Page 14 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

With H.V. Taylor, Soilleux and
Overend in charge of designs for the new
front-rank houses, Hoyts engaged the
firm of Cowper, Murphy and Appleford
for the second-tier designs. Their rebuild
of the Majestic, Flinders Street for
Union Theatres in 1936, showed how
broadly the Art Deco form might be
interpreted. Whereas Taylor’s team
emphasised minimalism, their rivals were
prepared to play with geometry and in-
fill with abandon. The results, more
Moderne than Art Deco, would give
Hoyts an interesting mix of suburban
interiors in their expanded circuit.
Publicity surrounding the opening
of the Circle and the event itself seem
surprisingly matter-of-fact. A month
before the opening the column for
Hoyts Suburban Theatres in the dailies
carried a simple statement: ‘Preston
Hoyts is Coming To The Circle’,
sometimes varied by: ‘Preston Hoyts
Circle Theatre Opening Soon.’
Hoyts column for opening night,
Saturday 26 November 1938, simply
listed the program; Gold Is Where You
Find It with George Brent, Claude
Rains and Olivia De Havilland,
supported by Little Miss Thoroughbred
with Ann Sheridan. This unexceptional
Warner Bros. double was doing the
rounds at the time. The Sun News
Pictorial ran a small picture of the
exterior with a caption explaining that
the Circle was to open that night.
Oddly, the local paper The Northcote
Leader, which always gave at least one
page to news from Preston, made no
mention of the event. Perhaps by now a
cinema opening was no big deal.
What the Leader did report was that
the independent Gowerville, which had
been shuttered during the worst of the
Depression, would re-open soon. Years
later the owner of the Gowerville,by
this time known as the Melody, told
Fred Page that Hoyts paid him one
thousand pounds a year ($2,000) not to
reopen. How long this arrangement
lasted is not known. Film columns in
the dailies (and the suburban freebies)
between 1938 and 1945 were unreliable
guides to the activities of the
‘independents’.

Top: Foyer looking left to lounge entrance. The walls were textured and coloured sepia
and terracotta. Rod Cook has one of the circular advertising widows.
Above: Foyer looking right to candy bar. Rod also has the Booking Office sign above
the counter. This image courtesy of Ross Thorne.

14 2009 CINEMARECORD