Crick and Furse. Founders of the Kings Theatres.

GUY CRICK

Born 8 February 1901 in Hobart, Tasmania.
Died July 1964 in Brisbane, Queensland.

The Film Weekly (23 July 1964) reported Crick’s death and noted that he had brought a new modern conception to Australian theatre design with his work for the suburban houses of the Kings circuit, introducing many innovations.”

Of British stock which went to Tasmania, Guy Crick attended Melbourne Grammar School and went on to attend the Technical College, Melbourne part time. [1] His attendance at the College was in the CS course for four years. He returned to Hobart in the early 1920s, where he married. In the mid-1920s, he moved to Sydney, coming to work in Henry E White’s Sydney office where he would have come into contact with the management of Union Theatres during the building of the Capitol and State Theatres and would establish a relationship with that company (later Greater Union), undertaking design work for it up until the earIy 1960s. (His older brother, Stanley, was managing director of Fox Films (Aust) and of Hoyts Theatres after Fox purchased the Australian exhibitor.)

After White closed his office at the onset of the Great Depression, Crick went into partnership with Charles Bohringer (1930). The partnership of Bohringer, Taylor and Crick only lasted a few years, with Crick departing to set himself up on his own as Crick and Associates. One of the associates brought across from Bohringer’s office was Bruce Furse who shortly after the Kings Theatres’ project was set up by Crick and George Webster, became a partner (c1934) [2]

Crick kept his office open during World War II while he served in the army in New Guinc using his architectural and engineering skills. After the War he returned to the practice partnership of Crick and Van Breda, followed by a change to Guy Crick and Associates and finally Guy Crick, Lewis and Williams, practising in both Sydney and Brisbane although Crick spent his last decade in the latter city. After the War he produced designs for low budget theatre conversions such as the Phillip Street Theatre, and the Lyric Theatre into the Forum in Sydney, and the Odeon Twin in Brisbane. He also desigiird the Festival Hall, Brisbane and eight drivein cinemas in Queensland as well as a number of RSL club premises.

Of the 1930s design period Crick was especially interested in the interior design of cinemas and is believed to have been influenced by German architecture of the 1930s that favoured an uncluttered appearance.
“This no doubt made him responsive to the Expressionistic curvilinear lines and lighting troughs which his office produced in the late 1930s . . . Crick himself, commenting on theatre designs, stressed the need for good organisation of the building progress, that good acoustics could be provided without great quantities of sound absorbent material, and an expert should be used to work-out the sight lines". [3]

According to Crick in a 1936 interview, "the architect’s part goes considerably further than the mere design of the theatre. That aspect, of course, is important but no more than the furnishing, lighting, decoration and the general treatment necessary to make an attractive show-house. All things must harmonise for tone to obtain maximum effect, and, while once their choice was left to others, Mr Crick emphasises . . . it is [now] a work for the architect.’’ [4]

As with all partnerships it is difficult to identify who is more responsible for the various individual tasks, such as working to obtain the commissions, the conceptual design work, the detailed design, the documentation for building, administering the building contracts, etc. Crick certainly showed an interest in the technical aspects of building theatres such as acoustics and lighting, and noted on his letterhead in the 1930s that he was both an architect and structural engineer. While in Melbourne he also taught building construction at the Technical College for a time; and in Sydney he became involved in the cinema industry through his participation in the Kings Theatres’ group as joint managing director.

ENDNOTES

1. Information about Guy Crick, hs education, his practices ann interests in design for theatres was obtained
• from answers by Guy Crick junior to a lIst of questions submitted by R Thorne in the late 1 970s
• by K Cork from interviews by telephone with Pam Osborne (Crick’s daughter) and Molly Gilchrist (Crick’s niece) in January 1991 and October 1994
• from the record of registration as an architect on the ties of the Board of ArchItects of NSW
• from information supplied by Bernie Lewis in January 1994
• from information supplied by Melbourne Grammar School in May 1994
• from Evetyones. 16 December 1936, p.42
• from The Film Weekly Motion Picture Directoty, 1940—41, 1961—62.
2. Sometimes the partnership was referred to as ‘Crick and Furse, in association”.
3. B. Thorne. Cinemas of Australia via USA, 57.
4. Everyones, 16 December 1936, 42.


BRUCE W FURSE

Born 2 May 1906 in Strathfield, NSW.
Died 9 April 1967 in Strathfield, NSW.

Following his secondary education at Sydney Technical High School, Gerald William Bruce Furse attended the Sydney Technical College, studying architecture part-time while working as an architectural assistant. (Because family records do not exist for the early part of his life, with whom Furse worked in these early years is unknown.) Like many architectural students of his era he did not complete the architectural course, so when the registration of architects was set up by Act of NSW Parliament he sat for and passed the registration examination conducted by the Board of Architects of NSW, becoming able to use the title ‘architect”, in 1933. Prior to this year, he had been employed by Charles Bohringer, but then left and went to work for Guy Crick. The partnership of Crick and Furse was established in 1934. [1]

It was during the next six years that Australian theatre architecture was to be dominated by the name of ‘Crick and Furse’ and their practice “enjoyed a spectacular success , as one trade journal expressed it in 1940. Furse’s contribution to the partnership will probably never be fully known as records no longer exist, however, The Australasian Exhibitor (7 November 1940) stated,
“During the association ... Mr. Furse personally and in conjunction with others, designed some thirty new theatres in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania, and remodelled about fifty existing theatres with the streamlined features typical of modern treatment and appeal.” [2]

When the partnership was terminated in 1940, Furse opened a practice in the Prudential Building in Martin Place. Among his theatre designs in that early World War 2 period was a remodelling of the Victory Theatre at Five Dock, NSW. As well, plans were drawn for a new theatre in Darwin. The Australasian Exhibitor (7 November 1940) spoke highly when it concluded, “Bruce Furse is now well and favorably known to many Australian showmen, and his invaluable theatre experience[sic] assure him a brilliant future within and without the motion picture industry.”

By the end of 1942, building restrictions were in place because of wartime shortages. Architects virtually went out of business but Furse had been co-opted into the Department of Works and was sent to supervise the construction of a munitions factory in Bathurst and jobs in Lithgow and other towns. A year or so later he obtained a release and was employed in a civilian capacity in supervising the construction of US Army bases in Queensland. He transferred to Sydney in 1944, although still with the US Army. [3]

At the end of hostilities, he returned to private practice as Bruce W Furse and Associates. While some theatre work was done (eg plans for a new Savoy Theatre at Epping, NSW), much was domestic and commercial. In 1948. Furse visited USA, England and France seeking new ideas. An unfortunate accident in 1954 resulted in the end of his architectural career, although his practice continued to operate for a time.’

A search of Furse’s post-1940 projects in order to see their design quality may provide visual evidence as to his individual design capabilities and, in turn, whether he or his partner might have had the major design input for the Kings Theatres.

ENDNOTES

1. Information about C W B Furse, his education and practice was obtained
• from interviews and correspondence with B Thompson. C J Furse and Mrs L Furse in July 1994 Situ K Smith in October 1994
• from records at the Board of Architects of New Soutn Wales
2. No complete count has ever been done of Crick and Furse's theatre buildings.
3. lnformation supplied by Mrs L Furse in July 1994.
4. Information supplied by Mrs L Furse in July 1994.