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THE UNION HALUPARAMOUNT THEATRE: Mr. John Mcintyre of Moonee Ponds told me that he was a
member of the Ascot Vale A.N.A. which met in St. Paul's hall, Roxburgh Street. In 1941 it was necessary to
move from that venue as it was required for the packing of parcels of food and clothing for Britain.
The new meeting place was the foyer of the dress circle at the Paramount Theatre for which a nominal rental
was paid. Mr. Mcintyre cannot remember if other organisations used the Paramount but he does recall one
Christmas breakup party when a keg of beer proved difficult to finish off. Some members went into Union
Road and summoned a few airmen from the Showgrounds which were being used as an R.A.A.F. camp - the
job was completed. After the war it was back to St. Paul's hall.

Mr. Mcintyre also states that Nellie Bramley was more famous as an actress rather than a singer. She, together
with Alfred Frith, ran a weekly change variety programme at the Palace Theatre in Bourke Street, Melbourne,
for some time.

MEMORIES OF THE "SILVER SCREEN" by Alan B. Bresnahan

Having recently read an article in the A.F.C. "VIEWFINDER" about early serials at the 'flicks' prompts me to
pen a few incidents that I remember over the years.

The earliest was the occasion at the New Malvern Theatre about 1926, when Art Accord was the hero in "The
Winners of the West". In this instance the current episode had been left out at the Victory Theatre, Wattletree
Road, and when the lights went up the whole audience -as it one body- with loud shouting and jeering refused
to leave the theatre until the Manager appeared on the stage to appease the crowd. We waited ten minutes or
so for the serial to be screened. We then left for home in an orderly fashion, having asserted our rights.

My next memory was when in 1952, as an ex-store manager, and only a theatre manager for a week I was
called upon on a busy Saturday night to 'nip' a near riot in the bud, when my operator phoned down to say that
one of the projectors had developed a 'short' and gone on the 'blink' and we were going to have a blackout
shortly. I told him to bring up the footlights about 10 seconds before the end of the spool, and stepped onto the
stage- to deadly silence- (without a mike). I explained that we would require at least three or four minutes to
re-carbon and thread up the active machine, and if necessary in another 18 minutes (2000 ft) we would have
to repeat the procedure, until we completed Judy Garland in "A Star is Born". I retired to polite applause, and
on went the show, the short was rectified, and there were no more difficulties- but imagine if I had not made my
announcement. Talk about a 'baptism of fire'. After that incident I was no longer nervous of making any public
appearance.

On another occasion, during the "Petrov Affair", only limited numbers of the Newsreel of Mrs. Petrov being
rescued from the plane in Darwin were available. I had to break into the feature film- screen the Fox Movietone
News - and then send it on its way to the next theatre and continue on with the feature. I'm sure that this
incident would qualify for the Guiness Book of Records, as to my knowledge such an action had not been done
before or at any time since. The theatre in question was the now destroyed Victoria Theatre in Victoria Street,
North Richmond.

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