Obituary: Jan Grefstad

By WAYNE THOMPSON

* Cinema manager. Died aged 61.

Jan Grefstad took on the major cinema chains with his independent movie theatres.

A softly spoken schoolteacher, his wish to entertain pushed him into a battle with big guns of the film exhibition business, and into controversy over adult movies.

"He was a fighter," said his nephew, Mark Matheson, who once worked with his mother, Sharron, in Grefstad's beloved Auckland cinemas - the Classic in Queen St and the Hollywood in Avondale.

As a boy, Grefstad had a postcard projector in the garage of his Green Bay home, and at 13 he was selling ice creams at the Plaza in Queen St.

He worked part-time as a projectionist while teaching at primary school.

In 1966 he took on the lease of the Grosvenor theatre in Avondale, renaming it the Hollywood.

He was still making ends meet by teaching in 1974 when he started the Classic.

He tried to establish Queen St's first independent cinema for 40 years.

He wanted to revive the classic movies he regarded as the finest entertainment - mostly those made before 1960.

But he was ahead of his time.

Poor public response forced him to search for more popular films that would make the cinema pay.

He won respect for the integrity and stamina he showed in the ensuing battle against the monopoly on new films by the Kerridge Odeon and Amalgamated Theatre chains.

But the Classic turned to showing mainly X-rated movies.

And by 1986, Grefstad was up against what he called a "moralistic, second-level censor" when his landlord, the Auckland City Council, tried to terminate his lease because of the nature of the films he was showing.

He won a reprieve - thanks to the forceful lobbying of a city councillor, Phil Warren.

Grefstad said at the time that he did not like showing films such as Deep Throat, but there was a market for adult movies.

He saw them as subsidising the "real pictures" from his personal collection of classics which he showed at the Hollywood.

The monument to his years of struggle is the Hollywood theatre, which he owned since 1995.

Here he proved his acumen by reviving 3D movies such as The Creature from The Black Lagoon and by rescreening The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This camp film developed a cult following, and it was party time every Friday and Saturday night for 10 years until 1988 - making it the longest-running film in New Zealand.

Other successes were periodic nostalgic trips to the silent movie era of the 1920s, with films accompanied by a rare Wurlitzer pipe organ.

The organ played a medley of classic movie themes in tribute to Grefstad at his funeral service in the Hollywood theatre on Monday.

"It was a full house, standing room only," said Matheson. "Jan would have been chuffed."

Grefstad, who died after a heart attack, is survived by Matheson, and his niece, Amanda.