Woodville Town Hall's proscenium (Image author's own).
When the new Woodville Town Hall opened in April 1927, the Woodville Hall Pictures commenced. The Gala Opening Night - to which the public were invited - was on Tuesday, 12th April, 1927. The hall had been built to serve a variety of purposes. But, for 2 nights a week it had been leased to Dan Clifford Pictures Ltd.. This lease was for a period of 21 years ('A Generous Gift'. The Advertiser, Adelaide, 13 April 1927). Sadly Dan Clifford himself was unable to attend the opening night gala due to illness, but he did organise a generous donation for improvements for a local children's playground (ibid).
Entrance and box offices (Image's author's own)
The interior was decorated in vieux rose, gray and gold, and the hall was able to accommodate up to 1500 patrons, with the seats easy to remove to allow for dancing when needed ('New Woodville Hall; A Fine Building', The Register, Adelaide, 13 April 1927). There was colour changing lighting and five chandeliers, a 'Lounge De Luxe' with a dress circle and boxes . (Woodville Picture Theatre 2021).
Advertising: The Advertiser, Adelaide, 8 April 1927.
Image courtesy of Trove: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/43565657?searchTerm=%22woodville%20%20hall%22
Woodville Town Hall view from dress circle (image author's own)
Entrance to the Dress Circle, balcony and the boxes (Image author's own)
Initially this was a silent film theatre but with the onset of the 'talkies' the hall was wired for sound, and on the 2nd April 1930 a week of celebration began to re-open as a Talkie Theatre, with a show every day ( 'Another Talkie House; Woodville Hall Wired', The Advertiser, Adelaide, 2 April 1930).
Advertising for the Talkie opening on 2nd April 1930 in The Advertiser Adelaide, 2 April 1930. Image courtesy of trove. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/7285247
After enduring a difficult depression era, and the death of Dan Clifford in 1942, in 1947 Woodville Hall Pictures then known as the Woodville Star would be sold to the Greater Union chain and it would become known as the Woodville Odean Star Theatre. (Woodville Picture Theatre 2021). In 1955 Cinemascope was installed - cleverly done so as to not ruin the original 1927 proscenium (Ibid).
On the 9th November 1974, it would close its doors as the Odean Star Picture Theatre for the last time (Woodville Picture Theatre 2021) However, it would be used by independent operators to show films, including Greek Films for a period of time in the 1980s (http://www.caths.org.au/venues/venue_search.html).
Just recently I attended a concert at the Woodville Town Hall, which afforded me the opportunity to step inside. As you walk into the main hall you can see that it still retains much of its grandeur. There are the five still sparkling chandeliers, and the original proscenium. The boxes too still remain. The hall was renovated in 2014 after a severe storm damaged the roof, but it has retained many of it's original features (Woodville Picture Theatre 2021).
Image reproduced courtesy City of Charles Sturt
References:
Woodville Picture Theatre, Woodville Town Hall 2021, viewed 25 September 2021.
Woodville Town Hall 2020, CATHS Venue Search viewed 25 September 2021.
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