Page 12 - CinemaRecord #79

The Waverley Theatre from the stage.

Access to the dress circle from the projection The projectors were C&Ws, I think they were If I assessed that the weather was going to be
room was from doors on each side of the either model G or H. I never saw another pair cold, I had to make a judgment whether both
projection room. There was probably a like them! They were very straightforward, on furnaces were to be lit, or just one. I would do
spot-light but it was never used. The motor an RCA sound head with a rotary stabiliser. this about five o’clock in the afternoon. It took
generator for running the arc lamps was one Very basic, with Westrex arc lamphouses. time to heat up the theatre, it did not happen
floor below. spontaneously.
I had left the Waverley before CinemaScope
A stand-by generator was mounted on the fire- was installed there, so I don’t know about later It was also my job to turn the furnaces off at
escape landing which was reached from a left– equipment changes. I was then working with the finish. Usually I would go down during the
hand exit door from the balcony. Cyril White Hoyts, and as a result I went to a screening at last reel. A lot of the time we ran single reels
always thought it was a waste of money.* the Regent Collins Street when Hoyts invited so I did not have much time. And there were
The projection room was very well laid out; all Melbourne projectionists to go and see a occasions on a break-down night you would be
much better than at the Plaza Ormond, the demonstration screening of The Robe. pretty pushed. So during the last reel I would
sister theatre. go down the stairs to the plant room. I did not
Another thing I liked about the Waverley have to go through the theatre; that was one of
was the feature lighting on the walls – Plaster the good things. We had our own entrance to
of Paris shapes. The Metro Malvern had the top foyer and then I could go out through
something similar. the switch room, down the back and turn off
On their own, the lights did not stand out, the furnaces. That was the normal procedure.
but the coloured lamps in them could create
pleasant effects. In summer cool colours There were occasions when I would leave it
were matched to blue footlights. In winter the and do it on the way home. When I walked out
curtains would be lit with red and orange. And of the lane our house was almost across the
if just filling in a minute or two if the slides road. I did not like to do it that way as I had
had finished and the overture still running... to work in the dark, because the theatre power
what you could do with the dimmers! was pulled.
The theatre had a lovely dimmer rack. If
we started with the colour blue, we could
gradually take blue out and slowly bring up
another colour, and with the main lights out the
audience would see the lights slowly change.
The dimmers were capable of lots of things
like that. No surround sound or anything of
that nature, though, nothing like that.

I made two mistakes at the Waverley,
Ormond Plaza – the “Plain Jane” sister.
fortunately with a happy ending both times.
The first could have resulted in a fire in the
air-conditioning ducts. I had been there about
five years. In winter time it was part of my job
to put on the heating, which consisted of gas
furnaces. They were installed at the back of
the theatre, which was accessed by a lane.

Waverley Balcony.

12 2013 CINEM AREC ORD