The Duke of York’s is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a free show to mark the occasion.
And the Brighton cinema is encouraging its audience to wear period dress for its Official 100th Birthday – The 1910 Show!
The two-hour show, starting at 6pm next Wednesday (22 September) is intended to give a flavour of what it was like to see a film at the Preston Circus picturehouse in 1910.
In a one-off two-hour programme, a selection of English films made around a century ago are due to be screened.
They include newsreels of Brighton including an air-race from Hendon to the seafront with bi-planes over the West Pier, a temperance march in Marine Parade and bowling on Hove Lawns.
The programme also includes the Tilly Girl series of comedies made by Cecil Hepworth from 1910 to 1915 which made the teenage actors Alma and Chrissie White the nation’s first film stars.
The Tilly Girls film scheduled for next Wednesday shows them making fun of the local fire brigade.
Kinemacolour, the world’s first viable 35mm colour film system, was devised in Hove by George Albert Smith and launched around the world in 1910.
Few Kinemacolour films have survived but the Duke of York’s plans to show a number of test films as part of the anniversary programme.
There will also be a nod to the modern era with an exclusive preview of a film with a local flavour.
The showreel features scenes from the new version of Brighton Rock starring Helen Mirren and Sam Riley which is due for release next year.
