Page 7 - CinemaRecord #76C

rom the early years of the 20th century the Department of Health (under various names) was responsible
Ffor all safety measures in cinemas, theatres and public halls in the state of Victoria.

The rules were strict; make the recommended changes by a due date or face the possibility of a court
appearance and fine. For wilful inattention to any serious breach of the Act, the Chief Secretary, acting on
the advice of the Department, would issue an Order to Close.

Unannounced visits by an inspector, often during a Saturday night full house, were a favourite measure.
By their dress code and air of importance an inspector was easily recognised and an alert usher, pressing
a buzzer three times would signal to the projection room - get rid of any cigarettes! The inspector was
especially interested in whether the projection room was staffed by current licence holders and whether all
safety equipment conformed to regulations.

In the auditorium itself the inspector would This is undoubtedly due to the
look for overselling of tickets (people sitting inconvenient situation of the sanitary
on the aisle steps in the dress circle), illegal block as a whole, to the entrance being
fasteners on rope restraints between the at the end remote from the theatre, and
seating sections and exits partially obscured to the poor lighting in the block, where
by any sort of curtain. The manager would much of the light is absorbed by the
be summoned to answer for any of these black wall surfaces. Make the sanitary
transgressions, but later, woe-betide an block conveniently accessible from the
assistant projectionist who had not replaced foyer. This instruction was ignored for Solway - Fitzroy.
blown exit globes! another 15 years.

Around 1953 the Department ruled that an At the first Rivoli Theatre (1921) in Burke Eventually the Department issued an edict: 1955
external sanitary block, (their phrase), would Road Camberwell, both male and female was the cut-off date by which time all sanitary
no longer be tolerated. The requirement patrons in the stalls had to wander down the blocks had to be inside, or almost inside the
to bring the lavatories indoors applied to cobbled lane that still takes shoppers into the main building. The practice of using the nearest
cinemas built between 1910 and 1925, when Camberwell market. No wonder this theatre fence or brick wall had to go.
many suburbs were still unsewered. closed forever in 1940!
At the Solway Theatre in Fitzroy in 1920, patrons
A Health report after an Inspection at the heeding “nature’s call” in the most convenient
Barkly Theatre, Footscray in 1937 can stand way, eventually undermined the mortar of a brick
as an indictment of so many theatres. Noting wall and rendered a grocer’s cellar unusable.
that the south and west walls of the theatre At the Brunswick Empire management
were extensively used as urinals during faced their rear wall with a sheet of metal and
interval, while the actual urinal compartment electrified it! (Shocking!)
was little used, the report continued:
Older buildings which had already been
through one upgrade, such as Hoyts Renown
Barkly - Footscray. in Elsternwick and the Plaza Ormond were
re-designed accordingly. Following a fire in
the dress-circle, repairs to Hoyts Glenhuntly
not only moved the male lavatories up front
but demolished an entire central staircase.
This vastly increased foyer entry space and
added more seating upstairs.

The original Rivoli.

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