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Dux Interior

             Another interesting development was the entry of a  new   roof top. There was no decoration of any description on its
             concern,  the Australian  Picture  Company.  (2)  The  latter   exterior. There was a central entrance with stairs leading
             being the priJ1Cipal supplier of film for the Lyric theatre in   to a balcony on the right side of the small foyer.
             Chapel Street, Prahran .. This no doubt provided unwanted
             competition for the established finns such as Spencer and   The seating accommodation appears  to  have  been  in  ex-
             Johnson &  Gibson. However, time was to prove that this   cess  of I ,200 and  the auditorium  was  built with  a  dress
             venture was somewhat sh01t lived.                circle which was supported  by  several  ornate iron  posts.
                                                              Despite the Dux having only a corrugated iron roof, it had
             The first of Albert Park's permanent cinemas was the " Dux   the luxury of having the underside lined. In  true Edward-
             Photoplays" erected  art  47  O'Grady Street. This picture   ian  fashion  the  walls  contained  painted  scenery  panels.
             theatre opened on  the 29th of June,  1912 and  its original   The author visited the Dux  in  1981, at which  time  it was
             proprietor was Mr. A.H. Kent. (3)                still  in  amazing original  condition after decades of vari-
                                                              ous uses. Despite the removal  of the seating and  screen,
            A  second short-lived open-air "Dux"  was also operating   little else had changed. Shortly after my visit, the building
             at this time on the beach front. A photograph of this thea-  was sold  and  has  since lost most of its  original  internal
             tre surfaced in Melboume about 17 years ago and a refer-  features.
             ence  to  this  cinema  was  noted  in  Bell 's  International
             Photoplay (a publication of the J.D. Williams Amusement   Sometime after  the end  of the  Great  War,  the  Dux  had
             Company ) in various incomplete issues in  1912 that sur-  been acquired by Hoyts Pty. Ltd. Between  1908 and  1915
             vive in tbe Mitchell Library in Sydney. Unfortunately, due   Hoyts had  established a circuit of picture shows in  both
             no doubt to its early demise. little inf01mation has come to   the city and suburbs of Melbourne. Hoyts came to Sydney
             light on its origins.                            in  1915  taking over the former Colonial No.  I in George
                                                              Street (this being a fmmer J.D. Williams theatre) and took
             A factory-like structure, the "Dux  Photoplays"  was curi-  out a lease on the 6th of November,  1916, on the Kinema
            ously placed in a residential Street, a short distance from   at Mosman. (4)
             the  main  shopping strip.  The  facade  and  walls  were of
            brick construction with an  electric sign perched on  the   In Melbourne, Hoyts decided to build a new cinema in the

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