Page 20 - CinemaRecord #84

FROM LISMORE TO Star Court Theatre c.1980

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

by CHARLES BETTERIDGE

The CATHS’ archive database is filled with a
wealth of information about cinemas and
theatres from all around Australia, and much
of this information has been used to write
articles for CinemaRecord. But there is one
section of the database which seems to have
been forgotten, possibly because of the
minimal amount of information recorded
therein. That section is simply headed “Papua
New Guinea” (PNG).

In 2012, CATHS was contacted by a Mr.
Charles Betteridge, who lived in PNG for 30
years from 1960 to 1990, working for the now
defunct Burns Philp Pty. Ltd. in their
Automotive Division.
In 1961, he completed training as a
projectionist at the then Papuan Theatre, and
went on to work for that theatre over the next
three years. During his time as a resident of
PNG, Charles kept accurate records of all
films being screened, together with the names Star Court Theatre, Lismore
of the theatres in which they were presented. c.1920
His memories of that time have been made My brother and I would catch the Saturday The admission prices back then were sixpence
available for publication in CinemaRecord, afternoon bus from South Lismore at around for the front stalls, one shilling for the back
resulting in this fascinating article. 1pm for a 2pm start at the Star Court Theatre. stalls and two shillings for upstairs. The show
The passenger seats in those days were leather, would always start with the National Anthem,
with a tight gap between the squab and the seat, followed by a newsreel, a cartoon, then the
Here is his story: and passengers would inevitably lose coins in supporting feature. After a 15 minute interval,
this tight space. My brother and I would make the main feature would be shown. We certainly
was born in Lismore NSW (about 580 km sure we were first on board, and quickly check got our monies’ worth in those days!
Inorth of Sydney) in 1937, growing up in all the seats for lost coins, often being
those early days of going to the cinema in “rewarded”. If we found a two shilling piece, My brother and I got into mischief at times in
Lismore on a Saturday afternoon when I was we thought we were rich. More often than not, the theatre by rolling Jaffas down the floor to
quite young, and in the evenings from when I we would find enough to pay for our tickets, the front (as the floor sloped downwards) and,
was about 14 years of age, to both the Vogue and still have enough left over for a huge when we could afford the money to go upstairs,
and Star Court Theatres in Molesworth Street. sixpenny ice cream and a packet of Jaffas. we invariably tossed a few over the balcony to
hear them drop on the floor (or the patrons)
below. We were caught a couple of times and
"banned" from coming back again, but we
always returned the next week by going in
separately rather than together.
At one time, I really got into strife when an old
black and white movie, The Creature from the
Black Lagoon, was being screened. It was a
rather cold winter’s night, and sitting directly
in front of my brother and me were two young
girls, around fifteen years of age. One of the
girls had long hair spreading over the back of
her seat and, in one scene in the film, a lady
had come down to the lagoon to fill up a water
bottle. As she dipped the bottle into the water,
a stream of air bubbles came up through the
water, heading straight towards her. I decided
to add some more "realism" to this scene, so I
put my rather cold hand up under the hair of
the girl sitting in front of me, just near her neck
(which would be nice and warm). The
background music was building up on this
scene as the bubbles were getting closer to the
Interior, Star Court Theatre, Lismore lady on the embankment. I was watching the