Largs Bay Jetty
Largs Pier Hotel
Semaphore Palais
Waterslide Complex
Carousel
Tourist Train
Semaphore Jetty
War Memorial Clock
Timeball Tower
Semaphore Hotels
Semaphore Library
Churches
Odeon Star Cinemas

The Semaphore Odeon Star Cinema

Right-click here to save the podcast for this audio

Semaphore Odeon Star Cinema

Cinemas were very popular before television was introduced.

When television was introduced in 1959 and early 1960's many people stopped going to the movies. People stayed at home watching television and many theatres shut down.

The Odeon Star was opened in 1920 as the Wondergraph Picture Palace . The Odeon was one of the last to close down. It then became a second hand furniture shop in 1976, owned by a man named Mr Hoffs.

He bought the Odeon Theatre for 27,000 pounds, which equals about $67,000

In the 1980's, a man named Bob Wilson moved up to Semaphore from the City and he found it ridiculous that the closest theatre was Glenelg.

He went to see Mr Hoffs asking if he could rent the top part of the shop to build a theatre to serve the Semaphore community. The reply was yes. So it was turned into a community theatre.

The cinema reopened on the 24th December 1991. People like the Mayor and anyone who was important at the time was there. The movie played was Dancing with Wolves and that showed for 3 weeks and was a big box office smash.

The Semaphore Odeon Star Cinema has survived many social and physical changes where other cinemas have not.

The Semaphore Odeon Star keeps connections alive for moviegoers from past, present and future generations.

Thomas