Saturday Night at the Movies

An overview of the glory days of the cinemas when there were Saturday matinees for the children with adventure movies, extra cartoons and serials but it was Saturday night that was the big night out. Ladies would get their hair done for an outing to the movies and everyone was dressed to impress.

Perhaps our most popular cinemas were the drive-ins, and this episode relives all their fun and games for both families and lovers alike. Surprisingly, our first drive-in was actually at a sports park in Townsville in 1941 and heralded a booming business nationwide. Now only a handful of them survive.

The introduction of television in the US was a shock and a warning for Australian cinema owners. From 1956, Australians were no longer dependent on movies for their main entertainment - they could stay at home, without paying any money or having to dress up to see movies and newsreels, and also got sitcoms, nightly news and sports. The cinemas began to decline and the wrecker's ball was in full swing nationwide.