A memory

Boxing Day, 26 December 1958. I was nine years old and I recall the day clearly. My father drove into the city in the morning to the Mayfair Theatre. You could do that sort of thing in those days and actually have somewhere to park and the parking was free. A new film was starting that day for the summer holidays and Dad purchased five tickets. He was taking my mother and me and my grandparents to the movies that afternoon. The 2pm session.

The Mayfair in the 1960s when it screened 'Cleopatra'

The Mayfair has long disappeared but my memory remains.

Having purchased the tickets my father returned us home. We had lunch, picked up my grandparents, drove back into town and we went to the movies.

I remember we sat about two thirds the way down the stalls on the right hand side. The auditorium was packed. The expectation was intense. The film was to be screened in a new format; 70mm. When the lights dimmed the curtain parted to reveal a huge, curved screen, bigger than any we had ever seen before.

There were no pre-movie advertisements nor trailers as we were used to seeing. Instead 'an introduction' to 70mm was screened. The audience ooohed and aaahhed as though we were really doing the stomach churning turns and twists as the camera took the audience on a ride through various locations in the USA. After a couple of minutes we were in a vehicle hurtling down a steep street scene in San Francisco. Suddenly another vehicle appeared on a cross street and we raced headlong into it.

At the very moment of impact, with wondrous and exquisite timing, the opening credits of the main feature appeared. The movie we were all agog to see had commenced. It was 'South Pacific'.

At intermission my father, grandfather and I took a walk around the block. My father asked his father-in-law what he thought of the movie. My grandfather's response was one word, 'outstanding', spoken with a vehemence and a certain inflection that I have never forgotten.

They were different times. It was only thirteen years since the end of World War 2 and all the adults had experienced the war years. The war time setting of the movie's plot was something they all could relate with easily.

The movie, an adaptation of one of Broadway's greatest musicals, was a stunning success. That premiere season we attended was to run for more than five years. Astonishing then and unthinkable for a movie nowadays.

I periodically recall the day and the reason for it coming into my mind this time is that the musical is being staged in Sydney at the moment in a new production as part of Opera Australia's season.

I have attended it this past weekend.