There were a
lot of wonderful times with Jacey Cinemas, we organised several
special cartoon and comedy events in various cities, which involved
dressing up and several stunts in the streets, such as the promoting
of a 'Crazy Show' for example.
Later film premieres, when the stars were brought over, or special
opening nights when we opened another converted news theatre, as a
continental film cinema, mostly with the Jacey and Cinephone name.
But best of all attending the Cannes Film Festival each year, where we
were invited, by some of the film distributors, to see the films they
hoped we would agree to book for our cinemas.
Those occasions were
very glamorous, smart, and dressy and we were very fortunate to be
treated as VIP's. The most exciting thing for me at these
Festivals (in my young 20's) was to be able
to see up-close, Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, and Gina Lollobrigida, even
if only briefly.
I was so taken by Brigitte Bardot - she was
stunning and so vivacious! I was so lucky as the closest the vast majority of people
ever got to these stars would have been the cinema screen!
I should point out
that Grandpa Joseph was the first to introduce the news and cartoon
cinemas throughout the UK and later my father George opened the first
cinemas specialising in continental feature films.
Our cinema
business was extremely successful and there were lots of glamorous
occasions, so life was particularly good for us all. I became a member of the
'Institute of Directors' in Pall Mall and Mum and Dad joined the 'White
Elephant Club' in Curzon Street (a beautiful restaurant and bar for
those involved in the entertainment world), we had some
incredibly special
evenings there after our film premieres.
Thinking back, I met quite a number of celebrities and interesting
people, we entertained some of the UK male pop stars; Adam Faith,
Jess Conrad, Craig Douglas, when we opened the 'Jacey in the Strand' and
several French female film starlets that included Catherine Deneuve (before she became so famous).
Aisha 'Miss Jacey' with Craig Douglas and Adam Faith
Martine Carole came to the opening
of our 'Cinephone' Birmingham and Robert Mitchum attended the film
premiere of 'Yellow Teddybears' also at 'Cinephone' Birmingham.
I met Yoko Ono in London (we had shown her film 'Film No 4' about lots
of bottoms) and later I was invited to one of her London exhibitions
that was really extraordinary.