Page 14 - CinemaRecord #79

Left and above: Garish colours abound as “Razzle
Dazzle” a short-lived children’s indoor play centre.

Below: The interior is completely gutted for
conversion into “La Luna” Apartments.

I enjoyed my time at the Waverley and the
only reason I left was to get more experience. I
had my projectionist’s licence before I was 21,
but Cyril White pointed out to me that all my
experience was in one place, and on one type
of equipment. The projectionist at the Plaza
Ormond, Arthur Forecast was considering a
job change (he was also a licensed chicken
sexer.) So there was the possibility of an
operator’s job on the horizon.
Meanwhile, the assistant projectionist decided
to leave Ormond, so I transferred there so as
to have a possible option on the projectionist’s
job, should Arthur move on. But Arthur
showed no sign of doing so, and after a year I
left and went to Hoyts, which turned out to be
the right decision. Sadly, the Waverley closed
on 29th November 1958.

Many years later, in the mid-1980s, I was
returning home from a shift at Hoyts Malvern
when I spotted an ABC van travelling along
Tooronga Road towards the Waverley.
By this time the theatre was a rehearsal studio
for the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. I
followed the van, thinking that perhaps I
could catch someone unloading and they
might allow me to look inside. I explained my
situation and was allowed in. So I went into the
entrance foyer and upstairs to the dress circle.
It was rigged up for recording, with baffles
everywhere. The MSO had extended the stage,
but everything else was much the same.
Now the building is apartments, but I’m glad
to see that the facade has been retained.

[Noel Brabet spent the rest of his working life The Waverley as Apartments:
with Hoyts. He was at the Wantirna Drive-In from
opening to closure.]
*According to Hoyts former Victorian Manager Jack
Neylan, a stand-by plant could pay for itself in one
night. – EW

Photographs from the CATHS Archives, Ian Smith
and the Kevin Adams Collection.

14 2013 CINEM AREC ORD