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By the end of the 1920s O’Brien
had run into financial difficulties and
his South Island theatres were acquired
by the Fuller-Haywood circuit in 1936.
This chain was later absorbed into the
Kerridge Circuit (New Zealand’s
largest).
In 1934 plans were drawn by
Dunedin architects Mandeno & Fraser
to remove the Princes St arcade
entrance. A new entrance was to be
constructed around the corner at 11
Moray Place. It is thought that
disagreements regarding tenancies in
the arcade and the interruption to
retailers caused by the long queues of
patrons forced the planned relocation of Dress Circle foyer in 1928.
the main entrance. The change of
entrance is thought to have been
constructed, off the right-hand end of
the foyer, by 1940/41.
The Princes Street access was
closed forcing the alteration of some
parts of the circle foyer. The theatre
was now entered via eight doors to a
long and sloping passage way leading
to the right-hand end of the stalls foyer.
A wide, marble staircase on the left of
the entrance passageway led to the end
of the circle foyer. Two ticket boxes
were built against the side walls; the
left one serviced the circle.
Because of the hard surfaces, the
acoustics were deemed to be deficient Above: A new auditorium was built
and in 1941 the theatre was alongside the original Empire, which
“modernised”. This largely led to the then became the foyer and dress-circle.
removal or destruction of many of the
beautiful decorative features, including
the minarets, the street scenes and most
of the murals.
The installation of acoustic panels
covered the murals which were a
feature of the theatre. The orchestra pit
was covered over. Extensive neon
lighting was installed throughout the
auditorium, in the alcoves and foyers
and the theatre was painted in bland
colours. The effect was one of an
incomplete work in progress.
By 1946 the Rank organization had
purchased a large interest in the
Kerridge Circuit and the resulting
company was called Kerridge – Odeon. New Moray Place entrance.

CINEMARECORD 2010 17