Kings Theatre

In Ohakune, a small town at the southern end of Tongariro National Park in the North Island, Lyttle’s Hall was built in 1916.

It was a large wooden building, approximately 10m by 32m, with a corrugated iron roof. There was seating for 250 in the stalls and 50 in a small circle accessed by a very steep staircase. There was a double door entrance, with a shop to one side and the box office to the other. It was clearly a rather ‘basic’ hall, as the toilets were “tin cans” in an outhouse! There was a modest stage, and the hall was used for live events such as school presentations, concerts, election meetings and even weddings. It opened in August 1916, with cadets proudly marching from their school to the theatre.

In 1926 Harry Thompson, who had just moved to the town, leased the hall from Mrs Lyttle and converted it into a full-time cinema, the Kings Theatre. He added a projection box on the outside, above the veranda, and used wallpaper on the ceiling and walls to assist the acoustics. A pot-belly stove provided heating: this caused complaints during one screening when a patron decided to heat a tin of herrings on it!

In 1930 Mrs Lyttle sold the building to a group of local businessmen who ran the Patriotic Society. They continued to operate it as a cinema, now renamed the Patriotic Hall, and installed Western Electric sound equipment.

Harry concentrated on his other two cinemas - the Plaza, Ohakune and the Royal, Raetihi (see separate Cinema Treasures entries) – until 1935, when a serious fire destroyed the projection room. The businessmen sold the building to Harry the following year, who repaired the damage and installed new Powers projectors. He also installed what has been described as “electric tubular” heating and reintroduced the name Kings Theatre.

Following Harry’s death in September 1947, his widow, Emily, took over.

In the 1950’s the projectors were replaced by Ernemann 2’s. These, in turn, were replaced by Ernemann 8’s, from the Royal, Raetihi, in 1994.

Also in the 1950’s the entrance and foyer were altered [precise details not known]. Inside toilets were finally installed and the steep staircase was replaced. The seating was also replaced, and CinemaScope was installed. This reduced the seating capacity to 240.

Harry and Emily’s son Bruce took over in March 1979. He eventually closed the Kings Theatre in July 2014, and sold the building that December to Brett Gibson. It is not known whether it went into other uses but, by November 2024, when I visited the town, it had been demolished and the site was a vacant lot.

(With grateful thanks to Bruce Thompson, who gave me access to his book “Do Not Put Your Feet on Heaters”, which chronicles his family’s cinema history.)

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