THIS IS THE BLOG OF COLIN JONES, RHYL TOWN COUNCILLOR: BODFOR WARDl
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 Lumiere 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 the sands (see above). He travelled around North Wales making his ‘Silvograph’ 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 at the Central Hall in Market Street, which is pictured above as it looks today. The building stands between the Lorne pub and Wilkinson store. The side of the building facing Wilkinsons was resurfaced 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. The building became a labour exchange (Jobcentre) in the 1930s before going retail.
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