Memories of the Elita Theatre - Part 1 by Doug Best It is with a great deal of pleasure that this month’s column is presented by Doug Best. As a formation member of The Gap Historical Society Inc., Doug is also a member of the Club’s steering committee and along with his wife May, is a very committed member. Richard Speechley Born to parents Reg and Muriel (nee Prackert) Best in 1927, while living in a home on the corner of Payne and Moggill Roads The Gap, my memories began when my family moved to Holmesbrook Street Ashgrove in the mid 1930s. The Elita Picture Theatre, which was built circa 1924, was situated on the corner of Waterworks and Stewart Roads and during the 1930s the theatre was operated by Messrs, Fischer & Knott. (Mr Fischer also published the local paper called the Northwest News.) Prior to this time I am told it was managed by Mssrs. MacGregor Lowndes and Elliott, with Mr Elliott also owning the shop on the corner which was a milk bar, ice creamery and lolly shop, which he sold to Mr Len Todd in the late 1930s. The shop then was owned by Mrs Howard and Mrs Watson and then by Mr Nicolaides. The second shop, specialising in radio repairs, was run by Frank O’Loughlin who was also the projectionist for the theatre during the war years. The third shop was a fruit and greengrocer run by Syd Ingham who shifted to premises at the West Ashgrove tram terminus and which was then run by Mick Whelan. In the early 1940s the theatre was taken over by “Liberty Theatres” a group whose holdings including owning or leasing a chain of cinemas, which included the Grange (Liberty), Windsor (Crystal Palace), Kelvin Grove (Prospect), Red Hill (State), Graceville (Regal) as well as the cinema at Taringa. The Ashgrove Elita was later sold and the Prospect was leased to Mr Johnson who proceeded to erect shops along the Stewart Road side of the Elita, not too long before the arrival of television. In the early 1940s, aged 15, I was employed as assistant projectionist at Ashgrove. In those days it was a legal requirement that two people be in attendance in a projection room at all time while the projector was operating. Film stock in those days was highly flammable and only took a few seconds to combust if the running film became jammed in the gate of the projector, in front of the arc light, unlike the safety film in use today. The equipment we were using at that time was two Hahn Gertz projectors, one slide projector, manual fed carbon arcs and a Western Electric sound system. The film was on 1,000 & 2,000 foot spools which travelled through the projector at 90 feet per minute - the average movie length was 1½ to 2 hours. Firmly etched in my mind is the first night I started at the theatre. The main feature screening was “Captain of the Clouds” starring James Cagney and Dennis Morgan, which had just started and the introduction was quite a long foreword, explaining the story of the film, when all of a sudden the projector started to go twice as fast as it should and I immediately wondered what I had touched that I shouldn’t have! Automatically projectionist Frank O’Loughlin opened up the control cabinet which controls the speed of the projector and replaced a faulty valve with a new one and the speed went back to normal, as did my heart beat. That night I learnt a most important work lesson - never panic. Just go quickly to right a problem. The evening routine would be to clean and oil, then run the projectors for a few minutes, carbon the arcs, start playing the records when the doors opened at around 7.00pm, thread the projectors ready for screening, and start showing advertising and coming attractions slides. At 7.30pm sharp we would play the National Anthem (God Save the King), then play the newsreel which ran for 10 minutes or so, followed by the coming attraction preview which ran for approximately five minutes then a cartoon (10 minutes) and the supporting movie (anywhere from 60 to 90 minutes) and then there would be a 10 minute break for the Interval. We would then show the slides as we had earlier and prepare for the second half while patrons stretched their legs, patronised the shop for drinks, ice creams & lollies, or visited the restrooms. The recommencement of the programme usually started with a trailer of next weeks programme, if there was time we would include a short film - like James Fitzpatrick’s Travel Talk or Passing Parade then the main feature which would finish at approximately 11.00pm. During the war years, when daylight saving was implemented during summer months, we would have to close the shutters on each side of the building to darken the theatre enough to begin screening, then open them to allow the breeze in when it became dark outside - no air-conditioning in those days - which was a job for the downstairs staff. The disturbance of the Army heading back to Enoggera Barracks, with their Bren gun carriers, one after the other and the caterpillar tracks creating an awful din as they travelled on the tram lines up Waterworks Road before turning into Stewart Road, would force us to increase the volume so patrons were able to hear the movie. When I first started work at the Elita it was the duty of the projectionist to sweep out half the theatre with the assistant sweeping the remaining half and clean the toilets, which I did for quite some time. The Theatrical Union subsequently insisted on full time cleaners being employed at theatres. My work duties were well defined and followed a strict routine on a weekly basis as follows: Monday - sweep half the theatre, clean toilets, sweep vestibule Tuesday - same as Monday plus riding my bicycle around the area of Ashgrove, Red Hill, Bardon, West Ashgrove and Enoggera Army Camp erecting posters on the billboards. As Tuesday and Friday saw a change of programme, the film had to be checked by rewinding by hand to make sure there was no damage or loose joins, before it was put through the projector. Wednesday - same as Monday Thursday - same as Tuesday, including billposting for the next Tuesday/Wednesday programme Friday - as there was no screening on Thursday night, no sweeping was needed. I would travel to the city with the manager to collect the weekend programmes for the Liberty Theatre Cinemas and deliver them to each theatre. © Hot Metal Publications