NEW PICTURE THEATRES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3808, 8 March 1927, Page 72

NEW PICTURE THEATRES.

PLANS PREPARED. A COMMODIOUS BUILDING. In=? Ur i repre f. ent ative was on Wednesday thonL.l° Wn d tlle ? ,anfi for a nc "' theatre, and a cabaret, all under one roof lin t' i r i n P r° Sa 1S erc , ct tbe new theatre 4i Oetagon, where Mr Roland Stavelv of the. Cash and Delivery Stores, has chosen a particularly well-adapted central site. Mr Stavely, who is. well known in theatrical circles, has a comprehensive knowledge, of the picture. business, and the project will lack nothing on the score of experience in catering for the public taste. The. plans convey a fine conception of an,-up-tp-date picture palace and cabaret under one roof, and the building, it is claimed, will be ahead of anything of the kind, in New Zealand. The seating capacity of the theatre will approach .2000 persons, and the contour of the property gives to every seat a perfect sight line to the screen. A stage is also part of the plan. • Comfort and elegance and the display to the best of advantage of the greatest of pictures will be the -aim of the proprietor of the theatre. „ The universal entertainment of dancing tihder luxurious conditions at a moderate cost, on a magnificent floor, in a ballroom affording large scope for dancing and separate accommodation for parties when not dancing should prove most popular. , It is a forward movement in modern city development, bringing Dunedin, as it will, into line with the cities of the north.

THE J. C. WILLIAMSON FILMS, LTD. AUCKLAND, March 2. Die directors of the J. C. Williamson bilms (Ltd), have decided to continue fheir policy of building picture theatres in New Zealand! Ihe firm at present owns two theatres in the Dominion—the new Regent in Auckland and the Regent in V\ ellington—but the plans now under wayare designed to give the firm a chain of picture theatres right through the Dominion. In order to map out their requirements a tour of the Dominion has been completed by two of the directors—obn Tait and Mr Beaumont Smith, the former of whom returned to Sydney by the Tahiti on Tuesday. As a result of their observations it has been definitely resolved to proceed with the building scheme in order to extend the Williamson films and vaudeville circuit throughout the North and South Islands. Both Christchurch and Dunedin will eventually have theatres of the luxurious type already erected in Auckland and Wellington, while arrangements have been made irr conjunction with Sir Joseph Ward to erect a theatre on property owned' by him in Invercargill, and to' build another at Kilbirnie (Wellington). The work will be commenced on the last-named almost immediately. Mr Beaumonth Smith stated to-day that properties were also being acquired in other, centres in the Dominion, but until negotiations for the transfer of property had been finalised no. definite statement could be made. He expected before the year was out that four theatres would be in course of erection.