Page 13 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

On one hot summer night, a grass fire was spotted burning near the creek behind the screen. The fire brigade
rushed two units which entered the Drive-In lights flashing. The audience thought it was a publicity stunt for the
feature that was showing, "The Towering Inferno".

Coburg also found itself the centre of attention for some less humorous reasons. The ticket box was located
next to a large tract of land, since built on, that was <::overed with long grass. On more than one occasion it was
perfect cover for a thief that slithered up to the ticket box and said "stick em up" His means of escape were just
as effective, once in the grass nobody had a clue where he went. The fact that Pentridge prison was located
close by also caused alarm on occasions. Numerous escapees fled in the direction of the drive-in and many
times patrons were alerted to lock their doors!
. .

Bio-Box and Screen

By the early 1980's the "R" certificate films which had been a staple of all drive-ins, were losing popularity.
VCRs had made big inroads into the business and once outer suburban tracts of land were now surrounded by
houses and factories.

The author recalls visiting one cold night in 1984 when the staffs cars outnumbered the paying customers. The
attractions on this night were "The Bounty" plus "The Honorary Consul".

In 1978 Village installed "Cine-Fi" sound into all its drive-ins. This system utilised the car radio to reproduce the
sound via a clip on the aerial. It was only mono sound but an improvement and a gimmick. Hoyts did not replace
their speakers with "Cine-Fi" sound and seemed not to suffer any loss of patronage.

Village and Hoyts rationalised the Melbourne drive-in circuit by combining their operation and closing sites that
were competing against each other. Coburg closed in 1984 along with five other locations. It sat vacant with
weeds growing behind its "for sale" sign. Coburg, unlike all the other sites was unable to be sold. Constructed
on a former tip site it was unsuitable for many buildings proposed for it at that time, i.e. the ground was unstable.
It also had no street frontage to Newlands Road other than the drive way.

It was a depressing Nme in the industry as we witnessed many colleagues lose their jobs as drive-ins and
hardtops closed. Growth did not occur in the industry again till the first multiplexes began to appear in 1986. In
1987 Village were about to lose the Northland Twin Drive-in and proposed that along with Hoyts they reopen
Coburg. So after 3 years dormant Coburg was reborn as a Village Hoyts Twin Drive-in. Many of the staff and
equipment from Northland also came across to Coburg. Including for the first time "Cine-Fi" sound.