Cork and Thorne

Transcription

Cork and Thorne

Document title:
The social significance of the picture theatre: How many people did attend picture theatres in New South Wales before
television and video.
Author/s:
Kevin Cork and Ross Thorne.
Summary / abstract:
The social and cultural significance of Australian picture theatres, prior to the mid-1950s, has rested on three types of
evidence -- buildings, reminiscences of former patrons, and
taxable admissions returns. Records of buildings and reminiscences are unable to offer concrete evidence of attendance
figures. Neither also are the records of the taxable admissions
since it was rare to tax all admissions, thus not all admissions were recorded. During some years a number of theatres
priced their tickets to avoid paying any tax; accordingly, no
admission figures were officially recorded for those theatres.
This paper takes the taxable admissions as the base-line, then
uses evidence from individual theatres to develop a conservative estimate of attendance from 1921 to 1953. It shows how
important attendance at picture theatres was for the social
and cultural development of Australia -- extending the influence of narrative story-telling into new generations following
a tradition of many centuries.
Key words:
Cinema history; Cinema attendance; Social significance in
heritage.
Illustrations:
Relevant graphs
Original publication date:
2006
Original publication source:
People and Physical Environment Research, 58-60, pp.48-67.
Complete / extract:
Complete paper with references
ISBN / ISSN:
ISSN 1031-7465
Copyright owner
Kevin Cork and Ross Thorne 2006. Extracts according to
Australian Copyright law may be used with acknowledgement to the owners and the original publication.
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The social significance of the picture theatre: how many people
really did attend picture theatres in New South Wales before
television and video?
Kevin Cork and Ross Thorne
Until now, the social significance of Australian picture theatres prior to the mid-1950s
has rested on three types of evidence, viz. buildings, reminiscences, and taxable admission
returns, each of which has contributed something in its own right to the overall picture.
The few physical remains, and the abundance of photographic material provide evidence
of physical surroundings, especially the auditoria in which people viewed the films. These,
and the reminiscences of former patrons help to recall the ‘experience’, but are unable to offer concrete evidence about attendance figures. While some might look to the government
records of the admission tickets that were taxed for evidence of popularity, and therefore
social significance and cultural learning from films, it is the validity of this third category of
evidence that gives rise to concern. The cinema admissions that were taxed were only at best
a percentage of all attendances. This percentage changed when the ticket price threshold
for which a tax was applicable was changed by parliamentary statute or regulation. From
1919 to 1953, when some form of entertainments tax was in operation, that threshold was
changed considerably. These changes will be detailed as part of the purpose of this paper,
which is to show that picture theatre attendance has been under-estimated for the period
from c1910, when the first purpose-built picture theatres were constructed, to the mid1950s, just prior to the introduction of television in Sydney. Because of this under-estimation, cinema-going in those years has not been given the importance in our socio-cultural
history that it should have, nor have the buildings that represent that period been valued as
highly for their heritage worth as they might have.
Introduction
It is too easy to dismiss the pre-television picture theatre era of cinema as ‘low culture’ escapism, and therefore inconsequential. This same period is part of the continuing tradition
both of popular entertainment that started in ancient Greece, and narrative storytelling that
commenced thousands of years previously. Each part of the tradition has existed for a time
before being superseded by a modification. For example, the age of Elizabethan Theatre
only lasted for 66 years, if one takes its beginning as 1576, when the first designated theatre
space was constructed, and its ending as 1642 when the government of the day closed the
theatres. No one can attempt to ascertain the extent to which those theatres were patronised. However, this part of the popular entertainment tradition is venerated to such a degree
that hypothesising about the design of the original theatres and building ‘replicas’, the latest
in London, has become almost an industry in itself. In Australia, going to the pictures has
given pleasure (and some form of cultural learning) to millions of people many times over
since the first films were screened in 1896.
In the mid-1980s, a commissioner of inquiry, in his report on the heritage value of the
Wintergarden Theatre at Rose Bay (Sydney) said, in reply to those who argued for the
theatre’s retention,
For these arguments to be valid the phenomenon of public entertainment would need to be of
the same cultural significance as religion. Though both phenomena have deep roots in our past I
doubt if they could be held to be comparable in any way.
. R. Thorne, L. Tod, K. and Cork, (1996). Movie Theatre Heritage Register for New South Wales 1896 – 1996,
Sydney: Dept. of Architecture, University of Sydney, pp.38-39.
. C. Eccles, (1990). The Rose Theatre, New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc., Chronology, unpaginated.
. See J. R. Mulryne and M. Shewring, eds., Shakespeare’s Globe Rebuilt, Cambridge University Press, 1997;
A. Gurr, “The First Plays at the New Globe”, Theatre Notebook, Vol. LI, 4-7; T. Fitzpatrick, and R. Emerson,
“Reconstructing the spatial dynamics of ‘lost’ theatre spaces: Shakespeare’s second, first and third Globe
Theatres”, People and Physical Environment Research, Nos 53-54, 1999, 42-57.
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Having denigrated the picture theatre’s social importance, he went on to demonstrate that
he had little understanding of what constituted the cinema’s ‘heyday’ and its importance to
the tradition of popular entertainment.
The cinema with its heyday of about 35 years during which the community responded with fervour must be held to be a very minor cult in the time-scale involved...Anyone who experienced
the phenomenon of going to the movies before the advent of television would now be in their early
40s at least. In 50 years time there will be practically no-one alive who will have experienced
it. Of what interest to that generation will be the movie experience of the 1920s-1950s’ generation?
One may ask the same of any aspects of life, including popular entertainment through the
last almost-three thousand years. (For example, were performances of medieval knights
fighting theatrical “battles”, the theatre of ancient Rome, or Shakespeare’s Theatre “very minor cult[s] in the time-scale involved”? when seen a generation after their demise.) Rather
than disappearing 35 years since its inception on a mass scale, cinema is still with us and
is still influential. Although the highest rate of viewing movie films may today be with the
current cinemas, television and video (DVD) hire, the highest rate of viewing them in purpose-built venues was for nearly 50 years – from about 1910 to 1960.
Thorne has previously argued how attendance figures may be used as one means of establishing social significance for a picture theatre. This paper attempts to provide a more accurate set of such figures for New South Wales through estimates based on the various tax
thresholds and seats that did not attract tax, the number of taxed tickets sold in particular
cinemas, and other occasional estimates of attendance for weeks or particular years.
Early and mostly unreliable data
Until now, reporting attendance at Australian picture theatres has tended to rely on estimates and/or records of taxable admissions. Certainly the number of taxed theatre tickets
from 1921 to 1954 in NSW showed that over one billion people sat on taxed seats over that
period. And that was when the state’s population was only 2.1 million in 1921 (Census)
and 3.42 million in 1954 (Census). Prior to this period there are less systematically obtained
estimates or statistics. They include, for 1913, average weekly attendances of 350,000 and
1916 weekly attendances of 426,910 for Sydney and its suburbs, and 2,000,000 per week
in 1920 for the whole of Australia. Like many cinema statistics the source of the last figure
is not cited and therefore cannot be relied upon for its accuracy. During the course of the
Commonwealth Government’s 1928 Royal Commission into the Film Industry, it was stated that “the annual attendance at picture shows in Australia are estimated to be 110,000,000”,
but the Commission failed to state which “annual” and from where the estimate came. With
. C. O’Connell, Report of an Inquiry under the Heritage Act 1977 into the Building known as the Wintergarden
Theatre, New South Head Road, Rose Bay. Sydney: Office of the Commission of Inquiry for Environment and
Planning, June, 1985, as cited in R. Thorne, L. Tod, and K. Cork, Movie Theatre Heritage Register for New South
Wales 1896 – 1996, Sydney: Dept. of Architecture, University of Sydney, 1996, p.11.
. R. Thorne, “The problem of assessing the cultural heritage of buildings through individual criteria: The case of
the social significance of the traditional picture theatre”, People and Physical Environment Research, Nos 53-54,
1999, 58-102.
. Statistics are not available prior to 1921. Those available are from the NSW Government Year Books for years
1921, 1924 to 1954. Total for the 34 available years is 978,805,121. The years 1922 and 1923 give only the
revenue raised. If the taxed admissions for 1921 and 1924 were averaged and added to the earlier figure, the
number of taxed admissions to picture theatres would be approximately 1,025,538,587.
. “The Pictures. Theatre Attendances” by Kinema. Sydney Morning Herald, 4th May 1916, p.10. Annual
attendance would have been 22,199,320. The article’s writer was commenting on a report by the Chief
Secretary, Mr Black who also stated that Sydney and adjacent suburbs had 113 picture shows. “Over two years
ago carefully prepared statistics showed an average weekly attendance in Sydney and suburbs of 350,000.”
. “Statistics” by Kinema. Argus, Melbourne, 26.8.1920. As at 30.6.1920, there were 808 picture theatres in
Australia, 303 of those in NSW.
. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Report of the Royal Commission on the Moving Picture Industry
in Australia, Canberra: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1928, p.10 (Part V, para. 64).
