Mal's Memories (From Penarth Times)

Mal's Memories

DO you remember the Saturday morning matinee at the local cinema?

For lots of children it was the highlight of the week. There were cartoons, a main feature, often a Western, and the serial which always ended with a spectacular cliff-hanger.

My favourite was Batman. Invariably it would end with Batman and Robin in a perilous situation - the walls of a cell closing in until they were only inches from being crushed to death, or something similar.

We could hardly wait a whole week to see what happened.

The next Saturday our heroes would miraculously save themselves at the very last moment. And the format would be repeated at the end of the show.

It never seemed to occur to us that the whole thing was entirely predictable. Willingness to enter into the suspension of disbelief is a wonderful thing.

The Westerns usually had a similar theme.

The wagon train would be surrounded by Red Indians, but just when it seemed that all was lost the cavalry would come riding to the rescue to the sound of the familiar trumpet, and tumultuous cheers from the young audience.

Penarth had two cinemas of its very own - The Windsor Kinema, in Windsor Road, which was first to close, and The Washington, which was to carry on for many more years until it eventually became a bingo club.

Living in Dinas Powys, we once chose to go to the old Plaza Cinema in Cadoxton. But the locals did not take too kindly to the invasion of their turf by strangers and after the show ended we had to make a run for it.

Deciding thereafter that discretion was the better part of valour, we stuck to familiar territory.

It might have been popularly known as the "wash house", or even worse, the "flea pit", but to us youngsters it was sheer magic!

Malcolm Davies is a former editor of the Penarth Times. Mal"s Memories are on the Penarth Times web site www.thisispenarth.co.uk