Page 8 - Leighton News April 2019
P. 8
-8-
Visiting Castell Coch and still mine. Harold
was not only a genius
– or How I became a Movie Buff of visual gag story
In the 1950s Mondays were the day for doing the telling but an
family washing. This was really onerous for my astounding stunt man.
mother who, aspiring to lady-like gentility, had to boil If you’ve only seen the
clothes and bed linen in some kind of gas heated tub; still picture of him
how she yearned for an actual washing machine or hanging off a clock face
even an electric mangle. The school summer holidays in Safety Last, do try to
were an even more exacting time with two active see the whole film remembering that in the finale he
young sons to entertain. Great Aunt Bessy stepped actually climbs the skyscraper and hangs off the clock
into the breach by offering to take us off on trips each above the real street below – no back projection and
Monday. Aunty Bessy, a widowed lady with no long before green screen. The only trick is the camera
children of her own thrived on borrowing her angle not showing the small safety platform below
nephew’s offspring for days out. him. +++++++++
The first trip was going to be a visit to Castell Coch,
It was about 20 years later when Patricia and I actually
a well known local ‘folly’. That Monday it was managed to visit Castell Coch. We were travelling in a
pouring with rain ‘Never mind’, said the adaptable vintage VW Beetle with a large black Newfoundland
aunt, ‘We’ll do the visit next week – today we’ll just called Sheba. In the surrounding grounds Sheba found
go to the pictures instead.’ Cardiff had five main the outlet to a singularly vile cess pit and promptly
cinemas showing the latest releases and several rolled her head and body in it. We had to travel on to
other flea pits with old films. A typical programme the next destination on our itinerary with the fetid
would run for at least four hours: the main feature beast lying on the back seat. Oh happy days!
and a supporting B movie – both 90 minutes or
more. These would be interspersed with adverts, Myth and Reality
trailers and usually a short cartoon or
documentary. The intervals in between were for Growing up in Cardiff, I assumed all proper cities had
selling ice cream in days before popcorn. The curious their own castle. Certainly the massive Cardiff Castle
thing for a modern audience was the fact that the dominated one of the main routes through the city
programmes started in the morning and ran centre. Complete with crenelated battlements it seemed
continuously all day. People went to the pictures at a to be a functioning stronghold as seen in picture books.
time that suited them so we often went in half way We even visited family friends inside living in grace and
through a film and had to wait for it start again to favour apartments – don’t know how this came about as
understand the ending – crazy or what? – so that’s the castle was council owned by this time.
why she did that to him at the end…! Although the site was
originally a Roman
On the second fort, it wasn’t until
many years later I
Monday of the discovered that rather
than being an
summer holidays authentic medieval
relic, the castle was
the weather was actually a relatively
recent Victorian
equally poor so it recreation. Vast
amounts of land in south Wales had been owned by the
In 1960 Hitchcock insisted no-one was to was off to the Bute family since 1787 and by the mid 19th century they
be admitted after the start of Psycho. It had become fabulously rich thanks to the Glamorgan
flicks again. I can’t coalfields. The 3rd Marquess of Bute, with interests in
architecture and antiquarian studies employed the
maintained the surprise of the star being remember at what architect William Burges to reconstruct not only Cardiff
killed off after 45 minutes—the beginning castle but to build a ‘small’ gothic revival castle 5 miles
of the end of continuous film programmes. point the planned away on a site initially fortified by the Normans to
protect Cardiff and control the route along the Taff.
trip to Castell Coch
was abandoned entirely, suffice it to say the Monday
mornings – for several summers – were spent
devouring an endless stream of moving pictures. It
was an era when Aunty Bessy, and even my parents,
had been brought up on silent films – a generation
that was equally entertained by these as the new-
fangled talkies. In one of the smaller cinemas Aunty
Bessy introduced us to Harold Lloyd – her favourite
Visiting Castell Coch and still mine. Harold
was not only a genius
– or How I became a Movie Buff of visual gag story
In the 1950s Mondays were the day for doing the telling but an
family washing. This was really onerous for my astounding stunt man.
mother who, aspiring to lady-like gentility, had to boil If you’ve only seen the
clothes and bed linen in some kind of gas heated tub; still picture of him
how she yearned for an actual washing machine or hanging off a clock face
even an electric mangle. The school summer holidays in Safety Last, do try to
were an even more exacting time with two active see the whole film remembering that in the finale he
young sons to entertain. Great Aunt Bessy stepped actually climbs the skyscraper and hangs off the clock
into the breach by offering to take us off on trips each above the real street below – no back projection and
Monday. Aunty Bessy, a widowed lady with no long before green screen. The only trick is the camera
children of her own thrived on borrowing her angle not showing the small safety platform below
nephew’s offspring for days out. him. +++++++++
The first trip was going to be a visit to Castell Coch,
It was about 20 years later when Patricia and I actually
a well known local ‘folly’. That Monday it was managed to visit Castell Coch. We were travelling in a
pouring with rain ‘Never mind’, said the adaptable vintage VW Beetle with a large black Newfoundland
aunt, ‘We’ll do the visit next week – today we’ll just called Sheba. In the surrounding grounds Sheba found
go to the pictures instead.’ Cardiff had five main the outlet to a singularly vile cess pit and promptly
cinemas showing the latest releases and several rolled her head and body in it. We had to travel on to
other flea pits with old films. A typical programme the next destination on our itinerary with the fetid
would run for at least four hours: the main feature beast lying on the back seat. Oh happy days!
and a supporting B movie – both 90 minutes or
more. These would be interspersed with adverts, Myth and Reality
trailers and usually a short cartoon or
documentary. The intervals in between were for Growing up in Cardiff, I assumed all proper cities had
selling ice cream in days before popcorn. The curious their own castle. Certainly the massive Cardiff Castle
thing for a modern audience was the fact that the dominated one of the main routes through the city
programmes started in the morning and ran centre. Complete with crenelated battlements it seemed
continuously all day. People went to the pictures at a to be a functioning stronghold as seen in picture books.
time that suited them so we often went in half way We even visited family friends inside living in grace and
through a film and had to wait for it start again to favour apartments – don’t know how this came about as
understand the ending – crazy or what? – so that’s the castle was council owned by this time.
why she did that to him at the end…! Although the site was
originally a Roman
On the second fort, it wasn’t until
many years later I
Monday of the discovered that rather
than being an
summer holidays authentic medieval
relic, the castle was
the weather was actually a relatively
recent Victorian
equally poor so it recreation. Vast
amounts of land in south Wales had been owned by the
In 1960 Hitchcock insisted no-one was to was off to the Bute family since 1787 and by the mid 19th century they
be admitted after the start of Psycho. It had become fabulously rich thanks to the Glamorgan
flicks again. I can’t coalfields. The 3rd Marquess of Bute, with interests in
architecture and antiquarian studies employed the
maintained the surprise of the star being remember at what architect William Burges to reconstruct not only Cardiff
killed off after 45 minutes—the beginning castle but to build a ‘small’ gothic revival castle 5 miles
of the end of continuous film programmes. point the planned away on a site initially fortified by the Normans to
protect Cardiff and control the route along the Taff.
trip to Castell Coch
was abandoned entirely, suffice it to say the Monday
mornings – for several summers – were spent
devouring an endless stream of moving pictures. It
was an era when Aunty Bessy, and even my parents,
had been brought up on silent films – a generation
that was equally entertained by these as the new-
fangled talkies. In one of the smaller cinemas Aunty
Bessy introduced us to Harold Lloyd – her favourite
