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Union Street, Aberdeen
2775 A Davidson Bros. "Real Photographic" Series postcard looking east up Union Street. The image likely dates from the early 20th century. Before the junction with Back Wynd can be seen the Queen's Restaurant at 120 Union Street and R. Hunter, Chemist at 118.
The building at the junction of Union Street and Back Wynd was initially built in 1837 to a design by John Smith. It was the first purpose built home of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen.
Doreathea Bruce, in her history of the Society, explains that they sold the building in 1870 after construction of the the new, James Matthew designed, Advocates' Hall in Concert Court.
The old hall was bought by Lockhart & Salmond, confectioners, and later functioned as a restaurant and as a cinema. Bruce suggests the building became known as Queen's after it was decorated by City Architect John Smith shortly after Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert in 1840.
Her full history of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen can be read in Aberdeen University Review, LVI, no. 195, Spring 1996. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picture House / Gaumont
3404 Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson explains that by 1950 the Picture House was owned by the Rank Organisation. The British entertainment conglomerate had acquired various cinema exhibition companies: British-Gaumont, Odeon, and the Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (successor company to Associated Provincial Picture Houses). As part of business rationalisation, on 22nd March 1950 the Picture House was rebranded as The Gaumont.
Thomson's Silver Screen indicates that the Gaumont's vertical neon sign dates from the time of the rebranding. In 1956 the design of the cinema was further updated. This saw the introduction of the illuminated canopy and use of the beech design shown here in the redeveloped interior and exterior, replacing the pillars of the Picture House era. A new marble backed fireplace replaced the old one that had been a well-known feature of the cinema since its opening in 1914. The projection equipment and seating were also modernised. This night-time image from the Aberdeen Journals Archive accompanied an article about the Gaumont's new look in the Evening Express of 19th April 1956.
The image shows promotion for a number of films on the cinema's updated exterior: The Rose Tattoo with Burt Lancaster and Anna Magnani, Flight from Vienna and Aberdeen Photographic Service's presentation of A Photographic Review of the Royal Tour of Nigeria.
The manager at the time of the Gaumont's redesign was Mr. R. E. Miller. He had managed the cinema since January 1948. In early 1951 Miller converted the upstairs restaurant area, which had laid empty since 1928, into a gallery space. Known as the Gaumont Gallery, it was ideal for photographic exhibitions and was in frequent use well into the 1960s.
Thomson states that during this period Mary Garden, the retired opera singer who returned to Aberdeen in 1939, was something of a regular at the Gaumont. This well-known and much-loved figure would be escorted to her seat by the cinema's commissionaire George Repper, who was also a popular and familiar figure. Repper worked at the Gaumont from 1940 to 1964 and his job was to shepherd queues, attend to patrons and ensure all progressed smoothly.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. HMT Programme
253 The front cover of a programme for His Majesty's Theatre from 21st April 1930. The cover is typical of programmes for the Rosemount theatre at this time. This featured show is the Aberdeen Student's annual review, Northern Lights. The proceeds from the performances went to the Aberdeen hospitals. The programme was printed by the Aberdeen University Press. Love on the Dole: a play in three acts
364 This is the reverse side of a promotional sheet designed in the format of a newspaper, entitled Theatre News, advertising the play Love on the Dole.
It was an adaptation of the influential 1932 novel by Walter Greenwood. It played at His Majesty's Theatre in the week commencing 23rd September 1935.
The front side features photographs of Greenwood and playwright, Ronald Gow, and a large number positive review excerpts. Tragedy of Douglas; or, The Noble Shepherd
488 This broadside advertises a play on Saturday 20th November 1813 at the Theatre Royal on Marischal Street. The play is Douglas; or, The Noble Shepherd. Printed locally by John Booth of North Street, the broadside modestly declares the play to be of equal quality to any production outside of London.
Accompanying the play were comical songs, a ballad, and a reworking of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew by David Garrick, titled Catharine & Petruchio.
The broadside indicates locations that tickets may be bought, the "Public Library" and the "Musical Repository", and other productions available for viewing. The play's cheapest ticket, for the gallery, cost 1 shilling. This was approximately half a shilling shy of the cost of a loaf of bread (Aberdeen Journal, 7th July 1813).
Douglas was a five-act tragedy authored by John Homes. Performed first in 1756 Edinburgh, it was a resounding success, with productions put on across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, travelling as far a field as North America. That being said, that week's edition of Aberdeen's Journal only gave the announcement of the play's arrival one line, buried in the third page.
The play's contents was often changed by Home, depending on its audience. The play examines the deep tension between Scotland's people and its nationhood, particularly in regard to Scotland's cultural independence from Britain. On the play's first night in 1756, the play so inspired one playgoer with patriotism that he shouted "Whar's yer Wully Shakespeare noo!" in the middle of the performance. (Megan Stoner Morgan, Scottish Literary Review, vol. 4, no. 1 (2012)).
The play also left a deep impression on the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume. Regarding the broadside, it is interesting to note that Douglas, not the Shakespearean comedy, was the headline act.
The play's protagonist, Douglas, is played by an H. Johnston, most likely a 36-year-old Henry Erskine Johnston. A portrait of him playing the title role is held at the National Portrait Gallery. Impressively, he also serves as Petruchio in Garrick's Catherine & Petruchio. Likewise, other actors play characters in both productions. |