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Subway Picture Palace, Kogarah (Sydney): An early suburban cinema;
open-air (1914), then an austere tin shed venue from 1923 until
1930 when it was closed.
the population of Australia being 6,233,79910, it could be said that every person “annually”
attended at least 17.65 times. The Commission’s figures have been re-used by others such as
Bertrand and Collins11, and Shirley and Adams12. Thorne quotes Tildesley who stated that,
in September 1929, “firms engaged in the motion picture industry” estimated attendance to
be 145,000,000 in 1,520 cinemas throughout Australia13. Diane Collins, in her book on
Australian cinema, cited taxable admissions as an indication of true attendance on at least
two occasions without qualification14.
In the following sections various data will be presented to indicate how misleading are the
recorded statistics of taxed admissions. These data include the changes to the tax threshold
on theatre seat prices, actual picture theatre seat prices, and the actual admissions of patrons
to a limited number of cinemas, the records of which have been located. Finally, a reasonable estimate of real attendance will be made using these data and the very few exhibition
industry estimates published during the period 1921 to 1953.
Available data
TAXABLE ADMISSIONS, TAX THRESHOLDS, AND CINEMA SEATS PER
POPULATION
It has not been possible to ascertain reliable information about admissions to picture theatres across New South Wales for the years prior to 1921, since primary source records are
non-existent. The only primary source material available from this time is the total number
of venues licensed under the Theatres and Public Halls Act for some sort of performance,
and their seating capacities. For example, in 1912/13, venues in NSW totalled 1,171 with
seating for 564,00015. This provided a seating ratio of one seat for every 3.25 persons in
the state. By 1917/18, this had increased to 1,788 venues and about 800,000 seats16. The
seating ratio had increased to one seat for every 2.41 persons. In 1921, there were 1,856
licensed venues in New South Wales, with a combined seating of 851,00017. By 1925,
these figures had climbed to 2,359 premises and 1,061,700 seats18. The figures for 1930
10, Official Year Book of New South Wales 1927/28. Sydney, 1929, p.249.
11. I. Bertrand and D. Collins, Government and Film in Australia. Woollahra, NSW: Currency/Carlton South, Vic.
Australian Film Institute, 1981, p.45.
12. G. Shirley and B. Adams, Australian Cinema - the First 80 Years, Sydney; Currency Press, 1989.
13. B. Tildesley, “Cinemas in Australia” in Australian Quarterly, December, 1930, pp.89-103 as cited in R. Thorne,
Cinemas of Australia via USA. Sydney: Architecture Dept., University of Sydney, 1981, p.68.
14. D. Collins, Hollywood Down Under, Australians at the Movies: 1896 to the Present Day, Sydney: Angus and
Robertson, 1987, pp.30-31; p.213.
15. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1913, Sydney, p.607. (State population was 1,830,444.)
16. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1918, Sydney, p.652. (State population was 1,926,162.)
17. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1921, Sydney, p.499.
18. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1925/26, Sydney, p.418.
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were 2,440 premises with seating for 1,127,400.19 In 1935, there were 2,721 premises with
1,214,000 seats20. The growth continued steadily until the end of the decade and the commencement of World War II.
The number of premises licensed under the Theatres and Public Halls Act, and their seating
capacity, seems quite extraordinary if they were all used for the showing of motion pictures.
In total they provided around one seat per two members of the population in 1935. The
important point to make is that these licensed premises included community and church
halls that were rarely, if ever, used for showing films. Regular complete lists of licensed
premises are rare and it was only one for 1959, given to co-author Thorne by officers of the
Chief Secretary’s Department around 1964, that indicated those licensed premises that also
had a licence to show films. Alternative statistics of regular operating cinemas were collected by the motion picture industry from 1936. Its published list of picture theatres and
their respective seating capacities for 1937 amount to 491 premises in New South Wales,
possessing a total of 444,239 seats21. The definition of “theatre” included those venues in
small country towns that only had a screening once a week as well as city centre cinemas
screening up to 24 sessions per week. The seat per population ratio for these accredited
theatres in 1937 was one seat for 6.1 persons in the state. By 1950 this ratio had dropped
to 1 seat for 7.29 persons22.
The use of such data as an indicator of social significance has some relevance when seen in
relation to either the seat-to-persons ratio of other countries or the average occupancy rates
of cinema venues. The latter will be discussed in a subsequent section but, in relation to
other countries there were two reported international surveys of cinema seats available - one
in 1927 and the other in 1950. The criterion for being a cinema is not indicated for the
1927 survey, and the seat per persons ratio seems high, not only for Australia but also for
USA and Europe. Australia, with one seat per 22.73 persons was second only to the USA
with its one seat per 18.86 persons. Europe was third at one per 50 persons23. In discussing
the second survey result, derived from a UNESCO publication, the Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory 1951-1952 suggests the statistics are some years out of date as the UNESCO
figures give a seat to person ratio of 1 seat per 5.49 persons. The Directory’s calculation for
1951 amounts to one seat per 7.29 persons24. The cited UNESCO publication, however,
claimed Australia to be second only to Monaco (1 per 5.26), with New Zealand third at
one seat for 6.71 persons.
It can be argued that the creation of cinema seating is undertaken by commercial firms and
individuals with the anticipation that a sufficient number will be filled to provide either
a living for the exhibitor or a return on the investment. Accordingly, the high number of
cinema seats in Australia (rather than seats in licensed premises) does provide an indication
of the high attendance of its population in relation to that in other countries, and therefore
an indication of the importance that cinema would have had on the cultural development
of Australia for the fifty-odd years prior to television.
From the end of 1919, the Commonwealth Government applied an entertainment tax to
all entertainment admissions (including, specifically, racing, live theatres, picture theatres,
dancing, skating, concerts, and “miscellaneous”, that included other sports) within Australia and, in doing so, provided later researchers with attendance figures of sorts. From 1
December 1919 to 1 October 1922, a halfpenny tax for each sixpence or fraction thereof
19. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1930/31, Sydney, pp.403-404. It should be noted that the figures
not only included designated picture theatres but all halls that were approved by the NSW Chief Secretary’s
Department as suitable for screening motion pictures.
21. Calculated from Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory, 1937-1938 (published 1937), pp.39-43.
22. Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory, 1951-1952, p.12.
23. “World’s Motion Picture Theatres”, Sydney Morning Herald, 3.1.1928, p.11.
24. Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory 1951-1952, p.12.
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was imposed on every entertainment admission, with two exceptions. These, of course,
then prevented an overall accurate figure forthcoming. The first of these exceptions was for
payments exceeding fivepence for admission of children under 16 years of age to places of
“continuous entertainment”, which was defined as those places open for more than four
hours on three or more days of each week. This would have included all city and, possibly,
some suburban picture theatres. The second was for places where the entertainment was
intended solely for children if the charge was under sixpence25. By designating a Saturday
afternoon screening as a “Children’s Matinee”, it is assumed that tax was not payable on
children’s tickets.
The occasional newspaper advertisement mentioned children’s matinees, even in the years
before World War I. For example, the Leichhardt and Enmore Theatres ran them in 1913,
with tickets at threepence (children) and sixpence (adults), but the advertisements noted
“Programme same as at night”26. This issue of films suitable for children was noted in the
report of the 1928 Royal Commission film inquiry where it was stated that “...owing very
often to the expense and difficulty of obtaining films especially suitable for children’s matinees, it
frequently happens that the pictures shown to the children in the afternoons are the same films
as shown at the ordinary evening screening”27. By the end of the 1930s children’s matinees
had become quite sophisticated to attract children into the cinema-going habit. To give an
impression of the presentation of programmes being tailored to children, one or two serials
would be added, as too would be additional cartoons and competitions with prizes. In small
country towns where it would be uneconomic to run special children’s matinees a serial and
cartoon were included as normal Saturday night fare.
Taxable admissions to picture theatres in New South Wales for the financial year ending June 1921 were 28,178,93128. With the Census of 1921 determining a population of
2,099,763 in the state, it could be assumed that every living soul went to the pictures a little
over 13 times in that year. To leave the matter at that would be a mistake since the calculation does not include non-taxable admissions. But more of that issue later after reviewing
the remainder of the taxable admissions for the time of their existence. From 2 October
1922, payments lower than one shilling were exempt from tax and these would have accounted for most children’s tickets29. (See examples of ticket prices below, and in Table 2.)
As the popularity of the motion picture grew, so admissions to picture theatres increased,
and this is reflected in the taxable admissions. The year ending June 1925 saw 71,726,000
taxed admissions in this state30. From 15 October 1925, the tax threshold was further raised
so that tax was not payable on admission prices less than two shillings and sixpence31. As a
result, taxable admission figures for picture theatres in New South Wales in the year ending
June 1926 plummeted, bottoming out before the Great Depression. Somewhat paradoxically, as unemployment deepened the number of seats sold at two shillings and sixpence
rose during the years 1929 to 1933 (when unemployment remained above 27 per cent)32.
Figures for 1928, 1929 and 1930 were 1,326,930, 1,776,272 and 2,744,924 respectively.
This had increased in 1931 to 7,931,41033. This may be due to prices rising into the taxed
26. The Sun, Sydney, 28.9.1913, p.2. Advertisements for Szarka Bros’ Leichhardt and Enmore Theatres.
The screening of the same programmes at children’s matinees and evening performances eventually raised
the issue of censorship. Refer to D. Collins, Hollywood Down Under. Australians at the Movies: 1896 to the
Present Day, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, 1987, pp.26-27; J. Sabine (Ed.), A Century of Australian Cinema, Port
Melbourne: William Heinemann Australia, 1995 pp.64-83.
27. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Report of the Royal Commission on the Moving Picture
Industry in Australia, Canberra: Government of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1928,p.18 (para. 126).
30. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1926/27, Sydney.
32. See Official Year Book of New South Wales 1939/40, p.594, for brief history of unemployment from 1901 to
1939.
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range but this seems unlikely (See Table 2), particularly during the Depression. It is probably due to the widespread introduction of the then latest technological advance -- fulllength sound pictures. The New South Wales State Government then imposed its own tax
from 1 January 1930 on admissions exceeding one shilling and sixpence34 but statistics for
the admissions at this lower threshold are unavailable (and therefore cannot be used as a
source of data). Over the next five years, average annual taxable admissions on the two shillings and sixpence (Commonwealth tax) threshold were 7,994,288.
From 1 October 1942, the State Government ceased to claim entertainment tax and this
was superseded by a revised Commonwealth Entertainment Tax which was payable on tickets from one shilling and upwards35. While the new tax took into account most low-priced
adult tickets, it did not take into account tickets below the threshold that mainly belonged
to the realm of children’s admission. With the influx of soldiers during World War II, all
forms of entertainment were sought, including that offered by picture theatres. (This even
went so far as to see the introduction of Sunday screenings, albeit on a small scale.) The first
full year under the new tax threshold was 1944 when taxable admissions were 56,951,000.
They peaked in 1945 at 62,825,00036. Omitting any upward influence of tickets sold below
the threshold and by only taking the taxable admissions for 1945 and dividing them by the
population of New South Wales for that year (estimated at 2,912,791 people37), everyone in
the state, from a day old to death, attended the pictures on average 21.57 times.
FIGURE ONE: Official figures for the taxable admissions to the “pictures” in New South Wales from
1921 to 1953. See Table 3 for the numbers. See Table 2 for the different tax thresholds.
The taxable admissions to picture shows in New South Wales for the whole period for
which statistics are available are shown in Figure 1. The main information it conveys are
the changes to the tax threshold, apart from the initial rise in popularity of film from 1921
to 1925. (The missing years of 1922 and 1923 are due to non-publication of data for those
years.) The years about halfway down and up and the curve (1926 and 1944 respectively)
may be dismissed since they represent admissions partly for one threshold and partly for
another. The final year of 1954 may also be dismissed as it only represents admissions for
part of a year. The lower central curve of the graph tells us that those people who purchased
34. Official Year Book of New South Wales 1936/37, Sydney, p.223. To expedite the collection, the
Commonwealth Taxation Commissioner was empowered to collect the State tax.
37. Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory 1946/47, Sydney, p.62.
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two shilling and sixpenny-plus seats did not resort to cheaper seats during the worst of the
Depression years, 1929 - 1933. Their attendance had bottomed out in 1928 just before
the change-over from silent to sound films. The peak at 1931 may indicate the arrival of
the first “block-buster” musical films such as Whoopee, made in 1930 by Samuel Goldwin
and Florenz Ziegfeld in two-strip Technicolor38. The general rise in attendance in the more
expensive seats continued at a rate higher than population growth from 1932 to 1941 with
a slight dip in 1942; during this year the Japanese entry into World War II may have had a
slight effect of deterring people from attending cinemas..
The second primary curve from 1944 to 1953 inclusive illustrates the one shilling-plus
purchasers of cinema tickets. This curve would reflect possibly the total adult population
who went to the pictures over this period. There is a high point at the end of World War II
(1945) and a decline through the years of post-War reconstruction, scarcities and inflation,
picking up a little in 1951-2. Table 2 shows the changes to the tax regime by year, and Table
3 displays the full range of taxable admission figures from 1921 to 1954 inclusive.
TABLE ONE: Taxable Admissions for four yeas, 1921, 1925, 1948, & 1953.
Year
Racing
Dance/Skate Concerts
Miscellan
1921
3,275,812 4,545,802 28,178,931
Theatres
Cinema
1,495,090
352,198
3,613,330
1925
1,530,000 7,700,000 71,726,000
21,430,000
1,157,000 8,339,000
1948
3,938,000 1,302,000 57,209,000
3,932,000
-----
829,000
1953
4,723,000 1,306,000 58,204,000
3,282,000
-----
764,000
The taxable admissions statistics also indicate, by way of comparison, the remarkable popularity of movie-going. If a number of “settled” years are taken that exclude the Great
Depression, World War II and the high two shilling and sixpenny tax threshold period
- all which might have affected some entertainments differently to others - the remarkable
phenomenon of going to the pictures becomes evident. By way of example the years 1921,
1925, 1948 and 1953 have been taken and taxable attendances for the six categories used
in the statistics are shown in Table 1, and visually displayed in Figure 2. Racing, dances
and skating, and most of the miscellaneous (i.e. other sports) are either activities or passive
watching of activities. For Theatres and Picture Shows there is, with the exclusion of variety
and vaudeville, some form of information content that might represent social and cultural
mores. Due to the high rate of attendance at pictures, even indicated by these less-than-total
attendance figures, it can only be assumed that the cultural effect of cinema has been greater
FIGURE TWO: Two examples drawn from Table One above showing the relationship between the taxable
admissions to “pictures” and other paid entertainments in New South Wales. Sports, other than horse
racing, are included in the miscellaneous column at the far right of each chart.
LEFT: Taxable admissions for 1925.
RIGHT: Taxable admissions for 1953.
38. M. L. Rubin. “A Tradition of Spectacle: Busby Berkeley on Stage and Screen”. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia
University, 1987, facsimile copy, UMI, Ann Arbour, p.452.
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than for theatre, concerts and other entertainments.
Admission Ticket Prices and the Tax Threshold
Besides the product on offer and the surroundings in which it was presented, the relative
cheapness of tickets ensured the success of picture theatres39. In the years before World
War II, it was not unusual for Sydney city picture theatres to advertise their prices in daily
newspapers. In 1912, for example, a clear indicator between live and picture entertainment
was the cost of a ticket. Admission to a live performance at the Adelphi (later the Tivoli)
in Castlereagh Street ranged from four shillings (40 cents) to one shilling (ten cents). The
Lyric (1,915 seats40) and Colonial (1,200 seats41) picture theatres in George Street offered
their brand of escapism for sixpence (five cents) for upstairs and threepence for stalls42. In
1912, the cost of a picture ticket could be equated to a loaf of bread which cost three and
a half pence (three cents)43. By 1929, when a loaf of bread cost an average 5.7 pence (nearly
five cents)44, tickets for the live show at Fullers’ Theatre in Castlereagh Street are recorded
as being: matinees, from between two shillings and fivepence halfpenny, to one shilling;
evenings, from between three shillings and threepence (about 32 cents) to one shilling;
Saturday nights and holidays were from four shillings down to two shillings45.
The Lyric Picture Theatre, Sydney.
The Empire Talkies in Quay Street, which screened three sessions a day (Monday to Saturday) from 7 December 192946, offered tickets at three shillings, two shillings and one
shilling, with children at half price except Saturday nights47. If one recalls that, from 15
October 1925, tax was not payable on tickets less than two shillings and sixpence, then
it would be reasonable to suggest that many of the tickets sold at the Empire (3,000-seats
capacity48) were not taxed. Ticket prices for suburban picture theatres are more difficult to
find. However, when the Strand Theatre at Leichhardt opened in 1921, prices ranged from
one shilling and sixpence to ninepence for adults, and children’s prices were threepence and
sixpence49. Some ticket dockets for 1926 from the Boomerang Theatre, Taree (north coast
of NSW), still exist and are useful to illustrate the absence of tax on many picture theatre
tickets50. This theatre provided both live and cinematic shows, each with different admission charges. A few of the dockets provide details of live productions at the theatre, with
ticket prices ranging from five shillings to one shilling. Those selling from three shillings
upwards, incurred tax. Of the three live performances for which dockets exist51, 529 out
of 885 tickets sold incurred tax. However, dockets showing admissions for three nights of
screening films52 show that a total of 475 patrons were admitted, but no tax was incurred
due to the fact that prices ranged from two shillings down to sixpence. Accordingly, from
the taxable admissions for those three nights, and possibly every night when only films
were shown, it would appear to those uninitiated into the vagaries of the tax regime, that
no-one attended the Boomerang Theatre to watch movies (yet some hundreds were there
every night).
Empire Talkies, Quay Street, Sydney.
Proscenium arch, and above, the
auditorium.
39. “The Pictures: Theatre Construction Active” by Kinema. Argus, Melbourne, 20th March 1928. The article
comments about recent construction of picture theatres and gives estimates of attendances in Melbourne.
40. R. Thorne, Cinemas of Australia via USA, Sydney: Architecture Dept, University of Sydney, 1981, p.213.
41. Sydney Morning Herald, 2nd.May.1910 as cited in R. Thorne, Cinemas of Australia via USA Sydney:
Architecture Dept, University of Sydney, 1981, p.124.
42. The Sun, Sydney, 26th June,1912, p.3.
43. Refer to statistical data in W. Vanplew (ed.), Australia’s Historical Statistics, Sydney: Fairfax, Syme and Weldon
Associates, 1987. A composite chart details the cost of a number of groceries from the late 19th century to the
1980s.
