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CONGRATULATIONS ON CR’S 100 ISSUE

Les Tod, OAM

ne hundred issues of any magazine is, today, something to be rather proud of.
OAnd over those 25 years, the gradual transformation of CinemaRecord into
what it is today is a testament to those who have worked hard over the years to
maintain it, and to those who have donated material to support it.
I was Editor of Kino, CR’s compatriot publication and predecessor, for fourteen
years. In those years, and in the years that followed under another Editor, Kino
developed from a home-made magazine into a professional and well researched
journal. CinemaRecord has followed in those footsteps and is now a journal that
any Society would be proud of. Unlike Kino, which died as a result of the lack of
written contributions by members, CinemaRecord seems to have no difficulty in this
area and maintains a high standard of articles from across Australia, and some from
overseas.

I joined CATHS about two years after it began, and have most of those early issues.
Some were researched, some were not, but all provided a springboard for those like
myself wanting more information on a certain theatre or cinema. And gradually
photographs began to appear from libraries, other societies, and private collections.
And it came at a time when the movie theatre was transitioning from single screens
into twins and triples, and more recently into the multiplex. So there was – and still
is – a whole new area of cinema building and architecture that needs to be recorded
for the future.
In Sydney there is a young university graduate whose hobby is recording and photographing multiplexes. Some of us may deride them as assembly
line cinemas, run by accountants [and yes, they are] but he is, in his own way, recording the present for the future. And this is also what CinemaRecord
is doing, and must continue to do, rather than focus too much on the cinema’s past, as glorious as it once was.

We members of CATHS were lucky to have seen those golden years of the movie palaces, the furnishings, the giant curtains and wide screens, the
marble and the glamour. Although a few theatres today try to retain this atmosphere, it is a time which has passed. (It may come again, for in Dubai
a complex of super luxury cinemas, named the Roxy, has recently opened).

Today’s younger generations have little experience of those older cinemas. That is why, for the future, CinemaRecord must maintain its high standards
and continue to record the development and history of Australian theatres, cinemas, and yes, drive-ins, multiplexes and public halls. It is all tied into
one.
In the not too distant future, issues of CinemaRecord, Dress Circle, Kino, and other journals which recorded our theatre history may be digitised by
public libraries or even Trove, and what we write today will become even more important tomorrow, and open up to a whole new, wider audience.
Already there are several groups on Facebook which concentrate on theatre history, one of which is run by member Kevin Adams who goes out of
his way to promote CATHS and CinemaRecord on his site. But while this is fine for those who only want a photograph and some basic details,
usually limited to one paragraph, it is up to CinemaRecord to research and detail the proper history of that theatre or cinema, with appropriate
photographs and where possible, advertisements and also acknowledgements. We need to maintain that professionalism in order to be taken seriously
by fellow researchers, writers and academics, and those who will judge us in the future not only for the depth of our research, but also how we express
it. Yet we need to balance that, for we are writing for our fellow enthusiasts, and that style of writing is usually personal, ie. one to another. I think
that CR is achieving that balance and doing it well.

I also contribute to an e-zine for film making enthusiasts, so we must be aware of technological change and how it can help or hinder us. E-zines
are like Kindle, digital and well laid out, but the reader is probably like me, happier with the tactile feel of a magazine or book in my lap rather than
a digitised screen. But there are others who do not see it that way, and embrace that new technology.
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I congratulate the editors, past and present, who have contributed to bring CinemaRecord to its 100 issue, through their hard work, dedication and
professionalism, and to those contributors who have helped the journal to achieve that important milestone. ★

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