Dance J. B. Milne 3172

From the Dundee Courier and Advertiser of 25 September 1968

Mr J B Milne dies at age 66

Mr J B Milne, who was a millboy with ambition, died yesterday at his home, Ruthven House, Meigle, aged 66, as head of Scotland’s largest private cinema chain.

He had been ill for some time.

His first cinema was the Palladium, Dundee, where he once played the violin and washed floors. When he died he controlled 34 cinemas and bingo halls.

John Bannerman Milne was one of three sons of the late Mr Charles Milne, a Dundee coal merchant.

When he was nine he bought his first violin and by the age of 16 he was working in Dura Works from 5.30 am to 6 pm, teaching the violin from 6 pm to 8 pm, then playing in a dance hall until midnight.

Mr Milne became an apprentice engineer, but his future lay in the entertainment world.

His first entertainment job was at the Variety Theatre, later the Palladium, and later the Rex, until it was demolished.

He was a 19s a week “musical director and cleaner”. His savings were invested in a motor hire business, which he sold for £360 to found his cinema empire.

In 1928 Mr Milne bought the hall where he once worked. He had the vision to install talkies and never looked back.

Within 10 years, he had the largest cinema chain under private ownership in Scotland. Mr Milne recognised the potential of bingo and introduced it. Some of his halls remained cinemas, some became bingo halls, some combined the two.

Mr Milne bought Ruthven House, a 32-room Adam-designed manor, complete with its furnishings in 1946. A 1500-acre estate went with it.

Citizen award   But he did not forget his home town, where he had his offices at Bannerman House, South Tay Street. In 1961, he presented his ‘Citizen of the Year’ award to Dundee Corporation for annual presentation.

Mr Milne’s interests ranged from Stornoway to Galashiels. He, at one time, owned the Kinnaird and the Capitol, Dundee.

The cinemas and bingo halls he owned include – Royalty, Ritz, State, Broadway, Victoria in Dundee; Regal, Broughty Ferry; Palace and Picture House, Arbroath; King’s and Playhouse, Montrose; Picture House, Cowdenbeath; Opera House, Lochgelly; Palace and Imperial, Methil; Troxy and Regent, Leven; Regal, Blairgowrie; Scala, Cupar and County, Kinross.

He also owned the Picture House, Tayport; Regal, Auchterarder; Regal, East Wemyss and the Globe, Buckhaven, which are now closed.

Added on 13-10-11 from: http://thesession.org/tunes/3479

JB Milne, the man

He was my grandmother’s cousin. Brief biography of him is as follows (found it on the web)… "John Bannerman Milne was born one of three sons of Charles Milne, a Dundee coalmerchant, in 1902. When he was nine, he bought his first violin. By the age of sixteen, he was working at Dura Works (a jute mill) from 5.30am to 6.00pm, teaching the violin from 6.00pm to 8.00pm and then playing in a dance hall until midnight. His first entertainment job was at the Variety Theatre, Dundee, as a 19 shillins a week "musical director and cleaner". He eventually bought the theatre in 1925 for £360 (actually with his sister, Lizzie, though this is not mentioned on the web - my mum told me this!), installed "talkies", and never looked back. Within ten years he … presided over a theatre, cinema and bingo empire that stretched from Stornaway to Galashiels … The dance was devised by Angus Fitchet who dedicated it to J.B. Milne as "the man who gave him his start in his show business career".

Some other stuff - he bought Lizzie out at some point early on and then expanded his "empire" - he died in 1968 - never married and lived in Ruthven Hall, near Meigle. He taught my mum to drive in a Rolls Royce in a field on his estate and also once told her in conversation that he had more money than he knew what to do with - he couldn’t even manage to spend the interest on his money, no matter how hard he tried! Don’t know what happened to the money !!! Unless mum has kept it very well hidden all these years!!!

Described in another report as a "fiery redhead" - whatever that means!

Thought this might flesh out the answer for anyone who is interested in knowing more about the man the tune is named after …