Old City Theatre to Become Big Store

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 625, 30 March 1929, Page 1

Old City Theatre to Become Big Store

LEASE OF EVERYBODY'S TAKEN BY WOOLWORTH’S, LTD. Gradually the older theatres of Auckland are disappearing 1 , giving place to newer, larger, and up-to-date places of entertainment. Commercial concerns, eager to extend, take over the obsolete shells and transform them to business needs. The latest of these is Everybody’s—in its time one of Auckland's most enterprising theatres. Its lease has been sold by Mr. Thomas O'Brien to Woolworths, Ltd., for £6,000. The place of Everybody’s in Mr. O’Brien’s chain of theatres will soon b.e more than filled by the palatial Civic, now in course of construction. On the other hand the well-known Australian firm will take over an ideal city site for a large shop and warehouse, and will carry into effect, portion of its new policy of establishing branches in the principal centres of New Zealand. Everybody’s Theatre has a frontage on Queen Street of 35ft and a depth of 160 ft. It is the intention of Woolworths, Ltd., to reconstruct completely the interior. Built in 1914 the theatre seats 750 persons. In comparatively recent years pictures of outstanding merit have had their first Auckland and New Zealand release there, and the theatre holds two interesting records. “The Ten Commandments” was shown at Everybody’s for 11 weeks, creating a New Zealand record. Another prominent picture, ‘The King of Kings” was screened there for the first time in New Zealand. Everybody’s also holds the record for the highest prices charged for a picture in New Zealand. This was established on an occasion when 5s was the box office figure for a single seat.