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CANTERBURY PICTURE THEATRE: FILMS MOVE EASTWARDS.
by Ian Smith

he Melbourne suburb of Canterbury is six
Tstations east of Hawthorn, a part of
Melbourne’s green belt which boasted quarter
acre blocks and tree-lined streets, unlike much
of old Hawthorn with its terraces and narrow-
fronted cottages. Canterbury was new,
expansive and lightly settled.

A Mr J C Langley of Hawthorn introduced the
“electric bioscope” to Canterbury in 1906. A
year later, he was competing with Gunn and
Sons who screened in the new library building
in the Canterbury Gardens. Langley seems to
have been the favoured exhibitor and, in 1908,
a patriotic citizen hired him to commemorate
Empire Day with a public picture show in the
garden of his home “Shrublands”.

In 1909, the Canterbury Citizens Concerts
Committee selected a site on the creek
running through the gardens as a setting for The theatre in 1924. The courtyard shown here is now Theatre Place
outdoor picture shows. The screen was set
near creek level and the audience sat on its suggestion to combine a public hall with a The local paper The Reporter did its best to be
banks, giving everyone a full view of the picture theatre, the extra benefit was obvious. complimentary. It described the front of the
screen. From December to April, fortnightly The architects were a Messrs Ward and building as of “superior design, and the
concerts mixed Langley’s films with the Carleton and the building contract was let to entrance, with its marbled tiling and tiled
music of the Kew Brass Band, as well as Mr F R Green of Camberwell. walls, may challenge comparison with any
recitals and song. theatre along analogous lines in the State.” In
The building was opened by the Mayor of other words, the entrance was a narrow
This first season was so popular that next year Camberwell seven months later on opening, the standard for picture theatres at
it became a weekly event. If rain threatened, 27 November 1912. The theatre was part of that time.
the show was moved to Golding’s Hall on the largest free-standing building in the
Canterbury Road. Admission to the gardens streetscape. It tastefully outdid every other Because the depth of the auditorium was
was a coin donation and, by counting the establishment, because Victorian-style was no constrained by the railway, space was at a
number of coins collected and by making an longer in fashion. Four shops and the theatre premium: the foyer only had room for a side
estimate of the non-payers, the committee entrance faced Maling Road and another shop ticket window. Once inside, a narrow wooden
calculated that the weekly attendances faced the railway line. Inside was a large staircase, far left, led patrons to a rudimentary
averaged 300 people, which gave them the lodge room, a billiard room, two cloak rooms balcony. It seated a mere 116 people in a style
confidence to continue. and a kitchen. The auditorium was small, described as ruby plush. Patrons shared this
space with the bio-room, which housed a
seating only 614 patrons, tiny in comparison
Canterbury was growing, and Golding’s Hall to Hawthorn’s 1600 seat Glenferrie Theatre, single projector. The Reporter continued,
was soon viewed as inadequate. A local which had opened seven months earlier (see “The decorations have been carried out in a
prevailing scheme of soft blue greys, with here
company purchased a site at 111-119 Maling CR 85). Although the size and design of the
Road, with the intention of constructing a new exterior looked impressive, the theatre itself and there a touch of crimson; and the general
hall. When another syndicate made the was more on the lines of a country hall. effect, when the electric light is turned on is
one of exceptional brilliancy. The platform - a
shallow one, and somewhat of the usual
picture theatre variety – has been so arranged
by means of drapings that the impression is
conveyed to the audience of a magnificent
stage behind.”
How do we interpret this description? Can
drapery convey the illusion of a magnificent
stage? At this time, the screen was usually
painted on the back wall, and stage curtains
came later, so ‘magnificent’ seems hardly
possible. The proscenium was an addition of
the 1920s. We are left to ponder.
The secretary of the Canterbury Hall and
Picture Theatre Company was Mr. Claude
Kingston, then beginning his career in show
business. The manager was Mr Edward
J Rigg, a well-known figure of the district.
E J Rigg had successfully promoted open-air
films on the Hawthorn Football Ground, and
dances and concerts in the Hawthorn Town
Hall. His film career in Hawthorn died as soon
Canterbury Theatre interior. Scenic scenes on walls were still fashionable in 1922 as the Glenferrie Theatre opened.

34 CINEMARECORD # 95