WELLGATE LIBRARY IN THE 80'S

No idea if the Wellgate Library still looks the same these days, but this is how things were back in the 1980's.

Top image is of the Childrens Library - and judging by the pencil case setting, I think the kids may have been having "The Borrowers" read out to them at the time!

The other photo is a view of the general lending area, which I remember had a brilliant book of Picasso Linocuts that I kept going back to over and over again. Must see if I can buy a copy now that this has jogged my memory.

The advert is dated 1988 and is for the Video Libary, located in the main foyer.

Membership was free and for over 18's only. The content consisted of Hollywood blockbusters, TV shows, music, documentary, old Dundee and hobbies, with prices ranging from 50p to £2 per night.

THE PRIMITIVES ON FILM - 1969

Elsewhere on Retro Dundee I have mentioned the various musical escapades of 2 local musicians who often worked together - keyboard player, Mike Fraser, and drummer Robbie McIntosh.

Well R&B pop outfit, The Primitives, was one such band in which Mike & Robbie teamed up with, this being after their stint in The Senate. Although The Primitives were a British act, it was in Italy where they were best known and where oor twa spent their time with them, the band having an alternating residency at the fab & famous Piper Club in Rome, a venue visited by top name bands.

It was during this groovy time in their life that Mike & Robbie ended up in a movie, an Italian film made in 1969 called "Pensiero d'amore", footage of which I have below.

But before that, a quick word on the above photos...

Top one is a film shot of The Primitives.

Next one down with all the dancers is another film shot.

Third image was taken at a live gig.

And the last picture is a general publicity shot.

So, settle down, cut yourself a slice of pizza and enjoy this rare movie scene below.

To see Mike on keyboards and Robbie on drums, you'll need to ignore singer Mal, all the dolly birds, as well as the Mafia, and just concentrate on the background action!

I don't recall this movie showing at The Gaumont!!

Big thanks to Mike Fraser and Mac.

THE PLAZA - HILLTOWN - 80'S

The Plaza up the Hilltown was not a picture house I went to very often, once or twice in the late 60's/early 70's and that was about it.

In fact it had a rather patchy life after that, with it closing down in 1972, reopening in 1975 for around a year or so and closing down again - then like a lot of cinema buildings it changed over to being a bingo hall in the 80's before eventually closing for good in the 90's, leading ultimately to it's demolition.

This shot of the Plaza building was taken sometime in the 80's.

Photo by The Bear.

DUNDEE CINEMAS FEATURE - 1989

This page here is from a Tele dated May 1989 and is a feature about the history of Dundee's cinemas.

It coincided with the 10th Anniversary of the Steps Film Theatre who put on an exhibition to mark the occasion.

There are over 40 cinemas listed in the index panel, complete with addresses and dates, and there are also plenty of facts & figures in the main feature itself, some of which are quite amusing.

You don't need to be a serious film buff to enjoy the article, so if you fancy a wee read I've scanned it in large sized.

Just give it a click to bring it up.

AUDIO VISUALS IN THE 70'S

This ad for The Audio Visual Centre in Perth Road is dated 1973.
They were a photographic specialist, although obviously, as their name implies, they must have sold recording equipment, stereos or something like that too.
In fact, it was the name of the place that reminded me of this item below, a piece of newsreel I have from 1979 introducing the Laser Disc. This was technology I didn't indulge in, but it got me wondering, who would have been the first shop in Dundee to stock Laser Discs? I thought it might be an audio/visual store like Dixons or Comet rather than a record shop such as Bruces. Laser Disc content featured bands as well as movies, similar to video releases at the time.
Also, I don't recall video rental stores renting out Laser Discs, they just seemed to go onto DVDs after videos.
Anyway, I'm sure one or two of you out there must have treated yourself to Laser Disc gear, before they ended up in the shed alongside your 8-Track!

FILMING IN DUNDEE - EARLY 80'S - #1

I put a few items up in 2008 relating to the time when the BBC filmed the Alan Bennett play "An Englishman Abroad" in the early 80's, with Dundee being transformed into Moscow.

Well I have a really good bundle of photos which were taken behind the scenes when all this was taking place.

So, in the 2 pictures above, we have shoe shop Peter Lord, on the Murraygate/Commercial Street corner, being modified into it's Russian equivalent.

Across the road on the other corner was John Menzies, who also got the Moscow name change treatment.

It was actually forecast for snow around the time of filming but only a tiny flurry dropped, not nearly enough for what the director, John Schlesinger, had in mind. So the decision was made at 4am to use salt instead. 14 council workers were brought down to the city centre to spread 80 tons of the stuff around town in order that filming could commence at 8:30am pronto.

