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I left the industry in 1965 when
Hoyts was closing some of its theatres
and went into photography, working in
photographic laboratories, where I
stayed for another twenty years. I
returned to the industry working part
time during the nineties for Palace
Theatres. By then the Athenaeum had
returned to live theatre.
I started at Hoyts in 1957 and
worked at the Regent and other Hoyts
theatres. I first went to the Athenaeum
in 1958.
We used Movietone Australian and
International newsreels which we
would move between theatres. A
newsreel would be shown at the
Regent, then taken across the road to
the Athenaeum, then back to the
Regent for the next showing.
Especially in the days before television,
the newsreels brought people into the
theatre. Events like the Melbourne Cup
and the Davis Cup were produced
Above: Hi-Lite carbon-arc slide projector with 12-inch mirror in 1957. H.Aspinall.
within 24 hours after the event and for
most people going to the theatre was
the only way to see them, so they had There was a projectionist and an Warner Brothers, Metro, Paramount
to be shown at every film session. assistant projectionist on each shift. We and Fox, each had their own vaults
showed four sessions daily, usually at there to store films. We would take a
We played recorded incidental
10am, 2pm, 4pm and 8pm. Each taxi to the film exchange, pick up the
music – non-vocal music only. We were
operator did two sessions each day. The films in two metal cases (most films
not allowed to play anything with
two projectionists at the Athenaeum had about eight spools), put the film
vocals, except promotional tracks such
were Mr. Bert Emerson and Mr. Ted trunks in the boot of the taxi, go back
as ‘Goodness Gracious Me’ which was
Schary. Mr. Emerson had been there to the theatre and take the film trunks
used to promote the early sixties
since the silent days. upstairs to the projection room. We’d
Athenaeum season of the Peter check them before running them, even
Sellers/Sophia Loren film The The projection room was though they’d been checked at the
Millionairess. approximately 12 feet by 8 feet and
was very stuffy. The two arc lamps exchange. Each spool ran for about
The projection room at the twenty minutes. When you got to the
produced fumes. They had flues
Athenaeum was at the back of the end of a spool a small circle would
coming up from them but a small
upper circle. There was a very high flash in the top right corner of the
amount of odor escaped. There were
projection rake, that is, the angle screen and that was our signal to start
fans to bring in fresh air, but no
between the projector and the screen, the other projector.
windows. It always smelt musty.
because the theatre was short but high.
Entry to the projection room was
Although the introduction of
via the upper circle which was entered
Widescreen and Cinemascope required
from the Athenaeum Library
provision for a very large screen, the
passageway, then up numerous flights
Athenaeum screen was fitted inside the
of stairs to the entrance to the seating
proscenium.
area. The steps to the projection room
were very steep as was the seating on
this level. I remember feeling uneasy
walking down those steps due to the
sloping of the floor.
We walked up and down the steps
carrying film trunks (five reels of film
in a metal trunk) from the film
exchange. The film exchanges were in
various locations near the Spencer
Street end of town.
Above & Right: Wall decoration and a
Hoyts era surround sound speaker box

CINEMARECORD 2010 31