Page 18 - CinemaRecord #80

John the Plaza projectionist and I were
C&W Model E at the
Bendigo Plaza.
Bendigo Plaza with
CinemaScope lens.
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18 2013 CINEMAREC ORD
interested in photography, and soon after
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soon developing prints in the bio while running
the show. To try and keep the room as dark as
possible we had pieces of rag and old daybills
hanging on parts of the lamp house where bits
of light were spilling out.
One matinee the phone rang and the message
from downstairs was that the Health Department
Inspector was on his way up to the bio. For
a moment there was a panic, all the pieces of
rag and posters, developing trays chemicals
and negatives were shoved away in cupboards,
under benches with seconds to spare before the
inspector came in.
Plaza foyer chandelier.
There were regular inspections those days by
the Victorian Department of Public Health
(Operators Board) they checked on things like Time was getting on and Mr Margan appeared
aisle lighting, exit lights and outside exit lighting, and said that we would have to get a move on as
as well as making sure that projectionists and it was soon time to open for the matinee.
assistants were properly licensed. In my haste I was a bit heavy handed on a pane
A regular inspector was a Mr Curzon Seegers
who was always a nice polite man, always RI JODVV DQG LW IHOO RXW DQG VPDVKHG RQ WKH ÀRRU
stayed for a while and was always interested Mr Margan was not pleased, and he patted me
in having a chat. We did not develop any more RQ WKH EDFN DQG VDLG ³2K ZHOO GRQH QRZ \RX
photographic prints after that.
can go round to Searles (glazier) and get another
piece of glass cut. I ran to the glazier and got a
One morning John and I and the head usher piece cut; he had a similar looking frosted glass
Jack Campbell, affectionally know to the local but not the same colour.
ODGV DV ³3OD]D -DFN´ DUULYHG HDUO\ WR ORZHU WKH With a phone call to a local panel shop he did
chandelier in the main entrance, to replace its a bit of paint mixing and spray painted the new
globes and to give it a general clean. glass which matched perfectly.
After the chandelier was winched down from
WKH FHLOLQJ WR ÀRRU OHYHO WKH ODPSV ZHUH FKDQJHG A handful of cinema complimentary tickets
and the lower half unlocked and swung down, for the glazier and panel shop were all that it
so that I could stand up inside it to clean the took for the replacement. The chandelier was
glass panels.
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patrons were buying their tickets.
In the early 1960s the electricity supplier the
State Electricity Commission experienced
regular power strikes from the unions; this
affected the Plaza as we did not have a standby
generator.
We could only sit on the bottom foyer stairs
hoping for the strike to be pronounced over,
and watch patrons leave to go to the Lyric or
Princess as they had their own power.
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opened, and despite some people saying that it
would only be a fad and wouldn’t last, people
were buying TV sets on a regular basis.
Patronage to the cinemas almost overnight
began to dwindle with daily matinees being cut
back to Wednesdays and Saturdays.
The Princess ZDV WKH ¿UVW WR FORVH DQG ZDV
bulldozed to make way for an Amoco Service
Station. The Plaza and the Lyric were holding
on.