Cosy Corner (updated)

[davefnd]

Can anyone tell me when the Cosy Corner cinema closed.I can remember going there when I was quite young and getting in on a Saturday morning by taking a glass jam jar.You were given a stick of barley sugar and had to sit in the PLANKS first 3 or 4 rows which were wooden and right under the screen.Came out with stiff necks. The cinema was down Low Street. down a little alley by The Fifty Shilling Tailors.I can remember this as my father Tom Hazell was the manager at Fifty Bobs for quite a while.I later was promoted to going to the A.B.C.Minors at the Ritz,quite plush. " We are all pals together we are members of the A.B.C. "

[barcroftlad]

Good one Dave-the Cosy Corner was really the pits wasn't it? But then-we didn't know any different. During the war the DLI were based in the old warehouse right next door and we used to chat to the soldiers who were off duty,in the doorway. Cheers.

[bartholomewbarry]

Hello Dave,
I remember the, sit and scratch, Cosy Corner cinema. I spent many uncomfortable happy hours there watching the Lone Ranger and Tonto, out running and out shooting the baddies.
I think large jam jars were worth 1d and small ones were worth 1/2d. Recycling was a way of life then nothing was wasted.
I think the Cosy must have closed in the late fourties or early fifties. I know it had been closed for some time when I moved to Easwood Secondary School in 1954. After the Cosy closed, like you Dave, I had to take my business elsewhere. I am not sure if it was the Ritz because I think the Ritz was on Skipton Road. The one I use to go to on a Saturday morning was on the corner of Alice St / Lord St? I remember getting a membership card that was stamped with a star on every visit. When the card was full you could claim your much sort after Dan Dare Space Gun. I can admit it now that I shed a few tears, when after just one week it got broken. In 1953 school children had a free showing of the conquest of Mount Everest by Sir Edmund Hilliary and Sherpa Tensing, in that same cinema. Barry

[Admin]

Hello Barry

The cinema on the corner of Lord/Alice Street was the Ritz......lovely cinema which also used to have the Keighley & District Amateur Operatic Society shows.

Some of us went to the Essoldo which also had Sat morning pictures this is on SKipton Rd and still exists today as The Picture House - correct me someone if I am wrong. There was the one opposite as well it is now a night club....was this the Regent? There was also the Cavendish down on the Fleece Mill yard....not sure I ever went to that one either........

Bill what about the ones in Haworth......??

Again Bill is going to laugh at me, I NEVER ever went to the Cosy...............lol Think it possibly closed before I was allowed to go out on my own.....

Jan

[tangara]

Hey Jan,

You missed the Oxford on Oakworth Road. opposite Victoria Road.

The Haworth Cinemas sere the 'old uns' and the 'new uns'. The old uns was the Hippodrome, and was on Belle Isle Road, just over the railway foot bridge and across from the fire station.
The first movie I remeber seeing was a western called Broken Lance at the Hippodrome.

The new uns was the Bronte. It was across the valley I think on Prince Street. It closed long before the demise of the Keighley cinemas.

[barcroftlad]

Mar 23, 2008 23:51:50 GMT Admin said:

Hello Barry

The cinema on the corner of Lord/Alice Street was the Ritz......lovely cinema which also used to have the Keighley & District Amateur Operatic Society shows.

Some of us went to the Essoldo which also had Sat morning pictures this is on SKipton Rd and still exists today as The Picture House - correct me someone if I am wrong. There was the one opposite as well it is now a night club....was this the Regent? There was also the Cavendish down on the Fleece Mill yard....not sure I ever went to that one either........

Bill what about the ones in Haworth......??

Again Bill is going to laugh at me, I NEVER ever went to the Cosy...............lol Think it possibly closed before I was allowed to go out on my own.....

Jan

yeah yeah yeah-lol. Just a bit of a kid Jan compared to the oldies on the board.
1/ you are correct with the Ritz. Freddy Gramophone used to busk the queues. The highlight for me was Stanley Bishop on the Wurlitzer organ coming up from the basement. Fantastic.
2/It was the Picture House before it became the Essoldo.
3/ The Regent was on the opposite side of the road but back a bit opposite the Grammar School.
4/ The Cavendish was the PalaceTheatre.
5/ There was also the Oxford in Oakworth Road
6/ Haworth had the "old uns and the new uns. The old uns being the Hippodrome on Belle Isle and the new uns was the Bronte Cinema in Victoria road on Browside. It was great when they introduced double or"cuddle" seats towards the back.!! Cheers. Bill

[barcroftlad]

oops -sorry Tangara-we were obviously posting at the same time. Cheers.

[Admin]

Hi Bill

Stanley Bishop....I went to school with his girls, Pauline & Christine, twins, there is apicture of them receiving some sort of vaccination from Dr McDonagh, Medical Officer of Health in one of Keighley's many books.

