抖阴探探App

Sarah Neely and Annette Kuhn

While work on Cinema Memory and the Digital Archive continues, the conclusion of the project鈥檚 Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded period was marked by a programme of events held in Glasgow, the city where the project began life thirty years ago as Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain (CCINTB). In the early 1990s Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) hosted a season of popular 1930s films, and a number of Glasgow鈥檚 surviving 1930s cinemagoers subsequently gave interviews about their youthful cinemagoing.

Celebrations were launched at the GFT on Friday 7 October 2022 with 鈥楢n Afternoon at the Cosmo in the 1930s鈥�, featuring a special matinee screening of Un Carnet de Bal (1937, dir. Julien Duvivier).听 Based on the play 鈥楲e P茅cheur d鈥檕mbres鈥� by Jean Sarment, Un Carnet de Bal is the story of a recently widowed socialite who finds her first dance card, from twenty years earlier. Seeking to satisfy her romantic curiosity, she sets out to track down her dance partners and find out what has become of them. Described by its director as 鈥渁 love story whose main character is the past鈥�, Un Carnet de Bal proved a popular attraction for Glasgow鈥檚 filmgoers when the GFT (then known as the Cosmo) first opened its doors in May 1939.

Duvivier鈥檚 film was mentioned, unprompted, by two of CCINTB鈥檚 Glasgow interviewees, both of whom recall seeing it at the Cosmo–one of them on her wedding day:

鈥淔rench films were the great things聽when the Cosmo opened, and they were burgeoning in London at聽that time. There was a cinema, the Academy Cinema, which George Singleton who聽opened the Cosmo, he really learnt from. I think he got the same person to buy聽his films that bought films for the Academy. And things you read about, you聽know, suddenly they were available in Glasgow for the, for the first time. The聽opening film was a Julien Duvivier film,聽Un Carnet de Bal, it was an absolute,聽oh, a new world opened, you know, seeing that sort of thing.鈥� Tony Paterson, 29 November 1994 [TP-92-013AT001]

鈥淎ctually, I was at the opening of what was the Cosmo, it’s the Glasgow Film聽Theatre now. The, the owner of the Cosmo, one of his sons, was our best聽man, Jimmy Singleton. Erm, and when I got married and Jimmy was my husband’s聽best man, we got married very quickly, because the war started. 鈥� So the war was declared on the 3rd聽of September, and we got married on the 23rd. And we had a, just a very quiet聽wedding, with families, and from there we went to the Cosmo and we saw Un Carnet聽de Bal, eh, for the adults to go to that after the service, after we had a meal.听We got married about lunchtime, had lunch and then they took the, all the聽company to the cinema, to the Cosmo and saw Un Carnet聽de Bal. Including the聽minister! It was one of these cinemas, I don’t know if you know it, one聽of these films, where they were all going in and out each other’s bedrooms. My聽mum saying to the minister, 鈥淚 don’t think you knew that this聽sort of thing went on, did you?鈥� So after that the older folk all just聽went away and the younger ones went to the Plaza ballroom.鈥� Helen Smeaton, Glasgow, 23 January 1995 [HS-92-036AT001]

The GFT screening of Un Carnet de Bal was accompanied by a short film by CMDA artist-in-residence, Glasgow-based filmmaker Marissa Keating, about Thomas McGoran, one of the project鈥檚 original participants. Now in his nineties, Mr McGoran worked as a projectionist in Glasgow during the 1940s and was interviewed for CCINTB in November 1994 [TM-92-009AT001] and February 1995 [TM-92-009AT002]. After the screening a discussion took place between Mr McGoran and ourselves, with contributions from the audience.

鈥楢n Afternoon at the Cosmo鈥� was followed by a reception at Glasgow School of Art鈥檚 Reid Gallery. 鈥楪lasgow, Cinema City鈥�, an exhibition running at the Gallery between 1st and 11th October, was developed in collaboration with CMDA and showcased several of the project鈥檚 creative outputs: a suite of drawings of Glasgow cinemas by Mr McGoran commissioned 聽for a new audio walking tour created by sound artist Suzy Angus; a selection of his architectural drawings of other Glasgow landmarks; , a digital installation from theatre company imitating the dog; and Marissa Keating鈥檚 film, which includes scenes capturing Mr McGoran working on his Glasgow cinema drawings.

When the exhibition ended Mr McGoran鈥檚 cinema drawings were moved to the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow where they remained on show until mid-December. The exhibitions attracted many visitors and a good deal of press coverage, including pieces in the Glasgow and .

Thomas McGoran鈥檚 artworks continue to draw admirers.听 Following a recent exhibition of his paintings at the Forge Shopping Centre in Glasgow鈥檚 East End, he was featured earlier this聽 month on ; and 鈥楪oing to the Pictures鈥�, one of his cinema paintings, was selected to appear on rare bottles of .听 鈥淕lasgow was a movie-mad city鈥�, Mr McGoran commented. 鈥淭here were cinemas everywhere, queued out, every day and every night of the week.鈥澛� Echoing sentiments expressed by many other CCINTB participants, he added, 鈥淕oing to the cinema was an escapist thing for us, you know? You used to go there, and you would be carted away to another world.鈥�

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The interviews referred to can be accessed as both audio and transcript via the CMDA website. 聽Along with the other archival assets mentioned, these can also be consulted in physical form in the Cinema Memory Archive at 抖阴探探App, by appointment with Special Collections.听

If you wish to cite and/or re-use any of these materials, please consult聽 the CMDA website for information on聽copyright听补苍诲听using the materials from the collection and for a citation referencing guide