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I started working at the Gaumont at the age of 15 in 1952, and stayed there till my parents decided to emigrate in 1955. I started as an usherette, then to ice-cream girl, and finally till I left for Australia I was the cashier.
At the end of the long entrance there were glass doors leading into the foyer, which was large and wide. Continuing forward there were three steps leading onto another large wide platform. All of this area was carpeted in a deep red pattern. In the middle of this area there was a huge kiosk that sold the usual cigarettes, drinks and sweets. On either side of the kiosk were twin doors leading into the cinema itself. The cashier desk was situated in the foyer in front of the three steps.
After going through the doors that were either side of the kiosk you were confronted with three aisles, one straight down the centre with rows of seats on either side. In each row there were fifteen to twenty seats, and approximately twenty to thirty rows. The other two aisles were along the walls.
The ceiling was very high as there was an upstairs balcony, which could hold about forty to fifty people. The walls upstairs and downstairs were very plain but were made to look very nice by little double lights set at about six feet periodically all around the walls, which came on at intermission and at the end of the show.
If you walked down the centre aisle, approximately twelve to fifteen yards from the screen there was an organ pit and every day prior to the beginning of the session a man would be playing a mixture of the current pop music and classical music too, and he was always open to requests.
I worked from 11am to approximately 11pm (sometimes later, depending upon when the movies finished), Monday to Saturday inclusive, and on Sundays I worked from 4pm to about 11pm, again depending on how long the movie went. Then when we finished work, a fellow employee and I would walk home three miles to Collier Row where we both lived, sometimes even in winter through the snow. It was the best time of my life, and definitely unforgettable.
Julie Lovi (nee Fletcher)
December 2002
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