Page 18 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

free. Removing the hundreds of screws and chipping off the dried chewing gum from the floor was a tedious
business but eventually it was finished. Good and Matthews of Charlton were engaged to renovate the building.
The painting of both inside and outside was done by Ron Smart of Charlton, and the electrical work was carried
out by V.P. & L. Dabron, electrical contractors.

Having arrived at this point we faced several difficulties. We had no projectors, no screen and no seats.
Considering the number of theatres that had closed you would think that there would have been a variety of
secondhand equipment to choose from, but despite enquiries we could not find any suitable projectors until we
heard that Nulty's were closing their last country theatre, the fist one that they owned, in Oke Street Ouyen.
We purchased the entire plant, spools, lens etc., plus a few extra parts that Len Nulty thought might come in
handy, for $200. The machines were Junior Standards, fitted with Raycophone heads and a Jones amplifier,
both manufactured in South Australia. H & B arc lamps with 8 inch mirrors burning 6mm carbons were supplied
with A.C. power by Transarc. The lamps were D.C and would drift, so every time a new trim of carbons was
used the lamps had to be reset. All the equipment was transported from Charlton, and then the projectors were
taken to Melbourne to be overhauled and repainted.

The next problem was the seats, 448 of them. We had reduced the seating to make more room between the
rows in the stalls. We inquired at Hoyts Theatres seat store, situated in the old Brighton theatre, and were told
that the only seats available were in the Regent in Ballarat which hoyts had recently closed and they were
disposing of the furnishings. We purchased 450 seats which were transported by the Charlton carrier R.D.
Kelly. The arms were loose and the stands needed cleaning and painting so we set to work on them in Mel-
bourne, my mother, my sister and myself. As soon as we had filled the tralier with renovated stands we took
them back to the theatre and exchanged them for dirty stands which then went through the same process.

While all this was proceeding, electrical contractor Mr. Dabron, a projectionist at the theatre for some years,
commenced rewiring the building to Health Department requirements.

Hoyts had supplied us with a screen which they no longer required, and we purchased from them a dimmer unit
for the house lights and foot and overhead lights. A new emergency lighting unit was installed and the projec-
tors and sound system were fitted. Good quality secondhand carpet was laid by a Bendigo firm called The
Beehive. Although there was color television in the city, Charlton still had black and white viewing. The local
people and the council were keen to have their theatre operating again and did all they could to help.