Page 26 - CinemaRecord #85

Under the Oriana banner before 1961 Image: Fremantle City Library Local History Collection
THE ORIANA CINEMA
The cinema, due to the acutely angled intersection on which the site was
situated, created a visually striking design. The entrance foyer, lounge
One former cinema which has completely disappeared is the Oriana and stairways were unusual in their spherical design. The cinema
Cinema (1938-1972), it was on the corner of High and Queen featured a "floating" screen, a soundproof "crying room", to allow
Streets, next to the Victoria Hall. It was an art deco parents with crying babies to watch the movies and a "powder
building and was demolished in 1972 in bar" in the women's lounge. It was also unique in that it used
favour of some very ordinary shops. ducted ventilation rather than air conditioning.
It started life as a Hoyts
Theatre in 1938.
The cinema remained under the management of Hoyts
(Fremantle) Pty Ltd until the 1961 when it was bought by
a consortium of stakeholders including Goldfields Pictures
and City Theatres. This was when it was given the name
Oriana Cinema.
Under the Hoyts banner prior to 1961.
In 1937 a Image: State Library of Western Australia.
local company,
Hoyts (Fremantle) Pty Ltd
(formed by local businessmen and Hoyts
Theatres Limited), proposed to construct a picture
theatre at the corner of High Street and Queen Street,
Fremantle. The cinema was estimated to cost ₤20,000 and seat 1,300.
The site was previously occupied by the Rose and Crown Hotel which
was built in 1830 although in the late 1870s it was used as a school, a
private dwelling and lodging rooms.

The architects were H. Vivian Taylor and Soilleux of Melbourne, among
the many theatres they designed there the Windsor Theatre in Windsor,
the Padua Theatre in Brunswick and the Plaza Theatre in Perth. The
cinema, Hoyts Fremantle, was officially opened by the acting Mayor
of Fremantle, Cr Stevens on Thursday 4 August 1938. The first film
shown at the cinema was Walt Disney Productions', Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs and Love on a Budget, starring Shirley Temple.

26 CINEMARECORD # 85