William Francis Thring, better known as Francis William Thring or F. W. Thring, was an Australian film director, producer, and exhibitor. In 1921 he married Olive, née Kretmayer. Although sometimes known as Frank Thring Sr, on account of well-known son Frank Thring Jr., the Frank Thring who is the subject of this entry is actually Francis William III! His forbears were Francis William Thring - 1812-1887, Francis William Thring - 1858-1920. .
Career
Thring was born in Wentworth, New South Wales, the son of a labourer, William Frances Thring, and Angelina Thring. He worked as a conjurer in the outback and as a bootmaker in Gawler, South Australia, as well as starting Biograph Pictures in Tasmania. In 1911, he became a projectionist at Kreitmayer's Waxworks in Melbourne, Victoria. He thrived in the cinema trade and opened the Paramount Theatre in 1915 and became managing director of J.C. Williamson Films in 1918, which eventually merged to become Hoyts in 1926.
Efftee
In 1930, Thring sold his interests in Hoyts to Fox Film Corporation and went into film production, establishing Efftee Studios. Over the next five years, Efftee produced nine features, over 80 shorts and several stage productions, including the Australian musicals Collits' Inn and The Cedar Tree. Notable collaborators include C. J. Dennis, George Wallace and Frank Harvey. Thring visited Britain in 1932–33, where he sold Efftee's entire output: seven features, nine shorts and a series about the Great Barrier Reef made with Noel Monkman. In 1932 Thring became the leader of a campaign for a quota for Australian films. In 1934, he suspended Efftee's operations, announcing that resumption would depend upon the introduction of an effective quota system in Victoria. In 1935, Efftee obtained licence to broadcast from the then-new broadcasting station 3XY which was owned by the United Australia Party. 3XY originally broadcast from studios in the former ballroom at the top of the Princess Theatre, Melbourne. After New South Wales passed its Cinematograph Films Act in September 1935, Thring resumed production in February 1936, in Sydney, becoming chairman of directors of Mastercraft Film Corporation Ltd while remaining managing director of Efftee Film Productions. In March he sailed for Hollywood in search of scriptwriters and actors. and returned in June but died soon after. Thring died of cancer on 1 July 1936, aged 52, in East Melbourne and was buried in Burwood Cemetery. He was survived by a daughter from his first marriage to Grace Wight, his second wife, Olive, née Kreitmayer whom he had married on 25 April 1921, and their then 10-year-old son, the future actor Frank Thring. Lola dated the future Prime Minister Harold Holt but she ultimately rejected him only to marry his divorced father, her father's business partner. Harold Holt thus acquired a step-mother who was three years his junior. It was estimated Thring lost over £75,000 of his own money on his filmmaking and theatrical ventures.
