In 1899, Gaylor and local manufacturer James Boyd Sime founded the Border Kinematograph Company. They were early pioneers of cinematography in Scotland, recording the earliest known moving images of Hawick Common Riding and other Border events. The company was wound up in 1906 due to lack of financing, although at one point they considered buying the Wee Thea.
Interior, 1914. Credit: Stewart Donaldson
Known initially as The Theatre, the Wee Thea was converted from an old temperance hall around 1901, to a design by prominent local architect J.P. Alison. It was also used for cinematograph shows by travelling companies before becoming a permanent cinema in 1913, when it was renamed the New Theatre Picture Palace.
That same year, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst gave a passionate speech at the venue. The interior had three levels: the stalls, the dress circle and the gallery, with plush red seats and plaster gilt crowns. The highly decorative gallery offered great views of each performance and were generally the cheapest seats.
Adam Grant was the managing director in its early days and by the outbreak of WWI, the Wee Thea’s marketing slogan was “we place the world before you.” In 1920, George Urie Scott sold his business, ending his interests in the Wee Thea and the Piv.
sadly, the Wee Thea was destroyed by fire in 1960 and the building was demolished. The site’s use has now gone full circle, as the Wee Thea housed the town’s main temperance society, a predecessor of the Salvation Army.
SHARE THIS STORY:
