Note Below, for Another Title on the Subject.)

Document title: “Distributing Popular [Movie Film] Culture by Rail: The case of the decade of the 1950s in New South Wales.” (See also note below, for another title on the subject.)

Author/s: Ross Thorne.

Summary / abstract: Film-hire documents from 1950 to 1968, discovered at the Strand Theatre, Canowindra, NSW, some 4,500 despatch notices, advance booking lists, telegrams, etc., were processed to form a database for those of the decade of the 1950s.

From this database it became obvious that virtually all films were delivered to, and sent from the Canowindra cinema by rail. It was not that all the films came from and were sent back to the distributors in Sydney, around half of them arrived from another town in New South Wales, and were sent off to another town in the state.

Calculations are included in the paper that provide an idea of how many film deliveries were made each year across New South Wales by the railway network before many of its main and branch lines were closed.

Key words: Cinema history; Railway history; Film distribution.

Illustrations: Examples of film-hire and associated documents found in the projection box of the former Strand Theatre, Canowin- dra, NSW, thirty years after closure of the cinema. Photographs of the theatre in c.1960 and 2000.

Unpublished paper: Presented at the National Railway Conference, Tamworth, NSW, 28th - 30th September 2005.

Complete / extract: Complete.

Note: A more developed article on the topic is:

Thorne, R. (2007), ‘Rethinking distribution: developing the parameters for a micro-analysis of the movement of motion pictures’, Studies in Australasian Cinema’ 1:3, pp.315-331. INTRODUCTION This paper is principally concerned with the movements of films across NSW by rail in the 1950s. It is for that decade because the data upon which it is based comes out of a discovery of film hire documents for the screening of movies from January 1950 until the closure of the cinema at Canowindra in the Central West of NSW.

We’ll return to the documents and what they tell us, but a brief mention should be made of the use of the railways to transport other popular culture and entertainment that overlapped the The Strand Theatre, Canowin- introduction and development of the motion picture exhibition dra, a few years before closing industry. as a cinema. I remind the reader that country roads and road vehicles up until the 1930s were fairly primitive. If one goes back to the late 1920s, motor trucks were still being advertised in newspapers with solid, hard rubber tyres. Broken axles, burnt-out clutches, and broken leaf springs were always a problem. For country travel, by passengers and goods, rail was smoother and more reliable than road.

Before a comprehensive network of railways was built, theatrical shows and circuses travelled by horse-drawn wagons using four or six horses per wagon. Many circus and other entertainment companies travelled well beyond the developing railways, so horse-drawn vehicles, later, primitive motor vehicles, prevailed. Larger theatrical companies, who travelled with up to 400 tonnes of scenery, used the railway. Or, they might hop between coastal steamer and rail from Sydney to Cairns. E. I. Cole developed a system to suit both transport worlds. He designed a number of cars, similar to carriages without wheels, for his Bohemian Dramatic Company. They were carried on flat-bed rail trucks and offloaded onto horse-drawn flat top wagons for travelling beyond the railway .

In research into theatre and cinema at Junee NSW – a railway junction on the North-South mainline from which were branch lines to the Riverina towns of Hay, Jerilderie, Leeton and Griffith – it was found that in the early years of the twentieth century there were frequent visits by touring theatrical and variety companies, some showing the new medium of motion

Mark St Leon, Spangles and Sawdust: The Circus in Australia, Richmond, Vic: Greenhouse Publications, 1983, pp 33, 92, 130. Barbara Garlick, “Touring”. In P. Parsons (ed.) Companion to Theatre in Australia, Sydney: Currency Press, 1995, pp. 609-612. pictures. How they travelled is not mentioned in the available local newspaper items until 1929: Fullers’ Theatres were touring the full production of the musical comedy Rio Rita. As in its (for then) long run at the St James Theatre, Sydney, it was the original cast production starring Gladys Moncrief. TheCoolamon- Ganmain Farmers’ Review noted that the special train was coming from Narrandera, would pass through Coolamon at about mid- day on Tuesday 4th December on its way to Junee , where, in the evening at the Athenium Theatre, there would be a performance. On the next morning, Wednesday, the train travelled to Young to unload for a performance at the Strand Theatre that night. According to Moncrief ’s memoir Rio Rita toured for two years across Australia.

