LOCAL THEATRES.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2112, 1 April 1914, Page 8

LOCAL THEATRES.

AND THE PICTURE CRAZE,

ACCOMMODATION FIGURES,

[BY SYLVIUS.]

j. "Scoured for pictures!" That is the •f brief commentary on the fate of tho !- Wellington Opera Houso in Manners J Street, tho very handy playkiuse that * was dedicated to the drama on Novem- '■> ber 17, 1886—twenty-seven .and a half " years ago. [The . theatre, which was • built by Mr. J. Bauson from the de--6 sign of Mr. W. C. Chat-field, was opened by the MacMahon and Leitch manageJ ment with a production of "The Silver J King" (by arrangement with Williamson, Garner, and Musgrove), in the 1 presence of His' Excellency the Gov- \ ornor. Sir William Jcrvois, K.G., C.M.G., %I C.B. Now, ono is inclined, to ■state more in sorrow .than in anger, the theatre has been leased for a long time to picturo showmen, and the glamour \ and tinsel of the mimic world pour- '* trayed by flesh and blood players is '.to be succeeded by the whirr of the 1 kinematogniph machine, and the fleet--1 ing shadows or' pictured people or scenes. on a white screen. Much has happened. in the theatrical world since old George 1 Leitch "piped and whistled in his sound" as Dan'] jaikes, in "The Silver IvingJ" but there has been nothing quite so revolutionary as tho 'coming of tho kinematogr&ph—the live camera. Thousands of actors are engaged daily in America, England, and the Continent, who never appear before an- audienco. in person—voiceless, soundless actors, whom we' only see tho animated por- , traits of. 9Tet what a vast hold pictures havo obtained on tho whole world —east and west—on white, black, yellow, and brown peoples, cannot be compassed by tho casual observer. Villages, and oven towns, have ,been created solely by people employed in tho manufacture of iilm, a striking illustration being' tho. own of Montrouil-sous-Bois, where the Pathe Company (or rather a branch of its business) is located —where in a huge glass building, the height and size of .an ordinary three-story building, plays comedies,- tragedies, farces,' are played, daily, the only spectators being tho stage manager and the kinematographer (who represents the world). - • . It is not in Wellington only that good, well-appointed theatres are being given over, to'pictures. In London, New York, and other large centres, well-known theatres have fallen to the spell of. dollars that pictures weave'. ' New Eyes and Old. To the younger generation—and we so frequently forget the youthful—pictures are, a'cheaper arid easier method of • satisfying that curious craving for the mirror of life, Middle-aged folk and those past- that period havo traditions and beautiful memories [ that bind thein loyally to the tinselled glories of tho stage proper.' There, are plays to fondly remember as having pleased their various tastes, and players who have thrilled with their power to induce laughter and tears, and- these sentiments are apt to help ns'to regard the passing of a memory-haunted theatre to pictures as something to be rather regretted; but lodic ro.und a.picture aiidiencp and analyse ■ its composition. ■ Severity per , cent, are young people, who never heard of G. V.. Brooke or Edwin Booth or old Dick Stewart (and care less), but who know all about Mary Pickford, "tho Queen of the Movies"; Asta ;Neilsen,, the Bernhardt of. the kinematograph; Maurice Co3tello,tlio curly : h*eadod hero of the pictures;-and John Bunny, the bulky comedian. 4 These aro famous people to the picture crowds just as Sir Henry, Irving and Ellen Terry; the Ban- '; crofts.'aiid tho Broughs were- to playgoers of twenty'years ago. It is a queer world, but youth must bo served, and the picture-show proprietor is serving him all he knows. Has'there . not within a week in Wellington been announced the coining of two more con- • tinuous theatres, within a hundred '• yards of ono another ? In tho case of , pioturos proximity 13 a help, not a hindrance. When •, it is stated that two ( theatres, each of a seating capacity of at least -1500, are to open their doors . for pictures in Manners Street this year, ( it is scarcely enough to open people's ~ eyes to tho grip the pictorial art has ', got on the 'people of Wellington. ' J Wellington's Picture Theatres. ! Ten yea,T3 ago there were no picture , theatres in Wellington—five years ago , there was no such thing'as .a continu-. , ous picturo show in Wellington. Note \ 'what, has happened within a few brief ] years. Wellington' has eight permanent j picture shows at the present-.time, iivo j of which are ;continuously open (from ( 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.). Three others are ; to be provided almost immediately in J tho Opera House and the , new theatre i to ,be erected on the site of Fielder's , furniture warehouse, and tho Crown , Theatre in Molcsworth Street, which j will bring the' total up to eleven.— \ seven continuous. That in a city . of "less than 80,000 people. 'The j absolute predominance of pictures j over all other forms of evening s 'entertainment is established by these -| facts. With ten theatres devoted to ] pictures there will only bo one (His Ma- ( I josty's) for vaudeville, and one (Grand ( Opera House) for touring theatrical , companies. Besides the eloven picture ] theatres, it is not infrequently the case j that pictures are,exhibited in the Town \ Hall, which only emphasisps the trend, r Being interested in tho matter of how much accommodatjon was.provided- for the public, the writer secured from the Town Hall the official seating capacity of every theatre in Wellington in order s to show how the public is catered for. £ The seating accommodation of the var- i ious picturo theatres now and to be (in f the immediate future) are as follow:— ' Wellington Opera, House 1500 v Pictures. Ltd.' 1500 l King's Theatre :' 11250 v Crown Theatre (Thorndon) ....... 1000 \ Star Theatre (Newtown) 989 v Empress Theatre 95a S St. Thomas's HalMNewtown) ... S(XV ' Britannia Theatre 499 !■ People's Picture Palace ....! 407 * Shortts' Theatre , 478 .* New Thoatro 396 *

Total accommodation

That total is the number of seats thai will bo provided for picture-lovers in Wellington this year Add to that the 2300 seats in His Majesty's Theatre, and 2100 iu the New Grand Opera H.ouse, avtotal of 13,959 is reached Piling on top of that the seating accommodation of the Town Hall (2GOOF and tho Concert Chamber (650), and the very respectable total of 17,209 is reached. .