KEEN ON PICTURES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 17, 21 January 1933, Page 6

KEEN ON PICTURES.

PEOPLE'S ENTERTAINMENT.

POSITION IN BACKBLOCKS.

Mr. M. J. Moodabe, governing director of Amalgamated Theatres, Ltd., said this morning that the statement made by the New Zealand Motion Picture Exhibitors' Association, in reference to the closing of over 100 theatres during the> last two years, owing to the depression, was misleading.

"Most of the shows that have closed I down are in backbloeks districts, where the attendances at the best of times would not warrant the installation of expensive modern talking equipment," he said. "The public are even keener than in the past for picture entertainments, and our experience with a large circuit that penetrates all over New Zealand is that the slump has added to the picture theatre patronage, as it is the one form of permanent entertainment that the people can afford. During the last six months my company has taken over three theatres that had been closed for some considerable time and three others that the former owners could not ma.ee pay owing to the fact that they were run individually and not connected with any circuit that would aid in the purchase of film. Pictures are the people's cheapest form of amusement, and box office receipts throughout the Dominion show that the public are taking advantage of this class of entertainment in all parts of New Zealand."