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The Globe Cinema On The Path Of The Empire Theatre

Submitted by The Scout The closure of the Globe Cinema has brought to an end a period which will always be fresh in my mind. As a young boy, a group of fellows would have a cinema day, we started by attending the Globe at 12.30 PM, Olympic at 4.30 PM, Empire at 8.30 PM…

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Submitted by The Scout
The Globe Cinema

The closure of the Globe Cinema has brought to an end a period which will always be fresh in my mind. As a young boy, a group of fellows would have a cinema day, we started by attending the Globe at 12.30 PM, Olympic at 4.30 PM, Empire at 8.30 PM and the Plaza at midnight. From there it was Baxter’s Road for fried fish and we took the 6.00 AM bus for home.

The Globe Cinema was not only famous for good movies. I recall the night Jackie Opel out performed Percy Sledge and the Opels doing the same to the Drifters. Additionally there were many morning matinee shows with the Fantastics and other bands of the day.  Nowadays because of technology and progress many prefer to watch movies from wide screen TV’s in their living room or even on their lawns. Maybe the Globe can still be used for shows and concerts, we have the Frank Collymore Hall but that is limited in capacity. The Globe can accommodate a larger audience. Personally I wouldn’t want to see the Globe go in the same direction the Empire has gone. Both of these cinemas were blessed with very good stages suited for shows, we’ve allowed the Empire to run to ruin. Please do something to keep our heritage alive, going to the cinema was a true Bajan culture. Many relationships were made from cinema going. The Globe is the last of these cinemas.

Maybe government and private sector can assist with keeping it alive by using it as the concert hall for the National Youth Orchestra and Steel Band or any such functions. This is part of our past that should not be allowed to descend into a state of disrepair.

30 responses to “The Globe Cinema On The Path Of The Empire Theatre”

  1. JUST ASKING Avatar
    JUST ASKING

    JUST ASKING | November 13, 2011 at 6:44 AM |
    WHY not take up the Globe which is being closed down pretty soon (hint) ??
    ARE you going to wait until it is closed down and shut -up for many years before you decide to

  2. A-Fish Avatar
    A-Fish

    It’s been memories when I was a child visiting the place and my mother recalled the place. It’s a shame I saw it closed today and I forgot the place. 🙁

    Thanks for the reminder Scout. Best wishes.

  3. Angela Ifill Avatar
    Angela Ifill

    I believe the owners of the Globe made too many forced errors and now looking for a big payday with a sale. I will list a few of the foolish things the owners of the Globe did that saw it come to this final closing stage.(1) Why would you continue to run a show at 4 30 pm when the vast majority of people now leaving work? The owners have another place where the show starts after six they aren’t closing that down..(2) Why would you continue to show two pictures for the price of one? When the second picture usually is a waste of time.(3) Why if you had a market for live entertainment you would not rotate it with your cinema features? Live shows would see people going to the globe and they would have returned for the cinema when a movie was being offered. I am sure a crop over tent going to be in there this year.Why couldn’t management at the Globe see the need to be a part of the growing festival and make the Globe open for crop over tents? The owners would not have to rely solely on the cinema for revenue if they marketed the property as a a multifaceted one as it was in the past. I saw a gay show there back in the early eighties;and the owners neglect of diversification caused the Globe’s demise not technology.

    It’s not going to end like the Empire,the owners too smart for that.Someone going to buy it.We should thank our lucky stars that the electrical wiring in the Globe is very good as a fire may have resulted from worn circuits over the years.Would hate to see it go up in flames however I am sure the owner’s have it insured as they are not going to loose on this building.I don’t see why we should be crying over the Globe as I bet the owners are not, as they made a killing with this building and going to end with a windfall one way or the other.

  4. David Avatar
    David

    @Angela Ifill

    You have made some good points.

