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35. West Side Story (Western Theatre- West Brunswick) by Laurie Cunningham

Reprinted from "THE JOURNAL OF THE BRUNSWICK COMMUNITY HISTORICAL GROUP"- Vol 8, No 1, MARCH 1995

Melville Road near Victoria Street is a busy retail and business centre nowadays, but the sound of the lions
roaring at the Royal Park Zoo could easily be heard a mile or two up the new tram line when a resourceful real
estate agent named Thomas Gladstone Dowsley built the Western picture theatre.

Glad Dowsley, like his father before him, had through his thriving real estate agency, been deeply involved with
the development of the north-west Brunswick area ever since the land was first subdivided back in 1920. But
the real catalyst for Dowsley to open a theatre was the spectacular development of the area following the
construction of the tram line. By 1927, only 12 months after the first tram had travelled up Melville Road, most
of the empty land which swept down to the banks of the pristine Moonee Ponds Creek had given way to
urbanisation. Glad Dowsley then formed the Western Theatre Pty. Ltd. and soon after the Western started to
rise on the south-west corner of Melville Road and Victoria Street as a symbol of the progress of the area.

It has not been recorded who designed the theatre, but it had some interesting variations: the most notable
being its arch-shaped entrance and a distinctive curved roof instead of the predominantly slanted ones that
were a part of the structure of every other Brunswick theatre.

Because of its elevated position it was (and still is) a large landmark: but its size contradicts the small cosy
intimacy of the interior.

As a Greater Union Theatre, it opened without fanfare sometime early in 1928. The first mention in the press
was in the Coburg Leader on 20 April, when it reported on the success of a picture night at the Western in aid
of the Brunswick Amateur Boys Football Club.

The many social occasions such as this which were recorded at the Western make it clear that the early
managers, Messrs. Macallum, Alladice and Oneill, were very much involved with the needs of the local com-
munity. As the depression deepened and poverty wrecked the lives of so many in Brunswick, these occasions
took on a sense of urgency. The Western first started to show the talkies on 5 October 1929, but soon the
advertisements for the exciting new talkies in the Brunswick and Coburg Gazette were sharing the front page
with chilling headlines starkly describing the "parlous plight" of Brunswick's many un-employed residents.
It was through an advertisement for an old silent film that brought this theatre profoundly to notice. As if a plea
for divine intervention, the West Brunswick Relief Committee placed an advertisement for a special Sunday
night screening of the biblical epic "King of Kings" at the Western.

This was underneath a stark headline which read "People Starve in Brunswick: says Mayor McSolvin." It
formed a bizarre trilogy of poverty,religion and death - beside it was an advertisement for Charles P. Frilay the
local undertaker.

Times were bad for everyone and whilst the soup kitchens were busy, picture theatres were not. Many closed
down or converted into boxing stadiums or mini indoor golf courses. Foritunately this did not happen to the
Western, but the fact that after 1932 Burnley theatre are recorded in the rate books indicates that the Western
theatre company was not spared from the inevitable economic difficulties. (Burnley Theatres continued as the
owners until 1942, and after that as leasees to Western Theatres (not theatre) until 1946. Then Western
Theatres became both the owner and occupier of the property.)

These changes did not affect the friendly approach of the Western management with both patron and em-
ployee. Andy Romer, a former projectionist, still has happy memories of working at the theatre. "I had some
wonderful times there" said Andy. "One Saturday arvo the manager, Mr. Allardice, let me climb on the roof to
see Phar Lap run in his last Australian race at Moo nee Valley."

John Mackay who has lived most of his life in West Brunswick, went to the Western soon after it opened. In a
recent brief interview he said, "The first half of the program was all vaudeville. Some of the artists were well
known radio personalities, and most of them were really good. But when the crowds were low, they (manage-
ment) regularly brought back the picture"Naughty Marietta" because everybody loved it so much and that
always brought back the crowds."

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