Haldane Film Society

A Night at the Pictures ……………… Haldane Film Society As television became a fixture in a rapidly increasing number of homes throughout the 1950s, audiences at picture halls began to decrease. From a time when the triangle that is Dumbarton, Alexandria and Helensburgh had a total of 9 cinemas, with a seating capacity of about 10,000, by the late fifties, many were becoming an uneconomic proposition and beginning to look to Bingo, snooker and dancing as a way of surviving.

Dumbarton cinemas

1910-1959 Picture Palace/Regal Church St 1958

1914-1989 Pavilion/Rialto College St 1971 J.C. Farquhar 1915- 1964 Picture House High St (no pic) 1920- 1961 La Scala Glasgow Road 1935 Renton cinema

1913- 1961 Public Hall/Picture House/Roxy 1960

Alexandria cinemas 1911- 1973 The Hall Bridge Square(No pic)

1929- 1978 Palace Picture House/The Strand Bank St Helensburgh cinemas 1911-1927 Picture Palace/Cine Electric John St (No pic)

1927- 1968 The Tower Colquhoun Square Colin Liddell 1960

1913- 1984 La Scala James St 1984

Cinemas were introduced to make profit for all involved and to this end tended to screen only films which they thought would draw in the crowds, the paying public. However, there was another side to the viewing of films, a side which wasn’t concerned with profit, but was more concerned with providing access to films which were educational as well as entertaining, explanatory as well as escapist, inspirational and free from the constraints of a Hollywood studio system under the control of McCarthyites and a film distribution system which felt itself unable to take risks with minority interest product. This was a side which encouraged discussion about film and the culture of other countries…….. this was the Film Society Movement. When Haldane housing estate was built in the 1950s, the main resource for community activities was the recently constructed primary school and this was to be the home of the film society which bore the name of the scheme from its formation in 1958. Friday night was film night. Local resident Alan Davis had artistic connections with the Unity Theatre in Glasgow and thought there was more to cinema than the formulaic Hollywood or drab post- war British fare and proposed to screen feature films from other parts of Europe and further afield. Recruiting like minded natives from the Haldane, from his workplace with the local council and indeed from his family, Alan formed one of Scotland’s earliest film societies in a classroom and there it was to meet for the next eighteen years.

Without the efforts of these two gentlemen, Alan Davis and Colin Liddell, there would not have been a Haldane Film Society. Before long word spread throughout the area and film enthusiasts began to appear from Dumbarton and Helensburgh. Notice the single projector. This meant a significant delay between reels. Most feature films were three reelers. Over the years the membership grew until the school facility was too small and in 1975 the society moved to the newly opened Alexandria CE Centre. A film show in Alexandria CE Centre

Discussing the film during the interval. In an article by William Hunter in The Glasgow Herald in 1983, Alan Davis said, “Pictures need an audience. You have to watch them in the dark along with other people. You want to talk about them afterwards.” Haldane pioneers used to watch pictures under some difficulties. It was often impossible to follow stories in English. “Our early sound equipment went wonky,” Alan Davis recalls. But foreign films were just the ticket in the Vale of Leven. They had subtitles. A mixture of feature films for general consumption and short films for local interest groups such as gardeners and athletes were screened.

The slimmer ones will be the athletes…. 1975 Travel Show Possibly the first Haldane show in the Alexandria CE Centre, and the one which led to the move from Haldane. Any club or society needs members to survive. Film hire, accommodation, insurance, equipment and printing all have to be paid for. Local authority grants, sponsorship, prize money and fund raising events go some way to offset expenses, but the bulk of the cash has to come from subscriptions. Every season started with enrolment night and the most important person was the membership secretary.

Enrolment night 1976 Fundraising for the Society and the Alexandria CE Centre was an annual event. These volunteers are from around 1980.

Kitchen helpers from same day. When I joined the HFS in 1982, having just moved to Dumbarton from Glasgow, Colin Liddell almost immediately talked me into becoming a projectionist. In my innocence I didn’t realise this was so he could escape from the task himself. He had by this time being doing the job for almost 25 years.

