Death of Stirling cinema pioneer
An insight into the development of the cinema industry in Stirling was revealed in the Observer of February 1963, in an obituary for one of its pioneers.
Archibald Earsman Menzies died at his home at Abercrombie Place, Stirling, aged 86.
Born in Kinaldy, Fife, and educated at Falkirk High, he went into the cycle and motor trade with his brother James. They later moved into the motion picture industry, opening the Electric Cinema in premises designed as a garage in Upper Craigs. The building became a garage again when the Electric closed and by 1963 the former entrance hall and box office was a furniture showroom.
According to the Observer, the Electric Cinema lost money in its first three months of opening and it was only when the brothers began showing a serial called `What Happened to Mary’ that audiences grew.
The Observer said two-reel films were the vogue at that time, adding: `Only one projector was employed and it was not electrically driven as are modern projectors. The operators took turns at cranking it by hand. As there was only one machine, the lights went up at the end of each reel while the operators in the box fitted the next part of the film to the machine, and when this operation was completed the lights dimmed at the story proceeded.’
Next to open in 1915 was the
The Kinema and its first night audience was treated to a `Vitagraph’ production of `The Enemies’.
In February 1921, the Picture House in Orchard Place, Stirling, first opened its doors to audiences.
And the curtain went up for the first time in September 1928, at the Queen’s Cinema in Queen Street, Stirling. It initially showed only silent films and its first feature starred Buster Keaton in `College’.
The `talkies’ took the town by storm in December 1929 when the Picture House showed `The Broadway Melody’ and the Queen’s followed suit two years later with `Rio Rita’ starring Bebe Daniels.
The Menzies Brothers gave up their interest in the motor trade in 1932 when Stirling Cinema and Variety Theatres Ltd was formed with Archibald as secretary and director.
And it was under this management that Allanpark Cinema open in 1938 with the film `100 Men and a Girl’ featuring Deanna Durban.
Archibald Menzies was a member of the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling, and was survived by brother James and two sisters, one of whom was a former teacher at Craigs School, Stirling.