Lancaster Cinema hosts Fifties film fun

The very first Technicolour rock ‘n’ roll musical will be screened in Lancaster this July as part of a free event celebrating the Fifties and Sixties.

The Girl Can’t Help It (U) stars Fifties blonde bombshell, Jayne Mansfield and features appearances by music legends Little Richard, Fats Domino and Gene Vincent among others.

This 1956 satire on the music business will be screened at The Dukes Cinema on July 21 during an afternoon of Fifties and Sixties nostalgia as part of Jukebox: The Teenage Revolution, organised by Lancaster-based arts and heritage charity, Mirador, and Lancaster University Library.

The event is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players; the Granada Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation.

Prior to the screening, the Bentham-based author of Jukebox Britain, Adrian Horn will be interviewed to provide context and background both to the film and what made the Fifties such a distinctive social history period where the jukebox played a significant role in teenagers lives.

The audience can also enjoy music from the Fifties and Sixties on a vintage record player and a display of memorabilia from the era including the Ditchburn Jukebox Museum’s collections. 

Doors open at 12pm and the film screening begins at 1.30pm. The event runs until 4pm and refreshments will be available in the café bar.

This event is one in a series which have been happening this year to celebrate Lancashire as the birthplace of the distinctive British jukebox, produced by the Ditchburn Equipment company in Blackpool and Lytham St Annes.

Famous band leader and impresario, Jack Hylton, played an important role in bringing the jukebox to the UK and his archive is held at Lancaster University.

The project is also a celebration of the decades which saw the birth of the teenager so if you have memories of being a teenager in the Fifties and Sixties or photographs from that era, please contact Mirador at: http://miradorarts.co.uk/get-in-touch