Page 17 - CinemaRecord #84

the Sunraysia Daily deferring the grand right hand side-wall of the foyer. This was to
opening to 18 June. At the time, the Capitol be used as a coffee shop and kitchen for the
was the most luxurious theatre in Mildura and ballroom. The ballroom operated until January
was promoted as the "theatre beautiful". In 1949, after which it was leased to a furniture
correspondence to the Health Department, it retailer. Today the building is still retail
was noted that a W.A. Alexander, trading as premises, and some art deco motifs still adorn
the Capitol Theatre, leased the building. He the façade of the building. ê
also controlled the Diggerland Theatre (Red
Cliffs) which was renamed the Red Cliffs
Theatre.

The management boasted that the theatre
would be programmed direct from
Melbourne's Regent, Plaza and Capitol
theatres, prior to suburban release. This was to
give the theatre a significant advantage over
the other indoor and outdoor theatres in the
town. Matinees were advertised on
Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The
Capitol used large block advertisements on a
separate page to the competing theatres.
By November 1935, the building was totally Former Capitol Theatre building
air conditioned, which was quite an
achievement in those days.
On the 20 April 1937, the T. Houghton circuit
reopened the rebuilt Wonderland (1925) as
the Astor, another attractively decorated
theatre, no doubt goaded into action by the
success of the Capitol. Cowper, Murphy and
Appleford were the architects.

In 1938, the large Ozone theatre, further along
Langtree Ave, was being constructed by Inland
Theatres. This company was a subsidiary of
the large Waterman Bros theatre chain of
Adelaide.
In November 1938, the Capitol theatre lease
and business had come under the control of
Waterman Bros. The registration application
was signed by Inland Theatres Pty. Ltd., with
seating having been reduced to 723.

With the conversion of the Wonderland
(Indoor) into the Astor by the same architects
(Cowper Murphy), and construction of the
magnificent Ozone Theatre almost
completed, Inland Theatres decided to
rationalize their operations into their freehold
properties and so they relinquished the lease
of the Capitol. The theatre, after 3 short years
of operation, was tragically closed on Saturday
9 December 1938, just a few days before the
opening of the Ozone.
In December 1941, Cowper Murphy applied
to convert the disused Capitol Theatre into a
dance palais. The Health Department approved
the alterations in February 1942, which
included installation of a dance floor, removal
of the front part of the circle, and alteration of
the proscenium to form a sound shell. A new
foyer lounge was formed, the entrance doors
were moved to the street line and the two
former staff rooms in the old arcade entrance
were converted into a manager's office and a
"buffet". The converted hall was 32' x 100' and
the foyer was 30' x 30'. The new complex was
called "The Capitol Ballroom"

In June 1943, the architects submitted plans to Plans for the Capitol Theatre as submitted to the Health Department for approval
allow access to the shop next door through the

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