Page 18 - CinemaRecord #84

Owner: Washingtons Pty. Ltd.

Exhibitors: W. Alexander / Inland Theatres
Architect: Cowper, Murphy and Appleford (Melbourne)

Builder: McLennon Bros. (Melbourne)
Plaster: Brilliants (Melbourne)

Opened: 18 June, 1935
Film: One Night of Love (1934)

Closed: 9 December, 1938
Film: Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)

Current Use: Restaurant
Acknowledgements:
Mildura Sunraysia Daily - 18 June 1935
Colin S. Flint -Adelaide -CATHS Member Right:
Images: CATHS Archive The Capitol as a retail store

By Ross King

A Real Frog Story
In the mid 1970s, I was living in south-west Victoria and doing some relief operating for the late
Roy Touhy, who ran the Coachline Drive-in at Casterton. My assignment on this occasion was to
run a double-bill Midnight Horror Show. The main feature was Frogs, with Ray Milland, now in
the twilight of his career. The film’s premise was that frogs take their revenge on a nature-hating
millionaire. (The film was revived at the Astor East St Kilda in 2008 in a series entitled “Cinema
Fiasco - Bad Horror Films”).
At the end of the show, I completed the ‘ramp tramp’ and general lock-up and, around 3.00am,
headed home along the Henty Highway. The drive-in was located near the confluence of the
Wannon and Glenelg Rivers, the road traversing the river flats.
Driving along in drizzling rain, my headlights suddenly picked out thousands of small brown frogs
hopping hither and thither, the car tyres dispatching many in the process. This continued for at
least one kilometre. Never before or since have I seen so many frogs. A surreal ‘life imitates art’
experience, if that film could be said to qualify as art.

However I rested easy in the knowledge that I was neither a millionaire nor a nature hater, and
therefore unlikely to meet the same fate as Ray Milland. «

The Cinema and Theatre Historical Society of Australia Inc. is proud to have the Sun Theatre Yarraville as our major sponsor.
Many thanks to member Michael Smith, the owner of the Sun Theatre, for providing the venue and staff for CATHS meetings and events.

For program and venue hire inquiries Tel: 9362 0999. www.suntheatre.com.au info@suntheatre.com.au

18 CINEMARECORD # 84