Arthur Wilde, Projectionist and collector.

Today post is courtesy of Andrew who kindly got in touch and offered to send some items of interest in... and as you see he did!.

The photographs seem to date from the 1970s and include a great shot of the man himself "ARTHUR WILDE" in the Royal 2 box with "Albert". I presume this would be Albert Breakey, whose family were heavily involved in the theatre in earlier times.

Arthur Wilde in the Royal 2 box with Albert

The other picture features one of the Westrex 2000 projectors housed in the Royal 1 box, with Arthur in traditional pose.

Arthur Wilde in traditional pose

The pictures were part of a job-lot which were offered for sale on Ebay. It would appear that following Arthur's death in 2013, his personal effects in his home were disposed off, including his own private cinema. Although I understand his projectors etc were sold early on, the photos and other ephemera were put to one side by the dealer and have only recently resurfaced.

Although it was sad that some of Arthur's effects were to end up as the contents of a house clearance, at least these important archives will continue to show how things were at the Theatre Royal.

Theatre Royal, Hyde  by Harry Rutherford

Andrew is of course right, it is sad... but how much stuff in the past must have gone off to the tip at these sad times. One man's rubbish is another man's treasures, and some of the items that have been donated to this blog have indeed been rescued, social history being save for ever as got to be a good thing.

Thank you Andrew for having the good sense to bid on this lot, and then be kind enough to share with others.  

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