehouse for the company's wide range of clothing, household goods, furniture, radios, televisions and radiograms. Clydesdale appear to have occupied the building until around 1962.
This Aberdeen Journals Archive photograph from 1966 likely shows the building when it was unoccupied.
During the early 1980s the building was used as a carpet showroom. In October 1994 plans were announced by Aberdeen City Council to create a media centre at 49 Belmont Street. This included three cinema screens, educational facilities and a café bar. The building was converted for this purpose but funding could not be secured for its operation.
The revamped cinema finally opened as The Belmont Picturehouse in September 2000 and was operated by the Picturehouse company. This firm was later bought by Cineworld and had to relinquish the lease on The Belmont in adherence with competition law. In 2014, the Centre for the Moving Image was selected to take on its management and the much-loved cinema became the Belmont Filmhouse.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. The Foundry
4409 A photograph of The Foundry pub and restaurant at 41-43 Holburn Street taken on 21st March 2024.
43 Holburn Street, today The Foundry, was built in around 1915/16 as a motor showroom and workshop for Mr. John Harper, engineer of Bournemouth, to a design by architect George B. Mitchell (Aberdeen Daily Journal, 20th September 1915, p. 4).
In November 1916, during the First World War, the Harper Motor Company put their new garage, at the junction of Holburn Street and Justice Mill Lane, at the disposal of the Red Cross. The commodious building, ideal for transport work, became the headquarters of the Aberdeen Transport Section of the Red Cross Society (Evening Express, 21st November 1916, p. 5).
43 Holburn Street was occupied and in use by the Harper Motor Company until at least 1979. In 1986, George Dowdles, who had ran a roller skating rink called Rollerland Disco in Bon-Accord Terrace, proposed to turn the premises into a leisure centre for teenagers (Press & Journal, 19th June 1986, p. 3).
The new venture at 43 Holburn Street was to be a soda and burger café modelled on the TV show Happy Days and called Up The Junction. It opened in October 1986 (P&J, 10th October 1986, p. 3).
Up The Junction appears to have struggled financially and 43 Holburn Street was remodelled and opened as Rollerland Mark II in August 1987 (EE, 22nd February 1988, p. 8). The original Rollerland skating rink had been on the second floor of 5 Bon-Accord Terrace and operated from 26th June 1981 to mid-1986.
Rollerland on Holburn Street was briefly owned by Cove Rangers football club and was temporarily renamed Wheels Leisure Centre. George Dowdles remained its manager (P&J, 1st April 1989, p. 1). The venue was reopened as Rollerland under the ownership of Aberdeen District Council in July 1989. DJs Robin Galloway and Gary Stein provided music for a reopening gala night (EE, 27th July 1989, p. 5).
Rollerland finally closed in February 1991 on safety grounds. Water leaks had warped the floor making it unsafe for skating. The venue had struggled financially and the estimated cost of repair was too large (P&J, 18th September 1991, p. 3). In June 1995, there was a significant fire in the building (EE, 19 June 1995, p. 2).
In September 1995, the company Alloa Pubs and Restaurants, who had leased the building from the District Council, unveiled plans for a £500,000 transformation of the run-down property. It was to be turned into a prestige bar-diner called The Granary, with a lay-out based on the company's Glasgow venue of the same name (EE, 16th September 1995, p. 7).
With a final redevelopment cost of £600,000, The Granary opened to the public on 6th February 1996 (P&J, 7th February 1996, p. 11).
A search of Aberdeen City valuation rolls indicates that by April 2005 The Granary had changed its name to The Foundry. At the time, The Foundry was operated by Mitchell & Butlers, one of the largest restaurant and pub businesses in the UK.
Mitchell & Butlers own the O'Neill's chain of Irish pubs, the first branch of which opened at 9-10 Back Wynd, Aberdeen on 22nd September 1994. This was formerly the premises of the Tappit Hen pub (P&J, 16th September 1994, p. 3).
In 2010, Mitchell & Butlers disposed of 333 of their town and community pubs to the Stonegate Pub Company. This likely included The Foundry ('Our history' page on Mitchell & Butlers website: https://www.mbplc.com/about-us/our-history/: accessed 22/03/2024).
In November 2023, The Foundry reopened to the public following a brief closure for a significant redevelopment. Backed by a £277,000 investment from the Stonegate Group, the UK's largest pub company, the work aimed to shift the venue from a sports-focused pub to a more family-friendly food destination. The exterior design changed from a black and gold colour scheme to the red and gold of Aberdeen Football Club (Aberdeen Business News, 23rd November 2023, https://aberdeenbusinessnews.co.uk/the-foundry-unveils-stylish-transformation-after-major-investment/: accessed 22/03/2024).
