My incredible Nanna passed away almost 5 years ago it was 1st December 2011, after suffering with Dementia for a few years. Which really feels like losing your loved one twice and in different ways. When she was moved into a home, everything had to be emptied from her house. Including some diaries she had kept over the years. As you can see from the above picture from 1953. She had written birthdays in and almost wrote in it every day. She was 22 and then turned 23 in the August of that year. I thought it was a perfect way to celebrate her memory by posting this blog post!
What I have found is that in 1953 it was a big deal to wash your hair and have a bath, which usually happened just once per week, this is documented in the diary. Visiting your friends to watch TV as not everyone had them, writing letters (my Grandad was in the RAF and used to go away a lot) and receiving them. But the main form of entertainment and well enjoyment was the cinema (and sometimes theatre) I am very lucky to therefore say that my Nanna actually wrote in each film she went to see. She used to go most of the time with my Grandad, her best friend, her sister and occasionally on her own.
I have therefore decided to turn this into a blog project and attempt to watch all of the films she went to see at the cinema in 1953! This is going to be rather tricky for some of the films, I am still trying to work out some of them as well struggling with the writing and then trying to cross it over with a film from either 1952 or 1953 as it gets later in the year, the only thing is though that sometimes older films were also shown. The fact that some films have since had a name change as not helped at times either! She did seem to get bored of writing in the diary by November as it had less in and hardly anything at all in December, maybe she actually lost it for a while?
I find it truly incredible to be able to read something that she wrote 63 years ago, I mean that feels like its own film or at least a great idea for a screenplay! Just wanted to clarify that I have called the post “Me Nanna’s Diary” due to the North East accent and that is how I would have always referred to her to rather than “My” just a little bit of slang which I felt made it feel more personal and real!
January
1st – Because of You – 1952
5th – Panto: Dick Wittington
10th – Behave Yourself! – 1951
18th – Rogues Regiment (on her own) – 1948
19th – Three Little Words – 1950
20th – Road to Bali – 1952
26th – With a Song in My Heart – 1952
February
2nd – That Midnight Kiss – 1949
6th – The Quiet Man – 1952
9th – The Las Vegas Story – 1952
11th – ?????
23rd – Room For One More – 1952
March
2nd- She’s Working Her Way Through College – 1952
9th – Father’s Doing Fine – 1952
9th – No Holds Barred – 1952
16th – Because You’re Mine – 1952
April
4th – Son of Paleface – 1952
6th – Mutiny – 1952
9th – The Crimson Pirate – 1952
10th – April in Paris – 1952
11th – Against All Flags – 1952
13th – My Cousin Rachel – 1952
25th – With a Song in my Heart – 1952
27th – Military Policeman (Off Limits) – 1953 (She wrote, Very Good)
28th – The Merry Widow (Very Nice) – 1952
May
8th – Son of Ali Baba – 1952 (Not Bad)
10th – Steel Helmet – 1951 (Very Good)
11th – Million Dollar Mermaid (originally called One Piece Bathing Suit) – 1952 (quite nice)
12th – The Mississippi Gambler – 1953
29th – Treasure of the Golden Condor – 1953
30th – The I Don’t Care Girl – 1953
June
1st – Because You’re Mine – 1952
15th – No Escape – 1953
16th – Anna (very good) – 1951
23rd – ????
28th – Duchess ???
29th – The Iron Mistress 1952 (Not so good)
30th – Glory Alley – 1952 (Quite Good)
July
11th – Tessie O’Shea (Singer)
13th – ???
18th – Dave Morris?
27th – The Half-Breed – 1952 (Good)
August
1st – Sunderland Empire *Theatre trip Archie Lewis- (Very good)
7th – Sunny Side of the Street – 1951
8th – ????
10th – All I Desire – 1953
10th – ????
12th – Stalag 17 – 1953 (Very good)
13th – The ????
14th –
15th – Raiders of the Seven Seas – 1953
24th – Since You went Away – 1944 (Very good)
25th – Tough Girl ?!?!?! -195? – (Very good)
29th – Theatre *G.H.Elliot (Very good)
31st – By the Light of the Silvery Moon – 1953 (Very good)
September
5th – Theatre* David Whitfield (Very nice singer)
12th – Jolson Sings Again – 1949
19th – ????
26th – Theatre* Rose Marie ???
28th – Scared Stiff – 1953 (Very nice)
October
3rd – Operation Secret – 1952
3rd – Stop Your Killing Me – 1952
17th – The Desert Song – 1953 (Very Nice)
20th – Crusin’ Down the River – 1953 (Very nice)
24th – Bell ????
31st – She’s Back on Broadway – 1953
November
3rd – Bloodhounds on Broadway – 1952
If you think you can help in anyway by pointing me in the direction of websites I might be able to watch some of the films on, as I am guessing some of them will be free to watch now. Places online that sell older films on DVD would also be great! Or if you just happen to have any of them and would like to donate to the cause!