Television killed Saturday night at the pictures
have the wonder, admiration, and intense curiosity of the public been so thoroughly awakened by this new candidate for the world’s favour.’’
The Boer War created the first demand from Kiwis for moving images, although much of the resulting footage of troops was actually staged, according to Tony Froude, author of Wellington cinema history Where To Go On Saturday Night.
Movies were shown in live theatres and halls for decades, forming part of various cabaret entertainments, although the first purpose-built cinema, The Kings, opened in Dixon St in 1910.
Cinemas were enormous in early days, the biggest being The Majestic on Willis St with its astonishing capacity of 2121. The Paramount held 1200 when it opened in 1917 – it now seats 430 – while The Embassy has lost 1000 of its 1725 seats since opening as the De Luxe in 1924.
Sound arrived at The Paramount in March 1929, and cinemas mushroomed across the region. Island Bay alone had three picture houses, and Petone had four for a population of 8000.
Many theatres were built or remodelled in the late 1920s and early 1930s, giving them the signature art deco look that endures at cinemas today.
Going to the movies was a social occasion, something women wore gowns for and men their best suits, the Post recalled in 1973.
‘‘Familiar theatre names recall a special occasion or perhaps a gala night premiere with the entrance and foyer a blaze of lights.
‘‘Here stood the commissionaire, brightly buttoned in a long military-type coat and peaked cap, looking as though he might announce you by name.’’
The Depression and wartime years were difficult for theatre owners, and many cinemas became run down, but a revival was staged in the 1950s. A luxurious 700-seat cinema, The Regent, was built in Naenae, Lower Hutt, in 1958 with a foyer panelled in expensive Sapele mahogany and a floodlit garden court.
Smash hits like The Sound of Music helped propel movie-going to an all-time high, but ticket sales fell once TV transmission began in 1960. Suburban cinemas began folding soon afterwards, including the Rivoli in Newtown, Karori’s Regal, Kinema in Kilbirnie, the Empire in Island Bay, and the Vogue in Brooklyn. Vogue reopened as the Penthouse in 1975, and the Empire has enjoyed several revivals over the decades.
City cinemas were not immune: The Roxy on Manners St played its final film, The Last Picture Show, in 1974.
Aside from television, declining patronage was blamed on rising car ownership – people could now drive to nicer cinemas rather than having to attend their local picture house. Movie chains also had first rights to new films, squeezing out the independents.
‘‘They wanted four bites of the apple and it was only the junk we got,’’ a former manager of Newtown’s Ascot complained when it closed in 1976.
Films had to work harder to impress, and many cinemas downsized to a more intimate size or installed new technology like Cinerama and Todd-AO projection.
‘‘The public will not turn out from the comfort and convenience of their living rooms for any old rubbish. Moviegoers have become more discerning and this is a good thing,’’ the Post said in 1976.
Wellington’s first film festival, in 1972, was another response to the growing sophistication of filmgoers.
Cinema fortunes varied from the 1980s onwards – cinemas were opened and closed with regularity. Porirua got its first, the Northside, in 1983, while a three-screen multiplex opened in Manners Mall in 1982.
Most of the news was bad, however. Northside closed four years after opening. The now-shabby Regent in Naenae shut in 1985, and Upper Hutt’s only cinema, the Maidstone, followed in 1989.
The past 15 years have seen the introduction both of mainstream multiplexes like Reading in Courtenay Place, and independent theatres like Miramar’s Roxy and the boutique Lighthouse cinemas in Petone, Pauatahanui, and Wigan St.
Television could never compete with the cinema experience, said the country’s last showman cinema manager, Bob Williams, when he retired from The Embassy in 1988. ‘‘The wall-to-wall carpet, the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It gave you a feeling of something different from the front room.’’ GET THE BOOK The Dominion Post – 150 Years of News is available via dompost.co.nz or 0800 50 50 90. Priced at $34.95 + $3 postage and handling or $29.95 + $3 p&h for subscribers.