The Australian Midnight Horror Show Riots
(Another article submitted to a few magazines in 2021. Again, not a single reply. Not even a polite (or a non-polite for that matter) rejection email) Midnight Horror Show Riots A new gimmick was uncovered in Australia in the second decade of the 20 th century: midnight movie screenings. By the 1950s a new aspect to midnight screenings was uncovered – riots! The first such screening (that can be confirmed) happened at Broken Hill, on New Year’s Eve, 1912 when the short film Auld Lang Syne [1] was screened shortly after midnight. From there the midnight New Year’s Eve film became an annual tradition for Broken Hill and was as much a celebration for the city as Christmas. The popularity, and success, of the screenings was noted and picked up by other cities around the country. Soon it wasn’t just New Year’s Eve that was chosen for midnight screenings, public and school holidays and Easter were targeted. Initially midnight screenings were reserved for mainstream romance, light comedy