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P. 8
Memories
of a Lost
Treasure
The Trak Cinema
By Craig Cahill
and dedidicated to the late
ANDREW GRAINGER
he Trak Cinema, at 445 Toorak The auditorium itself was stadium
TRoad in the Melbourne suburb of • Trak Projectionist • style divided into two sections, front
Toorak was opened in 1969. and rear, and one entered via a tunnel
half way down the theatre. The
The cinema was incorporated into
auditorium has an “oval” or perhaps
the basement of a new multi-story
“egg” shape being larger at the rear.
building that took the place of the
The walls were clad in stained plywood
original (1938) Village Theatre that
that curved into the walls — so there
closed in 1958 and was lost in a
were no parallel walls, thus improving
disastrous fire in 1963.
acoustics.
Designed and built by Hansen and
Yuncken, the cinema itself was The auditorium lighting was
incredibly modern for its time. originally fluorescent tubes cleverly
concealed inside the walls and reflected
It was built inside a shell - the
through orange perspex rectangular
auditorium was housed inside this
“tubes” however, in later years this was
“shell” and one could walk around this
changed to incandescent lights given
shell from the bio box, right through to
there had always been a problem
the back of the stage without entering
dimming the fluro’s.
the auditorium.
The decor was wildly colourful with
carpet consisting of bright red and
purple squares, which was also used
throughout the entrance foyer. There
were 550 low-backed, black leather
seats but the most stunning and
attention grabbing feature was the
immense, stainless steel stage curtain.
Above and left: Opening night crowds
enjoyed “The April Fools” and support
program “Le Bicyclettes de Belsize”.
8 2010 CINEMARECORD
