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88. BRYSON CINEMA- MELBOURNE by Gerry Kennedy

The Bryson Cinema was the second house in a proposed Luckily for the Bryson the noted director Fred Schepsi
capital city chain of Universal first release cinemas. The opened his Australian made film, The Devil's Playground
Ascot Theatre in Sydney was the fu·st. MCA-Universal at that venue. This film ran for 33 weeks and was a huge
acquired the two other partners for the Melbourne project success. Philip Adams "The Getting of Wisdom", another
namely Capacity Cinemas and GTV 9. Capacity Cinemas Australian hit, ran for more than 30 weeks at the Bryson.
at that time operated the Capitol I (the rebuilt 1924 Capi- Thus the cinema gained a reputation for screening quality
tol) and Capito12 (the former 1941 Century Newsreel) both Australian product and became somewhat a cult house.
situated in Swanston St.
By now the competing exhibitors were concerned about
The Bryson Cinema was situated in a new multi storeyed the success of the Bryson and the Australian product it
building constructed on the former Bryson Industries car screened. The major chains had tended to ignore Austral-
dealership at 184 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, on the ian films. However, they soon made arrangements to di-
southeast corner of LittJe Bourke Street. The new tower rectly invest in more Australian films in an attempt to cor-
included a new Bryson fndustries showroom, a public car ner exhibition rights e.g .. Schepsi's "Chant of Jimmy Black-
park, The Bryson Cinema (First Floor) and the 24 level smith".
Bryson Hotel.
Access to quality film product continued to be a problem
The architectural firm headed by Ron Monsborough de- for the small exhibitor until they acquired the rights tore-
signed the cinema component of the building. lease several films made for American TV. These included
Monsborough's firm was a prolific cinema designer and hits such as "Duel", "Sunshine", and "Lenny". The Bryson,
was also responsible for many cinema conversions and con- and Sydney's Ascot, once again became very successful
structions. With the exhibitors quest to convert large pic- houses.
ture palaces into more intimate and efficient operations
Monsborough had gained considerable experience in adapt- Village Theatres, who at the time operated the Australia
ing Melbourne's Capitol and State Theatres (Forum/ and Curzon (formerly Tatler Newsreel) theatres in the base-
Rapallo) and Shepparton's Capri (in country Victoria), to ment of the Hotel Australia (Collins St.), was keen to ex-
name a few. pand their city activities and to gain a prestige first release
house.
The Bryson was a most attractive cinema of its era; it was
designed to provide patrons with comfortable surround- Village Theatres and Capacity Cinemas swapped shares
ings with excellent sight lines. The one level auditorium thus forming a circuit includi11g the Australia l & 2, Capi-
seated about 600. tol l & 2 and the Bryson. About this time both MCA
Universal and GTV 9 wished to withdraw from the part-
The auditorium was fully draped in gold tonings, as was nership leaving the Village /Capacity Theatres partnership
the fashion at the time. Large wrought iron sculptures de- in full control of the Bryson.
picted the sunrise were affixed to the side walls. The seats
were covered in black vinyl. The application for "approval The fortunes of the Bryson declined in tune with Holly-
to open" was dated December I , 1972. The theatre was wood's studios and 1the extension of multi screened venues;
promoted as the "Beautiful Bryson" and opened on De- but most likely it was lack of availability of worthwhile
cember 8, 1972, showing the Peter Sellers film "Where product that finally closed the cinema.
Does [t Hurt?''
The Bryson in fact was built after the first multi screened
Technically the theatre was years ahead of its time being venues had opened, i.e. Hoyts Mid City ( 1969) and Cin-
equipped with a fully automated 35/70 mm plant. These, ema Centre (1969), both nearby in Bourke St. Greater Un-
however, could not be used to their full potential as the ion's Russell Cinemas followed, in 1978, in Russell St.
industry regulations of the time requiJ·ed two staff to be in
ViJJage relinquished their direct interest in the Bryson and
attendance in the projection room at all times. The low
in August 1983 The Age entertainment pages showed the
ceiling height of the auditorium and the shallow stage area
B_ryson screening a multi film format under the Independ-
prevented full 70mm projection to the screen.
ent A-Z Theatres listing.
With the association of MCA Universal access to the best
Capacity Cinemas in fact relinquished any interest in the
film product was expected. However, the then Managing
Village partnership and left the running of all the surviv-
Director ofMCA, Ron Brown, was pressured by other film
ing theatres to them (3). On October 26, 1983 the Bryson
exhibitors to give them first release rights to Universal
closed after re-run of "Sophies Choice".
films. As a consequence, with two months before opening,
no film was available to the cinema. Eventually a B grade
John McKenzie, an independent e:thibitor, offered to take
film called "Where Did It Hurt" opened the cinema.
over the lease of the Bryson however the theatre was closed

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