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CIN E MAREC ORD

ProJife Of 5\ Patron Cinema :J{istory N077

MURRUMBEENA PUBIC HALL Argosy/Capri!Rex:
FRANK VANSTRATEN OAM
In 1924 we came to live in Murrumbeena, our local church
Frank Van Straten inherited his passion for the performing was the Methodist, this happened to be right next door to the
arts from his parents. His father, Leon, was a professional Public Hall, so my memories of the hall are very easy to
musician. Frank starred collecting books, recordings and remember.
theatrical memorabilia in his early teens. My first recollections of activity in the hall was of dances
which were held once a week, and musical plays, such as
After a career in advertising, marketing and record distribu- ''NO NO NANETTE""MAID OF THE MOUNTAINS", etc
tion, Frank joined the Victorian Arts Centre as archivist of these productions were top drawer,as they were produced by
the newly-established Performing Arts Museum. He became professionals.
its director in 1984. The Museum now has the largest
collection of theatrical memorabilia in Australia and is of The hall was very well suited to these shows, as the dimen-
world significance. Among the exhibitions presented at the sions would have been approximately I 00' to the stage and
Museum during Frank's time there were: Bourke Street On 60 odd feet wide.
Saturday Night, 1983; Her Majesty's Theatre 50th Birthday It had an excellent stage, and a good sized orchestra pit, plus
Celebration, 1984; Pin-Up, 1984; The Great Days of Aus- dressing rooms. The construction was of brick, and included
tralian Vaudeville, 1985; Thanks For Listening (Radio], was a generous projection room.
1986; Silent Smiles [Silent Films], 1987; The Mo show The year was 1935 when Talkies arrived at the ball. I recall
1988; Hooray For Hollywood! [Movie Posters], 1989; En- the day so well, it was a Friday when the projectors were
tertaining Melbourne, 1992; Stars In Your Eyes, Movie hauled up in the box, to be ready for the first night show, all
Stills], 1991. Frank retired as director in 1993. Working on other equipment being in place, the show for that first
a freelance basis, Frank curated the Performing Arts Mu- screening was "VIVA VILLA"
seum's 1996 exhibition celebrating the history of the Tivoli
Theatre. The sign outside the projection box simply said,
:TALKIES:
Frank has presented ABC Radio's weekly Nostalgia Pro- It didn't take me long to get friendly with the owner whose
gramme since 1986. He provides Programme notes for a name was Les Crossling, he and his wife ran the show, she
wide variety of theatrical and other presentations. These in the ticket box and Les doing the projection with an
have included the Victorian Arts Centre's 1 00 Years of assistant, as that was the requirement in those days of nitrate
Cinema Series, 1995, and The Regent Gala Re-opening film. I used to help with the rewinding, I always remember
Concert in 1996. His first book, National Treasure - The we never kept the film on the spools when it came off the
Story of Gertrude Johnson and the National Theatre, was machines, we wound it off on to a stripping plate then
published by Victoria Press in 1994. His most recent book placed it back in its can, these were on 1000' spools, which
is The Regent Theatre: Melbourne's Palace of Dreams. This meant 11 minutes running time, we really moved in those
was published by ELM to mark the re-opening of the days, hand feeding arcs, threading the next machine and
beloved Collins Street landmark. Frank recorded a talking rewinding, the rewind room was always separate.
book version of this in 1997. He is currently working on a
major history of the Tivoli Circuit The projectors we used had come from the "CAPITOL
THEATRE" Melbourne and were a pair of SIMPLEX with
Frank is a member of the board of the National Theatre, the RA YCOPHONE sound heads, the two machines were sit-
executive of the Green Room Awards Association, the ting on about 1" cork so as to deaden any vibration through
Grainger Museum advisory committee and the Victoria the floor.
Theatres Trust. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of There were two non-sync turntables, with a pair of oil filled
Australia in the 1999 Australia Day Honours. Western Electric pick-ups, and were they heavy, it's a
wonder the records lasted as long as they did, I can under-
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• stand the weight when used on the Vitaphone 16" discs,
because once they were in the groove they would stand up to
a fair amount of VIbration.
NO GRA/J1f At the stage end was the usual exponential hom with a 6'
..vo FVZZ/tVESS mouth and driver unit at the throat end, rear of the screen
covered in underfelt to reduce any bounce off the rear wall.
lfiO P/STOJI?T/ON Seats were the early tip-up type, and mounted on battens so
VJ~I!Vt$!QN as they could be moved to the side for dances.

The projection end wall as was the custom had underfelt
over it to stop reverberation.

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