Discovering the Rio Rita special train schedule in State Records has been elusive, but the train for another of Fullers’ Theatres tours was found. It was in a special train notification for th5 July 1929. The notification seemed innocuous enough. It announced a Special Relief Express from Parkes to Broken Hill. Why a relief express from Parkes to Broken Hill, rather than from Sydney? It only had four carriages and a van. In the description at the bottom of the notice was the note, after the description of the carriages, that it will “convey Theatrical party from Parkes to Broken Hill”. It was due in Broken Hill at 9.00am Saturday (NSW time), 13th July.

If a newly advertised show was to be performed in the city it would possibly be by the travelling theatrical party. The only new show advertised was Sir Benjamin and John Fullers’ London Musical Comedy Company that commenced a short season of seven nights at the Crystal Theatre on the Saturday of arrival. It was advertised as comprising 64 performers. Two of the four carriages were sleeping cars that each possessed 10 two-berth cabins. A third was another sleeping car while the fourth was a composite first and second class with seats only. These would accommodate the 64 performers plus any mechanists while the

Ross Thorne, “A Study of the Type of Historical Research Needed to Establish Heritage Signicance: The Case of Early Theatre and Cinema in Junee, NSW”, People and Physical Environment Research, No 58-60, 2006, pp.5-23, citing the Junee Southern Cross and Coolamon Advertiser, 17th February and 19th September, 1900, p.3.. Coolamon-Ganmain Farmers’ Review, Friday 29th November 1929, p.2. The Daily Witness, Young, Wednesday 27th November 1929. Gladys Moncrieff, My Life of Song, Adelaide: Rigby, 1971, p.64. Special Train Notice No 347, dated 5th July 1929, State Rail Archives, State Records Office, Kingswood, NSW. Barrier Daily Truth (Advertisement), Saturday, 13th July 1929. Ibid., Friday 12th July 1929. van would house costumes, rolled backdrops, properties, etc.10

This was 1929. Picture theatres were in the process of converting from silent pictures to sound. The Great Depression was about to start. Both events caused live theatre to decline considerably. From estimates of cinema attendance there was a Depression hiccup early, but from a brief low point the attendance rates steadily increased until a high in the 1940s and early 1950s for capital cities and throughout the fifties in country areas where television was not introduced until 196311. From these figures it appears that, on average every man, woman and child in NSW attended a picture theatre 18 to 20 times per year12.

The number of films in a program and how the films were moved about the state from either cinema to cinema, or from the distributor to the cinema, came to light in 1999 at the former Strand Theatre, Canowindra.

During a visit to Canowindra there was an inspection of the former cinema that closed around the end of 1969. Since the early 1970s it has been a carpet warehouse. In the projection box and rewind room little had been removed. The projectors were there, and on shelves were dust-laden manila folders in which were film-hire documents – advance (booking) lists, despatch notifications, telegrams, pro-forma letters and personal letters that advised the theatre manager of a loss of film, or change of despatch of a film. A large cardboard box also contained a pile of similar documents. There were also price lists for maintenance items, theatre tickets and spare parts for projectors etc., and inspection certificates from insurance and safety organizations.

