IS Leslie Caron unsightly? Does Fred Astaire’s picture cause offence? These were the unseemly questions troubling the Evening Times on August 16, 1955, as it reported, on its front page, a skirmish between La Scala cinema, on Sauchiehall Street, and the city’s Town Planning committee. Councillors asserted that the CinemaScope-type display for director Jean Negulesco’s hit musical, Daddy Long Legs, was not in keeping with the street’s amenities and ordered them to be removed. The cinema management - the MD was the influential figure of Sir Alexander B King - retorted that some customers actually liked the posters. La Scala’s owners reached for their lawyers and prepared an appeal.
In the film, Astaire plays a millionaire who, on a trip to France, chances upon Caron, an 18-year-old girl in an orphanage, and decides to sponsor her to study at a college in New England.
La Scala cinema itself had a long life, opening in 1912 and only being closed down in the mid-eighties.
For the last 20 years the premises have been occupied by Waterstones bookshop. It is now the largest bookstore north of the border and, in a pleasing historical touch, it has brought back a screen to the building. The shop says it will host literary film-based events from discussion groups and quiz nights to special screenings. The renovated store was officially open today by the renowned chef, Rick Stein.
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