History – Going to the pictures

“Moving pictures” reached Albertland in the 1920s. Local entrepreneur Fred Thomas arranged for them to be shown in Wellsford, Port Albert and Paparoa. This was long before electricity, so Fred had a 110-volt generator driven from a rear wheel of his Dodge car set up outside the various halls. Sometimes when Fred had other engagements, Leo Treadwell, well-known in Port Albert and Wellsford, would operate it for him.Going to the pictures was a social occasion with moviegoers getting dressed up in their best clothes and travelling many miles, on awful roads, to be entertained. Those early productions were silent flickering classics such as A Kiss in a Taxi, Smiling at Trouble and The Lady of the Harem. In the Port Albert Hall, movies were shown on Wednesdays and Fridays, and sometimes the evening ended with a dance. One local teen commented in her 1928 diary, “Went to the pictures, saw Women Who Give – good too.” People couldn’t, or wouldn’t, travel far during winter months so Fred decided it wasn’t worth the cost of bringing movies north and limited shows to periods of better weather. In a 1931 letter, he wrote from Auckland, ‘business has been very quiet and the earthquake (Napier) has made things worse as the people were scared to come into big buildings.’

Fred was followed by Frank Downey, Ron Mercer and Albert Anderson who had a small iron shed on the Matheson Road side of the old Wellsford hall, housing a 32-volt plant. His projector was the electric bulb type and music was supplied by a pianola. For some years, from about 1936, Ken Lovell was the proprietor. This was a time of recorded sound and speech, records being used and synchronised with the pictures.

Then came the purpose-built picture theatre. Wellsford’s Theatre Royal was built by Horace Inger for the Sellars’ connection, early in World War II. Vernon Reed, then of Whangarei, held the exhibitor’s licence and leased the theatre. He later sold out to the Kerridge organisation, but the big operator wasn’t interested in small town screenings so disposed of their Wellsford interests to Ted Sellars.

Theatre Royal was managed over a long period by Sellars, the operator being George Smith, who was for many years Wellsford’s P&T technician. The coming of television impacted on small towns like Wellsford with audiences preferring to stay home unless a ‘blockbuster’ was showing. Inevitably, the Theatre Royal closed and became a grocery shop.

In 2016, families can view movies at home on their computers, smart TV sets and home theatre systems complete with surround sound. However, multiplexes in malls and regional boutique cinemas are attracting new audiences and ‘going to the pictures’ is once again a social occasion.

Sources: Wellsford Tidal Creek to Gum Ridge, Albertland Heritage Centre archives.

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