Page 23 - untitled

Of course, the quality of sound from substandard gauge emas of different styles and periods without, regrettably,
film sound tracks falls short of that from the latest video any lll1ifying style. The end result, however artistically ar-
sources. ranged, may sometimes look more like a museum than a
cinema.
But, when all's said and done, gee-whizz technology isn't
everything. That "wonderful sense of occasion" we lament Despite changing technologies, the appeal of designing a
the loss of and once associated with the old picture pal- home cinema within a sensible budget remains. The best
aces, had generally very little to do with state-of-the-art starting point as I remarked, is still one's own memories of
audio equipment and much more with decor, architecture, favourite haunts, whether picture palace or fleapit. The
theatre organs and even the smelLs that were so often dis- challenge is to interpret them in a way, and with appropri-
tinctive in different cinemas: the s111ells that rose from the ate matelials, that can vastly enhance the essential thrill
rich heavy drapes and furnishings under the warmth of and pleasure of running movies in the home.
great chandeliers. These are features that the real home
cinema enthusiast wol!lld do better trying to simulate: per-
haps even going so far as to try to reproduce one's own
favourite cinema from childhood days, complete with an
organ to play at the interval!

For the dedicated home cinema enthusiast the ultimate
challenge is to attempt to reproduce a scaled-down version
of a pa11icular cinema or cinema chain. In Adelaide, John
Thiele, authority on the once famous Regent chain of thea-
tres that spanned Australia, tackled the extraordinary task
of attempting to create his interpretation of the Adelaide
Regent. The year he began was 1987:

"My love of the old Regent had never diminished, so natu-
rally 1 wanted to try to capture some of the atmosphere of
that theatre in mine, and this meant having the room to The author's "Bijou Cinema" in Melbourne
create an arched proscenium, a domed ceiling and even a
small foyer."
Acknowledgements:
John·s Regent was finally completed and officially opened The author wishes to thank all who helped with memories.
in J 997. 1 n the photograph dating from that year, a tempo- information and memorabilia for this history.
rary organ was in place but this has now been replaced by a
permanent one with a horseshoe console just as in the old I acknowledge with gratitude the following for photographs.
WurliTzer organs. Such attention to detail is rare among historical data, advertising material and technical assist-
home cinema enthusiasts in Australia, unfortunately. More ance made use of in the article:
often we see the person who cobbles together a collection
of cil1ema memorabilia and artifacts from demolished cin- Amateur Cine World (UK) BBC Television (UK) Bell and
Howell (US) Eastman Kodak Ltd. (US) Encel Stereo (Mel-
bourne) Home Movie Making Magazine (US) Home Thea-
tre Magazine (US) John Thiele (Adelaide) Len Wallace
Audio (Sydney) Mike Trickett (Geelong) Modern World
Book of Hobbies (UK) Movie Maker Magazine (UK) Noel
Spence (Ireland) Peter Ingleton (UK) Peter Stansfield (Mel-
bourne) Popular Mechanics Magazine (US) Seneres (US)

Special thanks is given to John Thiele for permission to
reproduce the 1997 photograph of his Adelaide Regent
which was taken by Allan Howe and supplied by Film Proc-
essors of Collinswood, South Australia.

All reasonable attempts have been made to obtain clear-
ances for the use of information, archival mateJial and other
data in d1is history. In some cases this has not been possi-
ble because of difficulties in contacting individuals, and
companies that are no longer in business.

John Theile's Adelaide "Regent" in 1997

- 23 -