Treasure 26: Sweet Red Riding Hood, His Majesty's Theatre, 1906
199 Monday 3 December 1906, 7.30pm. His Majesty's Theatre opens its doors to a brilliant audience and a grand production of the pantomime "Red Riding Hood". Our month's treasure features the pantomime's "Book of Words" printed to promote the event. Few things have been more intimately associated with Christmas than the popular family entertainment known by the name of pantomime.
The word, borrowing of Latin pantomimus (mime, dancer) and coming from the Greek pantóminos ("imitator of all") took the meaning of a drama or play performed without words at the beginning of the 18th Century. Later traditionally performed at Christmas, it incorporates colourful costumes, slapstick comedy, songs and audience participation...
Plots of pantomimes include a number of stock character types: the "principal boy" (the central young male figure, who is sometimes played by a female actor), the "pantomime dame" (always played by a male actor in drag), the villain and other comic characters. In "Sweet Red Riding Hood" at His Majesty's Theatre in 1906, loud calls were directed at the players; Miss Lyuba Lova, a reportedly fascinating Red Riding Hood, Miss Winifried Harbord as Boy Blue and Mr Willie Garvey who made a most amusing Mother Hubbard.
By selecting "Red Riding Hood" for the opening pantomime, the director of His Majesty Theatre, Mr Robert Arthur, made a happy hit as the traditional children's story attracted many people, young and old. Because it was a pantomime, the legend got almost lost in the musical and operatic melange but the performance was well applauded by both the public and the press. The pantomime, written by Frank Dix and composed by Jullien H. Wilson, was divided into two acts - the first in four scenes and the second in five scenes. The "Book of Words" contains the script, photographs of the actors and some local adverts.
For the first two nights of the pantomime, bookings were reserved for Debenture and Preference shareholders only, of which there were a considerable number, as nearly all the money for the new building has been raised locally. The pantomime, which ran till the end of the year, was greeted with whole-hearted applause from start to finish.
Treasure 41: Mary Garden Record Collection
210 We hold a number of original vinyl records in our collections, including those of Mary Garden, a local girl who found global fame as an opera singer in the early 20th Century.
Born at 35 Charlotte Street on 20 February 1874, Mary Garden left her native Aberdeen around the age of nine when the family moved to America in search of better opportunities and a new life.
After a period of uncertainty and several moves, a young Mary accepted a role as a childminder in Chicago, with payment taking the form of singing lessons to further her obvious interest. By 1896, Mary had shown sufficient progress that she accompanied her tutor to Paris in a quest to pursue a career in opera.
Mary's first big break came in 1900, when she performed in the new opera, Louise after the main star became unwell. A series of leading roles followed in 1901, including Thaïs, Manon and Madame Chrysanthème. For the next decade, Mary courted both limelight and controversy as she portrayed leading characters on stage, while being romantically linked to various composers and directors off-stage. Adding fuel to these fires of speculation, Claude Debussy chose Garden to create the title role of his new play, Mélisande, overruling the preference of his own librettist.
At the outbreak of the First World War, Mary attempted to enlist in the French army - but with her identity discovered, she instead turned to nursing at a hospital in Versailles. When she returned to America, she continued to raise funds for the French Red Cross. Her efforts during both war and peacetime generated awards from Serbia and France.
Mary appeared in two silent films - the first released in 1918 - but she found difficulty adapting to the new medium and this separate career never took off. She returned to her first passion and continued to perform in opera until the mid-1930s.
In 1921, Mary was offered the role of director of the Chicago Opera Association, and as she was still performing - undertook both roles with fervour. Under her tenure, the Association took on many new and exciting artists and works.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Mary chose to remain in Paris, until the German invasion forced her to escape, leaving all of her possessions behind. In June 1940, she returned to Aberdeen but the lure of teaching the next operatic generation proved too strong and she once again travelled to America to coach young stars and give lectures in 1949-1950.
By this time, it appears that Mary's memory had started to suffer - evidenced by the 1951 autobiographical publication Mary Garden's Story which was riddled with factual errors. The book received disastrous reviews and possibly led to her decision to reside permanently in Aberdeen from 1954.
Mary died in 1967 in the House of Daviot, a country hospital near Inverurie, aged 92. Fifty friends attended a small ceremony. A small commemorative plaque is located at 41 Dee Street where the Garden family lived, and a small garden is dedicated to her memory in Craigie Loanings.
Although she remains relatively little known in her native Aberdeen, Mary's legacy is considerable in the United States - particularly in Chicago where her stewardship of the Opera Association is still remembered fondly.
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