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The Majestic on Flinders Street, Union
Theatre’s equivalent of the De Luxe,
had shared a similar demotion with the
opening of the State, but talkies were
at the Majestic months before they
came to the De Luxe.
THE MIDDLE YEARS
Some of the best-known theatre
architects of Melbourne were engaged
to improve aspects of the building over
its long life, but the work of H.V.
Taylor, Soilleux and Overend deserves
special mention. Their specialty was
the moderne style, as exemplified by
the New Windsor and Regal
Hartwell, but with typical flair they
created for the De Luxe a dress-circle
foyer worthy of their famous
predecessor. One CATHS wag
described it as ‘the best part of the
theatre.’ This work was part of a 1934
upgrade that included acoustic
treatment and enhancement of the
lighting.
The closure of the Theatre Royal
in 1934 and its replacement by a
department store, placed the theatre
between two popular shopping outlets.
The new Mantons reinforced the ‘shop
and a show’ habit. Hoyts acknowledged
this synergy when they applied to the
Health Department to install Manton’s
display cases along the exit corridor.
The request was denied.(7)
The program mix now included Above: The distinctive frontage c.1938. The pathways for the chaser lights finish in
Australian, British and Hollywood ‘tentacles’ over the roof. The central vertical leadlight ‘ Hoyts Pictures’ is in safe
films while the Regent and Plaza keeping at the Performing Arts warehouse.
continued to show the top-end product. Below: The tasteful circle foyer c 1940 with more furniture than in the 1950s. The
The De Luxe could also pull a surprise chandelier is now in the Regent Ballarat. Image: Gil Whelan Collection.
or two, especially when a film was
deemed political, confronting or both.
For example The Grapes of Wrath, for
years a film in the critic’s all-time Top
Ten, was released at the De Luxe.

ENTER THE ESQUIRE
After Hoyts took over the lease of
the Capitol in 1940 the Health
Department believed that the De Luxe
was destined to close. (7) Health had
been lenient about some long-standing
problems, especially space in the men’s
toilets and conditions in the bio-box.
Whatever truth there may have been in
the rumours, everything changed when
the Regent burned down and the Plaza
was ruined by water. David O.
Selznick’s Since You Went Away was
‘Transferred in its Entirety at the
Height of its Regent Success’ to the De
Luxe. The new prominence brought
new responsibilities.

24 2005 CINEMARECORD