Any one remember ABC pictures in town

[DerbyTup]

I can remember going on a Saturday morning, i think the manager used to be a small bald guy.

 

You can't say that!!

 

This is 2011.

 

You mean,

 

"the manager was both vertically and follically challenged"

[DerbyTup]

Does anyone remember the Tufty Club at the ABC?

 

yeh, incidentally, whatever happened to that squirrel? I heard a rumour he'd got runover?

[Trevor A]

That would be Les Allen, he disliked the Minors shows almost as much as he hated the Concourse coffee bar.

 

That's my Dad you're talking about! I think it was the minors themselves he was not so keen on (and they included me).

 

He passed away in 2005, but his wife is still going strong. The railings from the Concourse ended up as part of our garden fencing in Fulwood, when the Concourse was removed to add a second screen at the cinema.

[treeko1]

Three recollections of the ABC.Going to see Jaws as a schoolboy of 14,first time I had been to a film on my own and the whole audience jumping out of their seats at the head in the boat scene.Feeling grown up because I got into Saturday night fever at the age of 17,it was an X(18) and finally the queues all the way down the famous tunnel ..see previous posts .. For ET.

[earthdragon]

Oh yes, the ABC. It was a fantastic cinema and many a film I've seen there. I went to a few of the children's matinees, but most of the films I saw there were when I was older - the most memorable being Barbarella. Innocent that I was, I didn't realise that there would be so much nudity in the film - although I still enjoyed it because (a) I'm not a prude and (b) I was rather taken with (the late) John Philip Law, who played the blind angel. It was also the first - and thankfully the last - occasion when I endured a "man in a dirty raincoat" sitting down next to me, before I hastily changed seats. What I really remember about the ABC though, besides that lovely big screen, was that in the foyer, was a kiosk that sold the most delicious milk shakes. It was a real shame that the cinema closed down before being demolished.

 

Those cinemas out at Valley Entertainment and Crystal Peaks, with their tiny screens and overloud sound, aren't a patch on the old cinemas - the ABC, Odeon and Gaumont, to name a few - that used to be in the city centre.

[raymondo1952]

Yer remember going to the ABC cinema, and remember Winstons cloth shop

[hobinfoot]

I went to see A Clockwork Orange there even tho I was not old enough my mum used mascara to darken the bit of bum fluff I had on my top lip to make me look older.

[TORONTONY]

I think it was actually screened for almost two years at the Odeon, Flat Street. This wouuld be around 1965/6.

 

Exactly, it seemed to be there forever.

 

---------- Post added 26-04-2015 at 19:45 ----------

 

Saw the Life of Brian at the ABC around'74/'75, my stomach was sore for a week.

 

---------- Post added 26-04-2015 at 19:49 ----------[/sI

Edited April 26, 2015 by TORONTONY

[sharrovian]

Earthdragon ~ Please Note

I was an ardent picturegoer (took the magazine for years) and for my money I think the Regent later to become the Gaumont before they messed about with it was by far the most impressive cinema in Sheffield and I visited a lot of cinemas in my time, used to go 3 or 4 times a week, I hardly ever go now, the last visit I made was on Jersey some years ago when "Mamma Mia" was all the rage.

[stpetre]

Somewhere in the depths of my memory I seem to think that when it was built it was one of the largest cinemas in England. Must have read it in The Star when it used to be useful

 

When the A.B.C. cinema was built around 1962 it wasn't the biggest in Sheffield never mind England. The Odeon (Flat Street) and the Gaumont (Barker's Pool) were larger.