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A PALAIS THREE-STEP
1. Palais Cinema c.1912 is an
attraction within Luna Park.
2. Palais Cinema is moved to Barkly
Street, near Ackland Street.

3 1
4
4a

3. Luna Park directors build Palais
2
De Danse and Pictures c. 1915 on
the site occupied by later Palais
theatres. The portico banner reads:
Buy War Bonds. Bomb the Hun.
Notice the roofed walkway (far right)
materials reassembled next door (on the Prahran. This link with Union Theatres from the Lower Esplanade to the
west side). On the 5 June 1920 the must have been for programming front doors.
(3/p3)
Palais De Danse re-opened. purposes only, as daily operations were
Herman Philips and his Luna Park still managed by the Philips brothers.
co-directors now had three amusement By 1924 the supply of building
attractions open on the foreshore - fun materials had improved, so the Philips
fare, the recycled dance hall and the contracted Griffin to remodel both the
substantial but austere cinema. cinema and the dance hall. Renovations
to Palais Pictures commenced in 1925.
The short-lived result deserves to be
called Palais 5, or at least 4a.
Griffin turned in a design well in
advance of contemporary practice. The
exterior was rebuilt in concrete. travesty of a building front, and an
Geometric finials rising skyward offence against design. Inspiration
formed the entrance above a new seems to have been obtained from the
American-style marquee, boldly Assyrian period, but the motifs are
Palais 2 is dwarfed by Palais 3 going up illuminated. The cost of the facade barely evident and have been robbed of
around it. alone was reported as three thousand any interest or impressiveness
(4/12) noticeable in original examples. The
Just when things looked rosy, a pounds.
dispute over the lease of Luna Park Inside, the stage surrounds were only attempt at ornamentation is in
(1) forms which might be Assyrian shields,
closed the fun fare until 1923. While pure Griffin. Vertical angular and
this was a nuisance, The Philips prismatic shapes, somewhat but which are as decorative as a picket
brothers (Herman, joined by Harold compressed, formed the proscenium fence. There is one thing that could be
and Leon) were preparing for what splays. The proscenium itself was said for it and that is even without its
would be an illustrious future in cinema rebuilt and all walls were relined, title written above, no one would ever
management. complementing a new vestibule and mistake its purpose for other than it is.
In 1921 the Melbourne City Council passageways. Especially designed But otherwise it is lacking in grace of
approved plans for the construction of a lanterns hung from an unlined ceiling, contour, beauty of proportion, or
structural satisfaction.
large office block and cinema in the roof partly disguised by artificial
Swanston Street, Melbourne - Capitol foliage. The reviewer went on to say that the
House and the Capitol Theatre. For Through all this change it was style was too heavy and finished his
this project the Philips brothers retained ‘business as usual’ for the cinema. paragraph, The eye rarely errs in the
Walter Burley Griffin as architect, with Newspaper advertisements gave no hint matter of security, and when a building
Peck and Kempter in association. The of the makeover in progress. During the looks stupendously heavy, with its
Capitol opened in November 1924. renovations Building magazine weight seeming to threaten to cause
In 1921 the Palais Pictures was published a caustic review - ‘crude and rupture in the enormously long beam, it
shown in newspaper advertisements as frightful’ were included in it. is not likely to invite custom, and the
only people likely to use the building
part of the Union Theatres circuit. Apparently in an effort after the (5/p62)
would be those without fear.
Other Union outlets nearby were the St unusual, a limited supply of originality
Kilda Theatre Fitzroy Street, the has only been capable of producing a
Royal at Windsor and the Empress

CINEMARECORD 2008 17