It was one of the most – cinema-goers enjoying a film blown to pieces.
Seventy five years later, the bombing of the packed Carlton Cinema is set to be remembered in a special service.
On October 25, 1940, an incendiary bomb fell on the orchestra pit of the Taunton Road building, killing 19 and injuring 20 more as they watched Typhoon, starring silver-screen siren Dorothy Lamour.
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Elsewhere in the city, 40 others lost their lives that night as Hitler rained death on the inhabitants.
Rescuers described front row fil-goers, eyes open as if still captivated by the film. All, however, were dead.
Before the devastation, an air raid warning had flashed on the big screen. Some tried to act on it, others didn’t. It made little difference. Death came seconds after the warning.
Now that night is to be remembered on the very day of the tragedy with a service at the site, now a memorial garden.
Abdullah Rehman, chief executive of the Balsall Heath Forum residents group, which is involved in a remembrance service championed by local councillor Tony Kennedy, said: “The day will honour
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“Rather than people being withdrawn because of the impact of these events, these events bring the people of Balsall Heath together.
“That is what we will gather to celebrate.”
Among the dead was Irish teenager Ted Byrne, who had arrived in Birmingham just before the war. Ted’s father had been in the British Army and, later, his brothers fought the Germans.
Talking to Midland historian Carl Chinn in 1995, Ted’s sister recalled the 15-year-old was killed because she had taken bottles back to The Antelope Pub. She claimed the money on them and gave the loose change to Ted.
“He’d asked me to do this because he wanted to go to the pictures,” she told Prof Chinn.
“I also bought him five Woodbines.”
When she got home after her errand, it was to hear Ted telling friends he’d already seen the film showing at the Carlton.
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But they persuaded him to watch it again, pointing out the Taunton Road cinema had a better programme than either the local Olympia and the Warwick.
Ted gave in, going with them to the Carlton to watch Typhoon, which also starred Robert Preston, and The Farmer’s Daughter.
A couple of hours later, Ted’s father, who was in the Home Guard, helped carry the dead from the Carlton. Later, he was summoned by the police to Selly Oak Hospital.
When he located Ted, the lad opened his eyes.
He anxiously asked if his son was all right. “Yes, Dad,” he answered weakly. Then he died.
He was the youngest of 10 teenagers killed in the blast. The oldest victim was 56-year-old Walter Wake from Sparkhill.
The long list of victims also included husband and wife William and Vidah Bayley, aged 32 and 31 respectively, from Moseley.
Not surprisingly, those rescuers who raced to the cinema at 8pm were deeply affected by the grisly scene that greeted them.
Balsall Heath History Society’s gazette recently highlighted the impact on one of them.
Malcolm Summerhayes recalled: “My mother was an ambulance driver stationed at Court Road, Sparkhill ARP Depot No. 16.
“She and her colleagues were sent to the Carlton on the night it was bombed. When they entered the building her attendant collapsed when she saw the carnage.
“A relief ambulance attendant was brought in. When my mother returned from duty the following morning, she burst into tears and then explained what she had seen when she entered the building.
“The only light came from the moon shining through the damaged roof. She could make out people sitting with their eyes open.
It was only when she spoke to them that she realised they had been killed by the blast.”
By the following night, both the Birmingham Mail and Evening Despatch had dropped the Carlton from its long cinema listings. The list for the Capitol Cinema, Ward End, was followed by the Castle Cinema at Castle Bromwich.
It was as if the Carlton, almost opposite Balsall Heath Park, had never existed.
* The service will take place at 2.30pm at the memorial gardens in Taunton Road, Balsall Heath.
The Carlton
The Carlton, which dated back to 1928, re-opened in 1943. It remained a picture house until 1966 and then became a bingo hall.
After that, it became an Asian cinema showing Bollywood films, then a nightclub. The building was bulldozed in 1985.
That, however, was not the end of the story.
In 2007, a memorial to the victims was unveiled – a bowl-shaped grass area representing the auditorium, a straight brick path for the screen and slabs of slate in memory of each individual who lost their life in the Birmingham Blitz.
A stone carving featured an Irish knotwork pattern woven around the word “peace” written in Arabic, representing the changing communities living in the area.
Lest we forget – the victims of the Carlton bombing:
William Bayley, 32, and Vidah Bayley, 31, of Moseley
Edward Byre, 15, of Sparkhill
Leah Clifford, 18, of Sparkbrook
Philip Coates, 16, of Balsall Heath
Stanley Davies, 18, of Sparkhill
Ernest Gauder, 16, of Sparkhill
Richard Hannon, 25, of Sparkhill
Joan Heath, 20, of Sparkhill
Horace Layton, 23, of Balsall Heath
Henry McGuirk, 19, of Dublin
Douglas Milner, a 17-year-old member of the Home Guard, of Walsall
Joyce Murcott, 16, of Sparkhill
Douglas Parfitt, 17, of Sparkhill
Elizabeth Pollock, 17, of Sparkhill.
Eric Shuttleworth, a 17-year-old firewatcher, from Moseley
Mary Ann Rogers, 53, of Sparkhill
Walter Wake, 56, of Sparkhill
Evelyn Smith, 42, of Kings Heath