Celebrate 150 years of The Advertsier at the movies

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MOVIES and The Advertiser have gone hand in hand since 1896 whenthe first cinematograph was exhibited at the Theatre Royal.

Advertisements breathlessly billed it "the greatest sensationof the 19th century" and opined "this astonishinginvention would have suggested witchcraft a century ago'.

Sadly, the very first matinee screening of short films of boxersand female contortionists was ruined by light streaming through theopen windows.

"As a consequence, the projection of the animated picturesfrom the cinematograph onto the screen erected upon the stageproved somewhat disappointing," wrote The Advertiser'scorrespondent.

In the following years movies were screened on and off at a numberof locations including the Adelaide Town Hall, and at open airtemporary theatres (including surburban ovals at Norwood and Unley)where patrons would sit on deck chairs and at vaudeville venueslike The Empire Theatre.

The authorities were worried about the subversive nature of moviesfrom the beginning – The Advertiser reported in 1906 The Story of the Kelly Gang had so worked up the audience that "Ned Kelly and hisfollowers were cheered again and again." Bushranger films werebanned here in 1911.

Also that year, the first purpose built cinema The Arcadia (whichbecame The Pavilion Picture Palace) appeared, followed in 1913 byThe Wondergraph - which advertised an exciting ten minute shortfilm on the Gepps Cross Abattoir. Dan Clifford, who went on tomanage 24 suburban theatres, opened his first the Torrensville Starin March 1916.

In 1923, One Million in Jewels was screened at The Empire, it was notable for featuring SA bornHollywood star JP McGowan and short test footage of 12 Adelaidewomen.

The audience voted on the best, and her footage was sent toHollywood so she could become a star. She didn't. The followingyear the Advertiser got into trouble and had to withdraw an ad forthe movie Temple Of Venus which included salacious drawings of nude dancers.

Along with the rest of the world, SA audiences gasped at the wonderof the first talkie picture in March 1929 when The Jazz Singer opened at The Wondergraph.

Eleven years later Gone With The Wind opened at the Metro Theatre and Wests on Hindley street to dealwith its popularity, and the fact only three sessions a day couldbe screened due to its length.

With the 1950s came drive-ins and rock and roll and Cinemascope.The first wide screen film was The Robe in 1953 at The Regent; the first drive in opened was Hugh Wallis'The Blue Line at West Beach in 1954, and the first rock movie wasRock Around The Clock which sparked a riot on Hindley Street in1956 as teenagers started pulling up seats and dancing in theaisles.

Unfortunately the introduction of TV to SA in 1959 saw box officetakings plummet. The Advertiser made depressing reading as itreported cinema after cinema closing over the following decade.During the 1960s the big-screen, 70mm era spread with suchshowcases as Lawrence of Arabia , My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music .

Single screens started to make way for twins, which acceleratedwith increasing numbers of screens in the 1970s.

And just when the American new wave, the new sex and violenceclassification of R and the first blockbusters like Jaws were helping audience numbers to recover, the introduction ofcolour TV in 1975 helped finish off yet more cinemas. Home videodidn't help, and even random breath testing was reported to behurting the drive ins.

The movies had to change. Featurettes and intermissions disappearedand in the early 1980s in SA, the rules were relaxed, allowingsuburban cinemas to compete on an equal footing with city cinemas,which began their inexorable rise.

The VHS threat was seen off in part by Crocodile Dundee , which marked resurgence in Aussie cinema. Local audiences willfondly recall two of the biggest movies of the 1980s running forextraordinary amounts of time: The Gods Must Be Crazy ran for three years and the Rocky Horror Picture show played every Friday night for five years at The Chelsea.

During the 1990s, suburban multiplexes at shopping centres becamethe dominant force in movies with the number of city cinemasdwindling to a handful – and today, just two.

The world's equal largest cinema, the 30 screen Marion Megaplexopened in 1997 and these days the primary mode of distribution isto saturated the media with advertising and PR, open big movies aswide as possible, let them hang around theatres for six weeksbefore they pop up on DVD three months later.