St. James Theatre to Screen Talkies

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 846, 14 December 1929, Page 1

St. James Theatre to Screen Talkies

RAPID CHANGE-OVER SEVERAL FEATURES BOOKED St. James Theatre, Queen Street, is to become a house of talking pictures. The work of installing the necessary equipment will begin next week, and the well-known headquarters of vaudeville will open as a cinema on December 26. fJMTIS announcement was made this morning to The Sun by Mr. Ray Fuller, speaking on behalf of Sir Benjamin and Mr. John Fuller, owners and proprietors of the St. James and the chain of Fuller theatres in the principal centres of Australia and New Zealand. It brings the St. James into line with a policy now being followed by the firm in Australia. The long-run feature system of presentation will be followed, which means that films of special worth will be selected for seasons limited only by the support of the public. INSTALLATION PLANS Next week Western Electric experts will begin installing projection and reproduction apparatus in the St. James, and, at the close of Mr. Jim Gerald's present successful season of vaudeville revue, Warner Brothers’ talkie in full technicolour, “The Gold Diggers of Broadway” will be screened. The first talkie show, including this big feature and the usual supporting films, will be presented on Boxing Day. One of the most interesting features of the new Fuller policy is that of the prices. For the evening shows they will be 3s. 2s and Is, with Is extra for booking. In the daytime they will be 2s, Is 6d and Is. Though the policy programme provides for a steady run of talkie shows from December 26 on, the management has decided to work in its familiar vaudeville revues from time to time, and the return of old favourites, such as George Wallace, Frank O’Brian and many others is promised. “Disraeli,” another big Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone production will follow “The Gold Diggers of Broadway.” Both films have been enthusiastically received and reviewed overseas. DROPPING ORCHESTRA “There will be no stage presentations in the new screen shows and for the present we are dropping the orchestra,” said Mr. Ray Fuller. “We are going to do the thing properly, and it has been ascertained that the theatre has exceptionally good accoustic properties for talkies and excellent screen sight lines.” St. James, which is the largest and most elaborate of the Fuller Theatres in New Zealand, has a seating capacity of 2.065. In showing talking films Sir Benjamin and Mr. John Fuller are returning to their old love, for th«»y were among the pioneers of motion pictures in New Zealand. Prior to that the brothers were associated in Dunedin with a “biorama” and waxworks. The biorama was a forerunner of motion pictures and consisted of a series of coloured pictures drawn on rollers across an aperture, much as a modern roll film is drawn from one spool to another in a camera.