A MAN with a strong link to Petersfield’s old Savoy cinema, Anthony Filer, has responded to the Nostalgia article of May 2.

Mr Filer, who is a surveyor and property consultant in London, is grandson of its owner, Hyman Filer, who was succeeded by his sons, Anthony’s father, Horace, and Solly.

Referring to the earlier article, he writes: “Mr Diddlecombe was in fact Biddlecombe with a B. He used to wear a formal commissionaire’s uniform which was sold when a number of items were auctioned off when the cinema closed.

“When he retired, he became a Chelsea Pensioner.

“There were two long-serving members of staff, Mrs Jo Collis, who died about three years ago, and was manageress for many, many years. She certainly worked at the Savoy since before the Second World War.

“Peter King was the projectionist who also served for many years. He started aged 14 before the Second World War when he had special dispensation to leave school because he had a job. He was employed at 17 shillings and six pence per week, rising to £1 after one year.

“He sadly also died within the last couple of years. He was aged about 90. He also started work before the Second World War.

“I gave quite an amount of historic information to the Petersfield Museum some years ago. This included the old Swan Inn painted sign which is believed to have been on the corner of Swan Street and Chapel Street where the original cinema was built in 1911 and then the more recent Savoy in 1935.

“I do not recall my father or uncle speaking of Dusty Davis who you referred to in your article and I would be interested to know what years he worked at the cinema,” added Mr Filer.

According to the Post of April 30, 2008, when the demolition of the Savoy was reported, Mr Davis was 76 and lived in Borough Road in Petersfield.

He recalled he started work in 1946.

“They used to come round to the schools in those days and you used to be told what jobs there were. They said there was a job going at the Savoy, so I took it.

“A Mr Leon was the manager at the time. For some reason, the manager never went into the projection room and the projectionist never went into the manager’s office so I was a sort of go-between,

“I was earning one pound two and six a week, which, I suppose, was all right in those days.”

One of Dusty’s tasks was to help the projectionist and make sure the reels were changed properly.

“You also had to make sure the adverts were shown properly – if you weren’t careful, they’d come out on the screen upside down or back to front.”

When he was at the Savoy, Dusty saw some of the most popular films of the post Second World War era – and the blockbuster was Gone with the Wind, starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.

The last film to be shown at the Savoy in January 1985 was Ghostbusters while the first, in August 1935, was Laurel and Hardy’s Them Thar Hills.