Wybert Reeve's Australasian film shows


Wybert Reeve ...

After this introduction to projected motion pictures, at the end of November 1896 and the beginning of December, Reeve went to Sydney and Melbourne and arranged a partnership agreement with Marius Sestier and H. Walter Barnett to show Lumière films in Adelaide.

Sestier then went to Perth, Western Australia, and Reeve took the Lumière cinématographe that had been used in Adelaide, and was the second one to come to Australia, on tours.

Reeve then took the cinématographe on a tour of New Zealand.

On return from New Zealand in January 1898, Reeve put the cinématographe and 63 films up for sale; however, he could/did not sell it. From April 1898 Beaumont Read was managing shows with "Lumiere's Original Cinematographe" - presumably from Reeve - and was in Adelaide, Victor Harbour, Port Elliot, Goolwa, and probably elsewhere in South Australia. In late May 1898, Wybert Reeve and Beaumont Read were doing shows in Broken Hill. In late June they were in Burra, and no doubt elsewhere in that area of the country. From 29 August to 8 October 1898 the Lumière machine was used with the Cyclorama show in Adelaide. Reeve again put it up for sale with associated paraphernalia in January 1899, asking £150 for equipment that he claimed cost £500.

Copyright © 2010 - 2012 Tony Martin-Jones Film history index Edition 1.6  (2012-11-29)