PICTURE THEATRES,

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LX, Issue LX, 29 October 1910, Page 3

PICTURE THEATRES,

£5,000,000 INVESTED IN THEM. The fact of a London West End theatre — Terry's in the Strand — being converted into a picture theatre has awakened general interest in the enormous strides which the cinematograph has made, and in the still greater developments of which it is capable. "The picture theatre and the cinematogaph are still in their infancy in this country, great though the bqom has already been," said a well-known expert in the business. "England is far behind America, France, and Germany in the development of moving pictures. In America there is a picture palace at every street corner. In Germany school cnildren are taught geography, physiology, and natural science by cinematograph pictures; while in France no expense is spared in stage-managing scenes which jire afterwards to be reproduced as moving pictures. "Yet the advance in this country has not been inconsiderable. There is over £5,000,000 of capital invested in the business. There are over 5000 picture theatres in this country (there are nearly 300 in Greater London alone) capable of seating on an average 1000 people each, and most of them give four or five separate performances daily. The prices charged for admission are low in many of the theatres, yet they take on an averge over £130 weekly^ which for the whole kingdom means weekly receipts of £650,000. , There are at least nine men actively engaged in the business who five years ago had scarcely a shilling in the world, and who now are worth over £100,000 apiece.