I was there. They did a really convincing job.

Below is the part of the film where you see the Commercial Street scene.

The actress is trying to find someone who could give her directions to an address she had been given. She then ends up searching around Exchange Street.

 

ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW - 1988

This ad for The Rocky Horror Picture Show was in Dundee's Street Life mag.
The late showings took place at the Cannon in the Seagate in November 1988.
There was a large turnout for this charity event, and as well as the main feature film, there was live cabaret on stage. The added attraction was the appearance of the shows creator, the entertaining and all-round good guy, Richard O'Brien.
Somewhere in the crowd there would have been the winning ticket holders of the Street Life competition too!
And a good time was had by all.
Click image to enlarge.

FILMS ON SCREEN - APRIL 1970

This instantly recognisable layout comes from the what's on section in the Courier. The one here dating from April 1970.
The choice of Dundee cinemas to pick from are - ABC - GAUMONT - ODEON - PLAZA - RITZ - ROYALTY - TIVOLI - VICTORIA and the REGAL in the Ferry.
Quite funny to see that all the films have family rated U & A certificates, except for the Tiv, who typically is showing X's..!!
Despite the Royalty being located at my end of town, I don't think I was ever at this picture house. No memory of that one at all.
Click image to enlarge.

FILMS ON SCREEN - OCTOBER 1988

Not so many cinemas in town by the time we reach the late 80's, but here's what films were on offer in October 1988, published in Dundee's what's on guide, Street Life.
If I only had to pick one movie, I think I'd opt for "A Fish Called Wanda".
Picture houses mentioned are - STEPS - CANNON 1 & 2 - VICTORIA.
Click image to read large version.

AT THE MOVIES IN 1981

From the pages of Cranked Up comes this round-up of 1981's best movies, written by their critic, Fabian Bell.
I remember going to quite a few of the ones mentioned, but for some reason I never went to see the winner, Raging Bull.
One of the films I noticed in the write-up but not in the top 10 was "Clash Of The Titans". I just thought I'd remind you that this featured the brilliant stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen. This actually turned out to be his final piece of work, and although this type of film was a bit played out by the 80's, RH's contribution in the Titans was still pretty amazing.
Click image to enlarge.

GAUMONT QUEUE - 1973

The film causing all the commotion at the Gaumont was "Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs".

These pictures were taken on the 5th April 1973, so the movie would have been on it's umpteenth re-release by then.

I too saw this classic animation at the Gaumont, but that was in the mid 60's. For some reason, I always remember Dopey's drum solo sequence!

I also have a hazy memory of singing a rude version of "Hi Ho Hi Ho" in the school playground, but can't recall how it went now. Probably just as well!

If you want to have a closer look at the faces in the crowd to see if ye ken anybody, just click onto the images to enlarge.

Photos by DC Thomson.

STEPS FILMS - APRIL 1989

A little glimpse at what was showing at the Steps in April 1989.

Not much in the way of family films, but looking through the list it reminded me that I bought the COLORS soundtrack on vinyl back then. I had a look to see if I still had the album in my collection and I do, so I plucked it out to get a reminder of the content. If there are any old b-boys & fly-girls out there, then here's the tracklist lowdown...

ICE T "Colors" - DECADENT DUB TEAM "Six Guns" - SALT 'N' PEPA "Let The Rhythm Run" - BIG DADDY KANE "Raw" - ERIC B & RAKIM "Paid In Full" - KOOL G RAP "Butcher Shop" - 7A3 "Mad Mad World" - ROXANNE SHANTE "Go On Girl" - MC SHAN "A Mind Is a Terrible Thing To Waste" - RICK JAMES "Everywhere I Go".

Some classic old school hip hop in there... and this was around the time the word "Yo" started to infiltrate our language.

Yo...I'm outta here!!

THE VIC - VICTORIA ROAD

Call it the Victoria, Vicky, Vic or flea-pit, but as picture house's go, it was quite low down in the pecking order of cinema's to visit.

It couldn't really compete with the blockbusters the ABC and Odeon screened regularly and so would often show movies that were on their 2nd or 3rd outing. Having said that, I did go there quite a lot in the 60's & 70's.

I have 2 not so good memories of the Vic...

Once, on a visit as a schoolkid in the 60's, me & my wee brother came back from a show with our heads covered in lice! Yep, the flea-pit tag struck with a vengeance that day. We had to use "special shampoo" and a nit comb for a few days afterwards!!

