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Member LoginFred Hawkins
In a small house in western Sydney, Fred Hawkins, 78 has a collection of 70 film projectors & movie memorabilia which reflects a life of cinema operations. Fred & his mate, Doug Lindsay were still in their teens went they went into business.
In the book AND THE SHOW WENT ON Fred writes ‘Fascination with the motion picture began for my partner D M Lindsay, & myself in our early teens & was to continue unabated right through to this very day. We were introduced to the magic of the cinema by our mothers who, in an effort to escape from morbid ‘depression day’ existence would skimp on their household budgets until they had saved enough money to treat us to a cinema outing in the city. Well I remember holding tightly to my mother as she paid for her ticket & then going straight into the show, because the sessions were continuous & you stayed inside, intervals included, until you had seen the programme in its entirety, or over again if you wished. There is no doubt that these city visits even at our early age convinced us that, rightly or wrongly, this magic would be part of our life for the next 50 years.’
In 1936 Doug’s father Bill, converted their unused garage in Park Road (now named Meadows Road) Mt Pritchard into a small compact picture show.
‘An operating box was erected on the rear of the garage & Bill went to construct a petrol engine with a belt driven Delco Remy generator & purchased a 35mm Erneman projector from Mr. Christensen at the Plaza Theatre, Waterloo. He set up the machine & Doug & myself took turns to crank the handle on the projector, learning how to use both left & right hands in an attempt to minimise the dreaded cramps in your arms. The seating in the little show was very ordinary indeed, but the children & mothers still happily parted with the 3d. & 6d. (2.5 cents & 5 cents) admission price to be entertained for a few hours & simply forgot about the hard seats, or the fact that they may have seen the same programme more than once. In the beginning the show was simply called Lindsay’s Cinema but over the years had several name changes – The Roxy & The Rialto; very grand names for a cinema with a dirt floor.’
‘Films were of course silent & not easy to come by, but Mick Thornley & his Original Cinema Supplies, in Bathurst Street, Sydney, & Jerry Taylor’s National Films of NSW, in Pitt Street were 2 sources where you buy, rent or exchange films. Features like The Little Red Schoolhouse & Kate Howarde’s Australian epic PossumPaddock were obtained from these exchanges.’
Fred told me, while standing surrounded by wonderful old projectors, that Doug owned at that time a 1000 ft sepia print of the landing of the Anzacs at Gallipoli in 1915. This spool was later exchanged for a new short subject & was lost to the world forever.
‘After screening at the Rialto for some years, we decided to broaden our horizon & become travelling showmen, so we scouted around & found a small hall in the village of Rossmore on the road to Bringelly, which happened to be reasonably close to our home base in Mt Pritchard. Looking back today, one has to admit that we were indeed very keen boys, as it must be remembered that talking pictures had been in vogue for some 7 or 8 years & all these local villages were covered by ‘picture buses’ to take you to Liverpool Butterfly, later to be called The Regal Theatre.’
In 1940 Fred & Doug expanded their business & took over the show in the School of Arts Building at Rooty Hill. The first programme we screened on April 13th was from Warner Bros – Going Places & West of Shanghai . The whole program cost us 2 pounds ($4.00) which was only slightly less than the box office receipts.
‘The complete film industry used a system, PIA, or payment in advance. The system was instigated to protect the exchanges from new & unknown exhibitors & from those who got into trouble & could not pay their accounts. Of course at that particular stage we qualified in both categories. Once you were loaded with the dreaded PIA label there was no chance until money was produced up-front & there were times when we would collect our wages & make a wild dash to say, Metro Goldwyn Mayer in Chalmers St. & pay our account, collect our films, struggle up to Central Railway with the trunks & board a steam train for Rooty Hill.’
Such was the beginning of Fred Hawkins long association with the cinema. Fred is a gold mine of anecdotes of the exhibiting side of the cinema & his house is a delight to visit. He has a 16-seat cinema with two 35mm arc projectors that is evocative of the ‘good old days’.
From conversations with Fred Hawkins, also quotes from his book ‘And the Show Went On’ - Butch Calderwood 2000
from Australian Cinematographer - Issue 11 - December 2000