44. Refer to statistical data in W. Vanplew (ed.), Australia’s Historical Statistics. Sydney: Faifax, Syme and Weldon
Associates, 1987.
45. Daily Guardian, Sydney, 31st August.1929, p.10. As there is nothing specifically mentioned about children’s
prices, one may conclude that the lowest priced admissions were for children.
46. Labor Daily, Sydney, 2nd.December.1929, p.7.
47. Labor Daily, Sydney, 4th December.1929, p.7.
48. Building, Sydney, 12th May 1927, p.46; Everyones, Sydney, 4th March 1931, p.8.
49. Copy of souvenir opening programme of Strand Theatre, Leichhardt, Mitchell Library, Sydney.
50. NSW State Archives, Chief Secretary’s Dept.: Theatres and Public Halls file, Box 17/3593 File 4547, Taree
Civic Theatre.
51. Ibid., 9th February.1926, 27th April.1926, 15th June.1926.
52. Ibid.,8th February.1926, 18th March 1926, 28th April.1926.
56
Throughout the 1930s, admission to city picture theatres started from as low as one shilling
for adults (eg Prince Edward, 193453; Embassy, 193654; New Lyric, 193755) while children
were often admitted for sixpence (eg Empress, 193456; Capitol, 193557; Empress, 193758).
The cinemas concerned screened three or four sessions a day, six days each week. When
the Liberty Theatre in Sydney opened in 1934, a number of its ticket prices were untaxed.
Of the three sessions daily, the 11am session had stalls at one shilling; lower lounge and
circle, one shilling and sixpence; children, sixpence throughout the stalls and one shilling
throughout the upper level. At the 2.30pm session, stalls were one shilling and sixpence. It
is known that the stalls seated 406 in 195459 and there is no reason to assume any changes
had been made to the seating configuration prior to that year. A note in the program stated
that there were slight increases to prices on Saturdays and public holidays, otherwise for two
sessions each day, six days each week, a minimum of 812 stalls seats per day were not taxed,
plus some seats upstairs, and all those in which children sat during the 11am session60. (See
Table 2, year 1934, for range of prices advertised.)
The Prince Edward seated 1,36661 and increased its daily sessions from three to four in
early 193162. If the year 1934 is taken as an example, total available seating for the year in
that theatre alone would have been approximately 1,693,84063. If a one-third capacity was
achieved over the year, tickets sold would have numbered 564,613. Taxable admissions to
picture shows throughout New South Wales for that same year only totalled 8,053,646
but the total number of tickets sold at the Prince Edward would amount to 7.0% or one
sixteenth of that total. It must be remembered that there were another 15 city picture theatres and some hundreds of suburban and country cinemas to also take into account. This
indicates that the taxable admissions of eight million people can only comprise a small fraction of the total number of admissions in 1934. If one comes at the argument from another
direction it will be seen that over a year in the Sydney central business district alone, there
were some 23,000,000 seats available for sale to patrons64. This amounts to three times the
taxable admissions for the whole state, yet it will be seen below that when admissions fell to
less than 20% of capacity there was a loss of profitability and the theatre would be closed.
A count of country picture theatres in 1951 (the number being little different from 1940
due to building restrictions during World War II) shows a total seating capacity of 215,692
in 349 theatres in 292 towns excluding the metropolitan areas of Sydney Newcastle and
Wollongong65. If a conservative two-shows-a-week is assumed, on average across all country theatres, the annual available number of seats would be almost 22,500,000. (Some
small towns only had one show a week, while a town, (and it’s near population) the size
of Canowindra, at around 2,600 persons, had four shows a week, with an average claimed Prince Edward (cinema) Theatre,
53. Labor Daily, Sydney, 27th December.1934, p.10.
54. Labor Daily, Sydney, 25th June1936, p.10.
55. Labor Daily, Sydney, 20th May1937, p.u/n.
56. Labor Daily, Sydney, 27th December 1934, p.10.
57. Labor Daily, Sydney, 29th.August 1935, p.8.
58. Labor Daily, Sydney, 16th.September 1937.
59. This number taken from a list, prepared by the film distributing company MGM in 1954, of all picture theatres
in NSW. Copy in the files of the late Kevin Cork.
60. Ticket price information from copy of souvenir opening programme of the Liberty Theatre, in the files of the
late Kevin Cork.
61. Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory, 1937/38, Sydney.
62. Information taken from souvenir programmes from the Prince Edward Theatre in the files of the late Kevin
Cork.
63. This number for 1934 has taken into account Good Friday and Christmas Day (which fell on a Tuesday).
64. In Sydney city the total capacity of cinema seats was over 25,000 according to a count from the license
record. Assuming an average of three sessions a day (although some theatres ran four sessions) over six days a
week for 52 weeks of the year, the total available seats is in excess of 23,000,000.
65. The count was of all the country cinemas listed in the 1951 (annual) Film Weekly Directory which provides
seating capacities. A comparison was made with the licensed capacity and where a discrepancy occurred the
licensed capacity was taken to be the “true” figure. Only those “country” cinemas were noted where they could be
identified as belonging to an “urban area” as defined by the Census of 1954. Names of other “country” cinemas
were identified as belonging to districts or suburbs of larger urban areas, such as Maitland, Cessnock, Newcastle
etc., See Appendix.
Sydney -- one of the earliest elaborate
picture palaces built in Australia.
57
capacity of over 40% of its 600 theatre seats66.) There were, in addition, more than 150 picture theatres in the suburbs of Sydney; they possessed a total of some 192,580 seats. Most
suburban theatres ran programs for six nights a week plus a children’s matinee so, assuming
a conservative average of five sessions per week (rather than seven), the total number of seats
available over a year would have been more than 50,000,00067. There were also 23 cinemas
in the meandering metropolitan area of Newcastle and a further 10 in the Wollongong-Port
Kembla-Dapto district. These all accounted for a further 31873 seats68Over the whole state
there would have been around 90 million seats available in one year, but taxed admissions
only accounted for eight per cent of this total. As will be seen in the following, most seats
sold were priced below the threshold at which the entertainments tax was charged (See Table 2); and therefore the taxable admissions’ statistics for the 1930s bear no relationship to
the true attendance at picture theatres.
TABLE TWO: Tax thresholds and examples of picture theatre prices of admission. The second column
shows the dates that the entertainment tax(es) were imposed, or threshold changed.
The third column provides examples of taxed and untaxed admission prices.
Year
19171918
1919
1920
Imposition of, and Changes to Entertainments
Taxes 1917 to 1953.
One penny per ticket costing between sixpence
and one shilling, plus 1/2d for each additional 6d,
or part thereof (Official Year Book of New South
Wales 1917,
p.729; Ibid, 1918, p.766.)
From 1st December 1919 to 1st October 1922,
a Commonwealth Govt tax applied at the rate
of 1/2d (halfpenny) for each 6d (sixpence) or
fraction thereof on all entertainment admissions.
Tax not charged on payments exceeding 5d for
children under 16 years at places of continuous
entertainment (ie those places open for more than
four hours on three or more days of each week)
or for admission to entertainment intended solely
for children if the charge was under 6d. (Year Book
NSW 1926/27, p.245.)
1921
1922
1923
1925
1926
1928
Examples of Admission Prices at Picture Theatres in NSW.
From 2 October 1922 tickets were taxed one penny
for the first shilling and 1/2d for every subsequent
6d or part of 6d (The rate of Entertainment Tax was
changed in the Amending Act No. 15, 1922.)
Rate of tax changed to 2 ½ d on two shillings and
sixpence (but not part thereof) with an added ½ d
on every extra 6d or part thereof.
Cinema No 2, Parramatta: Opera chairs, 1/10 + tax; front seats 1 / 41/2 + tax, back
seats, 1/- = tax. Children half price. (Cumberland Argus 18/9/20 p.11.) Subway Pictures,
Kogarah: Children 3d, adults 8d + 1d tax. (St George Call, 20/11/20, p.6)
Strand Theatre, Leichhardt: Stalls 9d and 1/-, children 3d and 6d, dress circle 1 / 6,
children 9d (as noted in the opening night program, 1921).
Mayfield Picture Theatre: Adults 9d, 1/-, 1 /4½, children 3d, (Holidays & Saturdays
excepted) (Mayfield Movie News, 1923).
Subway Pictures, Kogarah: Front seats, adults 8d, children 3d. Back chairs, adults 1/(plus 1d tax), children 6d. Reserved chairs, 1/6 plus 1 ½ d tax. (St George’s Call, 21st
September 1923, p.2).
Boomerang Theatre, Taree: Film nights on 8/2/26, 9/2/26, and 27/4/26, priced at 2/-,
1/6, 1/-, and 6d (Chief Secretary’s Department file, State Archive box 17/3593, file No.
4547).
Carlton Theatre: Saturday & holiday nights, front stalls 8d, back stalls 1/-, circle 1/6,
children full price, otherwise week nights, stalls, adults 8d, children 3d, front circle 1/6,
back circle 1/- with children half price (St George’s Call, 13th August 1926, p.5)..
