Page 20 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

90th Birthday for a

PICTURE

SHOW

MAN Cyril in

2008
(Photo:
Former cinema projectionist Cyril White recently celebrated his 90th K Davies)
birthday (and a life-time in the Cinema Industry) with a luncheon for 50
guests at the Italo Australian Club in Morwell near where he now resides.

yril White was born 29th June During this time Austin Bartolo
C 1919 and first worked at the old worked with Cyril as an apprentice for
Royal Theatre (1911-41)1 which was three years and this was the start of a
located in Chapel Street in Melbourne’s long-time friendship between the two,
inner-eastern suburb of Windsor, as an although at times the friendship was
assistant projectionist at the age of 18, strained. “He often put you down and
and became a licensed projectionist at
21. Asked how he came to work as a
projectionist he said that his brother
was a projectionist. “He used to be in
bed when I was goin’ to school. I said
‘bugger this - that’ll do me’.
So that’s how it started.”
At 22 Cyril joined the Army where
he was a signalman. After his time in
the army he worked again as a
projectionist mainly relieving in many
suburban theatres for several weeks at a
time. He particularly remembers the So Cyril was the projectionist at
Crystal Palace at Caulfield. Toorak when the Drive-In opened on the
8th November 1956 with two sessions of was hard to get on with” says Austin,
3 but at the same time “he was always on
The Dam Busters and was still there 28
years later when it closed on the 14th the ball and helped a lot of assistants to
March 1984. The closing program was get their license. He used to say ‘boy -
the R-rated double The Texas Chainsaw cup of tea’ ”. However the tables were
3 turned between the two some years
Massacre and Evil Dead.

In the early 50’s Cyril worked for
about 18 months at the Albany
Newsreel cinema in Collins Street,
Melbourne. Then he made a move to
what was to be his job for almost 30
years as the projectionist at the Toorak
Drive-In. “I got out of the city. It was
no fun. I started at the drive-in in 1956.
I opened it and I closed it.” Reflecting
his sense of humour he added “they
wanted somebody intelligent so I
volunteered”.
Albany Newsreel

20 2010 CINEMARECORD