In February 1924, a series of lectures and demonstrations in practical cookery were given in the Electric Theatre. They were promoted by Brown & Polson’s, then a famous Scottish flour maker. The Mayor welcomed Mrs Eva Davies, the demonstrator and included, in his speech, a few witticisms which were apparently well received by the ladies present.
‘It was very important that ladies should be good cooks because it was said that the way to a gentleman’s heart was through the prosaic and very unpoetic passage of the stomach’.
‘The woman who maketh a good pudding in silence is better than she who makes a-tart reply’.
‘Good meat boiled is good meat spoiled’.
The Mayor admitted that he knew very little about cookery but he knew ‘how to make a sausage roll, by taking it on to a roof and letting it go’.
There was a recipe book to accompany the demonstrations, many of which had been used in the British and French Hospitals during the War (WW1).
The Electric Theatre was in Newport Street. It was built originally as a Drill Hall and used as such until 1912. It opened as a cinema soon after with a seating capacity of 800. In 1932, an art-deco frontage was added which many will remember. Over the years the seating capacity reduced and in the early 1970s it became a bingo hall on the ground floor with snooker above. It was demolished in 2007.
Before the cinema opened the Drill Hall was used for public meetings as this ticket from 1899 indicates.
Ticket for ‘Popular Lectures’ 1899
Both of these films were released in 1918, so the poster must date either from 1919 or 1924 when December 1st fell on a Monday.
A poster advertising the films ‘More Trouble’ and ‘Model’s Confession’