Capitol Theatre, Armidale: Nights: front stalls, adults 1/-, children 6d; back stalls, adults
1/6, children 9d; dress circle, adults 2/-, children 1/3. Matinees: stalls, adults 1/-,
children 6d,; circle, adults 1/6, children 1/- (Armidale Chronicle, 18thJuly 1928)..
66. Audience estimates at Canowindra’s Strand Theatre came from a former employee, Ron Cain, who claimed
that the house would be one quarter full on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, about half full on Friday, and almost
full on most Saturday nights. The theatre generally ran two programs a week of two nights each program (with a
Saturday children’s matinee).
67. A count was made of all the suburban cinemas licensed before 1940 in the Chief Secretary’s 1959 list, and
their licensed capacities summed. This list omits a few cinemas closed or demolished in the 1950s, such as the
Sun Theatre at Artarmon, Royal at Willoughby, and another at Northbridge.
68. By using maps districts mentioned as “country” in the Film Weekly Directory but not shown in the 1954
Census (as being urban areas in their own right) were, where appropriate, added to Newcastle list of cinemas
(since the districts are included in that city’s metropolitan area). In 1954 Wollongong, Port Kembla and Dapto
were separate urban areas, but somewhere they included Shellharbour, Wallarong, and Albion Park, all of which
possessed cinemas but were not mentioned in the 1954 Census. For the purpose of this study all these districts
have been amalgamated, but the districts, included in later Censuses as part of Wollongong have been retained
separate as they are in the 1954 Census.
58
1929
1930
The NSW Government imposed a separate tax
from 1 January on admissions exceeding 1/6
(one shilling and sixpence). The Commonwealth
tax remained the same as imposed in 1925
(See above) (Year Book of NSW, 1931, p.243 &
1936/37, p.223).
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1941
1942
1948
1953
State tax ceased from 1 October 1942. A
uniform tax was imposed across Australia by the
Commonwealth Govt for ticket prices of one shilling
and above (Year Book of NSW 1955, p.309).
Commonwealth
Entertainment
Tax
was
discontinued as from 1 October 1953 (Official Year
Book NSW, 1953, p.309).
Empire Talkies, Quay St. Sydney: “Reduced prices”, 3/-, 2/-, 1/-, with children at half
price, except Saturday nights (Labor Daily, 4th December 1929, p.7).
Strand Theatre, Forbes: Circle, adults, 3/3, 2/5; Stalls, adults, 2/-, 1/6. Children’s prices
overall, 2/-, 1/3, 1/- (Forbes Advocate, 17th December 1929, p.5. Note that the higher
priced seats are at 2s 5d, just below the taxable threshold, and 3s 3d which would
comprise 2s 6d seat price attracting 2 ½ d tax plus another 6d seat price attracting
another ½ d tax, thus producing a total tax of 3d..
Roxy Theatre, Sydney: Morning session, adults, 1/6, 1/-, children 1/-; afternoon, 2/-, 1/-;
evening, 3/-, 2/-, 1/- (Labor Daily, 25th February 1930, p.7).
Summer Hill Theatre: Week nights: lounge 2/3 + 1 ½ d tax; front circle, 2/- + 1d tax;
back circle 1/6, children 1/-; back stalls, 1/3, front stalls, 1/-, children, 6d. Saturday &
holiday nights: lounge, 3/- + 5d tax; front circle, 2/3 + 1 ½ d tax; back circle, 1/9 = 1d
tax, children, 1/-. Matinees on Sats & hols: lounge 2/- + 1d tax; front circle 1/9 + ½ d tax;
back circle, 1/3, children, 9d; stalls 1/-, children, 6d (from theatre’s opening program,
October 1930).
Tighe’s Hill Theatre: Evenings: adults 1/3 and 1/-; children; 9d and 6d. Matinees: adults
1/-, children 6d (Newcastle Herald, 18th March 1933, p.2).
Broadway Theatre, Parkes: 1/-, 2/- and 2/3 (Screen News, 1933).
Prince Edward Theatre, Sydney: “Popular prices” 1/-, 1/6 at 11 am session (Labor Daily,
27th December 1934, p.10).
Empress Theatre, Sydney: 1/- to 1/6; children 6d, daily and half price on Saturdays
(Ibid.).
Liberty Theatre, Sydney: Morning: stalls 1/-, lower lounge and circle 1/6; upper lounge
1/11 ½ + ½ d tax; balcony lounge 2/4 ½ d tax, children 6d and 1/-. Afternoon: stalls 1/6,
lower lounge and circle 1/11 ½ + ½ d tax; upper lounge 2/4 ½ + 1 ½ d tax; balcony 2/10
+ 2d tax. Evening: stalls 1/11 ½ + ½ d tax; lower lounge and circle 2/10 + 2d tax; upper
lounge 3/3 ½ + 2 ½ ; balcony lounge 4/- + 3d tax (opening program of theatre,1934).
Capitol Theatre, Sydney: Children 6d in all parts of the house (Labor Daily, 29th August
1935, p.8).
Embassy Theatre, Sydney: Morning, from 1/-. Afternoon, from 1/6 (Labor Daily, 25th June
1936, p.10).
New Lyric Theatre, Sydney: Day, from 1/-; night, from 1/3 (Labor Daily, 20th May 1937).
Savoy Theatre, Hurstville: Weekdays: matinees: stalls, adults 1/-, children, 6d; circle,
adults 1/6, children 9d; nights, front stalls 1/-, children 6d,; back stalls, adults 1/3,
children 9d; circle, adults 2/-, children 1/-; lounge, adults 2/6, children 1/3. Saturdays
& holidays: matinees, front stall, adults 1/-, children 6d; back stalls, adults 1/3, children
9d,; circle, adults 2/-, children 1/-, lounge, adults 2/6, children 1/3. Evening prices
same for both adults and children, front stalls 1/-, back stalls 1/6,; circle 2/-, lounge 2/6
(Opening program, August, 1937).
Ritz Theatre, Randwick: Weeknights: front stalls 1/-, back stalls 1/6, lounge 2/-, reserved
circle 2/9 (Opening program, 1937).
Strand Theatre, Forbes: stalls 1/- and 1/6, dress circle 2/- (Forbes Advocate, 23rd July
1937, p.4).
Studio Theatre, Forbes: stalls 1/- and 1/6, circle 2/- + 1d tax (Ibid., p.3).
Royal Theatre, Lakemba: Dress circle, adults 1/6, children 9d; stalls, adults 1/-, children
6d (From a 1938 photograph of ticket box at the theatre).
Strand Theatre, Leichhardt: Week nights: stalls, adults 1/-, children 6d; dress circle,
adults 1/6, children 9d. Saturdays & holidays: matinees, stalls, adults 1/-, children 6d;
circle, adults 1/-, children 9d; nights: stalls, adults 1/3, children 9d; circle, adults 1/9,
children 1/- (Opening program, December 1928).
Civic Theatre, Wollongong: Front stalls 1/-, back stalls 1/6, circle 2/- (Chief Secretary’s
Department file, Box 17/3487, file No. 3412, State Records).
Regent Theatre, Wauchope: Front stalls, adults 1/6, back stalls 1/11 ½ + ½ d tax; circle
2/4 ½ + 1 ½ tax (Hasting’s Gazette, 17th September 1941).
Palace Theatre, Parkes: Front stalls, adults 1/-, children 1/-; back stalls, adults 2/-,
children 1/6 if with an adult, otherwise 2/-; reserved lounge for both adults and children
2/3 (Champion Post, 25th September 1941, p.4).
Astra Theatre, Thornleigh: Children’s Saturday matinee prices, front stalls 6d, back stalls
9d (Reminiscence of co-author, R. Thorne as child in 1942),
Hoyts Crest Theatre, South Granville: Nights, front stalls, adults 1/3, children6d; back
stalls, adults 1/11, children 9d; lounge, adults 2/6, children 1/3 (From 1948 photograph
of ticket box in entrance lobby).
Ticket prices at suburban and country picture theatres would have been either at the very
least the same or, more probably, less than city prices. When the Tighe’s Hill Theatre (Newcastle suburb) reopened in 1933 after remodelling, evening sessions cost adults one shilling
or one shilling and threepence, while children paid sixpence or ninepence. For matinees,
adults paid one shilling and children sixpence69. Opening in 1937, the Ritz Theatre at
Randwick advertised its week-night prices as ranging from two shillings to one shilling, with
69. Newcastle Herald, 18th March 1933, p.2.
59
children at half price70. At the Royal Theatre, Lakemba in 1938, adults paid one shilling
and sixpence to sit upstairs or one shilling to sit downstairs. Children’s tickets cost less than
one shilling71. In 1938, the Strand Theatre at Leichhardt was remodelled and its re-opening
night programme quoted admission prices for children as sixpence stalls and ninepence upstairs at Saturday and holiday matinees and weeknights. Saturday evenings were ninepence
and one shilling72. None of the cited ticket prices for the Ritz, Royal or Strand would have
incurred tax. One recollection of matinees at Thornleigh in 1942 was that children’s prices
were sixpence for front stalls and ninepence for back stalls73. A former Hoyts’ cashier recalled that, by the end of the decade, children’s matinee prices were ninepence74.
Ritz Theatre, Randwick, NSW, as when
it originally opened.