  5. Rosemary Parkinson Avatar
    Rosemary Parkinson

    I do not know what will come of this but….when I first heard of the possibility of this cinema/theatre being closed down a good few weeks ago, I immediately contacted one of the CEO’s of Caribbean Tales (Caribbean filmmakers/producers etc) who then got in touch with one of the leading theatre/film producers here to see if The Globe could be saved for the use of all that it can be used for. I do not know where these talks have reached or if they have stopped. But I will try and find out and report. It would indeed be a shame to see this almost art deco building with so much history behind it, go the same way of the Empire. But money talks and bullshit walks and people get all excited and hot headed but after the 9-day wonder, it all stops and nexx ting the building knocked down and one of those monstrosities with no aesthetic value but plenty rental space will calmly take its place. One thing I can say is that if I was not buried in finishing this book I am writing, and if I had not put all my finances into same, I would invest. In retrospect i wish I had. Would have been a lot easier than the project I am working on. Will see what I can find out from the group above and report.

  6. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    As a young lad I used to go down to the Globe and assist Michael Bayne and his uncle in the projection room.
    There were others, including Shirley Lashley, who now lives in New York. I always remember the key to switching from one reel to the other – looking for the scratches on the film as it went through then hitting the switch.
    Good fun for a lad in his early teens.
    By the way, The Opels was one of the best doo wop groups in the world. With Tony ‘Fat child@ Norville, Clarence Thompson, et al. What voices..

  7. Yardbroom Avatar
    Yardbroom

    This Globe article and the submission generally opened a box of memories for me. I recall going to see a film there as a young boy on a school outing and was introduced to the singing voice of Mario Lanza. I can still hear his voice now many years later soaring high in the auditorium….wonderful.

    I also recall Jackie Opel – we called him a different name then – before he became well known, exercising at the Val Rosa gym in the Bay Land. Often he would break into sound as he exercised and those dulcet tones would reverberate around the gym. Little did we know at the time he would become famous…happy memories.

  8. Junior Avatar
    Junior

    A definite opportunity for the NCF to own a money earning asset. This building can be leased/rented out by such an entity to generate funds to run the programmes of the said NCF. It must however be fully out-fitted and not have the present situation of renting equipment and other things at ever increasing fees. This would allow some government funds to go in other much needed areas. Someone will call this idea thier own. Hey that is normal, Just get it done.

  9. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    It would make a nice strip joint. Seriously, arguing for the saving of a archaic building in a legacy industry (cinema) just because it brings happy memories to people in their evening years is counter productive. I say wait till nine o’clock in the morning when people are busy at work with tv’s turned on all over the country, slam a plane into it, detonate a nuclear charge that is buried beneath it, watch it free fall into its foot print and say that the Trinidadian government is responsible for a cowardly attack on Barbadian freedoms and democracy …!

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Apostle T. Wayne Bishop to the rescue!

  11. Yardbroom Avatar
    Yardbroom

    We should not save buildings or artefacts just because they are old, or bring pleasant memories to those who have had the “pleasure” of living some years.

    However, we should as other developed countries do save and restore buildings that chart the path our people have travelled. We are not animals who chomp and move on to the next pasture and leave behind only their droppings, as human beings we are more than that.

    All over the world buildings new and some of great age are treasured, some built long before human foot-prints pressed the soft earth of our island Barbados, but does it matter some say, it is not the sand or the sea…but we had no hand in the construction of those.

  12. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    David | January 6, 2012 at 12:17 PM |
    Apostle T. Wayne Bishop to the rescue!

    Whose Rescue? Is he not about to throw his faithful flock, once again down into the abyss of debt,as he did when he purchased a church in Country Road from the Closed-Brethren who wanted to move far away from their next door neighbours in the new Country Park Towers?
    That Closed Brethren Church should have been given the treatment that BAFBPF has suggested for the Globe Cinema.

  13. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    I always like my Westerns, so the Globe was not one of my favourites, but two great movies I can recall watching at the Globe were : Splendour in the Grass with Natalie Wood ,and A Summer Place with Troy Donahue.

  14. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    My favorite movie at the Globe was Ben Hur. We are losing too much of our pass culture and there will be nothing left to remind us of our pass. I’m almost sure if pictures of old Barbados were shown to our children now, not many would know anything about its history.

  15. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    Where would a man like T.Wayne Bishop find approx $4 million to purchase the Globe? It is time the government look into this “church scam’ and start making these “businesses” pay taxes. Many of these “apostles and doctors” are getting rich out of this church scam. Is this the same T.Wayne Bishop who is alleged to have ran away from Barbados under some very dark immoral acts?

