Saturday morning pictures or Saturday morning theatre were film shows put on in British cinemas between the 1920s and 1970s for children. They were shown on Saturday mornings and the price was normally 6d (2½p). At their peak, nearly 2,000 British cinemas put on a Saturday children’s matinee show, but by 1978 this had dropped to 300.[1] Attendances in 1971 were over 800,000 per week.[2]
Films shown included comedy classics, cowboy and adventure films, cartoons, ‘’Zorro’’, ‘’Batman’’ episodes and also films produced by the Children's Film Foundation.[1] The programme often included community singing of songs such as Do-re-mi, with a pointer tracing the lyrics on the screen to help the audience follow. The ABC chain promoted its “Minors Matinees” as providing ‘’Good films, good fun and good fellowship”.[3]
On 5 October 2013 the Cinema Museum in Kennington, London recreated a Saturday Morning Pictures show, with ticket prices between £3 and £5.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Roberts, Andrew (9 September 2010). "How the Children's Film Foundation once dominated Saturday morning cinema". The Guardian.
- ^ "The Young Audiences". Kinematograph Weekly. 7 August 1958. p. 5. Retrieved 16 December 2023 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ ABC Minors - Saturday Morning Pictures on YouTube
- ^ "Saturday Morning Pictures » The Cinema Museum, London".
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