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99. SEARCHLIGHT SAGA IN SOUTH QUEENSLAND by Denzil Howson

WARW[CK, with a current population of around 10,000 In I 897 it was at Killarney that a baby boy was born to his
is one of the major cities in the south-east comer of the early settler parents, the Chauvels. He was christened
Darling Downs in Queensland. KrLLARNEY could be Charles.
described as a satellite to Warwick; about thirty minutes
drive east of the latter. And Killarney is where we begin "Sons of Matthew", "Jedda", "Forty Thousand Horsemen"
this brief survey of cinematic history in this comer of the and "Rats of Tobruk" are four of the nine Australian fea-
Downs, and that is where the search-light enters the story! ture films which Charles Chauvel and his wife Elsa pro-
duced during their long and distinguished career which
According to Warwick historian, Lorna Church, there were established them as Australia's most successful and pro-
two "Picture-Show Men" who visited Kittamey on an ad- lific film producers of the pre-war and war years.
hoc basis. There was "Penn's Pictures" of the Silent Era,
the twenties, the inspiration for the Australian film, "The Other Chauvel productions were "Heritage", filmed in
Picture Show Man", and there was " Pagets' Pictures" who 1933/34 in the old Efftee Studios on the Upper Esplanade,
toured and exhibited in the late 20's and the 30's, bridg- St. Kilda, the site of the present Novotel Hotel; "Moth of
ing the Silent and Sound eras. Moombi", "Uncivilised", 'In the Wake of the Bounty" and
"Greenhide".
Because no-one quite knew when these travelling show-
men would arrive in town, some system had to be devised The Warwick Scene: Mr. William Thomas had His Maj-
to let the town-folk and the district inhabitants know that esty's built in King Street, Warwick in 1920. This was a
the "flickers" were on in the Kittamey Royal Hall. Before dual purpose entertainment centre used for live produc-
the days of mass radio communication, the Killamey-ites tions, like "The Mikado" and "The Country Girl" as well
settled on a unique solution. They obtained a searchlight, as films.
installed it and directed it sky-wards whenever Mr. Penn
or Mr. Paget were in town. So when the search-light
pierced the sky, everybody within seeing distance dropped
tools and rushed to the Killarney Royal Hall to see the
latest Chaplin, or Keaton or Valentino!

Killarney's Filmic Destiny: But Killarney's appointment
with Australia's early cinema began in 1897, at least a
quarter of a century before the pioneering Mr. Peon or Mr.
Paget.

His Majesty's Warwick - c.1920

The first screenings at "His Majesty's Theatre" featured
attractive brunette and successful D. W. Griffith star,
Clarine Seymour in "The Idol Dancer", and Mary Pickford,
one of the founding members of United Artists, in "Such a
Little Queen" a title which would have unfortunate con-
notations today. Clarine Seymour's meteoric career in the
"silents" was tragically short. She died in 1921 following
an operation for appendicitis.

His Majesty's Theatre, Wanvick was about a 1200 seater,
and amongst the overseas artists who perfom1ed on stage
there was Harold Houdini, the famous escapologist and
pioneer aviator. According to historian Lorna Church,
one of Houdini's more spectacular appearances in War-
wick was to hang upside down, it suspended only by his
toes, from the bow window on the upper facade of His
Majesty's. His Majesty's was destroyed by fire in 1944,
Charles Chauval but before that disaster, the theatre had been renamed The
(Photo: ScreenSound Australia) King's Theatre. It was re-built in 1945/46.

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