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Availability of such a large hall could
not fail to attract the attention of moving
picture exhibitors, the first being Mr
Crawley from the city-based Oxford Hall
Pictures and Star Vaudeville Company
from October 1908. Patrons were not given
details of programs in the press, only that
they would get a first-class operation using
the Great Electric Biograph and could gain
admission on payment of sixpence or one
shilling for reservations.
There was no stage, proscenium, curtains,
Above and below: dress circle or projection box. It has been
The Trocadero in 2006 supposed that projection was from the
prior to its restoration
Photos by Robert Parkinson. gallery area, or through a door at that
level, onto a screen suspended from a
wrought iron roofing span. Patrons would
most likely have been seated on the level
skating floor with a few allowed entry to
the balcony at rear and sides.
Duration of Mr Crawley’s venture is
unknown but it probably gave way
to skating again in 1909. Many rinks
followed a pattern of skating in winter
and pictures in summer, and this may
have occurred at the Trocadero although
evidence of such regular interchange
has not come to light.
Pictures were again being exhibited in
late 1912 because the Trocadero was
one of the four local picture - theatres
visited by Governor, Lord Chelmsford
during the afternoon of Newtown’s
Jubilee Day, Wednesday 12 December.
District school children were assembled
at each theatre for the occasion.
In the evening Mr R Henry, manager
of the Trocadero Picture Palace,
allowed free entry to children wearing
the Jubilee Medal which had been
distributed earlier.
20 2011 CINEMAREC ORD
