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This is divided into 260 Lounge/Circle, 260 in the Stalls,
CATHS-V Film Buffs Weekend
and 40 chairs in the Boxed Lounge.
by Mike Tri~kett
The Boxed Lounge is a raised area at the very back of the
stalls, immediately under the front of the circle. Individual
chairs are currently used in this space. The building is gas On the weekend March 25 and 26 we started at 9.00am on
heated and force ventilated. the Saturday morning with the buy and sell. There were
plenty of bargains for the early birds and from there on it
was all go for those attending the second annual Melbourne
Film Buffs Weekend. This weekend, now fmnly entrenched
in the Film Buffs calendar, is organized and run by the
Cinema and Theatre Historical Society - Victoria, known
to all as CATHS-V.

The weekend presents an opportunity for ftlm buffs - both
collectors and enthusiasts - to get together and swap, buy,
sell, or just plain talk about their favourite subject- films
of course!

The venue for most of the events was the Fifth Footscray
Scout's hall, conveniently located opposite the Seddon Rail-
way Station in Yarraville. With plenty of parking available
Rear of Circle and Bio-Box right next to the hall, the 'goodies' for sale and 'swap'
were quickly brought in and set up on the buy and sell
The original bio box, at the rear of the circle has been ex- tables.
tended to provide a larger rewind area and storage. In 1981
the Todd's purchased the theatre from the Jarrett family Following refreshments, it was off to the nearby Sun Cin-
and gradually upgraded the building and its equipment. ema, for a presentation by ScreenSound Australia, previ-
An extended stage was removed to reinstate the stage and ously known as The National Film & Sound Archive.
proscenium to the 1950's renovation. The sound and pro-
jection equipment was old and badly in need of replace- ScreenSound Australia generously provided Mick Newnam,
ment. Two Cinemeccanica machines were installed along one of their ftlm preservation research technicians from
with a new screen. The theatre is equipped with Dolby their Canberra office, to present this talk on film preserva-
sound. An unusual feature of tbe projection room is tbe tion. Mick spoke on the various f01ms of film degradation
hand operated rope pul ley system to operate both the stage that concern collectors. His lecture covered colour fading.
curtains and the screen tabs. vinegar syndrome, cleaning and storage and the expected
life of films.
Ken Todd has had a lo:ng career in cinema. He became an
assistant projectionist at Barham (N.S. W.), a Murray River Next was a presentation of cartoons on the Sun's huge
town, in mid 1944. The Lome operation is the main venue screen. Then back to the hall for lunch. Following lunch, it
in a three-screen circuit including the summer screens at was Auction Time. Not to be missed at any Film Buffs get-
Anglesea and Apollo S.ay. Ken's stepson, Tony Hill, leased together, the auction provided lots of bargains and some
the building in I 997 and now runs the business. brisk bidding, and of course a bit of fun. There were J6mm
features that sold for as low as $20.00, as well as a number
The Lorne Theatre operates on a multi movie, multi ses- of quality items that fetched much higher piices, and of
sion policy running up to 5 sessions per day in the summer course lots in between.
peak. Although the Lome Theatre has never closed it goes
into recess for about six weeks, during tbe winter months.

References:
[I] From information supplied by Ken Todd
[2] Film Weekly- Motion Picture Directory 1937/ 38

[3] Film Weekly -Motion Picture Directory 1940/41
Photos: Peter O'Reilly

Auctioneer Mike Trickett

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