The Film Society Movement The film society did not exist in isolation; there were others in Scotland and indeed throughout Britain. This was the Film Society Movement and Haldane Community FS became part of that movement in 1958. There were regular meetings of representatives of the societies, both the Scottish Group and the wider British Federation and in the early days both Alan and Colin were very active in this regard. Alan became Secretary and then President of the Scottish Group before going on to become an honorary life member. Over the years Haldane Film Society won many awards from the British Federation. Colin and Alan show off the Society’s fourth National Award

Alan receives Film Society of the year prize… a new projector from Dave Waterson, Chair of the BFFS. Colin receives Film Society of the Year certificate from

Sir Huw Weldon at the National Film Theatre

Jim Dempster receives another National Award from film director Brian Forbes at the NFT. Jim shows the latest award to Colin and Alan, 1981

Tommy Crocket receives Kodak Community Award for 1987, in the NFT: £500 for showing films in Residential Care homes. Sir Huw Weldon, Alan, Colin & John Halas at NFT John Halas of Halas & Bachelor Animation (Tin Tin), chair of BFFS.

Scottish Group Viewing Session at Central Hotel, Glasgow, with actor David Hayman. 1986 Jim & Lorraine Dempster, Alistair McSkimming, David Hayman, Tommy Crocket, Alan Davis Alan Davis, Mary Edward, Cathy Rankin

Actor Alex Norton (currently of Taggart fame) and film director Gavin Millar also guested. Exhibition as part of 25th Anniversary celebrations.

Some of the equipment used over 25 years.

The Glasgow Herald celebrates HFS birthday. Bill Forsyth autographs one of his film posters for the raffle at 25th Anniversary celebrations 1983

The crew of ‘Comfort and Joy’ share HFS birthday cake on location Mrs Effie O’Hare receives life membership of HFS and flowers From Audrey Davis after twenty years of faithful attendance. Celebration of Alan’s 40th year in Film Society Movement

Quiz Night, buffet and blethering. Back row: Colin Liddell, Mary Edward, Tommy Crocket, Bobb Mackinnon, Jack McLean (Glasgow Herald and Radio Clyde) quizmaster, Alistair McSkimming, Jim Dempster. Front row: Betty Davis, Alan Davis and Jimmy Coleman, (actor and poet),special guest. As time passed and we moved into the nineties, audiences began to demand more comfort as they viewed film and satellite TV as well as video shops began to rival the ability of film societies to present non-mainstream film. A decision was taken to use the comfort of the Denny Civic Theatre to screen part of the 34th season in 1991-92 34th Season

6 films were screened in Alexandria and 4 in Dumbarton in a bid to increase membership in the greater comfort of Denny Civic Theatre. For the following season it was decided to screen all films in the Denny Civic Theatre with a change of name to the Clyde Cinema Club. This was a calculated gamble as audience numbers had been higher for the Dumbarton screenings in the previous season. The theatre was used by other organisations on several Friday nights throughout the year so Tuesday nights were used for some screenings. The 34th season offered 17 films for £20 (£15 conc.) and featured:

Themes The Star: Gerard Depardieu (Green Card, Trop Belle Pour Toi, Uranus) The Director: Martin Scorcese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore) The Courtroom Drama: (Paths of Glory, Twelve Angry Men, The Verdict) The Musical: (42nd Street, It’s Always Fair Weather, Paint Your Wagon) The Non English language film: (High Heels, Everybody’s Fine, Delicatessen) Plus family Christmas show: (Little Shop of Horrors) Non mainstream: (Riff Raff)

This was to prove the last film society season as a multi-screen cinema had opened in Clydebank, video-rental had moved on to DVD rental, films on TV now included Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky Movies and Cable and audiences had become more selective by turning out for specific films and paying at the door rather than subscribing for the season, thus funds were not available to book a season of films in advance.