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RECOLLECTIONS OF A MOVIE BUFF by Don Flowers

y introduction to movies was, as with
Mthe majority, the visits to the local
cinema for the Saturday matinees. Then came
the graduation as a teenager to the grown-up
pictures. The magic of Hollywood gave me
the feeling of a wonderful world of song and
he-men.
I had little idea of how the picture was
projected onto the screen, but I recall seeing
the purple glow of the large glass bottle with
bubbling mercury which was the rectifier. The
whole entertainment provided in those days
during the war and post war years was really
all that interested me. Marriage and bringing
up a family, I found the Croydon and
Wantirna drive-in theatres great to take the
family.

My first christening to the presentation of
movies was during 1962 at the Mayfair
Theatre at Dandenong. Mayfair Theatre, Dandenong

death in August 1999. He was a perfect
gentleman.

During my period at Carlton, I was on duty at
Pentridge Gaol in 1967, when Ronald Ryan
was hung. We were there because of the
unrest, with public objections and possible
demonstrations. Ryan was hung just before
the allotted time of 10 am, in case of any
unforeseen problems.
In 1968, I was transferred to the Vice Squad,
my second tour there. At that time, the Squad
was busy seizing the book Portnoy's
Complaint from stores, as it had been deemed
pornographic. The film released in 1972 was
classified as a bomb. Apart from that, part of
the duties was the prosecution of exhibitors of
pornographic film. At that time, a number of
Carlton Theatre 8 and 16 mm prints were being imported from
Below: Hoyts Plaza Theatre, Melbourne, before conversion to Cinerama
As a policeman at the Dandenong CIB, I had
occasion to meet the proprietor, who also
owned the Kinema at Albert Park, about a
police matter. It was there that I met the
projectionist/manager, Graham Himbeck,
who I found was also involved in 16 mm
films. The result was that I eventually
purchased a Bell and Howell projector and
commenced hiring movies from Sixteen
Millimetre and MGM. I then met David
Johnston who, at the time, was a projectionist
for Hoyts, at the Plaza, Melbourne. He invited
me to the theatre. The show running was It's a
Mad Mad Mad Mad World, which I enjoyed.
I also saw the three Cinerama projectors and
later met the young Tony Fenelon who was
playing the Regent organ at that time. I was to
see Tony on a number of subsequent
occasions. David would come to my house to
view a movie and would bring Tony as well.
Subsequently, in 1966, I was promoted to
Sergeant and transferred to Carlton. I called
on Gordon McClelland, a neighbour of mine
at the time, at the Carlton Cinema. I
remained good friends with Gordon until his

8 CINEMARECORD # 95