A cursory glance at these documents indicated that they might provide a picture of the operation of a cinema that would be replicated throughout city suburbs and country towns. There was no reason to think that Canowindra would be different to any The former auditorium of the other town in its film hire procedures. The documents seemed Strand Theatre, Canowindra, for to be mostly for the 1950s but, as I would later discover they many years a carpet and furni- were also for the 1960s, as the theatre limped to a close following ture warehouse. the introduction of television in country areas. A question was 10 On the Special Train Notice No 347 the van was type VHO, two sleeping cars TAM, one sleeper being VAM with composite car being an MCX. The TAMs were 12 wheel 10 two berth first class cabins according to D Burke, Great Steam Trains of Australia, North Ryde, NSW: Methuen, 1978, p.116. 11 Television commenced in the major capitals cities of Australia in 1956. 12 The taxable admissions (excluding seats under one shilling) for 1953 were 58 204 000 in NSW with a population of 3 416 659 people (Census 1954). When corrected for inclusion of the low-priced seats (children), the average attendance of all New South Welshmen is 18 times for 1953. For a full discussion of attendance see, Kevin Cork and Ross Thorne, “ The Social Significance of the Picture Theatre: How many people did attend picture theatres in New South Wales before television and video?” People and Physical Environment Research, No 58-60, 2006, pp.48-67. whether such documentation would be replicated elsewhere than in a cinema. Indeed the data provided by such documents would be unlikely to exist anywhere else. Film distributors and companies that controlled chains of cinemas such as Hoyts and Greater Union, together with their suburban and country subsidiary companies, only retained records for the legal seven or eight year requirement. When a cinema in their respective chains was closed and the site sold off, the file on that theatre was thrown out13.

Film distributors also disappeared from premises, or were deregistered as companies; they amalgamated, or changed hands, as has happened with their parent companies in USA and UK. Even if records existed back 50 years or more they would be unlikely for the eleven film distributors from which the Strand Theatre hired films. In searching out retired managers and Advance list from British Empire projectionists of former country town cinemas, Kevin Cork Films for the film “Morning De- and Les Tod, in NSW, and Julie James Bailey, in Queensland, parture”, arriving from Gundagai found very few who had retained any records – an occasional for screening on 4/8th August day book for maybe one or two isolated years14. Bailey had one 1951, after which it is to be sent of the best “finds” with a diary at Barcaldine and ledgers for on to Cootamundra by goods (freight) train for screening at operating six cinemas at Mackay. These last provided the financial the theatre in that town on 13th arrangements, takings and outgoings from 1946 until 1961. August. Newspapers, where complete sets of issues exist, would provide the names of films, where and when advertised (but not always advertised).

The Canowindra documents do not provide financial information, except the cost of hire of features distributed by

13 When Greater Union Organisation Pty Ltd wished to publish a 75 year history of the company, The Greater Union Story 1910-1985 (1985), its writer and researcher, Terry O’Brien and John Fraser respectively, sought information and sources from myself and colleagues, Les Tod and Kevin Cork – much of its information about closed theatres coming from library sources and photographs not in their current records.

When Kevin Cork and I attempted to establish reliable attendance records of cinema- going in NSW, he inquired at Hoyts Theatres. He was told that they only retained records for eight years, and every time the company changed hands or moved premises, more old records had been thrown out. The company’s administrative officer then asked Kevin for sources for the company’s own history. 14 What Kevin Cork found is reported in K. Cork and R. Thorne, “The Social Significance of the Picture Theatre: How many people did attend picture theatres in New South Wales before television and video?” People and Physical Environment Research, Nos 58-60, 2006, pp.48-67.

Julie James Bailey discovered a diary at Barcaldine and ledgers at Mackay, and relied on local newspapers for programming (film titles and dates) in “Independent Exhibition in Country Queensland from 1930s to 1960s”. In J. Doyle, W. van der Heide, and S. Cowan (eds), Our Selection On: Writings on Cinemas’ Histories, Canberra: National Film and Sound Archive/ Australian Defence Forces Academy, 1998, pp.43-60. Universal Pictures. They do, however, provide raw data for a number of other aspects of operating a cinema that have not previously been recorded.

PROCESSING THE DOCUMENTS Since 1999, the documents – some 4500 were rescued and sleeved. Those for the decade of 1950 to 1959 – about 3 ½ thousand were kept separate, sleeved, and put in 31 ring binders.