It is evident from the above examples and Table 2 that tax was not paid on every ticket
sold. Indeed, from 1928 to 1942, Commonwealth tax seems to have been paid on very few
admissions, particularly in the suburbs and country towns. It virtually was only a “luxury”
tax on the highest priced seats. Thus the taxable admissions are of little help in calculating
overall picture theatre attendance in New South Wales prior to the early 1940s. It is only
after 1942, when the taxation threshold was lowered considerably that taxable admission
figures reflect a picture that is closer to the actual attendance.
Actual Admissions and Occupancy Rates (ORs) of Picture Theatres
On rare occasions, records have survived that list ticket sales for a particular theatre. They
comprise valuable evidence that indicate, at least for individual picture theatres, real admissions.
The first record provides the entire 1938 ticket sales for the Broadway Theatre, Parkes (central-western NSW)75. The theatre seated 1,093 and screened 384 sessions. The number of
seats available was 403,317 while the number of admissions (evenings and matinees) was
132,873. This gave the theatre an Occupancy Rate (OR) of 32.95%. As the population of
the town in that year was 6,040, it can be calculated that everyone in the town attended the
pictures, on average, 21.64 times. However, if the taxable admissions figure for that year
(13,432,611) is divided by the estimated state population (2,770,348), the annual average
individual attendance would be only 4.85 times. Certainly there is no evidence to indicate
that Parkes was an atypical town.
Broadway Theatre, Parkes, NSW:
Architect’s original scheme for the
theatre in 1923.
Taree’s Boomerang Theatre provides another record, a composite picture for the year 28
September 1939 to 28 September 194076. Average attendances were: Monday nights - 155;
Tuesday nights - 104; Wednesday nights - 214; Thursday nights - 140; Friday nights - 117;
Saturday matinees - 321; Saturday nights - 493. On average, the OR for this 1,027 capacity
venue77 was 21.8%. The population of Taree was given as being 5,25078. If the total number
of admissions for the year was 80,288, then everyone in Taree attended the pictures at least
15.29 times, which is still well above the figure derived from taxable admissions.
70. Information taken from copy of original opening night programme of the Ritz Theatre, Randwick, in the files of
the late Kevin Cork.
71. Decoration and Glass, Sydney, July 1938, p.20 - photograph of ticket box with ticket prices shown.
72. Page 7 of original programme of the Strand Theatre, Leichhardt, in the files of the late Kevin Cork.
73. Interview with co-author R. Thorne, 5th July 1997.
74. Interview with Mrs H Turner, 5th July 1997.
75. NSW State Archives, Chief Secretary’s Dept.: Theatres and Public Halls file, Box 10/53071 File T1222 Parkes
Picture Palace.
76. These figures were quoted by Mr Carson, owner of the Boomerang Theatre, at the Taree District Court in
relation to the possibility of another theatre being licensed in Taree. NSW State Archives, Chief Secretary’s Dept.:
Theatres and Public Halls file - Box 17/3593 File 4547 Taree Civic Theatre.
77. Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory 1939/40, Sydney.
78. This figure was given by Mr Robinson, son of the former owner of the Boomerang Theatre, at the Taree
District Court in relation to the possibility of another theatre being licensed in Taree. NSW State Archives, Chief
Secretary’s Dept.: Theatres and Public Halls file - Box 17/3593 File 4547 Taree Civic Theatre.
60
An account book from the Coronet Theatre at Bondi Junction79 provides an opportunity to
trace its admissions over a number of years. For the year ending June 1943, the 1,911-seat
theatre recorded 207,443 paid admissions over 413 sessions. This gave an OR (excluding
complimentary tickets) of 26.28%. For the year ending June 1945, the paid admissions totalled 207,290 over 384 sessions. The OR (excluding complimentary tickets) for that financial year was 28.25%. The post-war years saw the theatre remodelled and seating reduced
to 1,628. Paid admissions for the year ended June 1948 amounted to 219,834 over 372
sessions, giving an OR (excluding complimentary tickets) of 36.30%. (Without the reduction in seating, it would have been 30.92%.) For the year 1950/51, based on the reduced
seating, the OR (excluding complimentary tickets) was 40.49%. In an interview with a
former patron of the theatre, he stated that, as a child he attended the Saturday matinees
at the Coronet in 1950-51 and children’s prices were sixpence downstairs and ninepence
upstairs, neither of which would have incurred tax. Unfortunately, the account book does
not list the various price categories of tickets sold.
Average occupancy rates are valuable when they can be compared for the one theatre over
time. Therefore effects of changes to seating capacity and number of sessions should be
substantially reduced or eliminated. Accordingly, the ORs for the Coronet Theatre can be
adjusted to provide “corrected” ORs for a period prior to the change of the tax threshold
from two shillings and sixpence and another for after the change to the threshold of one
shilling. The following ORs are calculated on the seating capacity if it had remained at
TABLE OF OCCUPANCY RATES for the Coronet Theatre, Bondi Junction
1/7/1942 – 31/12/1942
93,253 paid admissions
25.60% OR
1/7/1942 – 30/6/1943
26.28% OR
1/7/1944 – 30/6/1945
26.26% adjusted OR
1/7/1947 – 30/6/1948
27.85% adjusted OR
1/7/1951 – 30/6/1952
31.50% adjusted OR
1/7/1955 – 30/6/1956
31.30% adjusted OR
1,911, and the number of sessions being constant at 413 over a full year, or 191 actual for
the six months that are available for the first year of 1942.
These adjusted ORs show little change in actual admissions at the Coronet Theatre from
when the tax threshold was two shillings and sixpence to after it was reduced to one shilling.
These comparative ORs indicate how the official taxable admission figures, for when the
tax threshold was two shillings and sixpence, in no way reflect actual attendance at picture
theatres. The last OR (1961) indicates the rapid decline in attendance after the introduction
of television in Sydney late 1956.
Another example of admission figures being available is for the 984-seat Empire Theatre
at Redfern (inner- city suburb). The attendances are supplied in a Statutory Declaration80
by the exhibitor for the years 1936 to 1939. For the year ending 22 May 1936 admissions
totalled 262,582; to 22 May 1937 they were 273,987; to 22 May 1938 they were 223,696.
(The decline was stated to have occurred because the exhibitor had been ill for a considerable period and had to employ a manager who had not been as active in promoting the
theatre as he might have been.) Assuming screenings were held six nights each week with a
matinee on Saturdays81, total seating available for any one year would have been 358,176.
Thus, the ORs for the three financial years were as follows: 1935/36 - 73.31%; 1936/37
79. The account book for the Coronet Theatre is contained in the files of the late Kevin Cork.
80. NSW State Archives, Chief Secretary’s Dept.: Theatres and Public Halls file - Box 10/53179 File P123,
Proposed Theatre, Surry Hills.
81. This has been verified by randomly checking the Labor Daily suburban picture theatre listings during those
years.
61
- 76.50%; 1937/38 - 62.45%. According to the exhibitor, it was not unusual for up to 500
people to be turned away on Saturday nights. The Empire was the only good quality cinema
in the area, and it showed films from the better production houses. Down the road, three
blocks away and around the corner in Surry Hills, was the poorer quality Premier, and in
the other direction, adjacent to Redfern Station, was the similarly poor quality Lawson
Theatre.
From another Statutory Declaration comes a record of ticket sales from 2 to 22 August
1939 for the 1200-seat Premier Theatre82. Admissions totalled 5,281. For the 21 sessions
screened, the number of seats available would have been 25,200. Despite its close proximity to the Empire Theatre and city theatres and, according to its exhibitor, a screening
policy of second and third run films, it still managed to achieve, in the middle of winter, an
OR of 20.96%. (What was interesting to note from the figures was that children’s tickets
accounted for 19.79% of the audience over the 21 sessions, none of which would have attracted tax.)
In court proceedings in 1961 admission figures for the Hoyts Theatre, Double Bay, were
presented as evidence. They commence at 1939 and carry through to 196183, the year this
1,369-seat theatre closed. Assuming an average seven sessions per week the average occupancy rates have been calculated for before the change of the entertainment tax threshold in
1942, at the changeover year, after the change, and again before and after the introduction
of television (1955/56 and 1960/61).
TABLE OF OCCUPANCY RATES for the Hoyts Theatre, Double Bay, NSW
1/7/1938 – 31/6/1939
37.65% OR
1/7/1942 – 31/6/1943
254,492 paid admissions (53 weeks)
50.1% OR*
1/7/1947 – 31/6/1947
57.6% OR
1/7/1955 – 31/6/1956
32.87%OR
1/7/1960 – 31/6/1961
17.60% OR
* This year’s admissions are split four months at the two shillings and sixpence tax threshold and
the remainder at one shilling threshold.
Average occupancy rates have been given for a number of theatres where admission figures
have become available by random chance on licence files or from descendants of owners. They range from 21 per cent for a “blood and thunder” suburban revival house to an
extraordinarily high 76.5 per cent for another theatre only a few blocks away. Both these
extremes are for occupancy rates in the late 1930s and from what was considered a slum
district - a low socio-economic area that had suffered both severe unemployment in the
early 1930s and a squalid environment. Indeed, the rate for the Empire Theatre (Redfern)
could hardly be pushed any higher, yet these rates are during a period when admission rates
from tax receipts are low. Generally it appears that an OR of mid-twenties to mid-thirties
per cent provided an adequate return to the company or manager operating the theatre. It
was when occupancy rates fell significantly below 20 per cent that companies proceeded to
close theatres. This is most evident at the Bondi Junction Coronet which closed in 1968
with an OR of 11 per cent84.