Happy Days indeed..............

Thanks for the additions and corrections.................just what this is all about...........lol

[Andy Wade]

Mar 24, 2008 8:44:23 GMT barcroftlad said:

6/ Haworth had the "old uns and the new uns. The old uns being the Hippodrome on Belle Isle and the new uns was the Bronte Cinema in Victoria road on Browside. It was great when they introduced double or"cuddle" seats towards the back.!! Cheers. Bill

You can still go in that one as it is a scrap dealer. It's a shame to see it in this condition but it still has plaster mouldings and stained glass doors and carved sections of wood. I keep meaning to take a camera with me.

[Admin]

Cosy Corner item - taken from Keighley Yearbook 1917

Cosy Corner Picture House Low Street. Proprietors Cosy Corner Picture House Ltd.
This highly popular place of entertainment was opened in June 1912 and has accommodation
for 1,000 people. High-class and up to date pictures have made the "Cosy" a household word in both borough & district. The management is in the capable hands of Mr Arthur H Needham who has had a wide experience in the world of entertainment. Secretary M.P. Cryer, Accountant.

[danewiss]

An interesting web-site to link to this thread is www.valendale.myby.co.uk/bits.html

[malcolm]

Hi Dave - I finally found the closure of the Cosy Corner - March 1957 - Quote "Owner Alan Judge quietly declared the the Cosy's demise was accelerated by television" The last film shown was "Coming Round the Mountain" Seat prices were 10d and 1 shilling. The info from Picture Palace by Cathy Liddle published 1996 -

Oxford closed 1959, Cavendish in 1961, Regent 1964, Ritz 1974 & Picture House closed in 1991 but has re-opened and long may it continue.

Russell Street Picture Palace closed after 1924 and the 'Electric Theatre' changed its name to the "Keighley Empire" then to the "Market Cinema" closed in June 1929.

Regards Malcolm

[lawkholmelaner]

There were lots of opportunities in Keighley (40s and 50s) for young kids to see films of their choice. Before the Saturday morning flicks, The Cosy and The Cav(endish) put on children's programmes on a saturday afternoon at the cost of about 5 minutes worth of scavenging for jam jars in the local ashtubs. The programmes were invariably a string of shorts featuring Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Harold Lloyd etc etc. A colour cartoon was a bonus. The feature was always a cowboy - Gene Autrey, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy. Singing cowboys we regarded as cissy so Johnny McBrown and the Cisco Kid were tops with the macho cowkids who would run home in a kind of off-set skip and a stride, slapping their thighs to "ride" faster and unleashing a spray of bullets from their first 2 fingers and a spray of spit as they tried vocally to imitate a ricochet. Why did the girls go? Each of these "heros" had an "assistant" who provided light relief or hazard. Can anyone name these?

[barcroftlad]

Hi young T. (it has to be you, what took you so long to find us?) Smiley Burnett was Hoppy's sidekick. His white horse had a ring around one eye. George Gabby Hayes was Roy Rogers mate, and the Sons of the Pioneers with Bob Nolan. Gene Autry often had Gabby with him but called him Wishbone. Johnny Mac Brown -can't remember, but I have a mate who might. We were talking about just this a couple of years ago. Cisco Kid. His mate was a big fat Mexican-was it Pancho?? Cheers Bill

[danewiss]

Lawkholmelaner will also remember riding lickety split over the railway bridge in Lawkholme Lane on the way to the old homestead.

Wallow in nostalgia ??
Just input
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqioDreXly4
&
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UEA7qktgjU&feature=related

BUT they are shown to a vocal background by a "sissy" cowboy, so sound switched off, pardner!!

[lawkholmelaner]

Shore thing, pardner. Yeehah!! - Great excerpts - thanks for your research. I could feel through my breeks the hard seats of The Cosy as I clapped my hands to "Deep in the heart of 'Tixis'". This surely took me back to my childhood when The Cosy played a pivotal global role in perpetuating the myth of the American West. Did you notice Noah "Berry" Jnr - that insertion had strong prohibition undertones - his dad was Noah BEERY snr.

[Admin]

Keighley Cinemas—Tony Ackroyd (K & D LHS member)


Of the six town centre cinemas of Keighley, my particular favourite, at least as a boy was the Cosy Corner. Situated up a cul-de-sac off Low Street. The Cosy or “Ranch-house “ as it was often called, was first introduced to me by my father, who I suspect like me never completely grew up.

This semi permanent outlook enabled the pair of us to revel in an almost endless diet of swashbucklers and third rate westerns starring the likes of Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Gene Autry, Johnny Mack Brown, Gabby Hayes and the King of them all John Wayne.

If the main feature wasn’t a western, then it was invariably a war picture, which was always supplements by Lauren & Hardy, the Three Stooges and of course Newsreel.

The Cosy Corner opened in 1912, and in my time presented a décor which was shabby, tired and grubby. The facilities provided were limited and primitive. This, however, was reflected in the admission prices. Four old pence to sit at the front on “the planks” (yes wooden hard benches), or sixpence for a plush seat further back.

Some children would often pay to sit at the front, and when the lights went down as the performance started would crawl underneath to the dearer and more comfortable seats. Frequently, the commissionaire (of pensionable age, and without uniform or torch)
Would come down the front and attempt to stop the movement by shouting and threatening—to no avail!!


After our two hours of Escapism and fantasy. My pal Tom Sanderson and I would re-enact the films we had seem as we made our way home– there were no inhibitions as a child. Of course we broke our journey to buy a bag of chips for two pence—scraps included.

Those were happy carefree time, when if you wanted to go to the cinema, the choice was endless. Most of the cinemas changed their programme three times each week. So it was possible to see a main feature every night of the week, providing the finances were in good shape.

Of course before the advent of television in the early fifties, the cinemas flourished, and it was usually the case of having to queue to gain admission.

The cinemas were indeed a prominent part of the social fabric of the town, and a visit was regarded as the highlight of the week for a large percentage of the population. How times have changed!

The Cosy Corner, was the first Keighley cinema to close its doors in 1957 after forty-five years of service to the community. The final film to be screened was “Coming through the mountains” with seat prices at ten pence and one shilling.

The owner Mr Alan Judge put the demise of his cinema down to television.

[Admin]

I think we all realise that they must be infilling with concrete, the old cellars of the Cosy Corner and other buildings at the moment....right in front of the market hall.

Wish I could have got in there with a camera........................C'est La Vie!

[keighleyboy]

The Cosy Corner cinema in Low Street, Keighley. opened in August 1912 and closed in March 1957.

Allan

[barcroftlad]

It might have been the "roughest" of the local pictures in the 40s and 50s, but we sure had some good times there. I never sat in the "planks" at the front,but there was always someone down there. I have some happy memories of those days. Cheers.

[angler]

Moving out of Town a little further there was the Silsden Picture House which had its Tin roof (What a noise it made when it rained or when there was hail stones Then of course there was the Picture House at Crosshills now a furniture shop.To go into the cheap seats you had to go down the slope .There were 4 Seats in the box. Charlie Nuttal owned it and was there every day He would go down the center isle with a torch when the was any commotion I.E the stamping of feet and shout at the people concerned "Any more of it and you are out"Oh happy days There was always a Mattina on Saturday mornings when you could see a section of a Serial. There were two " Films every week and I well remember "Gone with the Wind" which was on for a full week I also remember when it was on at the Ritze and we had to Queue for an hour all the way down Alice Street The Ritz had a cafe upstairs I beleive (Correct me if I am wrong) These were the good old days

[keighleyboy]

Hello Dave,
The Cosy Corner opened in August 1912, and closed in March 1957.

The Ritz opened in 1937, and closed in February 1974.

The Regent opened in 1920, and closed with a showing of 'Cleopatra' starring Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton on 06 December 1964.

The Oxford Cinema opened on 20 March 1911, and closed on 14 June 1959.

Allan Smith.

[lawkholmelaner]

Wasn't it called "The Oxford Hall" ? and if so - why?

[elfremar]

I only went to the Cosy once,and sat at the back.I think it was referred to as "The bug hole" by my family.
The Oxford Hall was my haunt as I lived in Oakworth Road,and I remember the thick maroon velvet curtains you had to go through to enter the auditorium.Looking back I think I practically lived there as we needed to go about three times a week to keep up with the serial.We would call at McDowells to buy some of Mr Mc's home made ice lollies,he would wrap them up in newspaper and we would take them into the Oxy with us,such happy days.

[barcrofter]

Regarding angler's mention of the Cross Hills cinema, It was also known as Charlie's.

As a lad my late father played for the silent films at the Cosy. When one of his fellow musicians played a wrong note which he often did, he would blame it on a flea on the music!!!!!!!

[suntrecker38]

Hi
In the late forties early fifties I used to go to the Cosy but my father always told me to sit in the middle or at the back, because if you sat near the front you might get shot when the cowboys were fighting.

Grand little cinema though.

[parkwoodgirl]

I was a 'regular' at the Cosy Corner during the late 1930's/40's. I was taken every week by my grans neighbour Mrs., Moran who lived next door on Harcourt Street. She always wore clogs and a long black shawl and when we got to the pictures she would push me under the shawl and get me in free. We always sat in the planks both at the Cosy and the 'Palace' in Cavendish St., I thknk I must have seen every cowboy and indian film that was made before and during w.w.2. Happy Days!