Page 31 - CinemaRecord #83

ELSTERNWICK

By the CATHS Research Group*

oth luck and good management have Mark Twain’s numerous works without the aid F.G. Richardson submitted plans to construct
Bplayed their part in ensuring the survival of a single note. The lecture was said to be one a balcony with six rows of seats. The firm of
of the building that first showed films as the of the most amusing and interesting ever Richardson and Wood were prominent in early
Elsternwick Theatre. One of the smaller delivered in the hall. cinema design. Their signature touch on a big
suburban theatres of inner Melbourne commission was an imposing facade and a
(560 seats), it has outlasted intense local The first films were short interludes in support verandah rich in lead-light, but this was not a
big contract. Instead, the frontage suggested a
pleasing nod to gothic revival, with the
projection room a distinctive bulge above the
footpath.

Amalgamated Pictures Ltd. was the first lessee,
opening the theatre in 1912, the first in the
area. Amalgamated controlled the Majestic in
Flinders Street Melbourne, and was one of
several companies in the combine which was
to form Union Theatres. They would control
the Elsternwick until 1921.

At first the theatre was unassailable as the local
entertainment magnet. Good audiences flock
to the exceedingly comfortable Elsternwick
Theatre where capital programmes are
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provided. Four years later, the rival Phoebe
(later the Renown) opened around the corner
in Glenhuntly Road, only 100 metres away. It
had more than double the number of seats. By
this time, trams were running along Glenhuntly
Road, terminating at the Elsternwick railway
The building in 1931. The ‘bulging’ bio-box was a 1912 addition crossing. 4

Jim Lawrence, later one of the principals of
competition and two near-death experiences to of Saturday night concerts. The hand-cranked Lawrence Brothers Pictures, was an early
be re-invented as a multiplex, attuned to the projector was supported on scaffolding over projectionist at the ‘Wick’, as it was
needs of current filmgoers. This is the story of the entrance doorway. Sometimes the take-up affectionately known. There was a gas engine
a building whose fortunes mirror those of the spool would fail and sinews of film would in the foyer, used to run the shows ... It had
film industry itself. uncoil down to the audience. 2 glass all around it so people could see it
working, a wonderfully interesting thing ... It
The Silent Years The wave of early film-fever was not lost on had a fly-wheel five feet in diameter.
the hall’s trustees. In July 1911, architect
Elsternwick is 7 km south of Melbourne’s city
centre, and a short distance from the beach at
Point Ormond. The locality has always lacked
the flair of nearby St Kilda, its public buildings
reflecting a modest sensibility. Elsternwick’s
Public Assembly Hall, financed by the
Victorian Permanent Building Company,
opened in 1889 in Gordon Street, close to
Glenhuntly Road. It was a typical hall of the
day, directly opposite the train station; the
auditorium a single-level ‘shoe-box’, entered
from a narrow corridor flanked by offices and
shops. The hall had a small stage lit by two gas
lamps on either side of the proscenium, the
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flame turned up or down as required. Upstairs
was the meeting room of The Hope of
Elsternwick Tent, a music room and a
caretaker’s room.

One of the hall’s most glamorous evenings was
in 1896 when the Governor of Victoria, Lord
Brassey and Lady Brassey, attended a private
concert. Other good times followed. In April
1903, Mr. C.L. Andrews MLA quoted from A basic interior, whether cinema or dance hall

CINEMARECORD # 83 31