1945 London, England

Joyce Valentine
Born 1930
London United Kingdom
Interviewed on 01/25/2018
by Joseph Vinson

       Brief Encounter 1945

The first film I went to see was called Brief Encounter. It was a story about a couple parting on a train. I can’t remember exactly what it was all about but it certainly wasn’t a happy ending—I think they were both married to other people. I want to re-watch it now! These days you don’t think much about old films, do you? I remember it being a bit weepy and the music was beautiful (composed by Rachmaninoff).

The year was 1945, so I would have been 15 years old. I don’t know who I went with and I might very well have been alone. Around that age I would go to the cinema on my own, but I made sure to sit away from other people because old men in the theatre could be a little handy. I certainly wasn’t frightened of going on my own, but I think you had to be 14 really to go into the cinema. A lot of 14-16 year old girls would go to the pictures on a date, but I didn’t have a boyfriend at the time. Mum would never let us go to the Saturday cinema for children, but by this point I was working anyway.

The cinema was just down the road from where I worked at the fur factory. In fact, it was the same block of buildings in Golders Green. My work colleagues were older and married so they wouldn’t have come. It was called the Regal Theatre at the Golders Green end of the Finchley Road. It was a big venue; not a grand looking place but it was pretty neat and all on one level. I think the building is still there. Gradually they closed all the cinemas down. There were 3 in Golders Green. There were a lot of cinemas around. Inside there was no circle, only the stalls, and Usherettes would show you to your seats. I say Usherettes because that was a job for the ladies at the time—a lady always showed you to your seats and the men were in the foyer in case there was any trouble.

They would sell ice cream and sweets but I would usually only have an Ice cream. I only remember them having vanilla. It cost in the coppers in old money. I would say Six (a sixpence) or 1 and 5 (1 and half sixpence). It sounds silly the old money now when you say it. That would have been expensive in those days, almost as much as the ticket itself, so it was quite a lot of money but it was worth it. Every now and again I would go. I never went a lot but I was at work so I could afford to go out if I wanted to.

The director was David Lean—he made great films and was a very famous director and producer of the day. Trevor Howard, the male lead, was so well known and a movie star of the time. But he wasn’t particularly handsome like Clark Gable. A good actor though! The main actress was Celia Johnson and she wasn’t particularly beautiful in this film. They weren’t all dressed up so she looked quite ordinary.