82. NSW State Archives, Chief Secretary’s Dept.: Theatres and Public Halls file - Box 10/53179 File P123,
Proposed Theatre, Surry Hills.
83. Hoyts Corporation Pty Ltd file No 181 Double Bay Theatre. Notes from Fair Rent of Premises Proceedings, 3rd
August 1961.
84. One strategy adopted by Hoyts was the Saturday Intermediate Session that commenced after 4.00pm
on Saturday afternoons. At the Coronet Theatre these were introduced in May 1955 and ceased in February
1961. Although the number of sessions increased between mid-1955 and 1961, the average size of audiences
decreased. The Coronet closed in June 1968.
62
Astra Theatre, Parramatta, NSW
Where a company managed all of a number of cinemas in a suburb or town, it would, as occupancy rates fell, close one. For example at the outer Sydney suburb of Parramatta, Hoyts
Theatres conducted the Astra, Civic and Roxy theatres in 1956 with a combined weekly
seating capacity at 35 sessions of 52,43785. Patronage averaged 21,665 per week providing
an occupancy rate of 41.32 per cent. By 1959 this had reduced to 17.26 per cent and, as a
result, the 1,989-seat Civic was closed86.
Taking into consideration the large investment in equipping for sound films from 1929 to
1931 and the fact that new picture theatres were opening - not closing - it is therefore suggested that the occupancy rates of theatres in New South Wales during the decade of the
1930s were little different to what they were in subsequent years, accepting the fact that
attendance generally rose a little during the years of World War II87.
Roxy Theatre, Parramatta, NSW
ABOVE: Exterior of the theatre at the end of a courtyard.
LEFT: The original interior, destroyed when split into three cinemas.
85. Both the Astra and the Roxy Theatres screened, on average, two sessions daily, Monday to Saturday, while the
Civic screened one session each week night and two sessions on Saturdays. By 1958, however, both the Astra
and Roxy were screening ‘intermediate’ sessions late on Saturday afternoons as well. (Source: Sydney Morning
Herald, 25.10.1958, p.20.)
86. Figures for Parramatta are contained in an Inter-office Memorandum: S A Herbst to R West, 25th August
1959. Hoyts Corporation Pty Ltd files.
87. The Hoyts Theatre, Double Bay may have an exceptional rise in its OR during the war years; this would be due
partly to the considerable number of US Navy personnel billeted through the harbour-side eastern suburbs of
which Double Bay is one relatively close to the Garden Island Naval Base.
63
Rationale for the Hypothetical Estimation of Attendance at pictures shows in New
South Wales
The taxable admissions for 1921, 1924, 1925 and 1944 through 1953 cover the vast majority of real admissions. Some children’s tickets would have been excepted for both ranges of
years. The figures for 1921, 1924 and 1925 have been increased marginally to cover these
“lost” admissions and years 1922 and 1923 have been given figures to provide a smooth
curve up to the peak. In the 1944 to 1953 range, children, particularly the sixpenny and
ninepenny children’s matinee tickets, are missing from taxable admissions. For most suburbs and country towns the children’s matinee might comprise about one seventh of the
week’s admissions (14%). However, if the picture-going audience was generally aged from
eight to 65 years inclusive, and the children’s admissions were mostly from eight to 14 years,
or a seven year band of the total 58 age band who attended, the taxable admissions would
be missing about 12 per cent of real admissions. (Remember, the Premier Theatre, Surry
Hills, had 19 per cent attendance by children.)
There is a further piece of evidence that might assist the estimation. The industry estimate
of attendance for the whole of Australia for 1950 was published as 140 million.88 Fortunately, for most years from 1945 through 1953, the Commonwealth taxable admissions
were provided for the total for Australia, as a whole, and the total for the state of New South
Wales89. The percentage of New South Wales taxable admissions to the total for Australia in
1950 is 42.72. Assuming that this percentage will be similar for all admissions, 42.72 per
cent of 140 million estimate amounts to 59,808,000. This adds 8.5 per cent onto the taxable admissions figure for New South Wales, and seems a reasonably conservative addition
to account for the untaxed children’s admissions. That percentage has been added to all the
taxable admissions from 1944 through 1953.
Due to mid-year changes in the tax threshold, years 1926, 1942 and 1943 do not reflect the
years’ admissions at and above any one admission price, so should be taken for what they
are: 1926 is a combination of three and a half months at the old tax regime of one shilling
and above and eight and a half months of tax on two shillings and sixpence and above. If
it is assumed that the two shillings and six penny-plus seats for 1926 amounted to, say, 12
million (significantly greater than for 1927 since 1926 seems to be on the downward curve
from 1925), the eight and a half months of attendance at two shillings and sixpence-plus
equals 8.5 million persons. Subtracting this from the taxable admission figures of 27.538
million leaves 19.038 million persons who paid one shilling-plus over three and a half
months. Equating this in simple terms for a year, without seasonal fluctuations, the resulting attendance at one shilling-plus seats for the whole of 1926, would be 65.273 million,
plus untaxed children’s seats, providing an estimate of 70 million.
Similarly, the taxable admissions figure for 1942 is only for a period of nine months, so
what appears as a dip in the curve should be a rise to about 20 million (for the two shillings
and sixpenny-plus admissions). The figure for 1943 is also only for a nine month period
and would be equivalent to 53 million for a full year of one shilling-plus admissions. To
this needs to be added another 8.5 per cent for children’s admissions, thus creating a total
of 57.5 million.
The next task is to make an estimation of full attendance where only the two shillings and
sixpenny-plus taxable admissions are shown on Figure 1, that is, 1927 through to the corrected figure for 1942. Two early industry estimates for the whole of Australia are the 110
million presented to the Royal Commission, possibly for the year 1927, and Tildesley’s
88. Pix, 7 April 1951, p.12.
89. For years 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949, see Official Year Book of New South Wales 1948/49, p.960; and for
1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, see Official Year Book of New South Wales 1955, pp.309,310.
64
figure of 145 million for 1929. The latter figure, she claimed, was published in September
1929 “by firms engaged in the motion picture industry”90. If it is assumed that New South
Wales admissions in 1927 and 1929 were still about 42 per cent of the total for Australia,
then the 1927 figure at 46.2 million estimated attendance appears low but that for 1929,
at 60.9 million seems high. In fact, the latter would mean that the remaining segment of
the graph to 1943 would be almost a reverse curve to the two shillings and sixpenny-plus
admissions graph for the same period. That would mean that attendances would have proceeded to decline over the decade while the population was growing, while the economic
situation was improving and while new picture theatres were being added to the current
stock. That event seems most unlikely, so the conservative approach has been taken by accepting the 1927 figure, and using the two shillings and sixpenny-plus admissions curve as
a guide, but “ironing” it out somewhat. Anecdotally, it seems that with the advent of the
two shillings and sixpenny-plus tax and the Depression, some exhibitors dropped a number
of their prices. As a result it was decided to lessen the dip and rise to the 1931 high point.
With an ever so slight drop in 1932 a curve has been assumed that is fairly even to 1941,
commencing the steeper World War II rise at 1942 when it meets the relatively accurate
figures from 1943. (See Table 3 and Figure 3.)
Whatever might have been the true admissions, the conservative estimates show that from
about 1922 to 1953, the equivalent of every member of the population of New South Wales
attended the cinema around nineteen or more times a year, rising to a brief peak of nearly
30 times in 1925.
FIGURE THREE: Comparison of taxable admissions, 1921 to 1953 with an estimate of the actual
attendance at cinemas across NSW. The black bars represent the figures for the taxable admissions.
The ‘Heyday’ of Going to the Pictures. Or is it of Movie-watching?
The data presented and discussed in this paper demonstrates that the Commonwealth
Governments’ published taxed admissions to “picture shows” should not be accepted as
a general record of attendance at the movies. At best, during the early and late years that
the entertainments tax existed, the taxable admissions omitted most of the attendance by
children, but picked up most of those adult attendances. In the middle years the taxable
admission simply omitted most attendances except for some at the higher priced de luxe
city centre theatres. Because of the then high tax threshold (at two shillings and sixpence),
that then amounted to a “luxury” tax, many theatres would not even register as having any
admissions. As a result of the paucity of accurate attendance figures a conservative estimate
90. Beatrice Tildesley “Cinema in Australia”, in both the Proceedings of the Second Pan-Pacific Women’s
Conference, Honolulu, 1930, and Australian Quarterly, December 1930, pp.89-103.
TABLE THREE: Taxable admissions
& estimated actual attendance. See
comparison in Figure 3.
