Page 9 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

Front Stalls at the Fire Which Destroyed the Lyric

by Phil Beer

Sitting on the garden fence looking
towards the city I noticed a cloud of
smoke clawing upward. I leapt onto my
bike, raced up Barnard Street, then
down View Street, only to find all
Charing Cross blocked off, police and
firemen pushing back the crowd.
I left my bike in Rosalind Park, and
hopped onto a tram making its way
towards the theatre. As the tram
trundled past the barricade intended to
hold back the gathering crowd, I
jumped off, then sneaked behind the
firemen and police, and knowing all the
street lanes that led to the rear exits, I
used them to make my way inside the
burning building.
Great purple, emerald, and red
flames twisted upward and across what
was once a satin curtain fit for royal
robes. Behind it a huge crawling red
centipede of fire began engulfing the
curved CinemaScope screen; long,
wide flames now eating it. Hundreds of
twisting fireballs raced over the ceiling.
The walls became waterfalls of
showering sparks as wires, cables and
lighting fused. A howling, sucking
wind roared around us. The balcony
was an inferno and now the flames
were eating their way towards us on the
ground floor. Explosions were frequent.
The balcony crashed down in a sea of
sparks and debris. A grand lady was
dying.
An explosion shook free a huge
chandelier and several smaller ones
came crashing down with it. A fireman
grabbed my arm, “Lets get out of here
kid. The place is coming down.” I ran
behind some firemen and in front of
others, all of us fleeing down the
narrow back exit hallway. Flames and
smoke was running along with us, a
roaring wind in our ears.
In those moments of panic I had
dropped my camera and with it all the
shots of this inferno. As soon as I
noticed this I wanted to go back inside,
but the firemen stopped me. Within five
minutes the building came crashing
down. All of a sudden one of the
firemen became nasty and abused me
for getting ‘in the road’ and he told me
to get lost, which I did. I had seen
enough for one day. ★
Top: How one cartoonist viewed the final demolition. Bendigo Weekly, 14 September
2007. Centre: Opening day 1913. Above: Charing Cross, probably late 1920s. All of
these buildings are gone. Note the scale of the roof of the Lyric.

CINEMARECORD 2009 9