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10. THE CHELSEA CINEMA By Trevor Walters

The Chelsea Cinema was situated at 178 Flinders Street Melbourne and was formerly known as the Majestic
Cinema. The Majestic was built and opened in 1912 by Amalgamated Pictures ltd. Ownership changed in 1916
to Union Theatres, and the Majestic was upgraded to the new "Picture Palace" standard which included carpets,
comfortable chairs and decorative surroundings. When "talkies" began in 1929 another extensive redecoration
program took place.

The Majestic was once again refurbished, renamed the Chelsea, equipped with the very latest projection
equipment, and opened on Friday 10th of June 1960 as Greater Union's number one "showcase" cinema.

The projection room was equipped with two 70mm/35mm Cinemeccanica projectors and one 35mm projector
which was also fitted with magnetic sound heads. All three projectors had carbon arcs. The seating capacity of
the Chelsea was 1, 169.

The opening feature was "Porgy and Bess" screened in 70mm. Other 70mm features to screen at the Chelsea
included "Spartacus", "EI Cid", "Lawrence of Arabia", 55 Days at Peking" and "Lord Jim".

"Guns of Navarone", "Lady Sings the Blues", and "The Day of the Jackal" were a few 35mm productions also
to enjoy very successful seasons at the Chelsea. A Saturday evening ticket for the opening production of "Porgy
and Bess" cost 10/3 ($1 .03) for the Stalls,15/- ($1 .50) in the Circle, and 16/6 ($1 .65) in the Lounge and Deluxe
Stalls.

In early 1975 the projection equipment was tranferred up the road to the Forum Cinema, and their projection
equipment was brought down to the Chelsea. The decline of the Chelsea Cinema had started some months
earlier when a screening policy of double features, many of which changed on a weekly basis, was introduced.
With the transferring of the projection equipment The Forum cinema had taken over as Greater Union's 70mm
house. At this time Greater Union had plans to demolish the Chelsea and build a six cinema multiplex on the
site, but this was not to happen.

The Chelsea screened it's last films. a revival screening of "The Enforcer", supported by "The Gauntlet", and
closed on Thursday November the 15th, 1979, destined to become a car park.
After closing, the Chelsea Cinema lay idle for a number of years. The other tenants of the Chelsea building had
long since departed. In the mid 1980's the Chelsea Cinema was demolished and a multi-storey car park was built
on the site. The Majestic--Chelsea has now joined a long list of cinemas that have gone forever.

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