Page 13 - CR31R.pdf

Movies return

to the Plaza

By Roger Seccombe

It isn't often that films are screened
once a cinema closes. Too often the
circuit that owns the cinema sells it
with a covenant on it that forbids the
purchaser from re-opening the venue as
a cinema; or the structure is
demolished to make way for
redevelopment, or should the building
remain, it's so radically altered that film
screenings could never be an option.
Located at number 5 Russell Street
in the leafy Melbourne suburb of
Essendon, the Plaza Theatre started Interior of the former Essendon Plaza. Photo by: Roger Seccombe
life quite humbly, as the local
“Essendon Public Hall”. It was soon What better than a former cinema? I was granted permission to climb to
modified to become the “Essendon the holy of holies where I found, to my
Like several other inner suburban
Theatre” screening movies in delight, all the original theatre seats
cinemas, such as the Western in West
opposition to the “Southern Cross” still in place. Sitting in a front row,
Brunswick and the Northcote Theatre,
(later Regal) in nearby Buckley Street. dress circle seat, behind a balcony
the new owner was sympathetic to the
In 1924 a third venture entered the parapet of ornately embossed
preservation of the building and has
local market with the opening of the plasterwork, I could almost imagine
maintained it in excellent condition.
“New Essendon Theatre” (later myself waiting for the lights to dim and
Circle) at 9 Leake Street which was On 17 November 2001, movies the censor's certificate to be flashed on
located in a shopping strip about a returned to the Plaza after an absence of the opening red stage curtains!
kilometre away. The older “Essendon over 40 years! The occasion was a film The Plaza might never have been a
Theatre” was then upgraded and show sponsored by the Rotary Club of really up-market suburban house. I
consequently renamed “The Plaza” Essendon. Not ANY film show mind suppose you'd have described it as a
and the new theatre became “The you, but a full-blown SILENT cinema middle-capacity cinema with around
Circle” – both were operated until experience with Melbourne's renowned 900 seats and with no apparent
closure by Hoyts Theatres Ltd. cinema organist Bruce Ardley. Together,
we took an enthusiastic audience back allegiance to any particular
Like so many cinemas in those far- architectural style. But its auditorium
to the days of the great silent
off days when the average patron is still attractive today, with its
comedians. Our program included
didn't own a motor car and depended restrained sense of style and simple
Laurel and Hardy's justly famous orgy
on public transport (or walked), the decorative touches. My chief
of destruction, "Big Business", along
‘Plaza” was located right across the disappointment is that the front
with Chaplin's classic early short "Easy
road from the Essendon Railway elevation had to be radically altered by
Street" and the main feature, after
Station. All three theatres traded the Club to fit in with their need for a
interval, was Harold Lloyd's cliff-
successfully until television spelt the reception area downstairs and upstairs
hanging comedy "Safety Last".
death knell for so many suburban meeting rooms. These have replaced
cinemas. Whist the Circle Theatre While the stage, proscenium and the original cinema foyers. The bio-
would struggle on until December curtains are still beautifully maintained, box was also a necessary casualty
1966, the end came much earlier for the original cinema screen had with the reconstruction.
both the Regal and the Plaza, with naturally long gone, so we had to bring One shouldn't carp over such
closure of both by the mid to late our own! The stalls area is normally details for it's a joy to know there's
1950’s. clear of seats as this is the Club's dance
floor. The circle was a different matter! still yet another of our original
The site of the “Regal” was soon suburban cinemas that remains, albeit
cleared to make way for a petrol with some alterations, essentially still
station, but thankfully, unlike so many a recognizable theatre, a carefully and
similar casualties of television, the attentively maintained part of our
Plaza was lucky: a buyer was waiting architectural heritage of entertainment
in the wings to purchase it when venues. For this we can be grateful to
Hoyts announced its closure. the Ukranian Club of Melbourne. ★
The Ukranian Club wanted a home [Coora Films and Bruce Ardley
for its members, a venue suitable for a collaborate in presenting silent film shows
range of social activities that included 16mm nostalgia at the Plaza. each year for audiences with a special
dances, meetings and dinners. Photo by: Roger Seccombe. interest in this area.]
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