The other Vic nightmare was in the early 80's, when during a film, a huge chunk of plaster came crashing down off the ceiling. Luckily it landed around an empty area of seats beside the aisle rather than on someones noggin, but I clearly remember saying after the show - "That's the last time I'll be in this place" - and indeed it was.

Amazingly though, the Vic was the 2nd longest running cinema in Scotland, so I can only assume it's heyday was pre 60's.

The place was closed/condemned at the end of the 80's.

THE TIVOLI - BONNYBANK ROAD

This ad for the Tivoli dates from the late 60's.
It was a place I never went to, so don't know much about it other than the thing everyone knows, it was the place to go see X-rated blue movies!
In fact I didn't even realise it was licensed until I saw this ad. If I had known you could get a pint, I may have visited it out of curiosity!
Below is a very short clip of film, also from the late 60's, showing the Tivoli's position in Bonnybank Road.
The cinema closed down around the mid/late 70's, and lay empty for a while before it changed into a snooker hall.

STAR WARS QUEUE - 1978

Bet most of you remember this...queuing to see Star Wars. This photo was taken in February 1978 on the day it burst onto screen at the Odeon for the first time. It was on a Sunday that it made it's debut in Dundee, and the queue having began at 9:00am, ended up along the length of Cowgate and all the way down to the bottom of St Andrew's Street, as in the photo. Not only that but the doors didn't open until 4:00pm and because of the size of the crowd the Odeon had to bring in an extra cashier to help out.
I remember going to see it a few days later, and although I enjoyed it I'll never forget my mates comment as we were leaving the building with everyone raving about it. Looking rather bemused, he quipped "It was a bit far fetched!".
If you think you may be in with a shout of spotting yourself in the picture - click on the image to view the large version.
Photo by DC Thomson.Tints by GG.

GENESIS IN DUNDEE - 1977 & 1980

2 tickets - same band - same place - different dates.
Starting with the 13th January 1977 gig...
When the tickets went on sale for this show around November '76, a photo of the queue at the Caird Hall made it into the local papers. Fans started to form the queue around 9.00pm the night before, and the image of them with their sleeping bags, flasks and good humour was used along with the story of this rare sight.
The concert sold out within a couple of hours next morning.
This was the Genesis "Wind & Wuthering" tour, and like most prog rock bands in the 70's, the light show became part of the act, so there were plenty of lasers, strobes, dry ice and so on.
The photos were taken at this '77 gig, right from the front of the stage.
There is a recording of this show doing the rounds too....unofficially like!
The ad under the photos dates back to March that year and is from an old Evening Telegraph I have. This was another time I saw Genesis in Dundee in 1977, as the ABC were showing a double film feature on this occasion - "White Rock", which had a soundtrack by Rick Wakeman, and to accompany it, "Genesis In Concert".
I had to be alert to catch it mind you, as it was on for only one day!
On 24th April 1980, 29 years ago today, the band were here again, this time on their "Duke" tour and introduced 2 new band members, Daryl Stuermer who replaced Steve Hackett on guitar, and Roland....the drum machine! The new Genesis sound by this time was more lightweight as they ditched the idea of the 10 minute track in favour of the 3 minute pop-rock tune. As a result, they featured in the singles charts rather a lot in the 80's. On stage though, they still managed to squeeze in the occasional old classic from their back catalogue.
I remember Phil Collins name-dropped "Keiller's" during the intro to one of their songs! 

Photos by Alan Weston

SLADE IN FLAME FILM - 1975

 

As if to confirm that glam-rock fizzled out in '74, Slade brought out this film in 1975 called "Slade In Flame", and was another I went to see.
What I liked about it was that it exposed the dark, gritty, unpleasant side of showbiz that the folk involved would prefer the public not to know about.
When the band start off, they encounter bitchy rivals, bullying, crooked bosses, violent management goons and suchlike.
Then when they become famous, it's much the same but on a bigger budget, with corrupt record industry executives, media manipulation, blackmail and so on. This then created lots of friction, arguments and peer pressure, until it inevitably all fell apart.
It was as un-glam as it gets!
Slade portrayed a group called Flame and it was set in the late 60's, although it was Slade who did the soundtrack.
It was something a bit unexpected anyway, especially after all the fun of Slade's pop records up to 1974.

Needless to say, I grabbed the DVD too when it was released.

So it was time for music to move on, with punk waiting in the wings!

Or as the accompanying Monty Python film put it - "and now for something completely different".