Matters of Interest

Thebarton Theatre

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:25): Today I rise to speak about an institution. What do the following have in common: Killer Carl Cox, Killer Kowalski, Abdullah the Butcher, Skull Murphy, Brute Bernard, the Missouri Mauler and Blackjack Slade? While they do sound like criminals confined in solitary in a penitentiary, they also have a common bond with the likes of Louis Armstrong, Joe Cocker, Kylie Minogue, Nirvana, Midnight Oil, INXS and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin fame. What links them together is the venerable institution on the corner of Henley Beach and South roads, the Thebarton Theatre, or Thebbie as it is more affectionately known.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: They will get there. On Sunday, this glorious, heritage listed relic of the roaring twenties is to be inducted into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame by the Adelaide Music Collective, along with John Schumann and his band Redgum, and Thebbie's gatekeepers, promoter Bob Lott and his business partner, Robbie Robertson.

It is going to be a huge occasion, and I will get to that shortly. First, a little of this iconic place's amazing history, where thousands of artists have performed and countless thousands more have attended. It was built between 1926 and 1928 and cost £30,000 or the equivalent of $2.3 million in today's dollars.

This was the era of F. Scott Fitzerald's The Great Gatsby. In America, the Charleston was in full swing, gangsters were shooting up Chicago, Eliot Ness was raiding speak-easies for illegal booze and mostly silent black-and-white movies were all the rage. Phar Lap was a two year old and had just been sold for 160 guineas, or $500, and the Great Depression was still a year away.

At the time it was one of South Australia's grandest movie houses. Chances are it played the first ever talkie, The Jazz Singer, starring black-faced Al Jolson, which for obvious reasons we are not likely to ever see again on the silver screen. It was then known as Thebarton Town Hall, with a distinctive council chambers next door. Incidentally, the suburb itself is something of a misnomer. It should have been spelt with an 'e' instead of an 'a', making it Theberton after the British village from where our city's planner, Colonel William Light, hailed. It became the centre of so many cultural and entertainment activities in the western suburbs.

This area also holds special memories for me. I lived just down the road when it was known as Taylor's Road and I attended Thebbie Primary School directly opposite. Thebbie Theatre was where I saw my first ever motion picture, a western called Flaming Star starring Elvis Presley. As kids, we had the brass-buttoned, uniformed commissars chasing us down the aisles and under seats after we opened the exit doors from the inside to let our mates in for free. At the school's annual graduation concert in 1966, I was on stage with a band of classmates, badly lip-syncing The Who's classic My Generation. Between 1962 and 1971, it staged Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds to find Adelaide's best rock bands. Hoadley's, of course, made Violet Crumble bars.

Movies were screened into the early 1970s and included Greek and Italian language films because of the heavy European migrant population. That brings me to those colourful names I rolled off at the start of this nostalgic trip. They were not criminals but the stars of World Championship Wrestling, the novel hit 'em and body slam 'em One Ring Circus that screened on national TV on Sundays and which successfully tapped into the huge migrant audience. The good guys like Mario Milano and the Golden Greek, Spiros Arion, took on the baddies with those mean monikers. These theatrical imports sent the fans wild.

Things looked bleak in 1980. Thebbie was so badly rundown that its owners, the West Torrens council, were ready to put a wrecking ball through it. Thankfully, it was saved and resurrected by its current tenants, Weslo Holdings. It is one of only three of this type of design still used for entertainment.

Surprisingly, heritage listed Thebbie has never needed financial bail-outs. Today, it is run profitably by Weslo's in-house managers, legendary promoters Bob Lott and Robbie Robertson, who are being honoured for their services to the music industry on Sunday, with Redgum and John Schumann, famous for their iconic anti-war song, I was only 19. More than 60 musicians will pay tribute to Thebbie on the night: among them The Angels, Glenn Shorrock with The Twilights, Glenn Wheatley with the Masters Apprentices, Red Symons and ex teen idol Mark Holden—a sentimental celebration not to be missed.