Page 18 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2002 #37

High Hopes
Opening night during Show Week
1925 was the only occasion when a
Governor of Victoria participated in a
Regent gala. The coup enabled the
publicity to claim that the theatre was
(7)
under Vice regal patronage . Table
Talk captured the mood:
For the opening of the new Regent
Theatre at Gardiner (on Wednesday 23
Sept.) not only were the proprietors
assured of a bumper house but society
from the Governor and Lady
Stradbroke down, attended and gave
their blessing. Mrs.--- and other
society leaders took an active part,
and tens of Melbourne’s best society
girls helped the good cause by
inveigling hard cash for flowers and
sweets from an audience that filled
every corner of this beautiful new
picture theatre. Sick children always
appeal, and the Associated Theatres
have most generously allocated the The Herald Friday 25 Sept. 1925. (Source: State Library of Victoria.)
proceeds of the opening night to form
report those occasions on which the interpretations for this incident but I am
the nucleus of a fund for their benefit,
theatre continued to show films. Of interested in this one - Hoyts could
which will be held in trust by the
course the theatre never missed a have avoided all acrimony by installing
Countess of Stradbroke .
(8)
session and continued to operate in cheaper timber rails, but marble and
The plan seemed to be to set such
breach of the law for seven months. brass were the accoutrements of a
a tone of high mindedness that the
Finally Hoyts appealed directly to the Regent and that was that, even if it hurt
church’s foreboding would be proved
Minister for Health and sense the balance sheet.
wrong. The effort was hardly needed -
prevailed. The brass was ordered from Audiences of the thirties were
this building could sell itself.
Sydney and the rails fitted. astute about the quality of sight and
The view of the screen from any
There can be a number of sound and rated their theatres
seat set a new standard. Enter the
accordingly. The Regent always had
stalls and your legs told you that you
clear sound. In 1938 it was upgraded
were walking downhill. And for a few
to Western Electric’s ‘Mirrophonic’,
years there was the music. I was told
advertised as ‘Living Sound’ and
that my grandfather had said that the
sometimes as ‘the gilt edge sound’.
sound of the orchestra was in itself
Audiences could hear every word. For
worth the price of admission.
patrons on the north- south line
The story of the brass handrails between Camberwell and Gardiner the
shows how the standard of decision was clear - the centre of
presentation set for a Regent could be gravity for picture going shifted to
a millstone when the Depression Gardiner.
began to bite. Like most aspects of
The first of a new breed of theatres
The Regent Gardiner the staircases
to threaten the supremacy of The
were generously wide. For this width
Regent was The Regal Hartwell
the Health Department regulations
(1937). It was not close enough
specified a central balustrade and hand
however for my family to change the
rails. Hoyts wrote and asked if the
habit of taking the tram to Gardiner.
installation could be deferred citing
The opening of the second Rivoli
cost problems.
(1940) near the Camberwell Junction
The Department refused to make was another matter. In this building
any concession. The lack of handrails the goal to cocoon the shadow world
became the item holding back from the intrusions of the real one was
registration of the building as a place achieved – no light from under the
of entertainment. Hoyts explained that street doors, no sound of rain on the
part of their problem was the difficulty roof, integration of the foyer with the
of obtaining quality brass for the job. sweets counter and big lavatories to
Finally Health issued an Order to Block ads like this were only for big accommodate a rush of patrons. The
name films. The Herald 26 Oct.1925.
Close and asked the Malvern police to Rivoli embodied practicality with
(Source: State Library of Victoria)
18 2002 CINEMARECORD