Page 24 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2002 #37

The house lights were pairs of
pendants with large bowls (typical of
banks, school rooms and railway
waiting rooms), mounted on suspended
galleries.
The dimmer was hand made but
well made - a handle protruded
through an arc cut from the face of an
asbestos lined container attached to the
wall at a convenient height. The inner
end of the handle carried a contact
which ran across studs placed in an
by Ken Newell arc, with each stud connected to a
different length of coiled resistance
en Tulloch’s article on the Argosy The visible screen was 14 feet wide wire. Those wires could have been
K (CinemaRecord 23) brought by 10 feet 6 inchs high and masked by made from radiator elements. They
back memories. black material. It was mounted on a were carefully chosen to give about 20
When I started at the Argosy in the timber frame, about half way between steps of reasonably spaced dimming
early forties it was controlled by Ron the back wall and the proscenium. till the ‘off’ position was reached. The
Dudgeon and Tom McMurtrie They When the stage was needed for other wires were housed in a fire proof
also operated an engineering business purposes, fortunately not too often, the fitting on the wall just below the
Austral Argo. The link between the frame could be moved to the back ceiling.
theatre name and their other business wall. The frame leaned back slightly, The projectors I knew were Powers
is obvious - which came first? Ron and was supported at each end by a – one was a Model 6 (which came to
Dudgeon was away in the army at that prop, with pins dropped through the be known as Model 6A) and the other
time. The cinema manager was Arthur lower ends into holes in the stage floor. was a Model B. These were mounted
J. Darby who also worked in a family The floor was marked so that the on Austral Argo sound-heads on the
engineering business, Darby and screen could be slid slide back to the original Powers bases, which stood
Company. The two firms were close to correct position. straight on the floor without any
each other in the city. The loudspeaker was 12 inches in padding. The projection room walls
The theatre was the main tenant of diameter mounted in an exponential were fibro-cement, also without any
the Public Hall administered by the horn about 4 or 5 feet across at the surface noise reduction – although I
Caulfield City Council. Bookings for front (not as large as the one Ken Argosy Fact File
the use of the hall were handled by a described.) The whole horn was
local estate agent. supported by a heavy metal stand Origin: Public hall funded by
about 5 or 6 feet high with angle stays
The stage could be isolated from subscription
from the front corners of the horn
the auditorium by a woollen drop Address: 91 Murrumbeena Road
down to the foot of the base. The
curtain, one of the fire regulations of Architect: Harold W. Bladen
speaker was a Rola model G12.
the time. Immediately behind it were 358 Collins street
light weight curtains opening from the My first duties were winding and Opened: November 1932
centre, and controlled from the repairing film, showing slides, First Stage A Runaway Girl
projection room. These curtains were operating curtains (hand pulled) and Show: February. 1933
always left open between weekends so house lights, and attending to turn First Film: Viva Villa (MGM) 1935
that the stage area was easily tables if I was close by at the
accessible to other users of the hall. appropriate moment. Lessees:
Mr Les Crossling 1935/39
Messrs. R. Dudgeon and
Tom McMurtrie 1939/47
Selleck and Ward 1947/54
Mr. Ron Farmer 1954/61
Mr Vern Deutscher 1962
As Capri - Mr. Maurie Isaac 1962/74
Projectors: 1935 Simplex ex
Capitol
Raycophone heads.
1939 Powers 6A and B
1962 Powers (ex Noble
Park.)
Seating Capacity: 360 – 338
Additions: New front 1960
Hall Demolished: c.1980
Complementary businesses - Projector equipment sales & service and a cinema.
Source: Film-Weekly
24 2002 CINEMARECORD