A modest database was prepared with twelve fields. SeeTable 1.

Due to some documents containing more than one film title, the database resulted in 4359 entries. It provides a very comprehensive picture of what films came and went from Canowindra. With the exception of weekly newsreels and some shorts there were no regular circuits for features, trailers or TABLE ONE Field Title on Information to describe Database the title PAGE NUMBER Of the respective numbered ring binder folder On a promotional letterhead United Artists is sending des- DATE OF DOCUMENT As year, month, & day in six digits so patch instructions for the film they may be sorted sequentially “Girl from San Lorenzo” that will be arriving from Sydney for AUTHOR OF DOCUMENT Film distributors, talkie slide contractors, screening on 26th December the manager of the Strand Theatre, 1953, and which must be re- Canowindra, etc. turned to Sydney by goods train TYPE OF DOCUMENT Advance list, despatch notification, letter, to arrive by 4th January 1954. telegram, delivery slip, etc. FILM TITLE For features, trailers, shorts, cartoons, serials. TYPE OF FILM Feature, trailer, short, cartoon, serial, newsreel. SCREENING DATE First day of two or three-day run. Newsreels listed en masse (as year, month and day, in six digits). MODE OF TRANSPORT Rail, passenger/goods (almost totally), “transit”, meaning by road. ARRIVING FROM TOWN The town, where indicated, is named. SENT TO TOWN Named town LENGTH OF FILM In feet CENSORSHIP In the 1950s there were three CLASSIFICATION classifications: general exhibition, not suitable for children, and adult. The listing was only occasional on the documents.

After screening “Where No Vul- tures Fly” the film has to be sent by goods train to Crookwell for screeningthere on 2/3/1953. serials15. They all came individually from Sydney or some other NSW town, and were sent on to Sydney or to another NSW town.

“MODE OF TRANSPORT” is interesting for it shows that virtually all films arrived by rail and were sent on by either

Map of New South Wales railways from 1930 through the 1950s showing how close railways were to most towns in the state. All lines had passenger and goods (freight) trains on a regular basis. From the 1970s, almost all the branch lines were progressively closed, and passenger trains have been almost eliminated,except for north, south and western lines. Map courtesy of RailCorp.

“GOODS” or “PASSENGER” trains. On a large 1969 NSW Lands Department map16 all railways were highlighted. Towns to which films, excluding newsreels, were forwarded from Canowindra over the 1950’s decade were marked to show the distribution pattern. Towns mentioned as to where films were sent from Canowindra over the ten years were 71 in number – from one only to the towns of Ariah Park,

15 Usually an advance list of newsreel volume and numbers, covering about 26 weeks (26 editions) was issued, showing the same town from whence to expect each edition, and another one town onto which to send every edition after showing. Shorts and cartoons had about six or so listed on the one advance list – most arriving from the one town and being sent to one other. 16 New South Wales including Australian Capital Territory excluding Lord Howe Island, showing counties. Scale 1:100 000, Printed and Published by Department of Lands, Sydney, 1969. TABLE TWO Towns from which, and to which were sent films to and from Canowindra’s Strand Theatre respectively, from 1950 to 1959, with figures as entries in the database. These may include multiple entries due to repetition from different documents (e.g. advance list & dispatch note).

