Page 30 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

From day one the Penthouse had
nice touches, such as a jar of Macintosh
toffees on the ticket office for
customers to help themselves. Later a
pizza parlour named Bogarts opened in
the building and patrons could order a
pizza for collection at the close of the
show. The first movie was Conrack
with Jon Voight.
Early in 1982 a stray cat wandered
into the theatre and became an instant
favorite. Merv. named him Floyd and
he remained a regular till his death in
1998. Floyd was considered a
connoisseur of movies. If he liked a
film he would settle down and watch,
sometimes several times, but if it did
not appeal he would either walk out or
find a patron’s knee to settle on and go
to sleep. Such was his place in the
theatre that ads for programs showed
Floyd walking along the backs of the
patrons’ seats.
Merv. Kisby always felt that a twin
cinema would work, following the
success of the Hollywood at Sumner, a
suburb of Christchurch, so he started
moves to put in the second screen.
Planning permits were slow in coming
and he died before his dream was
realized. However, his wife Carol and
daughter Sandra completed the task and
Cinema 2 opened on 16 June 1995 with
the film Priest.
Cinema 2 was designed by Beca
Carter Hollings and Ferner Ltd. with
access through a passage on the south
side of the main building. Seating 127
the blue seats were supplied by Effuzi
International of Porirua, a city just
north of Wellington. (Effuzi have
established a name for theatre seating
both here and in Australia, where they
were involved with the State, Capitol
and Sky City Lyric in Sydney, and the
Regent in Melbourne.)
The café opened just prior to the
opening of Cinema 2 where Carol
Kisby provided the slices to go with
excellent coffee. The café has proved to
be a popular meeting place for patrons
and residents. Cinema 2 seats 127 and
is the only one equipped with a 1940s
Philips projector which can show
70mm. Every other cinema has Kineton Top: The new ticket box.
fp30 projection. Above: The entry spaces to the café mark the original position of the doors to the stalls.

30 2009 CINEMARECORD