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For all the comments about
the new Plaza and its
amenities, it was surprisingly
closed only three years later
for just three weeks while
further alterations were
carried out. The auditorium
was given lighting fixtures of
chromium and frosted glass,
some 52 feet long with new
colours in pastel shades. The
theatre reopened in September
1940 with the company’s WA
manager stating that the public
would be quick to appreciate
the beautiful theatre and its
appointments. Certainly the
line-up of coming attractions
was impressive: The
Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Irene, 40,000 Horsemen and
(6)
Rebecca. The 1940
remodelling was by architect
William Leighton.
The Plaza missed out on
being Perth’s first theatre to
show CinemaScope in
December 1953. Instead, that
honour went to the other
Hoyts showcase, the Hoyts Plaza Auditorium, c. 1940
Ambassadors. renaming its Australian city theatres as Paris – In March 2016, members of the Australian
a name understandably not really associated Museum of Motion Picture and Television
In 1960, the Plaza underwent further with cinemas. But the Perth Plaza lost its (AMMPT) visited the old theatre and
renovations, mostly of a cosmetic nature, to original name in favour of Paris, as had Hoyts photographed its ghostly remains. Two 70 mm
install Todd-AO for the screening of South theatres in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and projectors in the bio box were removed, along
Pacific, which established a record run of Sydney. The Sound of Music was the reopening with some ancillary equipment, for restoration
45 weeks. One patron recalls that white feature, and a few months later the theatre and eventual placement in the Sunset Hospital
curtains with hibiscus flowers had been entrance was re-sited inside the Plaza Arcade. Cinema, which was being refurbished as a film
installed, and tropical perfume wafted and television club and museum. The team
throughout the theatre. But the writing was on the wall now for large which removed the two large and heavy
city theatres, and the Plaza, even though its projectors over several days were Roy Mudge,
In August 1965 it was closed for minor seating capacity had been reduced to around Graham Lacey, Clive Woodward and Trevor
alterations, including new carpets and 900. In 1974 Hoyts relinquished the lease, Kelly. (8)
repainting, and reopened a few days later as the which was taken up by Ace Theatres Ltd. (7)
Paris Theatre. Hoyts had this thing about That company continued to operate it as a In 2016 it was announced that a theatre
cinema until 1984, when it consortium was looking to re-open the
was closed down. Video Plaza/Paris as a live performance venue, for it
recorders were decimating had a stage and retained its dressing rooms. As
theatre attendances, as at the time of writing, nothing had come to
television had done fruition.
previously, and several
years of poor product had In 2017, the old theatre still existed above the
not helped. The theatre was Plaza Arcade, its glory days long forgotten. ★
stripped of its fittings
(except its projectors) and
converted into a youth Credits:
disco in 1985. The 1. Telstra Corporation, Field Survey Section maps.
auditorium was painted 2. West Australian, Friday 27 August 1937 p25
black and the dress circle 3. Ross Thorne, Cinemas of Australia via USA.
closed off. The University of Sydney, 1981. P274
disco/nightclub operated 4. Sunday Times, Sunday 12 September 1937 p20
for a few years but much 5. The Film Weekly, 1937
damage was caused to the 6. West Australian, Wednesday 11 September
auditorium, and by 1987 it 1940 p9 and The Australasian Exhibitor,
September 1940
had closed.
7. Max D Bell. Perth: A Cinema History. Book
Guild, Lewes, Sussex, England, 1986.
The entrance to the theatre 8. Facebook, 2016. Theatres and Cinemas of
was converted to retail Australia site.
premises, while the Plaza
Arcade below continued to
operate. The theatre itself Images:
was left to the darkness. Les Tod Collection.

Left: Hoyts Plaza, Perth c. 1940

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