Town From To which Town From To which which films which films films sent films sent arrived arrived Adelong 2 0 Hillston 3 1 Ardlethan 1 2 Junee 103 167 Ariah Park 1 1 Kandos 0 2 Barellan 4 8 Koorawatha 1 0 Bathurst 6 4 Lake Cargellico 4 3 Batlow 1 2 Leeton 6 0 Binnaway 2 1 Lidsdale 1 0 Blackheath 0 1 Lithgow 1 0 Blayney 8 10 Lyndhurst 48 64 Bombala 1 1 Manildra 18 32 Boorowa 14 84 Manilla 0 1 Bourke 1 0 Mendoora 2 0 Braidwood 0 1 Merriwagga 0 1 Broken Hill 1 0 Molong 7 15 Bundanoon 0 1 Mudgee 3 0 Canberra 1 1 Narellan 0 1 Captains Flat 1 5 Narrabri 0 2 Carcoar 2 4 Narrandera 9 6 Condobolin 27 10 Narromine 8 13 Coolah 1 0 Nyngan 5 12 Coolamon 2 1 Oberon 55 36 Cooma 0 2 Orange 0 6 Coonamble 6 14 Parkes 0 1 Cootamundra 13 15 Peak Hill 3 0 Coraki 1 0 Picton 0 1 Cowra 965 38 Portland 1 8 Crookwell 1 19 Quandialla 2 0 Culcairn 1 0 Queanbeyan 3 4 Cumnock 0 2 RAAF Forest Hill 4 2 Darlington Point 0 2 Springwood 0 3 Dubbo 0 1 Sydney (1803) (2049) Dunedoo 3 1 Temora 1 10 Eugowra 24 227 Trangie 1 0 Forbes 9 0 Trundle 1 13 Ganmain 5 1 Tumbarumba 5 0 Gilgandra 3 8 Tumut 13 4 Glen Davis 0 1 Ungarie 0 4 Gooloogong 1 0 Wagga Wagga 3 8 Goulburn 2 0 Warren 3 4 Grenfell 140 272 Wauchope 1 0 Griffith 0 193 Wellington 12 299 Gulgong 3 5 West Wyalong 25 21 Gulargambone 1 0 Woodstock 5 0 Gundagai 8 13 Yass 7 16 Gunning 0 5 Yenda 7 16 Harden 130 86 Yeoval 1 0 Hay 15 30 Young 18 6 Henty 1 0 TOTAL excluding Sydney 1658 1854 Hillston, Merriwagga, Dubbo and another 14 towns, to 299 films to Wellington.Table Two shows both the towns from which films were sent to Canowindra, and the towns to which films were sent from Canowindra. There are 3903 entries on the database for films being sent from Canowindra. Of these entries 47.5 per cent are forwarded to other country towns while the remainder(52.5%) are shown as being sent to Sydney. It must be noted that some towns and Sydney would have double entries where there is more than one document – e.g. an advance advice and a despatch slip – mentioning the same film title. A similar picture occurs with films arriving at Canowindra, except the relatively high number of 965 from the nearby town of Cowra. (For example, 52.1% of entries show films that would arrive from Sydney.)

Films that were sent to or came from Sydney required at least one change of trains (at Cowra); those that arrived from or were sent to other country towns, mostly required two, three even four changes of train before arriving at the destination. It says something for the highly man-powered organisation that very few films were reported as “not arriving”.

The map showed that all film distribution to and from Canowindra took place on the Sydney-based rail network, south and west of the Newcastle, Werris Creek, Walgett line. The exception was one trailer requested to be forwarded to Narrabri; a telegram notified the manager of the Strand Theatre that it never arrived.

A second, smaller database was prepared. It was a list of all cinemas in regular use in NSW in 1951 – prepared from the annual Film Weekly Directory17, one of the few licence lists for theatres and public halls18, and the Movie Theatre Heritage Register for New South Wales19. “Regular” meant at least one film program per week. Many more premises were licensed to exhibit

17 The Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory, 1951-2, pp. 74-80. The Directory produces a gross figure of 412 (p. 14) for country New South Wales. This includes open-air venues that are not included in the compiled list. It was this list that was checked against the only licence list available that produced the smaller list used in this paper. 18 Occasional lists of “Theatres and Public Halls” under the Act of the same A promotional letterhead for a name, 1908-1954 were published by the Chief Secretary’s Department, but are neither Royal Tour Film Festival (Febru- archived nor published in the NSW Government Gazette. The only ones available ary-March 1954), sponsored during research in 1964 were one published by the Department on 22nd September by British Empire Films advis- ing the Strand Theatre that it 1959 and another in 1964. The former was used in conjunction with The Film Weekly was “in order” for screening of Motion Picture Directory 1951-2 to establish the list used in this paper. the film “The Frightened Man” 19 Ross Thorne, Les Tod and Kevin Cork, Movie Theatre Heritage Register on 26th November 1953, then for New South Wales 1896-1996 or its follow-up corrected version, Cultural Heritage send it on to Kandos by goods of Movie Theatres in New South Wales, 1896-1996, University of Sydney: Department train. of Architecture, 1996/1997. films irregularly or rarely20. These included open-air cinemas often attached to enclosed venues. The open-air examples have been omitted from this list.

