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This drive-in screen was one of the
few in Australia built in the academy
standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
Skyline Burwood opened in the
same week that the second
CinemaScope film into Melbourne -
Beneath The Twelve Mile Reef - was
released at the Plaza.
On 17 February 1954 it was the
public's chance to sample the drive-in
experience after an invited audience
had watched a preview screening of
The Conquest of Everest the night
before. The opening film was Danny
Kaye and Gene Tierney in On the
Riviera, a three-year-old film from Fox.
The fact it was supplied at a flat rate, as
opposed to the normal percentage basis,
displayed either the relatively low
expectations that all except the
developers had for the concept, or the
canny negotiating skills of Mr. Griffith.

By David Kilderry

After a visit to the USA in the early
1950s, Hoyts’ Southern Division
manager George Griffith Jnr, a
showman of the first order, came back
fired with the idea that Australia was
ready for drive-in theatres. The key
ingredients for success were plentiful
land, good weather and a high car
ownership; Australia had all three.
Hoyts and Fox did not necessarily
share Griffith’s enthusiasm; they were
still enjoying solid profits in the post-
war years.
Griffith formed a syndicate, and the
group decided on a site in a valley in
the Melbourne suburb of Burwood
located on the Burwood Highway. The
area was mostly paddocks, but new
housing was spreading out to and
beyond the site.
A new company, Auto Theatres Pty.
Ltd. was formed which had its
registered address at 191 Collins Street
in the Hoyts Regent Theatre building
which was also Hoyts head office and
Griffith’s domain.
Construction of the drive-in
proceeded through the latter half of
1953 from plans drawn up by A.C.
Leith Bartlett & Partners, in
conjunction with RCA Australia. The
site was a natural amphitheatre on
which the drive-in field faced a steep
hill with sufficient elevation to mount
the screen without the need for a screen
tower. The winding course of
Gardiner’s creek separated the cars Centre: Construction was well underway by late 1953. Above: Skyline Burwood, like
from the screen. many early Australian drive-ins, copied the American style of masking the screen.

16 2007 CINEMARECORD