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[Star Picture House Advertisments]

From drapery and gas fires to pork butchers and hairdressers: vintage cinema adverts from Erdington's pre-war picture palace.

Advert 1937 5 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Media Archive for Central England

Overview

Everyday advertising such as this reel of pre-war commercials from the long-gone Star Cinema at Erdington in Birmingham acquires a charm and nostalgia over time. The local ads range from charming graphics promoting Doreen (for frocks and costumes) to more complex live-action ads showing a woman enjoying her ventilated gas fire. It's back to graphics though to promote Mr Therm's other great innovation: a gas laundry washer complete with wringer.

The Star Cinema on Slade Road in Erdington, where this unfortunately now heavily spliced and decaying reel was screened, closed in 1958. The following year the building re-opened as a film studio for Birmingham Commercial Films who were makers of industrial and advertising films.

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