Page 12 - CR

Surprisingly, the theatre remained unheated
until 1946. A plaintive letter to the Health
Department summed up the stoicism of patrons:
‘At our local theatre, the Regent Thornbury
we enjoy our weekly entertainment, but the
pleasure is not as good when one has to sit and
shiver in a cold theatre.’ Photographs above & below: As it is today!
(2)
When heating was finally installed it was a The drawn-out finale demonstrated the affection
gas-fired plenum system, rather than ‘foot- that this large theatre retained on local habits. Its
warmers’ as in other Regents. Architects closure left Hoyts with eight suburban theatres
Cowper, Murphy and Associates supervised from a circuit which ten years earlier had
this installation and other minor changes, numbered 36. Its sister, the Regent at Gardiner
including new footlights and borders for the was long gone. The South Yarra Regent held on
stage, new plaster lights and enlargement for another three years.
of the bio-room. This work coincided with
Hoyts’ purchase of the freehold. Today Thornbury is the sole survivor of
Thring’s suburban dream, albeit in a different
guise. It was ‘twinned’ when it became Catania
Below: New lights and altered proscenium. Ballroom and Midas Receptions, and is now
the Thornbury Theatre, which hosts parties,
weddings, live music concerts, vaudeville, a
literary salon and cabaret entertainments. The
stalls are changed beyond recognition, but
upstairs is another matter…

Walk up those stairs and step into the past H

Acknowledgments:
I thank Mrs Annie Millsom who replied to my
initial ‘search’ letter and who directed me to the
appropriate family members. I am indebted to Mr
Ren Millsom who has helped me to make sense
of the early years. Mr Robert Tichener, provided
some important photos. His wife, the former Marie
Millsom, is the grand-daughter of Sam Senior.
Additional photos: K. Adams and B. Pearson.
References:
1 The Herald 25 April 1925.
Ad - Regent Sth Yarra
2 Public Records Office.
File 7882P1 Unit 216
3 Northcote Leader, 14 August 1925
4 Hoyts document. CATHS archive
5 For this and similar comments see Northcote
Leader, various issues
The later history of the Thornbury Regent was 6 Frank Van Stratten.
similar to that of all Hoyts’ theatres: a decline Personal communication.
in patronage in the early fifties, a temporary 7 Reserve Bank Inflation Calculator
revival of business with CinemaScope - 8 Northcote Leader, 1 May 1931.
(Thornbury was the fourth installation, after
South Yarra, the Padua at Brunswick and
Broadway at Camberwell) - then a slow
decline to fadeout.
A restricted screening policy (Thursday to
Saturday) was introduced in May 1965.
th
Hoyts closed the theatre on Saturday 24
June 1967, five years after they had closed
its neighbor, the delightful and much smaller
Circle Theatre at Preston.

12 2012 CINEM AREC ORD