Page 28 - CR

70mm epics included Spartacus; The Fall
of the Roman Empire; Those Magnificent
Men In Their Flying Machines: Mary
Queen of Scots; Doctor Zhivago; Ben-
Hur and returning after more than
30 years - Gone With the Wind this
time in 70mm.

Rebuilding Wests was done by Hutcherson
Bros of Hindley Street and Architects
were Guy Crick and Bruce Furse of
Sydney. It was their glory of which Ross
Thorne said:
“Wests Adelaide would be, with the Minerva
Theatre Sydney, also designed by Crick &
Furse, the two finest modern style of the Art 1970.
Deco period in Australia”.
In 1975 Sensurround sound equipment A big clean out occurred after almost 60 years
was installed to bring realism to the of cinema and live theatre use. The 70mm
epic Earthquake. Cinemecannica Victoria’s had previously
moved over the road to the new Hindley
Cinema 1 (the biggest of the new 4-screen
The theatre closed in February 1977 and I was
astonished the way GU left the building. complex built in the shell of the Metro). The
swapped Simplex 1939 projectors and the
precious “dot books” were trashed and all the
seating, screen and curtains were removed.

The property with large vacant land was on
the market as a redevelopment site and sold
to the Joe Emanual Group of Companies
with the condition of sale ‘Not to be used as
a theatre’.

The building was first leased to Mr. B Kwan
who opened it as The Jade Palace Chinese
Restaurant in 1977 (It went into liquidation
in 1978). The lease was then taken over by
Lapwig and Associates and refurbished to
become Sinatra’s Disco/Restaurant and the
large Wests sign changed to Sinatra’s.

A fire destroyed Sinatra’s in November 1981,
which made headlines “Blast Starts $¼m.
Disco blaze”! Most of the damage occurred
at the entrance with smoke damage to the
foyer and auditorium.

1977.

Above photos: Empty balcony and closed stairs and entrances.

28 2012 CINEM AREC ORD