...  as – one hand slapping a flank while the other closely gripped the invisible reins - they vainly strove to control the bucking bronco each was riding across the (admittedly much-less-busy) roads. 

Old dodge-the-bullets himself, Audie Murphy never had more devoted fans.

Yet every good thing comes to an end and those glorious salad days of Saturday morning matinees at the cinema were no exception. 

We all have to live with change. 

The previous generation enjoyed sing-alongs in the town’s cinemas - and my father remembered during the War gaining admittance in exchange for an empty jam jar. 

…..

When other cinema managers saw how successful the Frontier was, they quickly followed suit: the Savoy and the Imperial offered matinees too and soon there was competition for the ragged-arsed patrons. 

As pressure increased to place bums on seats, new incentives had to be offered. 

One youthful, innocent young manager came up with a cracker. 

He took the stage before the show and announced that, for the foreseeable future, a small present would be offered to any young patron who was celebrating his birthday on the particular day of a future cinema showing: fill in a form at the door – including your date of birth, and, if your anniversary occurred for example next Saturday, then a presentation would be made from the stage before the show.

As it happened, the ‘foreseeable future’ – like that particular manager – lasted exactly one week.

There were near riots at the kiosk in the lobby as two thousand patrons demanded forms to fill in, each one insisting that the very next Saturday just happened to be his or her birthday.

Ah! The innocence!

… more later …