Sparkhill Home Guard on the steps of the Carlton Cinema in 1940.

Seventy years ago tomorrow, on the night of 25 October 1940, an incendiary bomb fell into the orchestra pit at the Carlton Cinema in Taunton Road, Balsall Heath. It was in the middle of a screening of the Dorothy Lamour thriller Typhoon, and 19 people were killed. Just one horrible event amongst many during Birmingham’s Blitz – over 40 were killed elsewhere in the city that night alone, according to this online database – but I pass this particular spot every day on the way to work and thought it was worth noting.

The cinema survived and reopened in 1943, considered a cut above some of the other local picture-houses; it was one of the first in Birmingham to have a lift. The photo above (from Victor J. Price’s ‘Birmingham Cinemas’) was taken in the early 80s after it had shifted from films to clubnights and gigs – including one by local post-punkers The Au Pairs, by the look of the poster. (Also note the IRA/NF graffiti)

The building was demolished in 1985, and now on the site there’s a memorial garden with 19 stones to commemorate those who died.

As you might know we send out regular emails about our gigs and other things going on. We used to post all of these online, but on the whole I like keeping these things email-only; the format just seems wrong for a blog. But then again sometimes we’ll stick them up here… This one includes a spate of upcoming filmnights. To receive future updates, stick your address in the box on the left.

hello,

This Wednesday sees 7 Inch Cinema visiting the Victoria pub
for a one-off special to mark the close of the Birmingham Book
Festival…
(more…)

This 1999 animation by Jonathan Hodgson is showing at next week’s Footnotes event, part of a clutch of shorts adapted from poems or short stories. It’s based on a Charles Bukowski tale and features the melt-making tones of Mr Peter Blegvad.