A television magazine item (likely from ‘Town and Around’) on the closure of Wellington’s suburban cinemas, or picture theatres as they were known.
Reporter John Shrapnell stands, microphone cable trailing from under his coat, outside a large, anonymous, timber building: “This used to be the Seaside cinema in Lyall Bay and later on it became the Tatler. But about, oh, 15 years ago it closed down. And this been the fate of many of Wellington’s suburban cinemas. For one reason or another, over the last 10 years or so, they’ve had to close down.” (The Lyall Parade building would be converted to a private residence in 2014).
Next the camera shows what “used to be the Capitol cinema at Miramar. It’s now been turned into a shopping arcade with garden supplies, chemist, chip shops and a drapery.” The exterior says ‘Capitol Court’. (The Capitol cinema closed in 1964 and would reopen as the Roxy cinema in 2011.)
“The [most recent] suburban cinema in Wellington to close down was the Kinema at Kilbirnie”. The name is still up on the cinema frontage shown. “On Monday night it saw its last performance and finally closed its doors. What it’s to be used for now, nobody knows just yet.” (It apparently closed in late 1967.)
“About four years ago Island Bay residents had their own suburban cinema. It was called the Empire theatre, but then it had to close down too and it’s now being used as a shoe store.” (The Empire closed in 1964. It would reopen under the same name in 2006, close again in 2013, and again reopen in 2015.)
“It was once the proud boast of Newtown that once they had two cinemas within a couple of hundred yards of each other. But then, three or four years ago, this one [the Rivoli] closed down [in 1965]. It’s now become a second-hand shop.” The frontage in Riddiford St, now signed ‘Guys. We Buy Almost Anything’, is shown. (The second Newtown cinema appears later in this item.)
“It’s ironical perhaps that when the Vogue at Brooklyn closed down as a cinema [June 1963] it was taken over by a company that now makes commercials and documentaries for television.” The name Vogue is still displayed -in two places- on the frontage. (It would reopen as the Penthouse cinema in 1975).
“In Karori it used to be the Regal theatre. [Closed 1966.] But now, with a redesigned front and a coat of paint, its now become the head office for another entertainment; the New Zealand Opera Company.
“The only suburban cinema left in Wellington today is the Ascot here at Newtown.” Camera pans down the vertical ‘Ascot’ sign, over the attached ‘Constable St’ street sign, to the frontage advertising a double feature of “Kiss Me Stupid” (starring Dean Martin) and “The Psychopath”. The reporter and cinema manager stand in the doorway. A display for a Sunday double of an Elvis Presley film plus “Three Crooked Men” is visible through the closed doors behind them. “And the manager is Mr. Des O’Callahan. Mr O’Callahan, how much longer do you think you can stay in business [when] in the last few years at least 10 suburban cinemas have closed down?”
“I can’t see us folding up,” he replies, “We’ve sort of cut our costs now. .. got it on an even scale and I think we’ll remain here all right.
“What sort of attractions are you offering to people in the suburbs?” the reporter asks as the camera answers by playing over a lobby card for “G.I. Blues” and posters for “That Man In Istanbul” and “My Fair Lady”. (These images apparently inserted into the original interview footage subsequent to broadcast.)
“The best that we can get,” expands Mr. O’Callahan. “As soon as they’re out of town, we try and get them up here ... the CinemaScope and colour pictures if we can get hold of them.”
The reporter asks about the importance of pricing. He adds, “For instance, if two people go to the cinema in the city, they’re going to pay almost as much as the cost of renting a television set for the week!” The manager agrees they “charge a lot less” than they do the city.” ... (The Ascot would close in October, 1976.)
The reporter is now at the site of “Thorndon’s claim to fame for a cinema ... the Tivoli cinema on the corner of Molesworth Street [and Sydney Street East (later to be renamed Kate Sheppard Place)], but after a disastrous fire [in late 1962, or 1963] it too had to close down.”
He concludes, without showing the buildings; “And then there was the old Empress theatre in Johnsonville. And films too were shown in the town halls at Khandallah and Ngaio. But now we’re left with one suburban cinema in Wellington.”