Year Taxable admits
Est Attend
1921
28178931 29000000
1922
42000000
1923
55000000
1924
65288000 66750000
1925
71726000 74000000
1926
27538000 70000000
1927
6108000 46200000
1928
1326930 45000000
1929
1776272 46000000
1930
2744924 48000000
1931
7931410 51500000
1932
6731163 50500000
1933
7527753 50650000
1934
8053646 50900000
1935
9727466 50650000
1936
11254910 51500000
1937
12329523 52000000
1938
13432611 53800000
1939
13757586 54300000
1940
14664988 54700000
1941
16336834 55500000
1942
15274174 56500000
1943
39964000 57500000
1944
56951000 61791000
1945
62825000 68165000
1946
61505000 66735000
1947
59104000 64127000
1948
57209000 62072000
1949
55287000 59986000
1950
55118000 59803000
1951
57376000 62252000
1952
59461000 64515000
1953
58204000 63151000
65
of attendance for the New South Wales population has been argued for the period that the
tax existed. It shows that the whole population attended from 19 up to 30 times a year from
1921 to 1953. But people were also watching movies en masse before 1921.
In the Introduction to this paper the issue of the “heyday” of the cinema was raised through
the words of a Commissioner of Inquiry, under the NSW Heritage Act (1977), who was
inquiring into an objection to the demolition of an old suburban picture theatre. His argument was that the heyday, when the community responded to cinema “with fervour must
be held to be a very minor cult in the time-scale involved”91. He put it at 35 years. This
raises a problem of semantics. Is the heyday one of movie-watching generally, or of attending a venue, usually purpose-designed for movie watching? The commencement of this
‘fervour’ was, we claim, around 1910/11, but with changes to technology, remains with the
same dimension today.
At the start of 1912, Melbourne’s Argus commented that “four years ago there was but one
important picture enterprise in Melbourne – today there are over 30 well-equipped picture
theatres in Melbourne and suburbs”92. It goes on to claim that on Saturday nights in winter
all 50,000 available seats are occupied. If only 15,000 people attended on average each week
night the total weekly attendance would be 125,000. This would mean that every person in
Melbourne and suburbs attended movie shows eleven times during the year of 1911. The
Argus article continues:
“In the country districts of Victoria there are picture theatres in nearly every town, and there are
also a number of touring shows. In the other States the same conditions prevail. Within the last
two years [1910 & 1911] modern picture theatres have been built in all the capitals, and new
ones are constantly opening. In George-street Sydney, for instance, there are four large theatres
within a stone’s-throw of each other, and another – the largest of all – is to be opened at the end
of February [1912]. West’s have just built the biggest picture theatre in Australia and it is luxuriously fitted up. In Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane a large amount of money has been similarly
laid out.”
In 1916 The Argus reported that the number of people who had attended “picture houses”
on a “recent Saturday” had risen to 70,000. It also cited statistics compiled by the Chief
Secretary of NSW for 1914 and 1916 for weekly attendances at the 113 city and suburban
picture houses for Sydney93. They were 350,000 for 1914 and 426,910 for 1916. Equated
to a full year, based on the then population, it means that every person in the city and suburbs attended over 25 times in 1914 and (taking into account the rise in population) 29
times in 191694.
Such figures indicate that for Sydney and Melbourne, at least, the heyday of movie-watching
and attending a venue, mostly purpose-designed for movie-watching, commenced around
1910/1911. The year of introduction of television (1956) is usually given as the end of this
heyday – a period of 45 years; but this introduction was only in Sydney and Melbourne,
not really taking effect until about 1959. Country towns did not receive television until
1963-4, so a reasonable conclusion to this so-called heyday could be placed at about 1961
(on average) – that is, a period of fifty years.
After this date people did not stop watching movies; it was the venue that changed. It
changed to the home, and only an historical analysis of television ratings figures would
show how many people continued to “attend the movies” outside of the picture theatre
from 1956. Fortunately, in more recent years, with the advent of the videotape player/re-
91. O’Connell, C, Report of an Inquiry under the Heritage Act 1977 into the Building known as the Wintergarden
Planning, 1985, June.
92. The Argus (Melbourne), 13th January 1912, p. 6.
93. “Kinema” The Argus (Melbourne), 4 May 1916.
94. Mitchell, B., Australian Story and its Background, Melbourne: Cheshire, 1968 reprint, p.234, gives the
population of Sydney in 1914 and 1916 as 711,000 and 765,000 respectively.
66
corder some idea of movie viewing from this source is available. In 1997 everyone on average in Australia attended a purpose-built movie theatre around four times in a year95 with
62 per cent going to the cinema at least once a year. Of those, one fifth went more than 10
times, thus making going to the pictures still the “most popular cultural activity undertaken
by people aged 15 and over”96. From the number of people who hired at least one video in
October 1994, it can be extrapolated that over 80 million were hired for the year97. From
the source of the Household Expenditure Survey a similar figure is extrapolated assuming that each hire was six dollars for the year 1993-9498. If the average charged for a hired
video was $4.50 then 108 million would have been hired on average by about 6.8 million
households in Australia. With 2.63 persons per households it may be assumed that more
than one, perhaps two people (at least) watched each video. This would produce a viewing
audience in excess of 200 million. Add this to the viewing audience in the cinema, and the
viewing audience of movies on free-to-air, cable television and purchased videos99, then it
would be safe to say that at least a similar percentage of the population watched movies at
the end of the 20th century as occurred during the 1930s.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, for identifying the cultural impact of movie-watching, this activity, by comparison with a number of others that have more specific outcomes, has a comparatively
lower profile in the daily media. The back one or two pages of newspapers have had racing
guides and results, football, cricket and tennis news and results. Sports through the 20th
century became iconic. The feats of a Bradman would encourage young people to take up
cricket; a Harry Hopman would influence others to learn to play tennis. Historians largely
rely on printed sources for their assessments of popularity but in Figure 2, racing and other
sports (within “Miscellaneous”) where payment was made to get into a ground, field or
court (even if the players were amateur in status) comprise two very small portions of the
‘pie’. However, one should look further than the print media or radio for the influence to
take up particular sports. If you could not get to a sporting venue it would be the weekly
newsreel at the local picture theatre that carried the inspirational action of a Bradman or
Hopman.
It is arguable that the newsreel also supplied a better feeling for the trials of the combatants
of two World Wars than newspapers – also, for the speed of new fighter aircraft, or trains,
or world speed record-breaking vehicles, and a miscellany of events, than the excellent black
and white pictorial magazines, such as Life (USA) or Pix (Australia).
Travelogues, up to the end of World War II, however simplistic, regularly exposed cinema
audiences to places beyond Australia, and may have encouraged the new Australian tradition, from the 1950s onwards, to “go overseas”.
Feature films would have influenced people’s behaviour in different life circumstances – influenced female hairstyles and what they wore – influenced what they bought in the way of
household furnishings, whitegoods and motor vehicles – influenced building style.
The variety of film fare was and still is so encompassing and so pervasive that it is difficult
to pin-point the learning that has occurred. Such learning is quite diffuse and different for
that learning experience by a person who regularly attends a particular sport, church, or
95. 77.4 million estimated admissions in Australia are given in “More viewers flocking to films despite costly
flops”, Sydney Morning Herald, 7th January 1998, with a final figure for 1997, provided over the telephone by a
spokesman for the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, being 76 million admissions.
96. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cultural Trends in Australia: A Statistical Overview, 1977, Cat. No. 4172.0,
p.77.
97. Calculated from ABS statistics published in Australian Film Commission, Get the Picture, 4th Edition, Sydney:
AFC, 1996, p.206.
98. Calculated from Australia Council, The Arts: Some Australian Data, Fifth Edition, Sydney: Australia Council,
1996, p.95.
99. In 1997, 11.6 million videos were sold to consumers in Australia while in its first week of sales in 1998, the
video of the film Titanic, sold 360,000 copies in Australia. Sydney Morning Herald, 13th October 1998, p.29.
67
horse racing. To understand a comparison of possible cultural learning between different
activities one can only view the bar chart in Figure 2. It is overwhelming for cinema. Even
in 1995, without movie-watching on TV and video, a participation rate of 62 per cent,
well surpassed attendance at sporting events with a combined participation rate of 44 per
cent100. Accordingly, going to see motion pictures at the picture theatre has remained, at the
end of the 20th century, the principal cultural activity and principal entertainment.
One final comment should be made about the setting for this activity.
Just as [live] theatre was one of the principal popular entertainment media from the time
of ancient Greece to the start of the 20th century, and Elizabethan Theatre was a brief 66
year “heyday” in those two millennia, so too was the picture theatre a 50 year heyday in the
[so far] 95 year long period that film has been the popular entertainment and cultural medium. It is therefore argued that the picture theatres are not the result of a “minor cult”, as
the Commissioner of Inquiry claimed, nor should they be thought not socially significant
because the population that visited them will not be alive to remember them (also as the
Commissioner claimed)101. As the Elizabethan Theatre design is an important but brief segment in the physical and social phenomenon of live theatre performance and attendance, so
too did the picture theatre design comprise an important period in the physical and social
phenomenon of viewing motion pictures. Both, culturally, were important settings that
indicated their respective parts in the continuum (now through photographic/video record)
of the theatrical tradition of narrative story-telling. The rarity of both examples make them
historically significant.
100. Australia Council, The Arts: Some Australian Data, Fifth Edition, Sydney: Australia Council, 1996, p.30.
101. O’Connell, C, Report of an Inquiry under the Heritage Act 1977 into the Building known as the Wintergarden
Planning, 1985, June.

Cork and Thorne

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