A CINEMA PIONEER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20391, 21 October 1929, Page 8

A CINEMA PIONEER.

DEATH OF MR. W. A. GlßSOff*' FIRST "KELLY GANG" PICTURE* frr:OM OUR OWN" CORRESPONDENT.] SYDNEY; Oct. 13, Mr. W. A. Gibson, whose death o« curred in Melbourne on Sunday, was thi| true pioneer of moving pictures as ai| entertainment' in Australia. His parcefl was a most romantic one, in keeping vritll the romantic naturo of the industry fronj which lie and so many others have mad« a fortune. Before Mr. Gibson came'oJt the scene the late Harry Rickards had certainly 4own some flickering pictures afl his vaudeville theatres, the uncovered operating lanterns being operated frolfl the front row of the dress circle. It was as the result of this that Mr. Gibson b« came interested. - -

At the St. Ivilda Junction, Melbourne where Messrs. Johnson i and Gibson com ductedl a chemists' shop, the first e'xpcm ment in local movies was made, buf} neither of the parties had any notion thafl there was any commercial value in tbs new photography. Their interest wa4 scientific. But gradually the idea of ths new entertainment took shape. Jolnisofl and Gibson began to give exhibitions and these proved to bo very popular. They} trained operators, and very soon they had a staff of 34 who were.hired out machines. Mr. 'Gibson himself would op« crate at two shows 011 a Saturday night* one at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the other at the Temperance Hall* The risks run with the crude apparatus and the exposed celluloid films were enow mous, but nobody suspected that was any danger. From these early beginnings Mr. Gibson! was encouraged to produce an Australian photoplay, a whole evening's entertain* ment of a five-reel picture. He engaged 4 company of actors who went out t<*. Mitchiun, in Victoria, where tho various scenes of the "Kelly Gang" were "shot. - 1 There was tho murder of the police ad Stringy Bark Creek, tho murder of Aaron! Sherritt—at a Mitcham cottago —the local bank was held up, and sonio account! books were burned in a local gardens The commissioner of police allowed thai Mitcham lock-up to be used as the sceiifl! of another of tho Kelly exploits, the tele* graph wires were cut, and a railway lin® was torn up and a train was stopped au with the permission of the authorities Then a cottago standing back from t»« White Horse Jload was selected as tn famous Glenrowan Inn. A suitable SIR was erected over tho verandah, and ti9 k police, comprising every man in the cow pany, including Ned Kelly himself, m police uniform and with his beard ' * carded attacked the inn. Then a , Kelly's capture was staged. All ti exciting scenes, the filming of which w y pied only six days, completely tini the people of Mitcham. The nccessjuyi • "interior" scenes wei'e taken in yard of the chemist's shop at St. ■ j }-■ The resultant picture was a very production, judged on present-day ' ,L f - ards, but it was tremendously succ _ as an attraction all over Australia New Zealand. When Mr. Gibsoifd || was one of tho directors of tha TT Australian organisation known as u . .. Theatres, Limited.