THE PLAZA

Northern Advocate, 28 October 1932, Page 4

THE PLAZA

AVI rA X GAP El’S NEW THEATRE

A HANDSOME BUILDING

The Plaza Theatre, in Cameron

Street, is to begin its career as a picture house this evening. This is au event which has been eagerly looked forward to, and it is safe to say that a large audience will be present to make personal acquaintance with this latest addition to Whangarei’s places of entertainment. We are sure they will be very pleasantly impressed, for the theatre is a beautiful edifice specially designed for the production of talkies under the best conditions and for the comfort and convenience of patrons. The Plaza is the old Lyceum so altered and enlarged and improved in every way as not to be recognisable. It is the same width as the Lyceum, but is twenty feet longer and the roof has been raised five feet. These altered dimensions have made possible an interior transformation. The windows have been left as in the old building, but have been heightened with the raising of the roof. As a consequence the top sashes of the windows on each aide of the building and at the back of the stage can be pulled down a distance of five feet, thus allowing a draught of fresh air into the building. This air takes the place of that exj hausted by a 54-inch fan in a specially constructed pent-house in the roof in the front of the building. The ceilings and walls are covered with a special wall board with the exact sound ah-

sorbent coefficient that, results in perfect nconstics. The special design given to the beams in the ceiling and the intersections of the side walls and the ceiling is occasioned by the existing type of roof in the original building. The tension rods are caged in an artistic maimer. Three exits are provided, with nothing to obstruct the opening of the doors but a simple ball catch. The aisles are wide and the seating, which consists of tip-up chairs of the latest design, is very roomy and comfortable. A series of fibrous plaster perforated grilles are over the windows, and these form part of the whole lighting scheme, which is extremely oficetive. There arc 150 lights in the proscenium openings and 50 in the footlights. These, with the grille lights, are in a three colour scheme and are controlled from the operating box, and can bo dimmed down to a faint red glow.

The entrance vestibule is designed so that the audience may reach the footpath with the least possible delay. The decorative scheme is very pretty, especially the work on the ceiling. From the vestibule, entrance to the dress circle is obtained by means of a wide stainvav.

Throughout the building the carpet

ing is rich and comfort-giving. A saw-tooth motif runs through the carpets, as it does through the whole building. The style of the theatre has a modernistic note, which had to be introduced owing to the fact that alterations were being made to a building

alrcadv in existence. The front of the

theatre is flood-lighted, which gives it a city appearance reminiscent of the the picture theatres in the centres. -Mr Llewellyn Williams, the wellknov\n vrchiiect, of Wellington, designed the theatre, and he is to be Heartily congratulated upon his success. The contractor was Mr A. Y. r*ro\an, who has carried out his work in a very satisfactory manner. He has made use of New Zealand materials throughout, and the electric fittings, fibrous plaster work, chairs etc., bear testimony to the excellence of secondary industries in New Zealand. The Plaza has been built by the Public Trustee as the executor of the estate of the late Mr .Robert Thompson, and it lias been leased to J. C. Williamson Ltd., for whom Mr W. Harding, who has had long experience in the theatrical world, will act as manager. The theatre makes a handsome addition to the amenities of Whangarei, and, with congratulations to the owner and lessee, ,i s extended best wishes for. success. The Talking Equipment.

An all-important feature of a talk-

ing picture theatre is the talking equipment. The Plaza’s installation is the De Forest sound system, and it will surprise many in this district to know that the apparatus was entirely manufactured in New Zealand. The De Forest company have 41 installations in various parts of New Zealand, including the Do Luxe and Paramount Theatres in Wellington.' The whole apparatus has a very simple layout, and all unnecessary complications have been avoided, thus en-

soring accuracy and ease in operation. One of the features of the equipment is the main amplifier. This consists of two entirely separate units arranged in what is called the double channel system, in the event of the failure of a valve during a performance, an instantaneous change-over can be effected on to a double panel, thus obviating all possibility of delay. Another exclusive feature is that the apparatus uses no batteries, all portions of the equipment being operated directly from the mains. The equipment, which is housed in a specially constructed operating box at the back of the dross circle, is very compact, and, as has been demonstrated in other theatres it gives outstanding naturalness with voice or music. The installation of the plant has boon supervised by Mr S. .1. Scammell, the chief engineer of Do Forest (N.Z.) Phonolilins Ltd., Wellington.