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Marvellous Memories

YOUR PERSONAL MEMORIES & REMINISCENCES OF AUSTRALIAN THEATRES

Surrey Years. auditorium was gutted and re-built as Surrey Hills had two other
I attended Chatham primary school offices above a car park. The three theatres. The original Surrey Hall on
from 1958. On the few occasions when western shops in Croydon Rd were the east side of Union Rd, south of the
I went to a cinema, it was to the Time demolished. railway, is still there. I have looked
Balwyn. The school held its annual As far as I can see the shops through the double doors, the area is
presentation assembly there. One of fronting Union Rd were retained, not still one large space, and has not been
the sports houses at the school was re-built behind the façade and the partitioned.
Dimmick, presumably named after the foyer was converted into an additional The hall of Holy Trinity Anglican
family that built the Surrey cinema. shop. The northern-most shop has Church on the east side of Union Rd,
When the building became squash been a father and son dry-cleaning just northof the former Surrey Theatre
courts we would buy sweets at the business for years. The corner shop was used for monthly screenings of
shop there on a Friday night. The and the former lolly shop are still a wholesome films for kids before TV
entrance was the original foyer beyond real-estate agency (Hudson, no longer was widespread. I would have
which we were able to capture Dimmick). The Croydon Rd frontage attended in about 1959-60: a 16 mm
glimpses of the players in action. retains the facade and includes the projector on a stand in a dimmed flat-
I remember the gutting of the former manager's office. Everything floor hall throwing the image on to a
cinema, and the rebuild. The north else was demolished from the passage portable screen. I can't remember
wall was retained; the Union Rd rearwards. Looking from the rear lane, much of the programming, except for
facade was retained (it still has the all the shops are still single storey; the the Peter Butterworth comedies: we
waterfall motif); one quarter of the former ladies toilets appear to be loved them.
Croydon Rd facade was retained. The intact, presumably serving the shops. Roderick B. Smith, Surrey Hills

Still recognizable:
The former Surrey theatre in 2003.
A real estate agent continues
business in the corner shop, only the
name is different.

The Surrey Hall, formerly the
Rex theatre which closed when the
Surrey opened in 1939.

28 2003 CINEMARECORD