West's Theatre

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Uploaded on: October 16, 2021

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The Crown lease arrangement continued after Edwin Charles Potts (1904-1950) bought the Roxy in July 1939. One might reasonably assume that this situation could easily have continued indefinitely. However, it seems that Mr. Potts might have been seeking to divest himself of the Crown, which served mainly as a Saturday night ‘overflow’ house. Within a year he had applied to the Theatres & Film Commission to enlarge the Roxy from 772 to 892 seats. He terminated Crown screenings at the end of August 1940. One might speculate that ‘Dad’ West did not like the idea of having his steady rental income terminated. Despite having ‘retired’ from show business five years before, the now 78 year old West immediately applied to increase the Crown from 636 to 828 seats. Both enlargement application plans were rejected, but a Crown upgrade proceeded. The ‘new’ WESTS cinema (no longer the ‘Crown’) opened in early 1941. It is not clear who blinked first in the West vs. Potts stand-off, but it was not long before Potts bought WESTS cinema, and it remained as his supporting house until it ceased use in the mid-1960s.