Alf Beszant arrived in Australia, from England, in 1886. Educated at the Parramatta South Public School he commenced work at the age of eight as a newsboy and at the age of ten he became a ‘printer’s devil’ on the Cumberland Argus. A year later he entered the grocery trade working with his uncle.
When he was 19 he decided to enter the entertainment field with a combined vaudeville and moving picture show. After touring New South Wales and Queensland he returned to Sydney and played many Town Halls or other suburban halls, including Burwood, Hurstville, Rockdale, Ashfield and Parramatta.
Alf moved from hand cranked film projectors to electric projectors when Clement Mason opened one of the first open air shows in NSW at Elswick St., Leichhardt. Alf transferred to the Bennington Bros. show at Parramatta, in 1910, as operator and 18 months later he was instrumental in selling the theatre. He remained as operator/manager for a further two years, when he was compelled to resign through too much hard work. He then went to the Grand Theatre in Pitt St., Sydney as chief projectionist for 15 months.
He was asked to take over the running of the ‘Castle’ Picture Theatre in Granville. After operating the ’Castle’ for three month, Alban Gee, managing director of the Sydney Meat Preserving Company, asked him to manage the new Auburn Theatre, stated to be the best in the Sydney suburbs. This he did, while still running the ‘Castle’ and a little later he became the lessee of the original open-air Bennington’s Theatre in Parramatta. While continuing to operate the ‘Castle’, Alf was able to purchase the Granville Picture palace and built a new cinema in Burwood.
In 1921 the Burwood ‘Palatial’ was erected in Railway Parade. Then in fairly quick succession Alf proceeded to build the Parramatta Cinema No. 2 (later the Civic) and he also bought the Auburn ‘Embassy”. In Granville the ‘Castle’ and the Granville Picture Palace were demolished and a more up to date cinema took their place. Then the company controlling the two Burwood cinemas bought the Strathfield ‘Melba’ and a controlling interest in the Homebush Cinema. It was at this time, it was decided to form one large company, Western Suburbs Cinemas Ltd. The company controlled eight theatres and purchased the Concord ‘Ritz’ and the leases of the Lidcombe ‘Acadia’ and the Guildford ‘Regent’.
Although having many business interests Alf Beszant, along with B. Hines and S.J. Hurst, for the Progressive Party, ran in the West Ward, in the Granville Council election in 1920. Alf and B. Hines were successful in being elected (1).
In 1930 at the height of the depression, Alf constructed the Auburn ‘Civic’. Some time later the company took over the Roxy Theatre at Parramatta. The company then decided to embark on a program to modernise the older theatres.
By 1938, Western Suburbs Cinema had 19 theatres. Many had organs installed making them very popular with cinema goers as part of their evening’s entertainment. In June 1944 Alf sold his circuit of 23 theatres to Hoyts. In 1947 he started to build another chain of theatres and was operating them up to the time of his death in May 1950.
Adapted from: Sharp, B., (1982) Showcases of the past volume 1: a pictorial history of Sydney’s suburban cinemas, p. 48 – 49, Sydney: Author.
1. The Cumberland Argus and Friut Growers Gazette. 24th January 1920 & 31st January 1920.
