 |
|
Staff of the Palace Cinema.
The boy in the centre is Horace Wills.
July 1912
|
|
Frank E (known as Mick) Wills kept an outdoor beer house at number 25 Alfred Street. The brewery was Phipps of Northampton. Frank's shop was facing the rear of the Palace Cinema, and they watched the cinema taking shape, until it opened in 1910.
 |
|
Constructing the Palace stage area in 1910. The wall of the beer house is in the background and the man in a suit,
taking an interest in the proceedings, is Frank Wills.
|
|
The Palace used to have stage shows, and sometimes would host a travelling circus, and then Frank would hire his stables for the animals.
Frank's son Horace became a "limelight boy" at the cinema and is pictured with the staff outside the cinema in 1912. Horace established himself as a wireless engineer in 1920 and traded at 38 High Street.
|
Frank first had a Model T Ford motor, and then in 1933 he bought a brand new Austin Ten for £135.
 |
 |
|
Model T Ford outside the shop
|
Bill head from the early 1900s
|
 |
|
Frank Wills' Van 1933
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
These personalised adverts were on a blotter to give away
to customers.
|
The coloured adverts
are taken from
'Motoring Terms Illustrated'.
They show:-
A Police Trap
Side Slipping &
A Special Demonstration
|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
