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auditoriums with the capacity for guarantee against a percentage of the
horizontal projection would do. There takings. The distributor was the
could be little or no ‘rake’ as key-stone Stanley-Warner Corporation.
distortion of the picture had to be Melbourne’s equipment came from
avoided. There also needed to be Loew’s Teck in Buffalo New York,
adequate height for the screen as well which had closed in February 1958. Its
as width. screen had been 78 feet wide and 28
The Sydney Plaza closed for feet high (24m x 8.5m). It had to be cut
renovation on Wednesday 3 September down to 63 feet by 24 feet (19 x 7.3m)
1958, though preparatory work had to fit into the Plaza. Unusually, this
been going on in the early mornings for screen had a ‘solid’ centre panel instead
some weeks. It re-opened two weeks of being completely vertical louvres, as
later, equipped for Cinerama with the was the normal Cinerama practice. The
plant from a closed-down cinema at usual curvature of a Cinerama screen The organ chambers were covered over
Miami Beach. Sydney was Cinerama’s was 146 degrees, but due to a lack of to fit the wall-to-wall screen.
37th theatre opening. There was a useable stage depth, the Plaza could
Cinerama had up to three
grand charity premiere on Wednesday only accommodate a curvature of 120
installation teams working around the
17 September of This Is Cinerama. degrees, or a depth of 12 feet (3.7m).
world at any one time. While the Plaza
Cinerama was not to open in As it happened, the screen fitted neatly
Melbourne until Boxing Day. The between the organ chambers on either was being equipped there was another
Melbourne Plaza closed for renovation side of the stage, just in front of the old crew working in Spain. Melbourne’s
on 22 October. The last program was proscenium. A new stage apron was installation was directed by an
The Gift of Love with Lauren Bacall built, curving out into the auditorium. American, Frank Richmond. Cinerama
appointed Ron Chambers as their
and Robert Stack. The stage was relatively low and the
technical representative in Australia. He
The Plaza was Cinerama’s 40th top and bottom screen masking was had worked on Cinerama in London.He
theatre to open, but that does not mean narrow in order to expose the was involved in the Melbourne
that there were 40 cinemas operating at maximum screen area. There was no installation and after Cinerama was up
the end of 1958. Several had closed due adjustable side masking. The smallish and running, he divided his time
to lack of new product. Only one new Wurlitzer organ, with its two manuals between the Sydney and Melbourne
film per year was being produced, and and 12 ranks, remained functional, theatres.
many smaller U.S. cities could not though the console was moved
sustain a twelve-month run. Hence backstage. It was never played publicly, During the re-construction period,
there was a good supply of second hand but the Regent’s organist used it as a Hoyts engineer, Ken Neck began
equipment. practice instrument. assembling a projection crew. Victorian
Government health regulations of the
Considerably more work was The Plaza had always been fitted
required for installing Cinerama at the with ‘lounge-style’ seats rather than time required that each projector be
attended by a licensed operator.
Melbourne Plaza than in Sydney. ‘tip-up’ chairs, though the original Cinerama also had its requirements.
Though it was Hoyts most suitable embossed-leather seats had been There needed to be a program-control
Melbourne theatre, there was not replaced after the war. The ‘lounge’ engineer and an additional projectionist
enough stage height for the screen, and seats were retained, but seating capacity to supervise the sound reproducer
only just enough width. The original was reduced from 1235 to 865.
(which was in the Plaza’s original
proscenium height was about 17 feet It was Cinerama’s policy in all its
upstairs projection room), show the
(5.2m) and the new screen was to be 24 theatres to have a rich red curtain
prologue film and operate the lights.
feet high (7.3m). Consequently the following the curve of the screen. In the
This meant that every show required a
floor of the auditorium needed to be Plaza, the curtain curved outwards
technical crew of five. Various
lowered, with a greater slope down to slightly at the sides to cover the organ
experienced projectionists were invited
the stage. Three new projection rooms, chambers. Red curtains were also used
to join the team. They were required to
with their own ventilation system, had to hide the old promenade area on
commit themselves to a year’s
to be constructed. Only then could the either side of the auditorium and
involvement. If they then wished to
screen and projection gear be installed. dampen the acoustics. The two side
move on, they could do so as vacancies
The costs of structural alterations projection rooms protruded slightly arose in other theatres. Ted Sharry, who
had to be borne by the theatre from the promenade area near the rear had been working at the Athenaeum,
proprietor. It was stated by Roberts of the theatre. The centre projection became the head picture control
Dunstan, the Herald’s film critic, that room sat under the original bio-box. engineer, with Bill Watson as his
the cost of the conversion was seventy- Their outside walls were tastefully deputy. Other projectionists were Don
five thousand pounds ($150,000). decorated with a criss-cross moulding Albon, Alan Wynne, Noel Brabet, who
Cinerama supplied all of the technical pattern that sat well with the Plaza’s had already been working at the Plaza,
equipment, almost down to the last nut stuccoed plaster. The stage curtain was Ozzie Taylor, David Downing and Bill
and bolt. They retained ownership of illuminated by ten ‘baby’ spotlights Cleaves. They were given a week or
the gear, and leased it to the cinema mounted on the top of both the side two of training before the public
proprietor. The films themselves were projection rooms.
opening.
rented in the conventional way, with a

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