West's Majestic Theater in Pomona (pop 882) has been in operation since 1921. Originally a silent movie house, sound was introduced in 1930. Although running from 1974 to 1987 as a first release house, the Majestic went back silent in 1987 and has remained a silent house ever since. Averaging 6 screenings each week, with different films being shown, every Thursday evening Rudolph Valentino gallops across the burning sands to rescue Vilma Banky (yet again) from the evil clutches of Ghabah the Moor, in THE SON OF THE SHEIK.
This movie has been running at the Majestic for the last 10 years; it is now in its 11th. A popular venue for tourists, each performance is accompanied live on a hybrid theater pipe organ by Ron West or Andrew Zeiren. As we get quite a lot of visits from American and Canadian tourists who are in the area visiting Noosa and the Sunshine Coast, thought your readers might like to know that we exist. Since the tragic closure of The Silent Movie in Los Angeles I think we can lay claim to being the only full-time continuously running silent movie theater in the world.
Initially, the whole Silent Movie era (for us) started when we got a call from a coach company for a movie screening that was a bit different. It was they who suggested a silent movie. I had been installing a hybrid theater pipe organ for a couple of years as a hobby and had just barely got it going. I also had a print of THE SON OF THE SHEIK in my film collection, so my wife Mandy and I decided to give it a go and said yes.
The screening was a great success but we thought it was just an interesting diversion until the phone started ringing. Word had gotten around and we were amazed at the number of requests we had to run the Valentino program. We started running the movie quite a lot but it was not until about 4 months later when we had a good hard look at the books that we realized the silent movies were taking in more at the box office than the regular first release movies!
So we made an executive decision. We turned off the Dolby stereo, cancelled the space operas and went back totally silent again. We figured that it was just a novelty that would last about 6 months - tops. Just shows how wrong you can be.
We play THE SON OF THE SHEIK every Thursday night. The evening works like this: Doors open at 8:10 pm and there are wine and nibbles, tea, coffee and OJ available. The movie is shown at approximately 8:30 (depending on how many people there are and how much fun they are having). After the movie there is supper in the foyer: Ham sandwiches, cake, and refreshments. Everything is included in the one price of $8 (Aust) per head. SON has been running so long now that every Christmas we get regular customers who come back each year to see Valentino rescue Vilma Banky.
When we first started running the silent shows we were screening THE SON OF THE SHEIK an average of 6 times a week; all the other shows were mostly during the day and were for coach tours. All the advertising was by word-of-mouth --the best sort. After a couple of years some groups wanted to come back but they wanted a new movie, so we have gradually built up a library from which groups can choose. Currently we average 5-6 screenings a week and the most popular films are: ON OUR SELECTION (1920), an Australian film directed by Raymond Longford (he also did THE SENTIMENTAL BLOKE) -- apparently this movie was quite a hit when it played in the U.S. on its first release; and a comedy program of short films by Keaton, Lloyd, Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy.
For the past three years (in November) we have been running a Silent Movie Festival which each year has become more popular. Last year the program was:
The whole aim of the Festival is to introduce the world of silent movies to an audience that has never seen them before. In this we seem to be succeeding. Fortunately we have a deputy organist who can take a bit of the load during festivals and such-like, which is a big help. One thing: the Silent Movie Festival in 1998 will be held in September, not November as in previous years. The reason: no air conditioning --when the place packs out in November's temperatures (around 30 degrees C.) it gets quite uncomfortable.
We run 16MM prints. 35MM prints of silent films in this country are very thin on the ground unfortunately. The theater is equipped with both 16MM and 35MM projection. The 35MM machine is a 1918 Simplex with a front shutter and an original speed control which allows projection speeds from 10 frames per second up. I guess the machine would probably run at 30 FPS but I haven't taken it above 26. It has a QI 250 watt lamp, the projection throw is 60 feet and the screen is a Miracle Mirror which has a good light output. The picture quality is good. A lot of people are surprised to learn that they have been happily watching 16MM for an hour and a half!
In back of the theater I have my own small lab which I use for restoration, etc., including tinting and toning of black and white prints. In January I have to make a new print of ON OUR SELECTIION as my current print is just about in the self-destruct category. Not surprising as it is made up of two old prints that are around 20 years old!
Every now and again we run a "talkie" just for a laugh. The next one is on Saturday May 23, 1998. We are re-creating a Saturday matinee in 1936. Should be a hoot.
Sorry I don't have any of the "lost" films --wish that I did. [ed. note: we asked if he'd ever run across some of our "most wanted lost silents": James Cruze's THE VALLEY OF THE GIANTS (1919), Cruze's RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1923), Cruze's MERTON OF THE MOVIES (1924) and Helen Holmes in the serial LASS OF THE LUMBERLANDS (1916)] I do have a 16MM print of the first episode of THE RAILROAD RAIDERS --a Helen Holmes chapter play. There are a few movies that I would very much like to lay my hands on a print of but haven't been able to locate any prints so far.
Haven't heard about the Belgian silent house but am interested to hear more [ed. note: we mentioned we had heard from film historian David Pierce that there might still be a small silent theatre at one of the Brussell's universities; we hope to have a coming report from our readers travelling to Belgium this summer --if anyone has information, please let us know].
The refurbished Regent Theater in Melbourne is really wonderful. Mandy and I went there to see Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard; our son Brendon was at the controls of the Verilites. Great set, wonderful staging, thumbs down on the show, but haven't heard the organ yet but am looking forward to hearing it in the theater. [ed. note: we had mentioned that the newly installed organ in the restored Regent was none other than the Mighty Wurlitzer that was built for and later installed in San Francisco's Granada Theatre, later the S.F. Paramount (in fact it was recently played at intermissions during the Regent's 70MM revival of MY FAIR LADY)].
LIVE CINEMA CALENDAR is very pleased to have been given permission by the authors to share their experiences with silent movies in Australia.