Page 34 - CINEMARECORD-99

THEATRES OF ROCKINGHAM, WA

by Lindsay Morris & Richard Twentyman

ockingham is a beach town, 50 km south date at which this happened could not be records prior to 1937 did not exist). He was
Rof the Western Australian capital city of determined. The projection box was built onto reportedly followed by Mrs. L.J. Hart (1942-
Perth. Over the years from the 1920s until the outside of the southern wall, with patrons 1945), then Mr. L.A. Brewer (1945-1953). It is
today, there have been no less than four hardtop seated on uncomfortable wrought-iron seats. thought that these exhibitors leased the Jazz
cinemas, four open-air cinemas and one drive- These seats were later replaced by lines of deck Hall from Mr. Grigg before he finally took over
in. chairs. Films were screened every Saturday film screenings in 1953, when he renamed the
night throughout the year, and every night Jazz Hall as the Century Theatre, operating
In 1920, the licensees of the Rockingham Hotel, during holiday seasons to take advantage of the under this name until it closed in 1963. It was
the Harrisons and the Griggs, built a hall at the high numbers of tourists and holiday makers. leased by Mr. Grigg to a Mrs. Pell. However,
southern end of the hotel. It was known as the that arrangement did not last long, as there was
Jazz Hall and was originally used as a dance According to Film Weekly, the film exhibitors a dispute about the terms of the lease, and Mrs.
hall. It eventually became the first venue for were Mr. Syd Hart (1937-1942, although he Pell was forced out. Mr. Grigg then leased the
moving pictures in Rockingham, but the exact could have been there earlier, but Film Weekly Century Theatre to a friend of his, Mr. Jack
Bidstrup, who, at the time, was
screening film at the Bay View
Theatre in Safety Bay, some 3 km
south of Rockingham. When he took
over the Century Theatre, he also
named it as the Bay View Theatre.

According to other sources, there
were different exhibitors to those
listed above, and so it is difficult to
confirm which is correct. One such
source states that the lease of the
hotel was taken over by a Mr. Harry
Delevale in 1944. He then
constructed an open-air theatre on
tennis courts located at the northern
end of the hotel. This theatre
supposedly continued until 1953,
when Mr. Grigg took back the lease
of the hotel, closed the tennis court
open-air theatre and converted the
space into a beer garden for the hotel.
In the 1940s, Mr. Grigg built another
open-air theatre further south along
Kent Street, almost at the corner of
Jack Bidstrup’s Bay View Theatre, Safety Bay (Image: courtesy of Roy Mudge ) Railway Terrace. This was known as

34 CINEMARECORD # 99