This database showed that there were 356 regular cinemas in 290 towns in NSW country, excluding Newcastle.

Those towns in which there was at least one regular cinema were Typical despatch instructions highlighted if on the railway line. The few towns that were near pro-forma sheet completed for railways were also marked. There were 215 towns on or near the film “Intimate Stranger”, as railways, or 216 if Newcastle and suburbs is included. issued by RKO Radio Pictures.

20 The Chief Secretary’s list shows 673 country premises licensed to show films. That means that only a fireproof projection box must be in the building or the open-air venue. There were 279 regularly operating cinemas on or close to railway lines, or 300 if the city and suburbs of Newcastle are included (but Sydney and the then suburbs of the city being excluded).

CALCULATING THE DISTRIBUTION OF FILMS AND FILM-RELATED MATERIALS ACROSS NSW, We know from the Canowindra documents that there were two programs, usually two days each, of two features, 1 short or cartoon, a newsreel and trailer. On Saturday there was also a serial. These comprised at least ten different film orders or rail film movements. These four nights and a Saturday afternoon were for a town of 1913 people in a theatre seating 600.

To calculate the film movements across the state we need to know what the population threshold was for a two-program week to a one program week. Manildra, with a town population of 787, had two programs in a theatre seating 300. Culcairn, with a population of 1093, on the other hand, had one program in a theatre seating 50021.

An assumption was therefore made that, on average, a one program town would have a population of less than 1000 people. Promotional letterhead for United These towns would only have a minimum of five film movements Artists week, used for despatch per week. notification for the film “Sinister Journey” to be screened 23-24 On the list of country cinemas, those towns on railways with September 1955 at Canowin- dra, then returned to Sydney by a population of fewer than 1000 people were marked. Fifty six goods train. towns (with 56 cinemas) had fewer than 1000 people and were assumed to have only one film program per week.

The figures are now 223 cinemas on or near the rail, providing two programs or 10 film movements per week. These total 2230 per week (115,960 per year). Those towns with an assumed one program comprise 280 film movements per week (14,560 per year).

The weekly total of separate film movements being trained out of Sydney across the state would be around 2510. This amounts to 130,520 film movements by rail, per year. If one includes the theatres in Newcastle and its suburbs the figure rises to about 141,440.

But these figures are for films travelling one way – Sydney to cinema, or cinema to cinema. Over 50 per cent of those from 21 Population figures are from the ABS Census, 1954. This Census used two figures for an urban population – one for the town, one for “near the town”. These were used in the second smaller database as a combined “town” population. These figures were used for the “below 1000” population as the threshold from a one program to a two program cinema town. Theatre seating capacities are from the Theatres and Public Halls licence list printed by the Chief Secretary’s Department in 1959. It was a time when quite long, Canowindra were returned directly to Sydney. If this was rather verbose letters would common for all cinemas in the state there would be another be sent by distributors saying 70,000 or so film movements. Total film rail movements are now that “We are at a loss to under- stand as to why you returned the about 211,500 per year in NSW. above feature (“Its Not Cricket”) to West Wyalong as in our des- As well as highly inflammable cellulose-nitrate film being sent patch instruction dated 21st ul- in steel canisters, publicity was also sent weeks before the main timo, we advised you that upon features. Parcels of publicity to cinemas in towns on the railway completion of your screening to return to Sydney per first goods would would amount to about 502 per week or 26,104 per year. train”. This Gaumont British Dominions A fortnightly parcel of slides and “talkie-slide” gramophone letter was dated 12 April 1951. records would amount to around 5,800 per year if sent in one package. The discs had then to be returned to the advertising agency (e.g. Chas E. Blanks or Featured Theatre Ads) from the cinemas.

