TE AWAMUTU NEWS | 1
THURSDAY MARCH 20, 2025
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Vayle Hammond Licensed REAA 2008
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MARCH 20, 2025
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Credits roll in for Des By Jesse Wood
After 62 years, 10 of those at The Regent Theatre Te Awamutu, movie projectionist Des Savage is taking a backseat. Savage has been there for the change from film reels to digital movies. Film used to arrive in bus service cars, now “it’s just like running a DVD”. He wouldn’t have it any other way, but he does miss the old western movies. ‘A lot of people are diehards about film, I’m not. By the time you used to get a film that had been around half the theatre chain circuit, it had scratches running down it,” Savage said. “That doesn’t happen anymore with digital. I think it’s brilliant.” He also recalls theatre managers throwing out patrons for not standing to sing God Save the Queen. One of his most auspicious moments saw him escorted from Hamilton to Ngāruawāhia and back, to play a restored black and white movie for the Māori queen Dame Te Atairangikaahu in the 1970s. But his favourite show of all, was the smiles he could bring to the faces of cinema patrons across New Zealand. Savage trained at The Regent Theatre Ōpotiki under Kerridge Odeon for two years and remembers his first screening in 1962, A Pair of Briefs. Previously he had been a tray boy there, selling ice-creams from age 16. He moved to Hāwera and then Paeroa for 18 months, before moving “all around the show” across the country, followed by several years in Gisborne. There, he met and married wife Karen. The pair moved to Hamilton in 1973 and have lived there ever since. He worked in several Hamilton movie theatres, mainly the Carlton Theatre, Village Five Cinemas and Event Cinemas Chartwell before retiring in 2014.
Des Savage has been the projectionist at The Regent Theatre Te Awamutu for the last decade. Photo: Supplied
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However, retirement only lasted a short while. Savage received a called from The Regent Theatre Te Awamutu owner Allan Webb. The pair had known each other for about 40 years. What was supposed to be a few months turned into a decade. Even as Webb retired and handed the theatre over to Te Awamutu, under the Allan Webb Theatre Trust, Savage remained there for several years to ensure a smooth transition. Savage’s retirement event was held on Saturday afternoon at The Regent Theatre. Cinema one was near capacity, as people came to watch the 1999 October Sky film with Savage, a free screening of his choice. Past employers and friends spoke before the movie. They educated the crowd about Savage’s career and thanked him. “Shortly after his retirement Des got a phone call from Allan. To me that says a lot for both of them because Allan clearly identified Des as a being a very competent projectionist. Des obviously had a high regard for Allan too, in that he was prepared to come help and stay for another 10 years,” theatre trust chairman Alan Livingston said. “Des gave a huge amount of voluntary time to the job and willingly so. He always mentioned that the greatest satisfaction he got from movies, was seeing the pleasure on the people’s faces. “On behalf of the Allan Webb Theatre Trust and the community, a grateful thanks for your decade that you’ve spent here in Te Awamutu.” Livingstone presented Savage with a certificate to take home and a plaque for the wall of the theatre to show their gratitude for his service to the community. Webb also stood up to express his admiration for his friend. “He was totally obliging, reliable, always
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