This past month, with the national restrictions being debated at length, we have for the first time not had any research requests through. We have plenty of visitors coming in to use our new reading room over the next few months – all being well.

Therefore, this month we threw out a request on Twitter.

“We need YOUR help!

For our next newsletter, we want your nostalgia suggestions so we can dig deep into the archives of over 100,000 items to produce blog posts based on your suggestions.

Challenge us to find advertisements from yesteryear, the more nostalgic the better!”

Of course, our friends over at the North West Film Archive were first to make a suggestion which turned out to be not quite how we envisioned.

The thing with local cinemas was that they didn’t need to advertise themselves in the same way that restaurants and other leisure venues would. This proved difficult to find however with a little digging and lateral thinking we found cinema listings dating back to the 1930s.

Rhyl Leader Saturday, September 10th 1932.

On this autumn day, there were three local cinemas in Rhyl. The Plaza, The Queens Theatre and The Cinema Royal. Each listed their cinema offerings and times on the front page. A very expensive space for weekend advertising.

At this time there were few cinemas in the local area so more space could be given to the cinema listings. The listings were information with the title of the picture and the names of the leading actors. Underneath was the ‘B’ movie.

On this particular Saturday afternoon, filmgoers were spoilt for choice with such classic films as ‘His Woman’ starring Gary Cooper and Claudette Colbert at the Plaza; ‘Disorderly Conduct’ starring Sally Eilers, Spencer Tracey and El Brendel at the Queens Theatre or ‘The Country Fair’ at The Cinema Royal starring William Collier Brown Jnr, Marion Shilling and Hobart Bosworth.

MEN Newspapers July 1984

Meanwhile back on home turf, in 1984 you had a wider selection of cinemas, mostly showing the same film. In July 1984 you could be watching ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’ at the ABC Cinema on Deansgate or the AABEN in Hulme was showing ‘Scarface’ on Wednesday and the Saturday.

This shows the immense popularity of the cinema during the 1980s. Just a glance at these listings makes me feel very jealous. What I would give to be sitting in the cinema again as a child watching Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!

We are always looking for ideas for future issues and also guest bloggers to write about their favourite archive collections and advertisements. Contact us using the contact form at the bottom of the page to sign yourself up for a future issue.

Thanks for joining me on this short trip down memory lane.

Until next time, Angela