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The Lure of the Pictures began with the words I joined the navy
A very popular tune of the day
By Mel Elliott to see the world, but what did I see?
I saw the sea. It was often the play-out
Driving into Ararat to inspect the record at the end of the show. The
Astor, the last visit of the CATHS tour, departing audience always joined in the
our group gave nary a glance to the singing and went home happy.
former army drill hall on the western Walking home after the show, there
edge of town. A comment was made was always the smell of the next day’s
that this hall once showed films, but loaves wafting across town.
probably most people didn’t believe it. The drill hall predated World War 1.
Name a space enclosed by four walls The opening was a big day for Ararat.
more spartan than a drill hall. Yet such The council declared a school holiday
was the lure of the pictures that Ararat and organised an official dinner for the
in the mid-1930s had three cinemas. visitors.
Regular film shows came to Ararat In his address Major Rouse
in about 1911 in a hall built along acknowledged that, “The hall was
Queen Street at the corner with High certainly not of a handsome appearance
Street. Within a year this hall was from an architectural point of view, but
upgraded to become the Lyceum, which it was admirably suited for the purpose
then showed films for ten years. It was of the forces and for the important town
forced to close because of the failure of Ararat to drill in during unfavourable
of management to carry out safety weather. The Department of Defence
upgrades. It reopened as the could not be expected to go in for
Paramount in 1938. ornamentation”.
Before then Ararat’s handsome town Major Rouse thanked the mayor and
hall had filled the gap, becoming the the councillors for donating the land for
Town Hall Pictures in 1922. We might the hall. In his response the mayor
imagine that the commodious Town praised the British Empire, the greatest
Hall would be able to satisfy all the world had ever known. He offered
demand for films, but there was room the army the services of one of the best
for the drill hall - at the other end of bands in the Commonwealth, The
town - to have a life as a cinema. Ararat Citizens Band and he hoped that
My father worked for the steps could be taken to link them to the
Postmaster General’s Department forces. The doors of the hall were then
(PMG) and was sent to Ararat in about thrown open for inspection.
1935. I would have been nine at the After an afternoon of sports at the
time. recreation reserve, the evening
The projection room at the drill hall concluded with a grand dinner in the
was on the side, near the entrance, at supper room of the Town Hall. At the
ground level. Very often the door was close the visitors adjourned to the
open and I could peer in and wonder at Lyceum for a picture show and concert.
the mystery of it all. I remember a In 1925 the military gave
matinee advertised as Shirley Temple’s permission for the hall to be leased as a
birthday. Every kid who came along picture theatre. It had 13 years in this
was given a free slice of her birthday role. As the downmarket venue of the
cake. On a big night at the hall the town, it couldn’t survive the opening of
cheapest tickets were for the kids to sit the Midland (now Astor) in 1938.
on the floor right in front of the screen. Today it is the Alexandra Hall, spic and
The hall backed on to the railway span as a community centre. ★
line, which was the start of a 1:50
gradient to Stawell, the maximum From the top: Town Hall, Ararat, Acknowledgments
grade on that section of line. Heavy screened from 1922 until the 1970s. Ms. Dorothy Konig of the Ararat
freight trains had a banker engine to The former Lyceum (1912) re-opened as and District Historical Society was very
assist with the steep haul. The Overland the Paramount in 1938. It lasted until helpful in providing background to this
would pass through, pulled by double- 1949. The former drill hall - front, side story.
header A2 engines. The noise was and rear - a cinema from 1925 to c.1938.
For more about cinema in Ararat:
fantastic, better than any sound coming
A history of the theatres of Ararat.
from the screen. The hall vibrated as
Kevin Adams. Kino 11, 1985.
the trains thundered past.
Ararat: Lyceum/Paramount. Gerry
Kennedy CR 35, 2002.
12 2007 CINEMARECORD
