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Our Heritage Collection, located on Level 3 of the Central Library, aims to preserve Hamilton's rich cultural and historical legacy. Also important is providing a sense of Hamilton's place in New Zealand and the global community.
While the focus of our collecting is on Hamilton and the Waikato, we also hold a large collection of books on NZ history, art and culture as well as government information such as statutes and reports. Books such as Domesday Book are part of our cultural heritage and are still valuable to genealogists boasting long pedigrees. However, Heritage is more than just books ....
Spotlight on Hamilton’s Forgotten Silver Screens
Today Hamilton has over 15 movie screens in 3 multiplexes and 1 independent theatre. Until the first of the multiplexes - Village 5 - opened in 1992 there had been just 3 screens in 3 movie theatres that had served Hamilton for any length of time. Long term residents may have memories of all or some of the following:
Theatre Royal/Embassy
Victoria Street showing Theatre Royal 1918-1919
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Hamilton’s Theatre Royal officially opened for business on Thursday the 11th of March 1915 with a showing of the British film “The House of Temperley” an adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stage play.
The following Monday (15th) saw a one time performance of “Dorothy o’ the Hall” starring Miss Nellie Stewart. The Theatre Royal could hold 1200 people and hosted most major touring and local stage productions, from 1915 to 1967. During the 1950s weekly boxing and wrestling matches were popular and in the 1960s acts like the Beach Boys, Cilla Black, the Dave Clarke 5, and Rolf Harris graced the stage.
The theatre was founded by Mr Sydney Tombs and managed in the 1940s by his son Maurice who was prominent in running motion picture houses and remained so until his death in 1966.
In the early 1950s the theatre (along with the Regent) was taken over by Kerridge Odeon and its name changed to Embassy Theatre. In 1953 alterations were made to the theatre. Interior features were hidden behind new walls or painted black. The façade was changed too, as was the trend at the time to modernise.
The Royal/Embassy operated as a theatre and cinema until 1989 when the building was put up for sale. Attempts were made by various groups to have the theatre restored to its original glory but despite this the theatre was demolished in 1994. The site is currently (2010) an open space to the river and home to the Riff Raff statue.
New Strand/Regent
Regent Theatre at 110 Victoria Street c. 1939
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The New Strand theatre was opened in 1922 in the Livingstone Chambers building, the lower level of which was originally occupied by James Tombs & Co, Waikato agents for Ford Trucks & Cars. The Old Strand was in another building which later became the Hamilton Town Hall.
The theatre was designed to show silent films and so the film on opening night, Friday October the 20th, was the American silent film “Kindred of the Dust”.
After extensive improvements, particularly to the interior, the theatre reopened on the 5th of May 1934 as the Regent Theatre. Patrons in the Dress Circle sat in new, more comfortable, leather seats and watched “The Wandering Jew” on a larger screen. Seating in the stalls was made roomier and better placed.
In the 1950s the silent movie screen and orchestra pit were taken out to make way for a wider screen that could accommodate cinemascope films.
In 1990 Pacer Kerridge Corporation Ltd, owners of the Regent Theatre, were reported to be in financial difficulty. In 1991 the building was bought by Hamilton City Council’s property company and despite efforts of campaigners to save the 75 year old building it met the same fate as the Embassy Theatre and was demolished in May of 1992. Bricks from the Regent (and Embassy) were used in the Italian piazza at the Hamilton Gardens. The last film to show at the Regent was “The Commitments”.
The site where the Regent was is now occupied by the Novotel, SBS Bank and various shops and offices.
State Theatre/Carlton
The State Theatre on the corner of Victoria & London Streets c. 1939
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Opened on the 1st of June 1932, the State Theatre on the northeast corner of Victoria and London streets was built in the style of the latest picture houses of the time. The film on opening night was “Carolina” which starred Janet Gaynor and Drew Barrymore’s great uncle Lionel Barrymore.
Mayor Fow officially opened the State, as he had the New Strand, and spoke of the “remarkable development [of films] from the time of the magic lantern to the present day “talkie”. “He [also] said that the opening of such a splendid theatre spoke eloquently for the management’s belief in the future of Hamilton”.
The State theatre operated as such until 1964 when it was closed for remodelling for 10 and a half weeks. On the 18th of December it reopened as the Carlton. Numerous improvements included; repaired and modernised projection equipment, a new plastic screen, a new sound system, staggered seating to give all patrons an unobstructed view, and a new refreshment stall.
The new theatre opened with the Australasian premiere of “Goodbye Charlie” a comedy from 20th Century Fox starring Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds.
In 1992 Village Five opened at Centreplace. The last of Hamilton’s stand-alone movie theatres was unable to compete with the multiplex and, as with the Embassy and Regent (as well as 2 other Hamilton cinemas not profiled – the Civic and Frankton’s Vogue) it was forced to close.
Unlike the Regent and Embassy the building was not demolished. Initially it became home to the Fountain City Christian Church. Then, in 2001 it was bought by Bayleys Waikato (the real estate firm that sold it in 1993). Demolition was planned until talks with an architect revealed that the building was one of Hamilton’s first steel reinforced concrete buildings. So the four walls and roof were retained and the interior of the building was redeveloped into office space and car parking.
Sources:
Alan Webb's Cinemas of the Waikato MSC 240
Hamilton City Library's Historic Photograph Collection |
