Page 18 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

68. The Roxy by Ken Tulloch

20 Years At The Roxy Theatre - And how it came about

As a youngster of about 4 or 5, I became interested in photos on the wall after Dad brought home a toy slide
projector. The light source was a small kerosene lamp and the slides were glass and approximately 6" long by
3/4 wide containing 6 images. When projected onto a wall they created lots of interest in my mind.

The next step was more exiting when Dad came home with a toy 35mm projector and some film. I thought I
was made. The light source was a torch globe powered by a battery. Now I felt that I was on my way. These
pictures really moved, and I soon found out that you could buy 50' rolls of film for about 2/6 pence (25 cents).
My next move was to build a better light source. This I did by making a larger lamphouse and installing a lamp
run off the 230 volt mains. This proved very successful.

Not being satisfied with having pictures on the wall, my next move or should I say aim, was to have a permanent
home for my projector. As luck would have it, Dad had decided to get rid of the fowls. In my mind I could see
a possibility of utilizing the now ex-chook house.

I was fortunate that the structure was very well built, it was roofed and covered in on three sides, the fourth side
had chicken wire on it, so it was just a matter of covering in the fourth side and putting in a floor. That was no
problem as we had quite a good amount of packing case timber about.

At one end of the structure was a shed attached in which fowl food was stored, also laying boxes for the hens
were let into the wall, thus saving us from having to go into the yard to collect the eggs. The laying box had an
opening into the fowl house, so as the fowls could use it when the mood took them, it was obviously an ideal
place for my gramophone.

I then built a shelf for the projector. As I now had a projection room separate to the main body of the theatre, I
cut a hole through the wall to let the light from the projector reach the screen, a second hole was cut out for the
projectionist to view the screen. At the screen end I made a wooden frame over which I stretched calico then
painted the cloth with aluminum paint to obtain the famous (at the time) silver screen. In front of the screen
Mum gave me some old curtains which I soon had running on wire with a cord running back to the box for
opening and closing of same. I named my little cinema complete with illuminated sign, "THE PLANET".

Around this time a school mate as luck would have it, also had a projector, so we were able to run twin
machines. Next piece of good luck was, the mate's father ran two theatres, "THE BROADWAY" ELWOOD and
the "CARNEGIE HALL" (now THE DUTCH CLUB). This meant that we had access to scrap film. One film that
I recall vividly that we had was a full feature called "NIGHT TERROR IN THE CIRCUS", starring RUTH
CHATIERON a well known star in the silent days. This film was tinted as was the practice in those days, Red
for Fire, Blue for Night, and Amber for Day. THE PLANET THEATRE ran for five years.

It was through this association that I was able to enter the holy of holies, THE PROJECTION BOX at the
CARNEGIE HALL, (I have written a separate article on this theatre, also the MURRUMBEENA HALL).

After I returned to civilian life in 1946 having served 6 years in the Army, I was married, and a short while after
that I had the opportunity to purchase a "CINEVOX SENIOR DeLUXE sound proj ector, which served me well
for 5 years. In that time I did countless screenings, and made enough money to buy a brand new 621 BELL &
HOWELL projector. I still remember the price, 345 pounds ($690) which was quite expensive by today's standards.
I joined the KODAK, HERBERT SMALL, and BROWN & DUREAU film libraries, these were all paying ones
ranging in price from 2 to 5 pounds. The other libraries that I dealt with were free, such as the Consulates of
most countries. They had very interesting films. When T.V. came, it knocked a lot of our film shows, so we had
to either give the game away, or carry on regardless. I did the latter, because by that time I was well and truly
hooked.

I finally bought a new house (thanks to war service) in 1940. After a while I decided I needed more space to
show pictures, I knocked a hole through the wall dividing the kitchen from the lounge room. I made a roll-up
screen in front of the lounge room window, widened the pelmet, installed curtains which were electrically
operated from the kitchen. Pelmet and house lights were also operated from the kitchen, and the theatre seats
were on skids so as they could be removed when no pictures were being shown. By that time I had obtained a
second projector.

18