Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Do you remember the glory days of Forres Picture House?

Forres Picture House, clockwise from bottom left, on the coronation of the Queen; in the 1930s: and on its last showing in 1964. Courtesy of Ray Mills
Forres Picture House, clockwise from bottom left, on the coronation of the Queen; in the 1930s: and on its last showing in 1964. Courtesy of Ray Mills

Growing up in Forres was uniquely special for Ray Mills.

His father, D. Digby Mills was manager of the Forres Picture House for 30 years, until his death in 1961.

Ray and his brothers had the run of the place, from the metal-clad projection room to the art deco balcony, not to mention often shinning up a ladder to the billboard above the main door to paste up the forthcoming attractions.

Forres Picture House opened on Cumming Street in November 1927, taking over from the Lyceum Cinema which had been operating in Caroline Street since January, 1913.

“They were proud, proud folks in Forres when the Picture House opened its doors to the public for the first time and started on what promises to be an auspicious career,” reported The Bioscope.

The architects were Carruthers, Ballantyne and Taylor of Inverness, and their craftsmanship came in for praise.

Interiors and memorabilia from Forres Picture House. Courtesy of Ray Mills. Doorman’s cap courtesy of Cinema Museum, London.

The design, in synthetic stone at the front entrance, found favour, as did the oak entrance doors with their bevelled glass panels, giving ‘a richness of tone’.

The interior was spacious, with red plush upholstery (except for the hard wooden seats at the front) and central heating, which must have gladdened the hearts of many a Forres resident.

There was seating for 650, including 100 on the balcony.

Home to unusual features

Unusually, the projection room was under the balcony behind the rear stalls.

It boasted two Kalee projectors to ensure a ‘flickerless picture’.

The auditorium had a 21 ft stage, and an ornate pressed metal ceiling, painted to look like wood and plaster.

Fire was an ever present hazard, so the projection room was lined with stainless steel panels in case a reel of notoriously unstable celluloid decided to burst into flames.

A notice of prices for Forres Picture House, written by hand by manager D Digby Mills, c 1951.  Supplied by Ray Mills

The Lyceum’s manager J R Bernard took over the running of the new picture house, along with his entire staff, while the Lyceum building was sold to the Old Soldiers’ Association.

Just before Mr Mills took over, the Forres Picture House installed ‘the latest and most successful all-British talking picture apparatus’, Gaumont’s British Acoustic Sound System, which promised to ‘eliminate all possibility of stoppage or breakdown during a performance’.

The musical comedy Sunny Side Up with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrel, took the people of Forres into the age of the talkie.

Ushering in a new era

D. Digby Mills came from Dennistoun in Glasgow, and took over from James Bernard after he moved to Edinburgh in December 1930.

That decade saw the redesign of the proscenium, enlarging it to 24ft wide using plans by Alister Gladstone MacDonald, the architect eldest son of the first Labour prime minister and son of Lossiemouth, Ramsay MacDonald.

Forres Picture House staff. Clockwise from bottom left: projectionist Frank Cowie; D.Digby Mills, manager; head cashier Maud Black and Bill Evans, head projectionist. Courtesy of Ray Mills.

Ray’s early memories of the cinema are from when seats ranged from 9d to 2/7d.

He said: “The front stalls, the ‘ninepennies’, were constructed of hard wooden seats on metal frames.

“Whenever there was a breakdown in the film reel, or a really exciting part of the movie came on, the children at the front would rattle these seats to a deafening crescendo.”

There were two sittings, the first at 6pm, the second at 8pm.

Staff from the Forres Picture House in the 1950s. Ann Packman, bottom left, and Kathy Barrett top right, are the only ones identified. If you can help identify the others, please email susy.macaulay@pressandjournal.co.uk. Photos courtesy of Ray Mills

Plenty of value for money with short films, including documentaries, cartoons and newsreels preceding the main event.

Ray said: “Programmes were printed for the forthcoming month, with different films being screened three times weekly.

“The theatre was closed on Sundays.”

Queues for the shows would often stretch from the Picture House up Cumming Street and around the corner on to the High Street.

Forres Picture House. A children’s matinee in the early 1950s. Courtesy of Ray Mills.

Christmas and New Year holidays were illumined for the children by special matinee performances.

Mr Mills’ first festive season saw 450 children turn up and cheer wildly when he and the sponsor, Mr Bisset of Moray Park, handed out bags containing cakes, fruit and a freshly minted penny.

A different time

Ray vividly remembers what now seems extraordinary – customers smoking throughout, requiring the usherettes to walk the aisles squirting a rose-scented water spray to bring a few minutes of relief from the fug.

Eldorado ice cream and Rowntrees’ chocolates were sold at the cash desk, as well as by the usherettes, from illuminated trays.

Ray said: “For many local people the Picture House was a great source of entertainment which helped draw the community together, providing common talking points.

“For days after a popular movie, people would talk about what they had seen ‘at the pictures’.”

Once television encroached into every home, the cinema’s hey-day was over.

Bottom left, a programme from The Picture House in Forres (courtesy of Ray Mills) and promotional images for some of the movies the cinema showed (Shutterstock).

The Forres Picture House closed in June 1964, and was bought by William Fyfe as a furniture depository.

It was then converted into the present day international removals and storage facility run by White & Co Ltd.

Meanwhile Ray holds the archive of thousands of photographs, including the ones seen here, taken by his father and mother Sybil in a business they ran supplying pictures to the local press, and covering weddings and events.

With Forres Heritage Trust, he helps to mount popular exhibitions from the multi-sourced collection twice a year in the Tolbooth building on Forres High Street.

The good news is that after a pause for the pandemic, the exhibitions will hopefully start again in May, Covid permitting.


More like this:

Memories of iconic Tain Picture House as curtain set to rise on new era

Lost cinemas: The rise and fall of the Inverness Playhouse

End of the reel: The long-lost Victoria Cinema in Inverurie