Description
The Majestic Theatre was originally built as a social hall with attached shops in 1921 and is believed to be the oldest authentic silent movie theatre in the world, and the longest continuously operating movie theatre in Australia. The land on which the Majestic Theatre stands, was purchased in 1921 on behalf of the licensees of the Railway Hotel who planned to construct a hall to the south of the hotel to attract commercial travellers who would benefit from hall space in which to display their wares. It was intended that the hall would serve several functions: to show silent movies, for vaudeville productions and for the hall and adjacent Railway Hotel to act as a social centre for the town.
Over time, the theatre has served as a venue for dances, balls, concerts, and wedding functions, roller skating, boxing, and church services. The Majestic remained the Noosa Shire's only picture theatre until 1984.
The hall was constructed of unseasoned milled hardwood, with the capacity to seat 198 people. It included a sprung dance floor of % inch crow's ash timber, still extant today, and was raised on stumps to avoid flooding. On either side of the entrance to the hall were small shops. To the left was the Majestic Café, which also served as a general store before being used for storage from the 1930s, and to the right, a shop that at various times housed a dentist's surgery, radio shop, and a mechanic. In the mid-1920s a supper room was added to the long southeast elevation of the hall, and this section was later extended to the northeast.
On 28 April 1931 the first talkie, or movie recorded with its own soundtrack, was shown at the hall, and around 1933 the hall's lease was transferred to Ernie Bazzo, who upgraded the hall to a theatre by adding a small gallery and a bio box. A number of local social functions were shifted to the new Pomona Memorial Hall during this decade. In the late 1930s Bazzo used seating from the Princess Theatre in South Brisbane to replace the existing canvas sling seating. The Pomona Talkie Company was registered on 1 October 1935, and involved Errol Osborne, Ernest Bazzo, and Charles S. Thomson. Bazzo also owned the nearby Central Garage, and worked as a mechanic during the day, operating the theatre at night.
The Majestic Theatre was operated by Ernie Bazzo until he suffered a stroke in 1973. The Theatre’s busiest period was during World War Il, when a Tank Attack (anti-tank gun) Regiment was stationed near Pomona. The theatre remained popular after the war, and throughout the 1940s to the 1960s, films were shown on Wednesday and Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons. At the interval between movies, patrons often adjourned to the Kia Ora Café next door. This building, later known as the Majestic Café, was located north of the theatre, and burnt down ca 2002.
In 1973 Ron and Mandy West introduced the Travelling Film Festival, which featured first-release and avant-garde films to the Majestic Theatre, with the festival continuing at Pomona until 1994. The Wests purchased the theatre in 1974, although title to the land on which it stands was not transferred until January 1979. Ron's late wife Mandy shared his interest in the theatre, and during the 1980s she directed an amateur theatrical group, The Majestic Players, in pantomimes and plays on stage at the Majestic, the stage having been enlarged in 1979. Classical concerts were also held on Sunday afternoons by visiting musicians. In the early 1990s school plays were performed at the Majestic.
In 1987 West was asked to show a silent movie to a group of travel agents, and since he possessed a print of the 1926 film 'The Son of the Sheik', he ran the film and accompanied it with his restored Wurlitzer pipe organ. The success of these screenings led the Wests to decide to only show silent movies at the Majestic, which gained world-wide recognition as a silent movie house. Address 3, Factory Street, Pomona
