Page 29 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

Love Your Patrons

by Tony Froude

The Penthouse is situated at 205
Ohiro Road in the Wellington hill
suburb of Brooklyn. At the time of its
construction it was near the terminus of
the Brooklyn tram. Around the corner
in Cleveland Road films had been
screened in a hall known as Fullfords
from about the time it opened in 1905.
Over the years this hall was known
under several names - Fullford’s
Pictures, Bijou Entertainments, the
Royal, and Brooklyn Pictures. Films
were still being screened there when
the Vogue, as the Penthouse was then
known, opened in 1939.
Designed by architect Reginald D. Image: Tony Froude
Stowe in the Art Deco-style for owner
Bunny Ranish, the reinforced concrete as a monument to Mr. Ranish and all On 28 January 1975 a Mr. Howe of
building measured 108 feet deep by 50 those specialists who had combined in Cameo Theatres lodged an application
feet wide, with a full width cantilever its erection”. for a public hall licence with the
verandah and a central tower with its Projection gear was Ernemann, with Wellington City Council. As well as
name in neon. The building is now Zeiss Ikon lenses, a Realtone Rectifer reiterating the safety conditions for
cream with reddish adornment. It was and oil damped sound leads by Cinema operating a theatre which had been in
the last cinema to be built in Wellington Supply Coy. force since the 1920s, the council
until the conversion of the Kings to a stipulated that the theatre was to be
A full house enjoyed Tyrone Power
twin in 1979. separated from the rest of the building
in Suez, plus Safety in Numbers and a
When the Vogue opened on 15 June few shorts. by a two-hour fire wall. This special
1939 the papers waxed lyrical, ‘...the condition was because of the plumbing
The Vogue continued to operate
auditorium has warmth-exuding tones workshop with its gas bottles and other
until TV forced its closure on June 24
helped by ornamental lines’. The report flammable materials.
1963, some 24 years later. The
continued, ‘the carpet was light in If all conditions were met the
building, now owned by a group of
colour to harmonise with the walls.’ Council was prepared to licence a 245-
accountants had as one of their tenants
The description of ornamental seat cinema. This was a far cry from
a plumber who had a workshop and
mouldings and a stepped ceiling, can the original seating of 622 (414
storage area there.
still be seen in Cinema 1, though ‘…a downstairs and 208 upstairs), but by
This could have been the end of the
cycle of coloured lights which provided this time the accountant owners had
cinema operation on this site, but
interesting patterns from behind the built over the downstairs area. As far as
ironically TV saved the building. Stan
panels,’ is no more. they were concerned, Stan Wymes’
Wymes, who had been a cameraman for
The original design called for a post-production and the plumber’s
the National Film Unit and who filmed
multi-use stage 30 feet wide by 21 feet workshop would remain.
many wartime newsreels, decided to set
deep (9m. x 6m.). The fact that all seats Later in 1975 Merv. Kisby and wife
up business in the Vogue making TV
were sprung was seen as worthy of Carol purchased the rights to the
commercials, which in the early days of
mention, since at that time New cinema, now approved by the
transmission used tele/cine operations.
Zealand still had cinemas with hard Wellington City Council, and gave it the
As well as filming, Stan did post-
seats in the front stalls. The auditorium name Penthouse. It opened with 208
production on site and used the
was air conditioned, with air fed in seats in orange vinyl, still with the post-
projectors in the box to show the
through grilles in the side walls, production business and the plumber's
finished product to the client before
promising ‘dustless air’ in accord with workshop. This meant that Merv. could
reducing the 35mm stock to 16mm for
the best practice in Britain and not screen until after 5pm when the
the local channels.
America. Mr. R. A. Wright stated at the plumber stopped work for the day.
opening that, “This theatre stands out
CINEMARECORD 2009 29