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Dux Interior

Another interesting development was the entry of a new roof top. There was no decoration of any description on its
concern, the Australian Picture Company. (2) The latter exterior. There was a central entrance with stairs leading
being the priJ1Cipal supplier of film for the Lyric theatre in to a balcony on the right side of the small foyer.
Chapel Street, Prahran .. This no doubt provided unwanted
competition for the established finns such as Spencer and The seating accommodation appears to have been in ex-
Johnson & Gibson. However, time was to prove that this cess of I ,200 and the auditorium was built with a dress
venture was somewhat sh01t lived. circle which was supported by several ornate iron posts.
Despite the Dux having only a corrugated iron roof, it had
The first of Albert Park's permanent cinemas was the " Dux the luxury of having the underside lined. In true Edward-
Photoplays" erected art 47 O'Grady Street. This picture ian fashion the walls contained painted scenery panels.
theatre opened on the 29th of June, 1912 and its original The author visited the Dux in 1981, at which time it was
proprietor was Mr. A.H. Kent. (3) still in amazing original condition after decades of vari-
ous uses. Despite the removal of the seating and screen,
A second short-lived open-air "Dux" was also operating little else had changed. Shortly after my visit, the building
at this time on the beach front. A photograph of this thea- was sold and has since lost most of its original internal
tre surfaced in Melboume about 17 years ago and a refer- features.
ence to this cinema was noted in Bell 's International
Photoplay (a publication of the J.D. Williams Amusement Sometime after the end of the Great War, the Dux had
Company ) in various incomplete issues in 1912 that sur- been acquired by Hoyts Pty. Ltd. Between 1908 and 1915
vive in tbe Mitchell Library in Sydney. Unfortunately, due Hoyts had established a circuit of picture shows in both
no doubt to its early demise. little inf01mation has come to the city and suburbs of Melbourne. Hoyts came to Sydney
light on its origins. in 1915 taking over the former Colonial No. I in George
Street (this being a fmmer J.D. Williams theatre) and took
A factory-like structure, the "Dux Photoplays" was curi- out a lease on the 6th of November, 1916, on the Kinema
ously placed in a residential Street, a short distance from at Mosman. (4)
the main shopping strip. The facade and walls were of
brick construction with an electric sign perched on the In Melbourne, Hoyts decided to build a new cinema in the

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