Separate film and film-related movements, excluding mail, now would amount to close on one quarter of a million per year across the NSW country rail system. In addition to this approxi- mate but reasonable number, were the regular deliveries of boxes of carbons for the projector arc lamps, orders for tickets and occasional spare parts.

CONCLUSION NSW Government Railways was the principal single physical distributor in the state for:

1. Mass entertainment in the form of motion pictures -- action, comedy, musicals, etc. 2. Cultural learning as transmitted by feature films, and docu- mentaries. Whether one approves or disapproves of such learning, it was more pervasive than the learning from other media and possibly equal to that from the church for that part of the 20th century. Featured Theatre Ads were However, other media and the church were fragmented into complaining that a Coca Cola advertising film had been re- different publications, radio outlets, and denominations. Cinema- turned in its box but not wrapped going was ecumenical. Almost everyone in a town came together in paper, thus risking the film to in a social experience to absorb the same material. become dirty or fall out of its box in transit. 3. Visual news. From the late 1890s there were films, and later Below: Both Featured Theatre Ads and, before them, Chas newsreels that were shown in cities and toured country towns. E. Blanks supplied adverising They were firstly, of the Boer War, then the First World War, slides mostly for local business- World War II, and the Korean War, as well as other ground- es, and a “talkie slide” gramo- breaking events -- of flight and airship disasters, launching ocean phone record to provide the ad- liners, funerals and coronations of monarchs, and the survivors vertising “blurb”. The record was cut in soft acetate blank discs of Nazi concentration camps. These news films supplemented that only lasted for about two descriptions in newspapers or on wireless, and possibly reached a weeks of playing. The label of greater audience than any one publication or radio station. one for 10 ads from the 1950s. 4. Essential government propaganda during times of war and emergency, until about 1960. As with cultural learning the local cinema was able to “cover” the maximum population with the same message -- to enlist in the armed services, to buy War Bonds or War Saving Certificates, to illustrate safety procedures in times of was or disaster, and to exhort patrons to donate money to the Red Cross, Australian Comforts Fund (that sent clothing and food parcels to members of the armed services) and other essential charities. Not only were there government mes- sages but in World War II the major exhibitors and film distributors were very active in fostering the war effort and promoting charities, such as the Red Cross and Comforts Fund, in cinemas across the country. (See note below.)

Possibly at no time before the cinema, and at no since its heyday (since the visual media passed on to television, after which it fragmented into cable TV, video/DVDs and the Internet). have both commercial enterprises and government had the eyes and ears of such a large percentage of the population at any one time and at any one place -- the local cinema. From the late 1890s to the early 1960s this was made possible in the state of New South Wales (and some other states) by a comprehensive railway system.

Note: William Gray has sifted through all the Australasian Exhib- itor and many Film Weekly editions published during World War II. He found that the exhibitors and film distributors were very active in fostering the war effort and promoting charities such as the Australian Comforts Fund and Red Cross in cinemas across the country. See W. Gray, “The Cinema Goes to War: the Austral- ian Film and Industry from 1939-1945”, Kino Cinema Quarterly, Spring 2005, No. 93 (and subsequent editions), pp.26-28.

Remnants of a long-ago age: The Cinemascope screen and stage curtains, as they were at the closure of the Strand Theatre, Canowindra, at the end of 1969 or start of 1970. The softboard ceiling lining in- stalled in 1935 was also in place (although deteriorating) in 2000. The walls had had an all-over coat of white paint including the Art Deco light fittings. Hundreds of cinemas across Australia have suffered this fate, been demolished, or completely revamped into supermarkets, churches and service stations.