One of Saddleworth’s early cinemas – by Peter Fox
IT MIGHT surprise many people but Saddleworth had at one point three cinemas.
The new ‘living’ pictures had originally come to the area at the annual Wakes holidays as the proprietors of the travelling fairground used the innovation of moving pictures to attract people and there are certainly accounts of these being shown in Uppermill.
The demand at the turn of the century to see these moving pictures was such that old buildings were adapted and large numbers of ‘new’ purpose-built cinemas were built throughout the country.
Saddleworth was no exception – in 1913 the Saddleworth Picture Palace opened in Uppermill next to the bus turning circle, closing in the 1950s.
There was also a cinema operating at Woolroad, in a building now demolished next to the Navigation Inn – the ‘Electra Picture Palace’.
The Star Picture Palace was located in the basement of the Delph Mechanics Institute in a room hired out for the purpose.
In December 1914 the committee of the Delph Mechanics Institute received an application from a Mr Winterbottom who wanted to hire the Tea Room in the basement of the building for regular use as a picture palace, the committee agreed in principle at a fee of 15 shillings a week subject to insurance etc.
After various negotiations the committee agreed the terms and in February of 1915 the Star Picture Palace opened its doors.
Just a year after opening Mr Winterbottom was applying to see if he could get Sunday opening but the committee would not entertain this at all.
The Sunday opening was however relaxed for one day on April 20, 1920 with the showing of an educational film “The End of the Road” which advised on the dangers of contacting venereal disease.
The opening hours normally seem to have been Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. The films were shown, mainly ‘shorts’ in episodes, where the viewer had to come back the following week to see if the heroine had survived the drama.
These early films for the most part used nitrocellulose film, more commonly called nitrate film, which chemically was very unstable and if not handled the right way was liable to set on fire or even to explode.
In 1909 the Cinematographic Act was passed which meant all at public showings of films where people paid to view it was required that the film projector must be located in a fireproof room clad with asbestos.
The Star Picture Palace appears to have flouted these regulations for some time and in 1921 the law caught up with it when the local police raided the building.
Benjamin Winterbottom, proprietor of the Star Picture Palace, was summoned for a breach of the Cinematograph Act by using an inflammable film in an unlicensed house and was fined £1 and costs.
The minute book of the Delph Mechanics Institute contains few other references after 1922 at which point the committee were still in discussion with Mr Winterbottom. It is most likely that after the raid the Star Picture Palace was never re-opened.
And I think Star Picture Palace’s appeal was no doubt reduced with the popularity of the purpose-built Saddleworth Palace in Uppermill, which with its regular programme of ‘silents’ would have been an attraction for many and a walk into Uppermill or a trip on the ‘Delph Donkey’ would have made a night out.
I have just read your article on the Star Picture House with interest and pleasure as Benjamin Winterbottom was my Great Grandad. We knew he’d run a cinema but until now had no further information…. The power of the internet. He was also Landlord of The Dysarts in Greenfield for a time.