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The next stage is to make copies
ORAL HISTORY preparation; just an indication that the available in our Archive collection for
questions would cover his working life
HELPS CATHS. from his first job up to his retirement. our members, and other bona-fide
What is amazing is how much detailed
researchers. The original tapes are
By Jim White information is recalled with ease – copied to CDs as these are easy and
examples include theatre seat numbers cheap to duplicate, and will not
As a young boy, Brian Quigley was from sixty years ago or the projectors deteriorate as tape does. We also plan to
fascinated by the “magic light coming and sound-heads used at the Padua transcribe, summarise, and index the
out of the black holes” at the back of Brunswick in 1948. A series of interviews so that printed copies can be
the Cinema Richmond where his structured questions provide the made.
parents had a permanent booking on framework. The interviewee already has When interviews are recorded
Saturday nights in the stalls - Row L, the answers; they are in the head copyright concerns have to be
seats 6, 7, and 8 over sixty years ago. waiting to be triggered. addressed so that interviewees know
He was just fifteen when he got his first There can be memory lapses, of that their material will be used
job as second-assistant projectionist at course. A name, or date may not come according to their wishes. We use a
Hoyts Regent South Yarra in 1946. It readily to mind. But this is a minor standard copyright agreement between
was bliss! factor compared with the overall value CATHS and the interviewee to
The next fifty-five years took Brian of the interview. If you want to test safeguard the rights of all parties.
from assistant-projectionist to chief this out, ask someone with a few years We are looking at ways of involving
cinema-engineer working for Hoyts, behind them to tell you about where CATHS members by running a series of
MGM and Marriners variously at the they went to school, or about their first small workshops during the year. We
Regent Fitzroy; Padua Brunswick; job. Once they start telling you about it, need interviewees, interviewers, and
Trocadero Footscray; the Capitol you may have trouble shutting them up! other forms of assistance to get things
Swanston Street; the Plaza and Metro One of the delights of oral history, really moving. So keep an eye on our
Collins Street; and the Metro Twin is the very real pleasure that people get magazine and website for information on
Drive-in at Clayton. He retired in 2001 from being interviewed. They enjoy the activities of the Research Group. In
as Chief-Projectionist at the newly talking about their past. We are talking the meantime, if you want any
restored Regent Theatre where he about ordinary people; we all have a information, or wish to contribute to our
worked on Sunset Boulevard and the story waiting to be told. And this is oral history efforts, please contact us. ★
film revival seasons of Gone With the particularly so of members of CATHS
Wind and The Wizard of Oz. many of whom have been part of the
This is a bare outline of the history of cinema and theatre. This is
interview recorded for CATHS Oral why the Oral History Project has been For more
information about
History Project. The recording runs for set up to draw on our members and
this project
two and a quarter hours. Brian talks others in collecting and saving all
contact: Jim White
about many aspects of the golden days kinds and levels of information about
jkwhite@tpg.com.au
of Melbourne picture palaces. He saw the history of cinema and theatre
the development of cinema from the the in Australia. Box104
old 4:3 ratio screen to wide screen to We use very simple Leongatha 3953
Cinemascope and Cinerama, and the equipment; a small audio or the Editor, CinemaRecord.
introduction of stereo sound and 3D cassette recorder.
projection with MGM’s Kiss Me Kate The aim is to get the
at the Metro Collins Street. He gives a interviewee’s story
lively history of our cinemas, the down on
people he worked with and tape.
developments in film technology when
picture-going was an exciting event.
The remarkable thing about Brian’s
story is that we have it on CD - all
30,000 words of it - in our library and
available to any researcher or interested
party. Like most of us, Brian Quigley
has no written record of his working
life. Many of us hope to write that
article or book if only we can find the
time. But when we die, our memories
die too. Oral history can be an
invaluable asset.
The great thing about an oral
history interview is its simplicity and
efficiency. When Brian agreed to be
interviewed, it took three forty-five
minute sessions.There was no detailed

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