Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Cinema series brings flashbacks

Staff Reporter
Whanganui Chronicle·
4 Nov, 2015 08:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
DECENT EARNER: A film starring Barbara Windsor (left) - most recently seen in Eastenders - and Diana Dors produced the biggest payout for one of the tray boys.

DECENT EARNER: A film starring Barbara Windsor (left) - most recently seen in Eastenders - and Diana Dors produced the biggest payout for one of the tray boys.

Memories of old theatres invoked by Wayne Shaw's series in the Chronicle about the cinema have been coming in to the newspaper.

Gay Manning of Wanganui says the Manning family had "quite an association with the beautiful Regent Theatre" - six of its members having worked there at one time or another during the 1950s, as either tray boys or Nibble Nook staff.

A Manning by marriage, Gay says she worked there in the early 1960s as a second job to pay for her wedding in 1963.

Her husband-to-be Bill started there as a "tray boy" around 1950 aged 10.

"Saturday nights were quite 'grand' occasions when the theatre would be a full house - most of the patrons filing out at halftime for a pre-rolled ice cream, an orange drink and sweets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Having previously prepared everything, we would be frantically busy for 20 minutes or so serving the several rows of queuing humanity and then the clean-up and restocking began."

She explains the tray boys ("I don't think any girls in those days") were paid on commission and went round the theatre with a tray on a leather strap selling to those who didn't want to leave their seats.

"My husband remembers his biggest payout was 1 and sixpence - the film being A Worm's Eye View starring Sid James, Barbara Windsor and Diana Dors."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Gay says the work was fun and pleasant, and it was sad when the theatre eventually closed and was later demolished.

Margaret Benefield shares her "best, also worst" old picture theatre memory. It dates back to the 1930s and Aramoho's old Duchess Theatre, aka the "Duck House", which later became the Plaza.

"The occasion was the finale of a Queen Carnival fundraiser for Aramoho School. A well-known lady of that era (Mrs Armstrong) did the costumes for the stage crowning productions. Some of her garments were quite old. I was to be a pageboy. Thus I held tightly a cushion upon which, hopefully, balanced the crown. Ah - the shining show highlight."

Margaret said all was going well until she had to turn her back on the audience and bow. "I was dressed in medieval style black bloomers. Fortunately my mum insisted I wear my own knickers under the black pants. Why? Because these old black pants split in two or three places as I bowed - my rear, of course, to the highly amused audience." She says laughter was not usually part of the "serious crowning of a queen".

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'Innovative, progressive, proactive': Health trust signs 21-year lease for St George's site

17 Oct 05:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

One of Whanganui's most anticipated weekends will be back in 2026

17 Oct 04:00 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'No small feat': Whanganui voter turnout tops 50%

17 Oct 04:00 PM

Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'Innovative, progressive, proactive': Health trust signs 21-year lease for St George's site
Whanganui Chronicle

'Innovative, progressive, proactive': Health trust signs 21-year lease for St George's site

Te Oranganui hopes to have its "first shovels in the ground" by about Christmas.

17 Oct 05:00 PM
One of Whanganui's most anticipated weekends will be back in 2026
Whanganui Chronicle

One of Whanganui's most anticipated weekends will be back in 2026

17 Oct 04:00 PM
'No small feat': Whanganui voter turnout tops 50%
Whanganui Chronicle

'No small feat': Whanganui voter turnout tops 50%

17 Oct 04:00 PM


Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable
Sponsored

Poor sight leaving kids vulnerable

22 Sep 01:23 AM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP