Page 10 - CINEMARECORD-98

GOING TO THE PICTURES IN HOBART IN THE 1970s

by Earl Martell

t was a real culture shock for me as a movie In Melbourne, my wife and I were regular In Hobart we had the choice of just three
Ilover to be transferred to Hobart from cinemas goers, having the choice of the dozens theatres - the Avalon, Hoyts Prince of Wales,
Melbourne in the early 1970s. At the time, I of city and suburban theatres and all the drive- and Cinema One (the State in North Hobart
was working for Jayco Auto, the licensee for ins at that time, though the Metro Twin at was closed and up for sale then), plus two
the auto sections at K-Mart and the new store Clayton and the independent Sandy Drive-in drive ins - Elwick and Eastside.
in the Hobart suburb of Newtown had just at Sandringham were our favourites. Then, of
opened. course, there was the Plaza in the city with the The Avalon, the best of the three city theatres,
Cinerama films! seemed to have more of the longer running
blockbuster films, so we didn’t go there all that
often. I do remember seeing Earthquake in
70 mm Sensurround there, with massive
subwoofer horns in front and to the side of the
screen, and the old theatre really shook! Most
of the times we went to the Avalon it was for
a week night or Sunday afternoon screening.
The only down side of that theatre was the
balcony seating, the backs of which were just
strips of canvas - sling backs. (It seems the
Health Department declared that the spaces
between the rows of seats was not large
enough, so normal seat backs couldn’t be
fitted!) Other movies we saw there included
The Sting at the end of which the audience got
up and applauded!

Hoyts Prince of Wales was on a par with
some of the less ornate Melbourne suburban
theatres, except for the fact that when we were
there, the upstairs area had been closed off
after being deemed unsafe, so you only had the
choice of sitting in the front or back stalls. As
the Prince of Wales showed most of the better
films from Hoyts mainland theatres, we would
go there quite often, usually for a Saturday
afternoon show. When the rock opera film

10 CINEMARECORD # 98