An important tradition of growing up in Adelaide from the 50s was the Saturday afternoon pictures at the local picture theatre, town hall or flea pit.
There were always two full length pictures, an episode of the serial, a cartoon and a Pete Smith Special to watch while eating your Jaffas, Fantales or a Dandy (ice cream) from one of the tray boys who would patrol the aisles before the first picture started and again at interval.
There were picture theatres in every suburb. This is the Ozone on Kensington Road at Marryatville, later known as the Chelsea and now the Regal
The theatre would be packed, with constant noise from chattering excited kids, regular bursts of cat calls and the sound of Jaffas rolling down the aisle. It was mayhem with the ushers and usherettes continually shining torches on noisy groups in an attempt to restore some form of order.
The episode of the serial was always shown first. The hero would escape from last week’s dastardly plot just in the nick of time, and end with him about to be lowered into a vat of boiling oil or tied to the train lines with a speeding locomotive bearing down and no possible hope of escape. You just had to be there for next week’s episode to see how he survived.
Randolph Scott would have just dispensed with all the baddies, shooting them with his trusty six-gun and would then get a kiss from the heroine.
Whenever there was any kissing on the screen the whole place would erupt into loud jeers and boos. Randolph Scott would have just dispensed with all the baddies, shooting them with his trusty six-gun and would then get a kiss from the heroine, which would ruin everything and briefly create chaos with the audience. If there was a projector problem or the film broke, again momentary bedlam until calm was restored with the film restarting.
After interval came the cartoon, a Heckle and Jeckle or Tom and Jerry, and would be followed by the main feature, which was generally a similar sort of flick to the first one.
It didn’t really matter what was showing: everybody was there for the day out and to have some good, clean, innocent fun!
One shilling would pay for the ticket with sixpence to buy an ice cream or some lollies and that was enough for a grand day’s entertainment.
I picked up a copy of The Advertiser from December 31, 1954, and checked out some of the local “bug houses”.
There were picture theatres in many suburbs, some of them part of a chain. You may recall the Ozone in Jetty Rd, Glenelg (just recently bulldozed), and there were also Hoyts Ozones in Enfield, Semaphore, Unley, Alberton, Colonel Light Gardens, Goodwood, Henley Beach, Marryatville (now Regal), Port Adelaide, Prospect and Unley.
There were Odeon Stars at North Adelaide (now Piccadilly), Goodwood, Hindmarsh, Port Adelaide, Norwood, Unley, Semaphore, Thebarton, Parkside, St Peters, Glenelg and Kilkenny. There was the Roxy, Vogue and the Cinema Curzon (Capri). We had the Windsor pictures at Brighton, St Morris, Lockleys and Hilton.
There were picture theatres at Dulwich and Findon and in the city, of course, The Regent, York, Majestic, Royal, Rex, Civic, Wests, Metro and the newsreel theatre The Savoy (later The Globe).
Movies today are now just part and parcel of the digital age and can be purchased online for just a few dollars – nothing really out of the ordinary, just a part of everyday life.
But back when we went to the flicks on a Saturday afternoon, pictures were something really special and will remain so in our memories.
Does anyone remember Van Johnson coming to Adelaide? He was at the Picadilly in North Adelaide. I remember him walking on the stage passed those beautiful red velvet curtains.
Rolling Jaffas down the aisle at the Marryatville Ozone in the early ’60s was hilarious. Upstairs at the back one of us would send a single sweet on its merry way down the multiple, lino-covered stairs. After the first step two more would be released and then three … clack, clack clack, clack clack clack and so on. The manager’s torch would be searching for the culprit while we tried hard not to choke on the Jaffas bulging in our cheeks. We played fair, though, it all stopped when the show started!
Saturday arvo Dad used to drop us kids off at the Odeon (or was it Ozone always mixed the 2 up) on Glenny road ( sorry Glen Osmond Road) We would be given sixpence for entrance, lollies and a drink and if Dad was flush we would get a shilling so we could go upstairs. After the movie we would walk up to the Fountain Inn Hotel, gently open the bar door to signal Dad and he would drive us home.
I remember an old theatre in Milton Ave Fullarton. A Masonic Hall that showed pictures on Saturday night. We lived around the corner and used to jump the back fence through the neighbours yard to get to the hall. The first full length movie I saw in that theatre was Oklahoma. I think it had been on the big screens in the city for a while but I was too young to go there on my own. I remember that upstairs in the hall was actually a section at the back which was raised about 12inches and seated about 10 people. I believe the Hall has gone now
Use to go to the Milton hall cinema on a regular basis when I was around 6 years old. It seemed huge to me back then but seeing it just before it got demolished it was tiny. Full of locals , the same ones came every week , oldies up the back and kids down the front . Walked to and from the theatre with the family from Rowell Ave Glenunga , loved that place . Use to check out the incinerator out the back and frequently got bits of film and perfect movie posters ,wish I had them now.