Page 23 - CinemaRecord #84

fibro walls on timber actual movies showing at that time, and I still
frames, galvanised iron have that nine page list.
roof, cement floor with a
carpet down the aisles. Another very interesting thing happened on
There were heavy drapes Friday night, 3 October 1975 at the only theatre
covering the internal walls. in Wewak on the north coast of Papua New
The projection room of the Guinea, (we lived in Wewak from 1974 to
Papuan Theatre had solid 1979). We had gone along to see Towering
cement ceilings and walls. Inferno. My wife (Penny) was pregnant at the
time, and was expecting some "movement" any
The other Burns Philp day now. About three-quarters of the way
cinema was the Nita. It had through the film, just when the tower of office
fibro sheeting walls, blocks was starting to catch alight, my wife felt
galvanized iron roof, a sudden movement inside her, and said to me
timber-framed and it, too, that our baby (our very first) may be due. But,
Papuan Hotel, with Papuan Theatre at far right had old leather seats with as the tension in the movie increased, so did
a couple of rows of canvas the movements in my wife's belly. I asked her
through New Zealand in 1987 and, of course, seats at the front. The Nita was smaller, with if she could stop the movements, for by now
eventually bought the video tape of it. a seating capacity of about 600. It also had the movie itself was about to reach its climax,
Of all the movies I have seen in cinemas heavy drapes covering all the walls. but the baby gave Penny another solid "kick"
through the years, Rock Around The Clock was and I was ordered to take her to hospital
the most watched by me (19 times). Even to The Arcadia Theatre in Badili was mainly for straight away. Naturally, I wasn't too keen to
this day, if it appears on a TV station I'll watch the local natives, as was the Boroko theatre. leave the movie in such a high state of
it yet again. I wonder how many other people These consisted of fibro sheeted walls excitement, so I reluctantly drove her to the
back in the mid 1950s saw the same film 19 (internally and externally) with galvanised hospital 2 km away. She was admitted to the
times and at so many different cinemas roofing and with wooden and canvas seats. maternity ward at the Wewak General Hospital
spanning two states (NSW and QLD), and two Seating capacity was around 400. at 11.05pm, and it wasn't until 6.03am
different countries, New Zealand and Papua (Saturday 4 October 1975) that our daughter,
New Guinea?

I worked for Burns Philp in their automotive
division for the thirty years I lived in PNG
between 1960 and 1990. The Papuan Theatre
in Port Moresby was the most popular cinema
in all of PNG at its time. It was in this theatre
that I learned about motion picture projection.
The Papuan Theatre and the Nita Theatre in
Soroka (some 5 km from Port Moresby) were
owned 100% by Burns Philp through their
subsidiary company, the Port Moresby
Freezing Co. Ltd., which also owned the
Papuan Hotel. The other theatres which were
50% owned by Burns Philp's P.M.F. Co .Ltd.
were the Arcadia in Badili (some 2 km out
from Port Moresby) and the Wards Cinema
at Wards Strip at Waigani suburb, some 10 km
from town. The Wards Cinema was about 200
yards away from the Wards Drive-In theatre,
and both were under the same "umbrella".
There was also a smaller, native theatre also in
Boroko called the Boroko. I've been to all Papuan Theatre after 1980 fire. The concrete floor is the roof of a water tank
these theatres during the eight years I was in
Port Moresby between 1960 and 1968, before The Wards Cinema had timber walls with Ursula, was born. It was another ten years
being transferred north to Madang, which had galvanised roofing and leather seating for before we found out what happened at the end
just one cinema, the Modilon Theatre, located about 600 patrons. The Wards Drive-in of that film when we hired a video tape of it
on the Modilon Road in Madang. theatre was quite large (estimated to have 300 while living in Lae, PNG. That must be the
car capacity). Friday, Saturday and Sunday longest "ending" to a film in cinema history.
The photo taken towards the former projection nights were generally filled to capacity.
room of the Papuan Theatre shows the old The old Papuan Theatre was destroyed in a
cement floor of the theatre which, in fact, was Between 1960 and 1962, I kept all my ticket disastrous fire in the early 1980's (from
the top of a 50,000 gallon cement water tank butts for films I saw at the Papuan Theatre, memory). At the time the theatre was burnt
built by Burns Philp for storage of water for together with a list of films I screened at the down, I was living up in Mount Hagen.
the Freezing Co. Ltd. (This was prior to the Papuan Theatre from November 1961 and Following the demise of the Burns Philp
township of Port Moresby taking its water March 1964. I also kept ticket butts of the other organizations throughout the Pacific area in
supply from the Sirinumu Dam at Sageri, some cinemas in Port Moresby between 1961 and 2002, the old Papuan Theatre, Freezing
45 km out of Port Moresby in the mountain 1962 - the Nita Theatre in Soroka, the Arcadia Company, cafe and the Papuan Hotel were all
ranges. theatre in Badili and the Skyline Drive-In demolished to make way for a new high rise
theatre at Wards Strip in Port Moresby. I wrote building. ê
The Papuan Theatre had leather seating from on the back of each ticket butt the movies I saw
the rear to about six rows from the front, where at the time. I sent the original butts to the PNG Acknowledgements:
they became canvas seats, and was of around section of the Queensland University
700 seat capacity. The leather seats were old Historical Section in October 2009 but I did Images: Charles Betteridge
from years of use, but still comfortable. The record a list of the dates, seat numbers and the CATHS Archive
Papuan Theatre construction was mainly

CINEMARECORD # 84 23