A DREAM COMES TRUE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 852, 21 December 1929, Page 2 (Supplement)

A DREAM COMES TRUE

How the Civic Theatre was Planned

POLICY AND SERVICE OF ENTERPRISE

gOME years ago an enterprising young Irishman entered the New Zealand motion-picture business. He acquired a theatre, then another and another, until his interests had spread to many centres. In an uncommonly short space of time he claimed and was accorded an important place among film exhibitors. Most men, at that stage, would have paused, content; not so Mr. Thomas A. O’Brien. He dreamed of presenting to his public a theatre and entertainment that es-

difficulty arose, he felt that his great chance had come. Standing on the intersection of Queen and Wellesley Streets, he viewed the open waste in the heart of Auckland and visualised a huge theatre with two business frontages towering above the busy corner and filling the only remaining gap in the chain of buildings leading from the waterfront to busy Karangahape Road. PROJECT IN BEING “For a time I thought that it was beyond my hopes to secure all the

tablished entirely new standards of size, scope and value.

The story of the great theatre that towers above and burrows below Auckland’s onetime Civic Square is the story of how that dream has come true. To be exact the materialisation of the Civic Theatre represents only the partial completion of its originator’s plans, as he is Working for the establishment of a chain of mammoth

‘atmosphe ric” theatres throughout the Dominion. A year ago the first -—Dunedin’s New Empire —came into being, and was hailed as the first motion picture house of the atmospheric type in either Australia or New Zealand. The Civic —greatest of all —is second, and the third will be built at Wellington, where the land is already secured. Then “Tom” O’Brien, as he is known to a host of friends, will turn to Christchurch. Mr. O’Brien’s first theatre was the old Empire in Dunedin, and after conducting it for a time he amalgamated with all the other theatres in the city. In Auckland he started off by buying Everybody’s, and acquiring seven others—

the Plaza in Queen Street, the Tivoli in Karangahape Road, the Rialto in Newmarket, the Regent at Epsom, the Royal (Kingsiand) and the Brittania (Ponsonby). He secured the theatre in Rangiora and held for a time a share in the Christchurch theatre pool, embracing the larger city houses. After that was sold he acquired the leases of two theatres in Blenheim. Thus was Mr. O’Brien’s position in the cinema world* of New Zealand a particularly strong one when his present scheme began to assume definite shape, and it is the financial stability of these widespread resources which has enabled him to set his personal guarantee behind the Civic Theatre Company of Auckland. The destinies of every motion picture house from the great Civic to the small theatres in Blenheim and Rangiora are wrapped up in one and guided by the personality of the man who may claim fairly to have “solved the Civic Square problem for the Auckland City Council.” “The idea of a really big theatre on entirely original lines came to me ■some years ago,” says Mr. O’Brien. “Naturally I turned to Auckland, because, as the biggest city, it should have a theatre worthy of its size and importance. The greatest difficulty was the problem of the site.” At last, when the Civic Square

sections I needed, because there were many difficulties in the way,” he says. “Eventually, however, the difficulties were smoothed away.

“In entering the proposition I knew it would cost a tremendous lot of money, an amount considerably beyond my personal resources, but I had faith and confidence in the value of the idea. Still I had yet to find a quarter of a million of money, and that is not easy to do anywhere nowadays. Nevertheless my confidence was .justified, and here the theatre is. Sometimes I wonder if it is actually a reality or if I am dreaming it all over again.” Thus has the Civic come into being. But, after all, the play’s thd thing, and Auckland is eager to know what will be offered In the magnificent building of blended Indian and Moorish outdoor and indoor atmosphere. This fs detailed In the Civic’s policy—one of the most elaborate and comprehensive offered to entertainment-seekers in any part of the world. ELABORATE POLICY To begin with, there will be a weekly change of programme, together with three shows a day. It it announced that the evening performances with the selections on the great organ, the numbers by the Civic orchestra and band, and the

twinkling appearances of the ballet, will be duplicated every afternoon. This policy is definitely permanent for organist, ballet and band are all under contract. The prices, which will be much more moderate at the matinee performances, are considerably below the standard fixed for similar entertainments in Australia — as much as 2s less on each of the higher-priced seats. The claim that the Civic’s offering will be unique in the true universal sense of the term is no fulsome ' publicity boast.

Witness the winter garden scheme which originated in Mr. O’Brien’s fertile brain and has been cherished by him ever since the Civic was first mooted.

The winter garden will be as fully under the control of the theatre management as any part of the building, and its patrons will be given an attractive alternative; they may visit the restaurant and enjoy simply its meals and musical service, or they may pass through a dividing curtain and, by paying a small cover charge, may enjoy the show and the restaurant at the same time. In addition to the stage entertainment a delightful cabaret floor is provided in the winter garden, and there patrons will dance to the music of the superb band.

Needless to say the prospects of the Civic Theatre, are particularly bright. To some extent the Civic's programme of service, from the point of view of financial possibilities, has been considered in the light of experience gained at the Ambassador’s Perth, a theatre also constructed by Super Construction ' (Australia), Ltd., contractors for the big Auckland

house. Auckland is considered a better “show town” than Perth, and from

the figures secured there the Civic company considers that the position in Auckland quite justifies a full measure of optimism. Furthermore it is considered certain that the Civic will not merely draw its patronage from existing picturegoers, but will create a new and greatly enlarged public. HUGE SALARY BILL The theatre, including the Winter Garden, will seat 3,000 persons. The staff required to provide the service in this huge building will combine to make a small army. It is expected that 100 will be employed in the Winter Garden and a similar number of all ranks in the theatre proper. Their salaries, together with the other running expenses of the theatre, will amount to from £1,500 to £1,600 each week. The theatre attendants will be dressed as harem nautch girls, and a special souvenir programme and magazine will be issued to patrons. When evefy detail has been completed and the doors of the Civic stand open the tall and elaborate brown building, brilliantly outlined in coloured lights, will be one of the show places of Auckland, and the once-deserted square will be a centre for busy shoppers and eager pleasureseekers.