THEATRE MANAGER TRANSFERRED

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29004, 19 September 1959, Page 15

THEATRE MANAGER TRANSFERRED

Memories Of Early Days Of Films A man who has watched the growth of the film industry in New Zealand since 1926, when he and his brother showed silent “flickers” in a hall in the Thames goldfields, will leave his post as manager of the Majestic Theatre at the end of this month. He is Mr Russell Chapman, who managed the Regent Theatre for two years and a half, and has managed the Majestic Theatre for the same period. He will become the manager of a city theatre in Auckland. Except for a period when he studied to be an electrician, Mr Chapman has been associated with cinemas since the initial venture with his brother. He became a manager for the KerridgeOdeon circuit in 1941. Recalling the days of the first “talkies,” Mr Chapman said that sound was produced from a record which had to be synchronised with the lip movements of the actors. Occasionally the machine would get bumped and the result would be amusing—a musician might stop playing in the middle of a bar. The films were highly inflammable and there was a continual danger of them catching alight from open arc lamps. Mr Chapman said he had carefully watched the advent of films from the first s;lent reels to modern colour and three-dimensional effects. He hopes to see the introduction of television as the next phase in the New Zealand entertainment world. He is also avidly interested in “live” shows, and anticipates that his new position will enable him to handle this type of production.