Page 28 - CR

The Newcastle season of The Sound
of Music, a 1965 release in Australia,
didn’t commence at the Royal until
August 1968. By then, much of the
Newcastle populace, myself included,
had ventured to Sydney to see it.
There were three more city cinemas
back then: the Tatler, Victoria and the
This also illustrates another change
Lyric. Later would come the
in the business since then: release dates
Kensington, the Tower and the
and patterns. Today, films are released in
Showcase. The Tatler, a former
theatres, often simultaneously with the
newsreel theatrette, was the first to close
U.S., and are generally available on
in November 1965 and would re-open as
DVD four months later. Back in the
the Roma Cinema in March 1966. I
1960s, things were much more leisurely.
never attended the Tatler under that
There was no home video of any kind of
name, but was a regular at the Roma,
course and films were released slowly
operated between 1966 and 1985 by
and allowed to play out. This was
Theo and Margaret Goumas. The Roma
especially so for the “Roadshow”
was the first of their circuit of city
musicals and epics, with their long runs,
theatres until their last, Showcase City
higher ticket prices and reserved seating.
Cinemas, closed in 2008.
In my example above, I saw Mad
Mad World in May of 1966. That film
opened in the USA in November 1963,
was released in Australia in December
1964 and made its way to Newcastle,
sixth largest city in Australia, just 100
miles up the highway from Sydney, in
May 1966!
Local theatre management
sometimes turned this delay into a
positive, as in this quote from a
newspaper ad for Can Can: “Proudly
and Triumphantly scooped by the
Royal after a Fantastic 82 Weeks’
Season – Sydney!” Tatler / Roma Cinema

Somehow Theo and Margaret Undoubtedly these films helped pay
managed to get titles like the 1967 Walt the bills and probably helped to finance
Disney The Jungle Book for the Roma, the Goumas’ other theatre ventures.
with a seating capacity of just over 200, In my childhood scrapbook of the time
when Disney films usually played I recorded that one of these films,
much larger theatres. As I grew older I Bedroom Mazurka, played at the Roma
saw many films at the Roma, often for 43 weeks!
offbeat or less commercial films that
might not have received a Newcastle
release otherwise: The Prime of Miss
Jean Brodie, If..., The Mephisto Waltz,
Nosferatu and many others.
The Roma still felt like a newsreel
theatrette: single level, long and The lovely old Victoria, a live
narrow, aisle down the middle, clock on theatre as well as a cinema, was the
the wall (illuminated at all times) small next to go after the Tatler, closing very
screen and lovely pink chintzy screen quietly in March 1966 with a one week
curtains. While it wasn’t flash, it was season of Who Is Buried In My Grave?,
comfortable and if you wanted to see typical of the films programmed there
those films, the Roma was your only in its latter years. I have vivid memories
choice. I wouldn’t want to give the of being taken by my older sister and
impression the Roma was completely a her friends to see a couple of double
quality house, it also played more than features – Harum Scarum paired with
its fair share of Continental films in the Zebra in the Kitchen and Ferry Cross
1960s and R-rated skin flicks after the the Mersey with a now forgotten second
R-rating was introduced in 1971. feature.

28 2011 CINEMARECORD