CHEETHAM'S GHOST

THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARD
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The opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own and not the views of the town council.
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Previous mention of pioneer film maker Arthur Cheetham on this blog brought a ripple of enquiries. The world’s first-ever film show was presented by the Lumière brothers in Paris at the end of 1895. Mr. Cheetham, an entrepreneur who lived in Rhyl, made his first film as early as January 1898; it showed children playing on our sands (see above).

Mr. Cheetham travelled round North Wales making films and exhibiting them in various places including Rhyl Town Hall where there is a plaque in his honour.

In 1906 he established a permanent cinema for his 'Silvograph Pictures' at Central Hall in Market Street, an upstairs venue that had previously been known as Lyric Hall. The following photo is from the book 'Wales And Cinema' by David Berry:

This colour picture shows the building as it looks today standing between The Lorne pub and Wilkinsons store. The side of the building that faces Wilkinsons was re-surfaced a few years ago, and for a while the name Silvograph was uncovered writ large, and then as work progressed it disappeared again – Cheetham’s ghost, I called it.

Cheetham's cinema did not survive the advent of talking pictures. In the 1930s the premises became a labour exchange, an early version of The Jobcentre.

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[These names of businesses are added here for indexing purposes: Gold Charm jewellery, Focus In opticians, RKM Wools, Rowlands greengrocer.]

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