Page 25 - CR

APRIL
1938

An all new façade but the Olympia
stagehouse remains - top right.

However this new naming was not to be
and just a few weeks later the new “Wests”
opened with Leslie Howard in Pygmalion.

The L-shaped site featured a new foyer fronting
Hindley Street, with the wider auditorium
block running parallel behind shops. Some
elements of the old Olympia were retained,
most notably its large stage and fly-tower.
(Top right in the above photo).

Chairman of Directors of Greater Union
Theatres Pty Ltd. Norman B Rydge, came to

Adelaide to open the new Wests Theatre but
was called back to Sydney on business early
in the day! The new Wests opened without
official ceremony but the newspaper press-
ads were spectacular.

Speculate you may about the name
confusion (sure Wests Ltd owned the
building and not GU) but I think a glimpse
of the newspaper advertising shows that both
companies were well aware of the history
of the site, and Adelaide had affection and
respect for Wests.
Neither the Metro nor Regent could claim
to be the first. However, the State at the
former West’s Olympia site would have
DEC been a new beginning.
1939
The name Wests was retained.

CINEM AREC ORD 2012 25