Page 9 - untitled

The ceiling over the luxurious seating is not as high as The ceiljng contains some 4,000 coloured bulbs, access to
that of the lower foyer and has a more closed in feel to it. which is through the ceiling, a challenge even today, when
it comes to changing them. The. ceiljng changed colour
Entry to the auditorium was via stairs to the crossover be- frequently and brought about different aspects of the ceil-
tween lounge and dress circle. ings texture. The plasterwork, with its various mould-
ings, was highlighted by red, green, blue and clear lights
which when rotated through the various colours resulted
in a fascinating array of light and shadow effects on the
plasterwork. The lighting effects were manually operated
by an electrician behind the stage. Today a computer per-
forms this task.

The projection box, unlike most theatres, which was an
appendage of the dress circle, was set in the ceiling at the
rear of the auditorium. It blended in well. It had technical
problems, due to the 20 degree rake of the projectors that
produced a 'keystone' effect whereby the top of the image
It is at the point of entry that the magnificence of the audi-
was smaller than the bottom. Modifications at the projec-
torium hits the patron. The ceiling is overwhelming at
tion and screen end, hid these difficulties fi·om the patron
first sight and as one reaches this landing before proceed-
who was, rightly so, there to be entertained.
ing to their seat, the complimentary continuation of the
ceiling to the more open, columned sides makes the expe-
rience even more pleasurable. The proscenium continues As mentioned earlier, the first program was Cecil B. De
with the theme, accessorised by velvet drapes with dis- Mille's epic 'The Ten Commandments'. A silent classic,
tinctive decoration. The organ, or band, depending on the still talked about today. It was a fitting film to commence
session would be there to entertain prior to the film com- the life of The Capitol' which was dubbed 'the theatre
mencing. Such entertainment would eventually fade out beautiful', a tag it carried into its advertising. An orches-
as a means of cutting costs! tra, or the WurliTzer, provided accompaniment for the film.
Despite myths, which have today's generation believing
that silent films were just that, silent, this was rarely the
case, even in the smallest of theatres or halls had some
form of musical backing.

A week after opening, Paramount's Auditorium was to be
closed and the weekly Paramount releases were to be trans-
fen·ed to Hoyt's De Luxe (Bourke Street). The Audito-
rium was expected to close permanently but after two weeks
it reopened under the direction of Electric Theatres (J.C.
Williamson and Union Theatres) as an extended season
house for that chain, replacing this policy originally be-
gan at the Strand Theatre in Bourke Street in 1922. One
of the crowning releases at the Auditorium was the Aus-
tralian classic 'For the Tetm of his Natural life' (1927)
which was Australia's fu·st intemational hit.

- 9 -