PAUL BRENNAN – 2024 NSW CINEMA PIONEERS OF THE YEAR
Paul writes…
My life in film and cinema began at the age of five when I was taken by my crazy aunts and grandmother, all born between 1888 and 1894, to the CAPITOL THEATRE in Sydney to see a matinee reissue of THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. An imaginative child encountering the Capitol’s astounding interior with a starlit sky and fantasy garden décor gasped at the wonder of it all, especially with Cecil B. de Mille’s Technicolor circus on screen and snoozing hobos scattered in faraway seats. “There used to be orange trees and clouds” bellowed Aunty Flo as a lemon meringue pie emerged from her massive handbag. “I was here when it was new in 1927” said Nanna Elizabeth. That was it. Brain damaged for life. I had to explore every movie theatre possible.
Locally in the Kensington/Mascot/Rosebery/Botany suburbs near home we had big stark theatres built in the 20s and more than a bit threadbare by the 60s. “The Fleapit” roared Flo when I wanted to see MORGAN THE PIRATE at a BOTANY EMPIRE matinee. I wanted to rescue the EMPIRE but alas it closed in 1965. I was heartbroken. The slightly more elegant 1300 seat MARINA at Rosebery had a big picture frame proscenium and wide stage area, with dressing rooms intact from 1927. In 1964 we had a school concert there. Teenage vaudeville lives! I was ecstatic, the theatre was packed but I couldn’t understand why all the parents couldn’t see how wonderful it was. But alas, the MARINA changed to Greek films in1966, the KINGSFORD ODEON caught fire, the DONCASTER at Kensington became a theatre restaurant and all my walking distance cinemas were not mine anymore.
I had to venture further afield, into the big city to discover the PRINCE EDWARD, ST JAMES and REGENT. MGM METRO CINEMAS beckoned with a standard of Hollywood showmanship in chrome, neon, velvet and burgundy carpet which, just as puberty elevated the senses, confirmed for me just what a cinema should be. I was so lucky being 15 in 1969 with every major movie theatre still operating. I had the run of the city, watching great movies in all Sydney’s luxury movie palaces. In June 1968 for my 14th birthday I was treated to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY in first release in the Cinerama PLAZA. There was no turning back – I was a destined for ‘the biz’.
MGM closed in 1971 just when I applied for a job there. Bad timing. And then the sheer horror of the demolitions started. I went to the ST JAMES auction to see it ripped apart. I felt I had to rescue something. My parents were furiously against my cinema aspirations. “It’s a dying business” bellowed Dad, “Get a job in the post office”. Or worse, Mum’s Mr Chips fantasy for me of teaching in the Catholic Primary School Circuit. Luckily in 1973 after leaving school I landed a job at Chas E. Blanks Cinema Screen Advertising – writing copy, organising screen ad schedules and touring cinemas was my entrée into the cinema business on a professional level.
On a drive to the Central Coast in May 1974 I discovered the closed AVOCA BEACH THEATRE. It had been shredded by a huge cyclone that ripped through NSW coastal towns just a fortnight previously. The front awning had come down, the rain had left the theatre in an appalling state – 500 sodden seats, sagging screen, dripping curtains and rusting projectors. But it was up for lease – and I took up the challenge. The theatre had no cooling, no heating, no phone, no carpets, broken seats, not even a proper widescreen – we hung bedsheets on either side of the screen to accommodate Cinemascope. No flush toilets either, just big bins with wooden seats that were emptied each Sunday night, always full to the brim. Men and boys peed into the bushes beside the house next door. Women screamed or held on until they got home, or back to the caravan!
But with a projectionist mate we reopened it August 1974. Columbia’s much lampooned family musical LOST HORIZON was the gala Saturday opening night: 180 in attendance and money in the till. The hint of a profitable business began to take shape – but only because for the first few years I was sleeping in the roof behind the haunted projection room…but that’s another story.
AVOCA BEACH was also the ideal location for Surf Films – two sessions a night and 999 teens munching their way through them, yelling at the screen. The most obnoxious were served choc tops dipped in melted Laxettes – a special treat, Brennan’s revenge! Being a holiday resort, and a wealthy one, I realised we should change programmes nightly. And for the next 17 years, countless improvements and renovations, AVOCA BEACH was my home. I sold the lease complete with foyer treasures in 1993.
I took on other orphan cinemas – the ROSEBERY MARINA, my childhood theatre that I had always wanted to run. But with1983’s Home Video boom, and a ceiling collapse during a matinee of BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, it was no longer viable to keep trying to make it work. I also renovated and reopened the gorgeous SCONE CIVIC 1988-1993, a beautiful theatre still standing today. 1988 saw the opening of the KINCUMBER RITZ near East Gosford. What a disaster. The brutal recession stymied attendance and this snazzy brand new 300-seater struggled. I sold it after just 12 months.
In the early 1990s, legendary Australian Producer/Director David Elfick had several excellent features whose releases I managed from his Palm Beach Pictures office. Other Australian Producers called with similar release problems and I found myself becoming a boutique distributor for quality films the major distributors refused to handle. NO WORRIES, UNDER THE LIGHTHOUSE DANCING, and even a reissue of the notorious NUMBER 96 movie succeeded. The highlight though was re-releasing Hollywood classics – CABARET, THE BOYFRIEND, STAR!, THE ODD COUPLE and several others.
Releasing a large number of documentaries and small Aussie features was very satisfying. An association with Paul Dravet at The Cremorne Orpheum saw us handling the Swedish drama AS IT IS IN HEAVEN which broke box office records for over 12 months – its success earning me a trip to Sweden courtesy of the Swedish Ambassador.
A fortuitous discovery of the thought-to-be-lost 1929 Technicolor Talkie, MAMBA, in an Adelaide garage led to my advocating its restoration by the UCLA Film Archive, after which I presented the film to enthusiastic audiences in Europe, New York and Los Angeles, a trip that even included a serendipitous lunch meeting with Mel Brooks!
A joyful nine-year contract with Event followed, firstly managing the Universal Pictures Centenary festival at the State, then ensuring their older cinemas in Canberra and Newcastle remained viable to their dying day. Since 2020 my website www.ptbscreen.com.au has offered advice and guidance to younger Aussie Creatives for the release of their features and docos.
Soon the story of the magnificent lost SUMMER HILL (Grosvenor) THEATRE as a book and documentary will be told – a collaboration with industry insiders, those who were there, and the Inner West Council. See www.cinemadoco.com.au or our Facebook pages.
Looking forward to the next 50 years when I can celebrate my own Centenary in Showbiz!
