Obituaries Australia

Sir: the obituary notice (Herald, January 27) recorded the death of Mr Eric Peter Christensen on the previous day. His passing, in his 86th year, is a melancholy loss to the cinema history and marks the end of an era, as Mr Christensen would certainly be the last of the itinerant “picture show” men.

I first encountered his name during research on the movie industry in the Fairfield district and discovered that a young Eric Christensen had shown films by limelight in Smithfield in 1913.

Further inquiry revealed that both his father and grandfather had conducted lectures and lantern slide shows on western country circuits in the latter half of the last century, and in the tradition of picture-show men, they could do a song or dance routine or even a comedy act to supplement the confined attractions of the slides.

As a lad, Eric toured with his father, mainly on the Riverina circuit, and in his reminiscences he demonstrated his life-long involvement in the picture-show business by mentioning that he was showing films in a shearing shed at Tubbo in the Hay district on the evening when the outbreak of World War I was announced.

Eric Christensen married in 1921 and with his wife, Cecilia, began a successful career as a cinema entrepreneur. Over the years they leased several metropolitan theatres, and at one stage of the Depression were simultaneously running three cinemas in the Fairfield district.

In 1935, the Christensens began operating cinemas in the inner south-eastern suburbs of Sydney and built up business to the point where they built theatres in the art deco style of the thirties. The Christensens retired when television began to make inroads on the independent exhibitors’ businesses.

Eric Christensen’s death severs the last link with the pioneer travelling picture show, and his many friends extend their sympathy to his widow, Cecilia.

Vance George
Honorary Archivist
Fairfield City Council
Mitchell Street
Villawood