Silent Film Memories

There are few people still living who remember the silent films; but we have at least one in Diss.

Denis Clarke, born January 1926, used to walk from Thrandeston with his sisters to the original Picture House. As his grandfather, Edgar Stevens, owned the cinema, the family got free tickets. His great-grandfather had owned the site when it was Hewitt’s Meadow.

Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurel & Hardy were among Denis’s favourites. He used to write to film stars; and the family still has a collection of signed photos that he received.

The original cinema, built in 1915, was smaller and to the right of where the later building stood.

Denis remembers the impact of the Talkies, with Jessie Matthews in Evergreen, the first film at the New Picture House in 1934. He continued to go to films until the late 1940s, when he helped to found the local Assembly of God Church, who did not then approve of films.

Denis was a guest of honour at the reopening of the museum, which is commemorating the Picture House on the 50th anniversary of its closure.

The exhibition recreates the experience of going to ‘the flicks’, with a large picture of the interior. Pride of place goes to the box office glass, on loan from The Grange Musical Collection at Palgrave. The museum tried, without success, to get a picture of Mrs. Jean Smith, who used to be in the box office. So museum member Mrs. Jan Smith impersonated her for the camera and can be seen behind the glass.

The display traces the history of the cinema, from silent films to closure in March 1973, including visits by wartime Home Secretary Herbert Morrison and poet laureate Sir John Betjeman.

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