FIRST N.Z. WOMAN CINEMA MANAGER TO RETIRE SOON

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28493, 24 January 1958, Page 2

FIRST N.Z. WOMAN CINEMA MANAGER TO RETIRE SOON

“The Press” Special Service DUNEDIN, January 23. The first woman manager of a cinema in New Zealand and probably Australia, too, is about to retire. She is Mrs Cicely Richards, of Dunedin, who was the first woman to run a cinema combined with legitimate theatre.

The decision to end 25 years’ connexion with the theatre and cinema did not come easily to Mrs Richards, but now that she has made it she is looking forward, to a new life in Waimate.

Managing a cinema, and for a number of years a live theatre as well, was not an easy life, but it was never dull, and “I just liked it,” Mrs Richards said somewhat ruefully. But her married son. Mr Reginald Richards, and her baby grandson, Grant, live at Waimate. “And that’s what is pulling me," she admitted. Waimate, too, is nearer to her mother in Christchurch.

Even today there are few women in charge of cinemas. Offhand. Mrs Richards could only think of two in this part of the world—one in Auckland and one in Perth. Not Easy

No-one could call her job a sinecure. Apart from the strain of late nights on six days a week, there was always the possibility of an emergency to cope with. The adolescent gang setting out to disturb the other patrons, or the “drunks" who made a nuisance of themselves, or even the occasional brawl, which required police intervention, were all more or less routine.

But when, as happened in the new St. James’ (which Mrs Richards was managing temporarily) on the opening night of the first rock ’n* roll film to come to. Dunedin, the young people, exicted by the music, were getting out of hand, and the already delicate situation was complicated by an urgent telephone ring calling Mrs Richards back to her own cinema, the Embassy,. even her resourcefulness was stretched to the utmost.

Smashing of the plateglass door in the Embassy turned out to be an accident, admittedly, but it was an untimely one. Or there was the night when the fire broke out in His Majesty’s and Mrs Richards was called out of bed by the police. She worked till morning there, and. in true theatrical tradition, the show, booked for the night, still went on. “That really was a worry.” Another morning she was called out early by the caretaker, Mr Eric Sinclair, who had been her right hand man for the last 23 years, with the inquiry, “Where’s the safe?’’ Burglars had entered during the Sunday, thrown Mrs Richards’s fur coat round the safe, and dragged it to the middle of the theatre, where they had blown it

open, using the fur coat to muffle the sound. This was the old St. James’, a cinema which was more difficult to control than most. And Mrs Richards chuckled as she remembered’ the dead rat which was once thrown down from the grand circle. The contents of ,a milk bottle came pouring down from the “Gods” on another occasion. A different type of emergency arose one afternoon recently when the film had not arrived. "It was the first time we had absolutely nothing to screen, and the public had to be sent away,” Mrs Richards said. After much wasted time telephoning other centres, the film was eventually traced. Closing the St James’ in August, 1951, with preparations for the clearance sale, and the entertainment of the old-timers on the stage, was probably one of the biggest assignments Mrs Richards has ever had. Children’s Club

She considers, too, that perhaps one of the most worth-while things she did at the St. James’ was to start and run a Young New Zealanders’ Club. Special films were shown on Saturday mornings, and the children were encouraged to put on little plays and songs. They formed their own committee, helped as ushers, and generally took a great interest. Even now many of them keep in touch with Mrs Richards.

One of Mrs Richards’s great regrets is that there are not more films produced specially for children. She wishes she could do more for them than just the Mary Field programmes on one Saturday afternoon every month. An achievement of which Mrs Richards is proud, and justifiably so, is to have been the first in Australia or New Zealand to introduce film festivals.

With the help of Dr. Alan Ellis, now professor of anatomy at Singapore University, the Dunedin Film Society was reformed and the film festivals established in March, 1947. Now the public has come to realise that these festivals offer an opportunity to see unusual and interesting foreign films. The twice-yearly festivals attract large audiences. Career Assocation with the cinema began for Mrs Richards as an usher in the old St. James. Through cashier and office posts she quickly made her way up to be manager, automatically taking over, on the death of Mr John Hamer, the management of His Majesty’s,-which was run from the St. James.

Seven years ago, when the St. James was sold, she transferred to the Embassy. Photographs on her office wall testify to the number of famous theatrical personages she has handled. A few were difficult, some, like Sir Ralph Richardson, were retiring and shy, but the majority were a delight to be associated with. Of Sir Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh she cannot speak highly enough She was advance agent for this “absolutely charming” couple when they came to Dunedin with “School for Scandal,” and that meant securing accommodation for a big and important company and making all other arrangements. Sir Lewis Casson and Dame Sybil Thorndike she found delightful, too. As for Julius Katchen, "you could not have had anyone better," and this comment was made by one who has had dealings with many of the world's most famous musicians. Under the Kerridge-Odeon banner Mrs Richards was manager for concert artists as well. The daughter of an Otago schoolmaster, who was always referred to as being 20 years ahead of his time, Mrs Richards is one of a family of five, all of whom have made a success of their various careers.

One brother. Sir Arthur Tyndall, is judge of the Court of Arbiration. another, Mr Edward Tyndall, is deputy chief postmaster at Palmerston North. One of her sisters. Miss Clarissa Tyndall, is principal of the Christchurch Girls’ High School: the other. Miss Nesta Tyndall, has’ retired from the post of infant adviser to the Education Board. Mrs Richards’s son is a businessman. Her daughter. Mrs Geoffrey Richardson, is a lecturer in zoology at Melbourne University and has just completed her doctorate.

Mrs Richards herself plans to go into business in Waimate after she retires on February .20.