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87. Re-Building the Bijou By Roger Seccombe

It all began on the 9th of January 1999, when conslnlction commenced on the redesign of the Bijou. The previous couple
of weeks had seen preliminary demolition of the wall separating the cinema from an adjoining film editing suite. The
rebuilding was finally completed in late April when a signwriter put the finishing touches to the Bijou's exterior mar-
quee.

When 1 wrote about the history of the Bijou in CinemaRecord Number 21 of September 1998, plans for the redesign had
been put on the proverbial back-burner. The "Smallest Show on Earth" looked like remaining such. The chief problem
which had long bedevilled the Bijou was the lack of a sense of proponional scale in the auditorium. The problem that
faces any designer of a home cinema is to achieve a feeling of "realistic" scale, so that the audience can almost believe
that are in a cinema that is much larger than it really is. "Realism" depends on a number of factors: like viewer-to-screen
distance, size of screen, choice and appropriateness of decorative features in the auditorium and a raked seating plan
amongst others. Take on example alone: one Adelaide home cinema has an impressive Oriental (?) urn in the foyer area.
The problem was that it all but filled two thirds of the space, dwarling everything else in the process! The effect was quire
ludicrous.

The New Rococo-Inspired Stage and Proscenium

The Bijou's problems of perspective and scale have been tackled
by a process of enlargement while tapering the auditorium down
to the dimensions of the proscenium to heighten the feeling of
depth. Then say "You can't turn the clock back" but the operators
of the new Bijou have done just that! Bijou Entrance

The rococo-inspired stage and proscenium have followed the inspiration of the classic pre-CinemaScope proscenium,
flanked by Corinthian columns and decorative plasterwork, while a crushed velvet "swag" finishes off the essential silent
"Academy" screen look of the proscenium arch. The curved proscenium provides a hidden cavity into which the main
curtains open.

The new Bijou has followed the trend in American home cinemas to complete the exterior appearance by the addition of
an illuminate marquee set off by antique cinema poster boards. Outside the Bijou entrance a large scale-floored reception
area provides a suitable venue for catered cinema shows.

While minor changes have been made to the bio-box to make the projectionist's job easier, the main technical changes
have involved a complete rewire of the cinema for stage lighting and a new dual-speaker sound system mounted behind
the screen. Acoustics have been improved by the new design of proscenium. The revised seating plan now provides for
a maximum audience of twenty.

For the operators of the Bijou the new look rococo design is a conscious attempt to recall cinema-going in the early
decades of the cinema's history and especially reflects a commitment to keeping alive the golden age of the movies of the
1930's and 1940's.

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