Page 11 - CR31R.pdf

Interior of the Park showing Stage and Hammond Organ

Taylor and Soilleux) ru1d the first cinema to have a crying In the design of the stage, it was decided to include an
room was Hoyts Windsor in 1936. (10) electrically driven bandwagon. This was another novelty
and a guest band of musicians could be moved to centre
The Park theatre contained almost every modern feature stage by a press of a button. If more space was needed, the
that would have been available at that time. One of these special "receding" screen could be moved back into the
was its electronic organ. Manufactured in the United States stage house, along with with its speaker. To decorate the
by the Hammond Organ company, the electronic organ proscenium several sets of lacquered satin drapes were in-
was a marvel for its time being capable of reproducing stalled.
theatre organ sounds without air and organ pipes. The
Hammond organ represented an economical alternative to The latest development of"Biack Light" was employed to
t11e old WurliTzer pipe organs. The advantages were that give the most novel stage presentations ( ll ). All of these
there was no need for regular tuning, and more impor- features and many others were the brainchild of Hoyts
tantly, the instrument did not require enormous organ engineer, the late Trevor Hedberg.
chambers and other spaces. The Hammond organ simply
consisted of a console and speaker box. Hoyts appear to Hedberg was an electrical engineer and supervised the elec-
have been the first company to use these instruments for trical and lighting systems for the Captiol Theatre, Mel-
cinemas. Their first installation was unveiled at the Cen- bourne, in 1924. Later he supervised similar works at the
tury theatre in Sydney in 1938, several months before the St. Kilda Palais. About 1928 he came to the Hoyts com-
Park theatre opened. pany and performed similar tasks. Most notable was his
work at the Regent Theatre in Melbourne.
The installation at the Park was certainly ingenious. The
organ console was mounted on a revolving platfom1 lo- In lieu of popular "art deco" opalescent lights the Park
cated on the right band side wall forward of the Circle. used concealed lighting throughout out the entire audito-
The console was hidden from view (when not in use) by a rium. Troughs containing hundreds of lamps fonned part
crushed velvet curtain. When it was time for the organ to of the ceiling, whilst in the rear stalls indirect lighting
play at the interval, the organist would press a button and emanating from large plaster plaques illuminated the ceil-
operate the revolve, and the console would appear in the ing. Small balconettes which extend forward of the Circle
auditorium. On the opposite side the sound was amplified contained illuminated silhouette freizes in fibrous plaster,
through a separate speaker which was obscured by a indirectly lit .(12)
crushed velvet curtain.
Although the architects, (H. Vivian Taylor) always de-
The organ was a regular feature at the Park until the mid signed their modern theatres with the accent on stream-
1950's when it was removed from the theatre. lining, which some times included unusual wall and ceil-

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