Living history
The Majestic Theatre was constructed in 1921 for Mrs Myra Osborne, licensee of the Railway Hotel, a few doors away on Factory Street which was then the centre of Pomona. At that time it was known as the Majestic Hall, and all its life it has served as a multi purpose hall, catering not only for film but also for dances, debutante balls, concerts, stage plays, roller skating, boxing matches and other community functions.The travelling picture show man called at regular intervals to show silent films in the early years, then in 1923 Mrs Osborne leased the hall to another early Pomona identity, Harold “Picture” Page, who obtained the cinema license which has continued ever since.
A supper room, now housing the organ and a stage storage area, was added in 1925 in one of many changes and additions made to the basic building over the years. A general store once occupied what is again the restaurant.
The first talkie was screened at the Majestic amid great excitement on April 28, 1931.
In 1933, Ernie Bazzo, owner of the Central Garage in Factory Street, took over the Majestic and the hall became the theatre. Mr Bazzo set up the Pomona Talkie Company in 1935 - and by 1970 was its sole surviving shareholder. The gallery was added in the 30s, along with the “bio box” over the front veranda. Built to accommodate the bulkier and more delicate sound projection equipment, it has been modified to provide space for our sound and light control desks.
Through the Forties, Fifties and Sixties, films were screened on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights – and seven nights a week during the war years when troops from a nearby army base provided capacity audiences. But then television started to make an impact. Ernie Bazzo suffered a stroke, and after 40 years of running the cinema was hospitalised for the last two years of his life. His son Harrold kept a reduced program going, until in 1973, Ron and Mandy West came to town and introduced the Travelling Film Festival to the Majestic.
They bought the theatre in 1974, and for a time screened first release films the day after release in Brisbane, although they had to boost their cash flow by running a video business. The Theatre was Noosa Shire’s only cinema until a multi-screen commercial cinema opened in Noosa Junction in 1984. The stage was enlarged in 1979 to better cater for stage productions and concerts, mainly performed by amateur players from the Hinterland towns.
In 1987 the Majestic reverted to screening only silent films, with Ron featuring on the organ. Thursday night screenings of Rudolph Valentino in The Son of the Sheik and an annual Silent Film Festival each September were augmented by matinee screenings for coach tour groups and other special events that continued until October 2006 when the Majestic was transferred to community ownership.
The Majestic Theatre contains an eight-rank theatre organ, with a Compton console from a UK cinema and pipes from a number of sources, all assembled by Ron West and now being completely rebuilt with the assistance of master organ builder John Brooks.
The original projection equipment was replaced in 1956 by Western Electric equipment from the Tivoli Theatre in Brisbane, and then replaced and updated again in 1980. A DVD system was installed in 2003.
Some historic theatre and cinema items collected by the Wests are still in use in the Majestic.
RON WEST. . . movies in the blood
RON West, born in 1933, saw his first film at the age of three. It was Lilac Time, a movie he still vividly remembers.Ron has spent most of his life in the theatre industry, starting at the age of 10 at the Opera House in Hawera, New Zealand, where he worked as a program seller if a live show was playing or as an ice-cream boy when a movie was being shown. On leaving school he worked as an assistant operator, later as projectionist at various theatres for several years, followed by 18 months’ National Service. He learned to play the pipe organ in preference to playing football on Saturday afternoons.
He has worked in designing and painting scenery, stage lighting, as a stage manager, playing in the orchestra pit (percussion or piano) and conducting.
During 13 years as a sound engineer for the Commonwealth Film Unit (now Film Australia) in Sydney, he ventured into film production and photography. His interest in silent film stems, he says, from his appreciation of visual images, of light and shade, rather than sound. A complete all-rounder in the theatre, he is able to turn his hand to anything – restoring films, repairing equipment, rebuilding organs and, more recently, dealing with the new technology of computers and DVDs. He is highly regarded by film industry practitioners as one of the gurus of film in Australia and is frequently sought out for advice.
Ron has been involved in a love affair with the Majestic since, with his late wife Mandy, he first saw the building in 1973. Mandy also had a long interest in theatrical productions and for 10 years directed an amateur theatrical group, The Majestic Players, in a wide range of plays and pantomimes.
In 2004, Ron received the premier Noosa Shire Australia Day Award for 32 years of service to culture and the community as operator of the Majestic Theatre.
The current ownership of the building by Pomona Inc on behalf of the community was made possible by a very generous agreement with Ron West whose dream is that the Majestic Theatre will continue to be at heart of Pomona’s community life, at the same time providing a focal point for a much wider community in the entertainment world of the 21st Century.
Ron West. . . organist
“The Son of the Sheik came about, because I happened to have a print of it, and because we happened to have a phone call one day in 1987 from a coach company transporting around a group of travel agents. There was a convention on the coast and the organiser of this convention got in touch with us and said “You couldn’t run a Silent Film could you?”
”Well I had The Son of the Sheik. The organ sounded like an asthmatic piano accordion. It was just barely going. But I said ‘Yes alright’ , so they wheeled them in and I ran Son of the Sheik. I just improvised the score off the top of my head and they fell apart. They thought it was wonderful and we just wrote it off as just one of those experiences that you have.
“Then the phone started ringing. The word had got around. Will you do it for us? Will you do it for this group? Will you do it for that group?
”After three months or so, we became very aware that we were making more money out of the silent movies than we were out of the talkies. So Mandy and I talked about it and we made an executive decision and we decided that what we would do was scrap the talkies all together, regardless of what happened, we would run it for a month, we didn’t expect anybody to turn up, then we would call in all the media, we would run one final performance as the last silent house finally closing and go out in a blaze of glory. . .”
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Ron West in a 2002 ABC radio interview
The Son of the Sheikh ran on Thursday nights at the Majestic for 19 years and continues as a regular program feature on the first Thursday each month.
Passing traffic has changed over the years!
More information on the history of The Majestic Theatre and other aspects of Pomona’s history is provided in the series of booklets entitled “Pomona, The Historical Centre of Noosa Shire”, written by Aline Gillespie and published by the Cooroora Historical Society Inc. They are available from the Majestic Box Office, the Old Pomona Railway Station Gallery in Railway Parade and the Noosa Shire Museum in Factory Street.
Phone (+61) 07 5485 2330 Email majestic@spiderweb.com.au
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