Page 27 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

The screen curtains were red and the Change Comes to the Regent
walls were curtained also in red, with
black seating. Cinema 2 featured a 3D A great cinema survives, which is a cause for celebration,
screen and was equipped with Dolby but there was a price to pay.
(36)
Stereo.
by John M. Stevens
The original auditorium remained
unchanged, apart from alterations to the
foyer. But the cinema operation was
now confined mainly to the dress circle,
with the stalls used for live
performances.
The complex was renamed Albury
Cinema Centre and reopened on 14
September 1977. The cost was
$400,000 and the painting and
redecorating was by Pettigrew Ltd with
burgundy carpets by Wilton and interior
(37)
timbers by Rod Dempsey.
Sometime after 1994 the dilapidated
and disused waterfall and water gardens
were removed.
In 1996 four additional cinemas
were added on the adjacent Dean Street
frontage. They opened on Thursday 11
September 1996, making the Albury
Cinema Centre a six-screen
(38)
complex.
In 2004, three addition screens were
added, including a Showcase Cinema
for arthouse product, and a Gold Class
cinema. The older cinemas were
upgraded with new sound systems and
refurbished with new seats and carpets.
The complex was renamed Regent
Cinemas in deference to its origins and
history. The additional screens opened
(39)
on Thursday, September 9, 2004,
taking the Regent into the 21st century
as a high technology complex of nine
screens. ★

Top: The Regent in 2008.
Above: Trophies from change: From the back - foyer cornice moulding, block tickets
box, power board indicator and a frog. J. Stevens

In the mid-1970s there was talk of Most people didn’t like the idea.
turning the Regent Albury into two The changes would have spoiled the
cinemas. The plan was to build a new continuity of the ceiling and wall
projection room in the stalls and project designs - a transformation that would
the image to the existing stage, while have killed off the character of this
upstairs, a new screen would be Albury landmark.
positioned on a wall built from the front Concerned about these possible
of the balcony to the ceiling. This would changes, I approached the Regent
utilize the existing projection room. manager at the time, Steve Kappen for
permission to take photographs of the
theatre interior and foyers.

36. Information from Mr Tony Smith, 1983
37 Border Morning Mail, 14 September 1977
38 Author's observation and notes
39 Border Mail, Thursday, 9 September 2004

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