On the 24th November in 1923 the original Victor Theatre Opened. D.H. Griffin & Sons saw an opportunity, they set about converting their garage into a picture theatre that would hold 700 people. (History – Victa Cinema (victacinemas.com.au)). It would cost £10,000 to build (The Advertiser 15 January 1934).
Read more here https://sapicturetheatres.wixsite.com/sapicturetheatres/post/happy-100-years-victa-cinemas
W. Lesley Boyle set up an outdoor screen for those warmer nights in Adelaide as an extension to the theatre that he ran at Walkerville Town Hall. The outdoor theatre ran from 1929 until 1936(SLSA/ Walkerville collection). Although as earlier as 1921 Boyle had been submitting applications for an outdoor cinema, The Register, Adelaide dated 10th September, 1921 notes that there had been an application submitted to the council that had been rejected (The Register, 10 September, 1921, p. 94). Wooden planks made up the seating and a pianist was also in attendance, situated at the base of the screen(SLSA/ Walkerville collection). The building you can see is the old Police Station – since demolished.
References
“District Councils” The Register, Adelaide, 10 September 1921, p. 94. Retrieved 2 February 2020 from Trove
“Outdoor Picture Theatre” viewed 2 February 2020 https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+50194
SLSA Walkerville Collection, viewed 2 February 2020 https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/find/walkerville
Just around the corner from Semaphore Road, next to the Customs House on the Esplanade at Semaphore stood the Wondergraph Open Air Picturedrome. This open air picture theatre could seat up to 1000 patrons(Walker 1995, p. 36).
Opening in 1910 (Walker 1995, p. 80) it would show the very best of films such as The Test of Honor starring Mr John Barrymore (Semaphore Wondergraph, The Advertiser(Adelaide), 1 November, 1919, p. 12). In September 1920 Daniel Clifford purchased the suburban circuit of Wondergraph, which included the Semaphore Wondergraph for a sum of £15,000(Thiele & Lang 1991, p. 52) and a more permanent structure would be built on Semaphore Road.
References:
Thiele ,John & Lange, Ross 1991, Thanks for the memory; 1991 TOSA (SA) celebrates, Gillingham Press, Adelaide, South Australia.
Walker, Dylan 1995, Adelaide’s silent nights: A pictorial history of Adelaide’s picture theatres during the silent era 1896-1929, National Film and Sound Archive
On the 17th May 1911 in the Old Institute building located on Commercial Street,Star Pictures Mt Gambier opened. Operated by A Rook, the re-modelled interior featured dull red fabric to cover the proscenium and the sides of the screen, which was a white sheet of fabric (‘Star Pictures’ 1911, p. 2) Rook had also installed electric light and there was an orchestra pit with especially chosen lamps for use of the orchestra so as not to distract the audience (IMDB p2) from the movies themselves.
I can’t quite see this giveaway attracting the younger audiences of today, but Star Pictures must have felt that a free ruler for the upcoming school year would be enough to entice them to the pictures (Border Watch 1911, p. 3).
Here is how the building exterior looks today.
References:
‘Free Rules for Children’ The Border Watch, 20 January, 1925, p. 3. Retrieved 15th September, 2019 from Trove
Google Maps https://goo.gl/maps/pMwsCiB2WLQgmzKZ6
‘Star Pictures’ The Border Watch, 17 May 1911, p. 2. Retrieved 15th September, 2019 from Trove
Star Theatre Exterior, viewed 15th September 2019 https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+15185
Star Theatre Interior c 1920, viewed 15th September 2019https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+15203
Star Theatre Interior c 1925, viewed 15th Septemberhttps://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/B+15202
‘Tonight, tonight; Star Pictures’ The Border Watch, advertisement, 17 May 1911, p. 3. Retrieved 15th September, 2019 from Trove.
On the 5th December, 1908 Adelaide’s first permanent Picture Theatre opened in Hindley Street (Walker 1995, p. 15). Owned by T J West, West’s Olympia fulfilled a growing need for cinema entertainment in Adelaide (p. 15), Adelaide was the last of the capital cities in Australia to open a permanent picture theatre (p. 17). And, the patrons were not be disappointed, on the 7th December 1908 The Advertiser in Adelaide reported the renovations that had taken place to turn the old skating rink into a Picture Theatre had been successful, with good seating and although it was warm outside the hall remained cool and airy(Amusements, 7 December, 1908, p. 10) the screen was 30 feet long by 22 feet wide and 2,248 seats were available for patrons. (Walker 1995 p. 17)
References
AMUSEMENTS. (1908, December 7). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), p. 10. Retrieved June 8, 2019, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5150315
NFSA – Title Details. (2009, November, 12).Archive retrieved 8th June 2019 from original source
Retrieved 12 Nov 2009 14:08:54, from https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20091112030854/http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=Id:359590;querytype=;rec=0;resCount=10
Walker, Dylan 1995, Adelaide’s silent nights: A pictorial history of Adelaide’s picture theatres during the silent era 1896-1929, National Film and Sound Archive
“West’s Theatre,” Adelaide City Explorer, accessed June 8, 2019, https://adelaidecityexplorer.com.au/items/show/39.
This article appeared in The Advertiser 22nd October, 1928. The then Managing Director of Hoyts, Mr G F Griffith talks about the upcoming installation of equipment into picture theatres that will allow them to show ‘talkies’. The cost that he mentions of £120,000 for the work to be completed in cinemas Australian wide, now equates to near $10,000,000(Reserve Bank/Inflation Calculator). That is a lot of money.
References:
1928 ‘TALKIES.”‘, The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 – 1931), 22 October, p. 30. , viewed 30 May 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29308688
Reserve Bank of Australia n.d, Inflation Calculator, viewed 30th May 2019, https://www.rba.gov.au/calculator/annualPreDecimal.html
This shall be an ongoing article about the introduction of ‘talkies’ to South Australian picture theatres. I will start with just placing some advertisements, but the idea will be to gather enough to write an article about the subject. In the meantime here is an advertisement from The Trancontinental (Based in Port Augusta) dated 20th December 1929.
1929 ‘Advertising’, Transcontinental (Port Augusta, SA : 1914 – 1954), 20 December, p. 6. , viewed 30 May 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article168199121
History of South Australian Picture Theatres 