Page 10 - CINEMARECORD-100

PART 1: FINDING MY FEET

The late Maurice Scott was interviewed by
Cameron Hall in 2007 and by Paul Harris in
2012. This is a compilation of both interviews,
edited and re-arranged for publication.
ou ask about my early years. When I read
Ya biography, I find this the boring part, but
here goes. I was born in 1930 to parents who
lived in West Brunswick and my father worked Above: The late Maurice Scott
in Abbotsford. When I was five, we moved to
Kew, just behind Methodist Ladies’ College,
because it meant less travel for him. Then we
moved again and settled in East Kew, where I
have lived ever since. After primary school, I Above: The Rialto, Kew
went to Melbourne High. My parents would
have liked me to have gone on to University;
there was only one in those days, but all the
places were reserved, and quite rightly so, for
returning service men and women.

It was customary for school kids to take casual
work over the Christmas holidays, and I took a
job at the Mutual Store in Flinders Street, which
was quite a place in its day, perhaps one rung
below Georges (Melbourne’s exclusive fashion
house). It had a wonderful food basement,
possibly the first in the city. I stayed a couple
of years, finished up in the needlework
department (don’t tell that to anyone), but I Above and below: The Alhambra, Brunswick.
knew I didn’t want retail as a career.
Above: The Broadway, Camberwell
My next move was to a fashion house in
Flinders Lane, close to the back of the Regent
and Metro theatres. I could see the usherettes
coming and going, hear the organist practice,
and this made me think I would like to be in the
film business.

Let’s back-track for a moment. Did your family
take you to the pictures?

Oh yes, we all went, regular filmgoers,
sometimes with the neighbours. My father even Below: The Vogue, Hawthorn Above: The Circle, Preston
took me to the Tivoli occasionally. In those Below: The Maling, Canterbury
days it was safe for a kid to go on their own to
the pictures. I loved the Vogue on the border
of Hawthorn and Kew, run by the man with an
interest in the Glen in Glenferrie. Just as every
suburb had its Coles and a Woolworths, so
every suburb had its Hoyts and its independent
theatre; the same with banks, a form of
“accepted opposition”. The Rialto in Kew was
the local Hoyts theatre.

Anyway, with all the cheek of youth, I went up
to the third floor of the Regent in Collins Street

10 CINEMARECORD # 100