Closing time at La Scala picture house, 1955. A poster advertising The Deep Blue Sea starring Vivien Leigh and Kenneth More can be seen behind the railings.
La Scala opened in October 1912 in a converted warehouse on Sauchiehall Street. Unusually, both the stalls and the balcony had tea lounges where patrons could take tea while watching the movie. This was especially popular with courting couples. The cinema was modernised in 1936 when a colour scheme of pink and silver (with crimson seats) was introduced. In 1976 the cinema was split into three smaller auditoriums. It closed in 1984 and in 2004 the building is a bookshop.
In 1955 Partick Camera Club set out to create a photographic survey of Glasgow. As the project progressed, other camera clubs joined and each was allocated a district of the city to photograph. Glasgow Museums exhibited the photographs at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and at the People's Place, and in 1956 the exhibition was shown at the Palace of Art in Bellahouston Park. The photographs are now part of Glasgow Museums' collections.
Reference: 1005.97.220 / OG.1955.121.[186]
Reproduced with the permission of the Partick Camera Club
Keywords:
bookshops, cinemas, films, Glasgow Photographic Survey 1955, La Scala, posters, railings, tea rooms, The Deep Blue Sea