The Scala Cinema.

 
The building that is todays Poundstretcher shop in the Market Place is believed to have been built in 1851, this was to become the town’s old Scala Cinema, the original features from which remain largely intact today.

Scan of the original metal lettering which marked out the stalls in the upper circle, some of the original paint remains today.

The Scala Picture-House and Cafe was the first permanent built auditorium in Boston for the showing of films. It opened on 17th March 1914, with seating for around 1,000 people. In 1917, it was taken over by George Aspland-Howden who had opened the New Electric Theatre just five doors away in 1910.

Boston's Coat of Arms above the stage.

 

On Saturday 29th June 1940 it closed its doors for its annual staff summer holidays after the showing of `The Chicken Wagon Family` never to reopen as a public cinema.

It was then taken over by the Armed Forces until 1945, when all the fittings had been removed.

It remained unused for a few years, until it was converted into a furniture showroom, the stage and proscenium being knocked down and replaced by a brick wall.

The only room used above the shop today is the old cafeteria on the first floor, which is used for storage now.

On the second floor is the theatre’s old gallery – minus the seats. The main seating area below the gallery is now the shop floor with the wooden stage at the rear being used for a warehouse.

 

Fire at the Picturedrome.

In the early hours of a May morning in 1930 the Picturedrome Cinema in High Street (affectionally known as The Cosy) caught fire and was so fierce that by daybreak only the walls remained. The cause of the outbreak was unknown but was surmised that a smouldering cigarette end or a lighted match thrown carelessly down was the cause. The Boston Brigade managed to save adjoining properties and were praised by the local newspapers.

 

The Picturedrome Cinema in High Street.

The walls were demolished as they were unsafe but in doing so an interesting bit of old Boston was brought to view. It was part of the next door premises of C.C. Wright and was very ancient, having a Tudor doorway and no less than seven windows of that period.

The view after the demolition of the Picturedrome cinema showing the Tudor door and windows on the neighbouring property. The site is now the car park opposite the Golden Lion pub.

Picture booths at the Fair.

Years ago, before there were any fixed cinemas in the town, some of the showmen had huge marquees in which very early comic strips were shown. There were long wooden bench seats and as many as possible got squashed into the tent.

One of the old Picture tents at Boston May Fair.

Admission was 2d and 3d, according to which part of the tent you went. The films would be laughed at now but were a new novelty then, they often used to break and then there were minutes of waiting before they were joined up. When fixed cinemas came to the town and showed more modern films these shows passed out. There was another attraction besides the film strips, there were usually two of these shows - Tubys, on the Green and Farrars in the Market Place, and they both had some dancing girls on the platform in front of the large organ which generally played rolled classical music, which was really very good to listen to, as there were no orchestras to listen to in those distant days. In due course the highlight appeared - Orpheus in the Underworld, and the girls danced the can-can, the nearest approach to the Follies Bergere which ever reached Boston.

Boston and J.B. Priestley

J.B. Priestley visited Boston in December 1933 and in his book "English Journey" describes the town as follows.

"...........The train curved round and then I saw, for the first time, that astonishing church tower known as Boston Stump. This tower is not quite three hundred feet high but nevertheless, situated as it is, it looked to me more impressive, not as a piece of architecture, but simply as a skyscraper, than the Empire State Building in New York, with its eleven hundred feet. It is all a matter of contrast. Here the country is flat, you have seen nothing raised more than twenty or thirty feet from the ground for miles and miles and then suddenly this tower shoots up to nearly three hundred feet. The result is that at first it looks as high as a moutain..........."
Mr. Priestley then goes on to describe market day in Boston:-

"The square was filled with stalls, and any remaining space in the centre of the town was occupied by either broad faced beefy farmers and their men, or enormous bullocks. My hotel was in the Market Square and it was so crowded with farmers and farm hands clamouring for beer, that it was not easy to get in at all. Never have I seen more broad red faces in a given cubic capacity".
Next he visited the Scala Cinema's cafe.

"......I went into the cinema cafe for tea. There were some rural folk in there and as I waited for tea I wondered why countrymen should so often have such high pitched voices. Two tables near me were occupied by girls and it was curious to see how carefully they had modelled their appearences on those of certain film stars. It was only the girls here, however, who had this cosmopolitan appearence, the young men looked their honest, broad, red-faced, East Anglian selves. What a mad mixture it all is, in this remote and decayed little town, the tremendous church tower, the chandlers and corn merchants, the farmers and bullocks, floods of beer, the imitation Greta Garbos alongside the time-old rural figures."

Boston's Old Cinemas

Some of Boston's old Cinemas.

The New Theatre (demolished, now a Marks and Spencer store) in the Market Place

The Odeon (demolished, now a Doctor's surgery) in South Square.

The Cosy (demolished) nearly opposite the Golden Lion pub in High Street.

The Regal (demolished, now a car park) in West Street.

The Scala (centre right). The building is still there and is now the Poundstretcher store.