Page 16 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2002 #37

TheRegent Gardiner

In 1925 Associated Theatres Pty Ltd opened three prestige theatres, The Regents South Yarra,
Thornbury and Gardiner. In this tribute to the third Regent, Ian Smith explains its place in local memory.

‘A Luxurious Picture Theatre Is themselves an ongoing maintenance and disturbance to the young people
To Be Built On This Site’ (1924) problem. who attend our Physical Culture
The suburb of Gardiner in the early The announcement that a theatre Classes and Other Meetings during the
twenties was a train station, a church was to be built on land assumed to be week.’
and a small shopping strip around zoned residential was a surprise to One resident wrote and suggested a
which pieces of the suburban jigsaw residents and the shopkeepers. If this compromise; place the entrance in the
were still to be laid. The link between building went ahead homes near the side street, (which would have meant
the rise of the eastern suburbs and church would face the entrance and an orientation similar to The Regent
theatres to match had been spelled out those in the side street face a side wall. South Yarra.) The directors agreed to
in the publicity for the opening of The Petitions of nearly 100 signatures to assess this alternative. The independent
Regent at South Yarra ‘…a worthy the Mayor of Malvern made the points report came out in favour of the
adjunct to the fashionable suburbs that a theatre opposite a church was original plan. A side entrance would
which surround it’ (1). The plan was for inappropriate and the building should require stairs to the front doors and on
The Regent at Gardiner to fly the be amongst the shops in Burke Road. this slope, even with safety rails, the
same flag further east. The church elders made their objection risk of injury was too great. Gardiner
Trams on the uphill climb from the in a separate submission: was to get its theatre in the
(2)
railway gates often needed to drop ‘Weeknight services in the Church configuration the owners wanted .
sand to gain traction. Those turning will be distracted by the music. Free-standing and set apart from
downhill sent up a haze of filings from We object to the usual type of the shops, the theatre became the
the grip of the brake blocks. In posters being displayed opposite the landmark of the suburb. A quirk of
choosing to utilize such a slope the Church and Sunday school. survey had placed a bend in Malvern
directors of Associated Theatres (soon We fear that the congregation of road on the approach to the Burke
to be a part of Hoyts Theatres Ltd) persons about the entrance to the Road intersection. Built on this elbow,
would please patrons, but give theatre will be a source of annoyance the front of the theatre seemed to

16 2002 CINEMARECORD