  16. BAFBFP Avatar
    BAFBFP

    David has a responsibility to himself to generate responses to a topic. He has done that …!

  17. David Avatar
    David

    Here is a blog which BU posted about Pastor T back in 2007.

  18. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    The Scout | January 6, 2012 at 7:18 PM |
    Where would a man like T.Wayne Bishop find approx $4 million to purchase the Globe? It is time the government look into this “church scam’ and start making these “businesses” pay taxes. Many of these “apostles and doctors” are getting rich out of this church scam. Is this the same T.Wayne Bishop who is alleged to have ran away from Barbados under some very dark immoral acts?
    *****************************************************************************
    Some of the same very members of government , politicians and leaders are ardent followers of some of these Churches ,whose leaders are very quick to tell us that all the signs of today, point to the world coming to an end, yet still they want to invest many million of dollars into either purchasing or building a palatial church,and having big accounts in the bank. At least the Tent Gathering people are more credible.
    But many of these churches are following Christ’s teachings to the letter, and ensuring that “the poor will always be with us”.

  19. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    The Scout | January 6, 2012 at 7:12 PM |
    My favorite movie at the Globe was Ben Hur. We are losing too much of our pass culture and there will be nothing left to remind us of our pass. I’m almost sure if pictures of old Barbados were shown to our children now, not many would know anything about its history.
    **********************************************************************
    History ,Skipper? Some of our children do not even know their grandparents, whether Dead or Alive.

  20. Smooth Chocolate Avatar
    Smooth Chocolate

    @BAFBFP | January 6, 2012 at 8:53 AM |

    the level of your retarded, silly nature was epitomized in that statement

  21. Blogger2012 Avatar
    Blogger2012

    There are times when we must let go, the globe has outlived its usefulness, just like when we had the mobile cinema. That insitution too is no longer with us as we devekoped.

    Remember the good times. I remember when I used to go to the Empire, the Plaza and the one in oistins, i never went to the Roxy. There was a drive in where the Garfiled Sobers, that too went by the wayside. Thats the process of development.

  22. David Avatar
    David

    How is it these people (Bishop Wayne Bishop) are able to get these full page interviews with the Nation newspaper? Are they paid for? In the interview no question was posed about him absconding because he got his secretary in the church pregnant?

  23. The Scout Avatar
    The Scout

    blogger2012
    Yes, I agree the Globe has outlived its usefulness, but I’m sure government could have taken $4 million out of the $120million they have wasted in Four Seasons to purchase the Globe and use it as the headquarters for the Youth Orchestra and other performing arts since they demolished the one under construction at LLoyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

  24. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    I was in a hardware some years ago, along with two Bajan Bishops . The Lord Bishop of Barbados and Wayne Bishop. Hardly anyone in the store gave the Lord Bishop a first or even second look. All eyes were riveted on the Apostle ,and many angry fingers pointing, with the remark, “he cahr way one of his brudder wives,and then play he crying.”
    Perhaps the leopard has changed its spots.

  25. David Avatar
    David

    Why does he need a church at a cost of 4 million?

    Why is it necessary to saddle a congregation with huge debt with so many sufferers on the island?

  26. TECHNICIAN Avatar
    TECHNICIAN

    Ask Zoe!
    🙂

  27. Blogger2012 Avatar
    Blogger2012

    AND DID HE HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH HIS WIFE’S SISTER?

  28. Blogger2012 Avatar
    Blogger2012

    @DAVID

    church is big business, dont u see the rides the pastors and pastresses are having? I think the gov should start taxing the church income? These mega churches are a drain on tacpayers.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    Talking about wolves in sheep clothing:

    The Rev. Chuck Currie: GOP Kansas House Speaker Prays For Death Of President Obama
    chuckcurrie.blogs.com
    On the day we honor the memory of those killed in Tuscon and recognize the bravery of those who survived we learn that GOP Speaker of the Kansas House of Representative is praying for the death of President Obama and referring to the First Lady as “Mrs. YoMama.”

  30. youtube Avatar
    youtube

    Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization?
    I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains.
    If you know of any please share. Thank you!

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