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The former Kjngs Theatre Warwick Warwick Twin Cinema

The Warwick Daily of October 12th 1940, in an article on have proved, just large enough for WaJwick.
the history of the old His Majesty's, said that "the com-
pany was in a sound financial position until the advent of The one projection room serves both cinemas, and there
the "talkies", when ir sustained a loss of 2500 pounds in are two projectors with Super Lumex lamphouses, both
six months, because certain equipment proved unsatisfac- with platters.
tory, and had to be replaced. One wonders whether they
had unwisely opted originally for Vitaphone/Warner's
Sou11d on Disc System rather than the more successful
Sound-On-Film system still in use today!

The cinematic prosperity of the Queensland South-East-
ern Downs district is evident from the fact that in the
1950's, there were two cinemas operating in Warwick -
the King's ru1d the Warwick Town Hall switching films
between them.

But with the advent of provincial television in the early
sixties, the King's Cinema eventually succumbed to the
electronic competition and closed.

The building was purchased by the Warwick R.S.L. in Warwick Twin Bio-Box
1972, and today is a Bingo Parlour and Reception Centre.
The spacious entry foyer has been divided to provide ac-
The Town Hall bad long since ceased showing films, so cess to the cinemas, as well as access to a coffee lounge.
for several years Warwick was without any cinema. Prob-
ably the nearest cinema would have been at Toowoomba, So thanks to the Kairouz Invasion, the cinema scene in
80 kilometres to the north. But then, two Lebanese broth- Warwick is again alive and well.
ers arrived in town!
The district cinematic past and present were joined briefly
The Kairouz Invasion: Michael Kairouz and his younger two years ago when Warwick staged a commemorative
brother Peter arrived In W.a1wick about ten years ago, from week in honour of the district's famous son, Charles
Lebanon. They were ruuious to set up business in the town, Chauvel and his wife Elsa.
and upon discovering that there was no videotape lending
library in the area, established one in Grafton Street, in At the same time, the Kairouz brothers screened the
the central business district. The business was a success. Chauvel's most famous fi lm- "Forty Thousand Horsemen".

Then, with a large number of people hiring videotapes Two "New Australians" honouring two "Old Australians".
each week, the thought occurred that maybe after an ab-
sence of at least two decades, Warwick was ready for an-
other cinema in the town. So Michael and Peter, trans- Photos: Denzil Howson collection
formed their video store into, not one cinema, but two cin-
emas. In other words twin cinemas, side by side.

This was in 1995. One cinema is a 142 seater and the
other has 184 seats. Not I arge, but as the last five years

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