THE REGENT THEATRE

The movies first came to Masterton in the late 1890s, brought by travelling companies who displayed moving pictures as part of an entertainment programme.  They were shown in various halls.  Later, buildings were converted for use as picture houses – the Foresters Hall became the Thompson Payne Theatre, and the old Opera House was updated as a movie theatre. The first purpose built moving picture theatre was the Cosy, sited on the northern side of William Street.

On the western side of Queen Street, opposite the Central Fire Station, stood a butchers shop, known called the Record Reign butchery, later known as Ogilvy and Sons.  In 1919 a new street, Jackson Street, was built, running alongside the butchery.

In 1930 the management of Williamson’s announced their intentions to open a new theatre in Masterton, on the corner of Jackson and Queen Street, on the old butchery site. The new theatre, to be known as the Regent, was the most impressive of the Masterton picture pal­aces, built at a cost of over £40,000, and seating over 1100 people.

The stage was massive, being one of the largest in the country at the time of its building, well able to cope with the de­mands of live shows. The theatre was de­signed in Melbourne, by Charles Hollinshed, who was designing a number of similar theatres for Williamson's.

The decoration of the au­ditorium was described as "artistic." The mix of arabesque and Spanish decoration certainly made the Regent quite unlike any other Masterton building.

The management of the Regent were pleased to have a large opening ceremony on January 21, 1931.  The audience who crowded into the theatre were much taken by the decoration - "Rich but not gaudy" one man was quoted as saying. The chairman of Williamson’s made a short speech to the audience, an­nouncing 25 percent of the night's takings were to be donated to the relief of distress among women and children of Masterton.

The Masterton mayor, Thomas Jordan, also spoke to the crowd, telling them that he thought movies were the mar­vel of the century. He was worried about the spread of movies, however. He thought the kind of films sent to Darkest Africa were a posi­tive menace to the white race. He also said that he noted that in court, offenders were sometimes told that part of their sentence involved not going to the pictures. He hoped that the improve­ment in films would continue at such a pace that in the fu­ture a judge might sentence a young offender to go to the pictures at least twice a week!

Fortunately for the audi­ence, the speeches were soon over, and the crowd settled down to see, and hear, Maurice Chevalier proving his worth as a comedian in The Big Pond.

One of the first manag­ers of the Masterton Regent Theatre was Bert Irvine.  Irvine, in an inter­view conducted some years ago, described his job as that of "caretaker, ticket-taker and house manager" of both the Cosy and Regent thea­tres, then being run in con­junction with each other.

During the late thirties Saturday night was picture night in the town. Large crowds at both theatres meant large staff numbers as well.  The Regent was staffed with a manager, a cash­ier, a doorkeeper, and seven ushers to show people to their seats.

Mr Irvine could remem­ber the excitement a new film would bring to the town, with bookings essen­tial for the opening nights of many popular films.

The theatre would also go to some trouble to deco­rate the foyer for new films. When the film Moonlight Sonata, with Padarowski, was playing in the Regent, Mr Irvine mounted a special display including a baby grand piano.  He placed Moonlight Sonata score on the piano. One of the members of the audience, who turned out to be a music teacher was taken with the display, and was looking at the score.

Mr Irvine invited her to play the sonata, an invita­tion she readily accepted. She played the whole so­nata, but attracted such an audience of her own that the film showing had to be post­poned until she finished.

The theatre suffered badly in the 1980s with falling numbers of patrons.  In the 1990s it was converted to a triplex, with space set aside for a live theatre space at some time in the future.