Early days of cinema in Waimarino recalled

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 15, 3 September 1985, Page 1

Early days of cinema in Waimarino recalled

Picture theatres were busy places in earlier days, says the former proprietor of three of these theatres Mrs Emily Thompson of Ohakune. 'Picture trains' from National Park and Waiouru would arrive in Ohakune on a Saturday night and people would go to the moviesat the Plaza Theatre at the Ohakune Junction. "It was just so jammed full you couldn't find seats," says Mrs Thompson. " We would have to be finished by five past ten for the people to catch their picture train before the Express came through at 11," she recalls. First film screenings Mrs Thompson's husband Harry purchased his first theatre off John Punch seniorin Raetihi in 1925. He also screened films at Horopito, Pakahi, at Plunket's mill and in the Rangataua Hall which he rented for six months. The Patriotic Hall, where the present Kings Theatre in Ohakune stands now, was rented by Mr Thompson from Mrs Bob Little. Soon after, a group of businessmen calling themselves the Patriotic Committee took over the theatre. Mr Thompson then screened in a building which was at the rear of where the Junction Ski Shop now stands. George Goldfinch then built the Majestic Theatre at the Ohakune Junction and Mr and Mrs Thompson rented thlat from him during the 1930s. The present-standing

Plaza Theatre at the Junction was built by Mr Thompson in 1935 with financial support from Chan Fung, who owned the grocery shop at the Junction and Laurie Taylor in 1936. Fire then struck the Ohakune Theatre and the owners sold the hall and seats which were not damaged by fire to the Thompsons who now owned the three major Waimarino theatres, two in Ohakune and one in Raetihi. The Kings Theatre in Ohakune and the Royal Theatre in Raetihi are still in the Thompson family today. The Plaza closed in January 1967. Until then it screened films regularly five nights a week. The first type of movie to be shown in the theatres

were silent black and whites with a pianist playing at the front of the theatre, says Mrs Thompson. "Then came the 'talkies' — they were an experience for anyone." The sound ran from two discs and the film was screened separately in an operating boxby another person. The first 'talkie' to be screened was 'Dynamite'. "Half the time they wouldn't be synchronised because they'd start off together but one would.be slower or faster than the other!" Sound and film then came together. "It was a big expense to get the machines for that. The wide screen was the next innovation, then came the cinemascope, which was wider still. The first cinemascope film we screened was 'April Love'." Filmgoers pay 1/6 in 1947 The Thompsons couldn't go any wider with screens after that as the buildings were not big enough. Mrs Thompson remembers families who would come to the pictures every Saturday night without fail. Regular theatre goers would come along and pay their 1/6 (one shilling and sixpence) admission before the show. They would leave their hats on their seats to reserve them before doing some shopping. , .the Junction was a busy place then with

three groceries, a bakery, a barber and two billiard rooms, a fruit shop, a radio shop, a butcher, a dentist, two drapers as well as tea rooms, hotels and boarding houses. The Agincourt (now Turoa Lodge) and Kings Court were popular accom,modation houses for single men working at the mills or on the railways. Among the best remembered films Mrs Thompson can recall were 'Golddiggers of Broadway', 'Gone with the Wind' and 'Giant'. "We even screened some Chinese films for the benefit of local market gardeners and other Chinese residents." During the screening of the 3-hour long 'Giant' the film was being shown reel-by-reel in both the Kings and Plaza Theatres by rushing each reel between Ohakune and the Junction. A total of 33 miles were clocked up between the two theatres that night! Courier stops for 'quick one' "There was one close call when one of the exhausted and thirsty couriers carrying the reels decided to call into the Sunbeam Club for a 'quick one'!" The mills and the railways which had brought the crowds to the pictures gradually began to lessen as the mills closed and the railway workers were shifted. The increasing popularity of television, the abolition of 6 o'clock closing, the lowering of the drinking age, daylight saving and ' more recently the introduction of videos have all conspired to take business away from the theatres. Harry Thompson was originally an Englishman who came to New Zealand after World War One. He settled in Pukekohe then later moved to Ohakune. Mrs Thompson came here with her family — one of five sisters — at the age of three but lived in the centre of Ohakune as a child. "It was like another town from the Junction in those days, it would be an afternoon out to visit the Junction." She says travelling to Raetihi was a yearly event, to go to the Raetihi Show. cont'd back page

Early days of cinema recalled (cont'd from page 1)

When Mrs Thompson was five, pictures were shown at the Town Hall in Burns Street where films were screened. " We were given a penny to spend and we would go and spend it at Laurie Nation's, Johnny Nation's father's dairy." The town was at that time centred in Burns Street and towards the lower end of Clyde Street, Mrs Thompson says, until the fire in 1917 which destroyed most of the business area. The business sector then reestablished itself in its present position. Mrs Thompson says that she was very grateful for the help she received from her sister Jean Sykes who died last year. Jean Sykes moved back to Ohakune from Thames in 1942 and was Mrs Thompson's 'righthand' when Harry Thompson died in 1947. Three generations of Thompsons have now been associated with the family theatre business — Harry and Emily, their son Bruce and his wife Lesley who took over five years ago when Mrs Thompson senior turned 70 and then their children Andrew and Brenda.