In the first few decades of the 20^th century, after 50 years of  back breaking land development ,the young colony of New Zealand was finding its feet and building basic settlements into more permanent towns. The hard working population began to demand more comfort at a time when the cinema was becoming a major entertainment for the average person. In America, the uncomfortable, tatty little nickelodeons were unable to cope with the increasing audience numbers.

Nickelodeon Early 1900s

Although the world’s first full length feature film was made in 1906, it wasn’t until the resounding success of  D.W. Griffith’s epic, Birth of a Nation in 1915, that the feature film had truly arrived for American audiences. Prior to this, films were short “one or two reelers” with basic storylines at best. Now that a real story could be told in a movie, unprecedented possibilities for mass entertainment could be developed. read more